Employee satisfaction is key to employee engagement. If an employee is satisfied with their job and work environment, this directly correlates with the amount of effort they will put into their work. Using recent statistics and facts to further cement this point, highly engaged business units in 2021 resulted in 21% greater profitability and this year disengaged employees cost U.S. companies up to $5.5 billion.

At Bartercard, we see that the question these days isn’t if businesses should focus on employee engagement, but how. It’s no surprise that companies with more engaged employees perform better financially, and employers are quickly seeing this trend and investing more in employee engagement.

Below, we’ll take a closer look at the proven power of positively engaged employees, and how to foster it to produce better business results.

The Why of Employee Engagement

First, let’s look at why businesses should prioritise their employee’s connection to their work and each other Most people want to come to work, understand their jobs and how their work contributes to the success of the organisation.

Jim Harter, PhD, a chief scientist at Gallup Research explains what engaged employees do differently. “Engaged employees are more attentive and vigilant. They look out for the needs of their co-workers and the overall enterprise because they personally ‘own’ the result of their work and that of the organisation.”

Ways to Improve Employee Engagement

It is clear that employee engagement is not just nice to have; it’s a serious competitive differentiator. So, what does it take to foster an engaged workforce? The answer is multi-faceted and includes necessities such as:

• Committed leadership
• Strong company culture
• HR Support.

Some of these components are intangible, but some are also concrete, including business technology that enables and empowers your employees at work. When employees clearly know their role, have what they need to fulfil their role, and can see the connection between their role and the overall purpose, they will see the reason for creating greater levels of engagement.

However, businesses must work harder to seek out and develop the kind of talent that could exponentially enhance the company and, in turn, attract new clientele.

Find Good Staff & Keep Them

At Bartercard, we believe that once you find good staff, you want to keep them. This includes making your workplace attractive and fun and recognising your employee’s achievements and milestones while increasing their engagement. These are all ways to keep your team members feeling happy and appreciated. While you may not be able to directly pay your staff using Bartercard, there are many ways you can utilise your trade dollars to create a workplace people love to come to every day.

You can purchase a wide array of goods and services through the Bartercard network to offer as incentives to your team. Smart employers give their teams the chance to decide which incentives they want. They will strive much harder to reach targets when the ‘prize’ is something they really want.

Finally, by investing in your staff, you will not only create a pleasant working environment, but it can also result in increased productivity, less time off and greater staff loyalty over the long term, and who doesn’t want that?