Employee engagement is defined as the degree to which employees are motivated , passionate and invested in the work they do. Engagement also indicates the individual’s commitment to the company and their emotional connection to the people they work with. 

Building employee engagement at the workplace:

• Get the hiring process right

Employee engagement starts with the recruitment process. It is better to find employees who are aligned with your organizational Vision than it is to change their motivation and values once they have their feet under the table. Be on the lookout for candidates with a sense of purpose, interest, and passion, use the recruiting process to discovering a candidate’s interests

• Measure employee engagement

Regular staff meeting is advised to be used to check that employee well-being and engagement are at optimum levels. Engagement will consistently show pathway   for employees and open career opportunities closely followed by learning opportunities. This would ensure positive reinforcement for employee and it will boost morale which should increase in productivity.

• Share the vision and mission

Employees are more engaged when there’s a goal they can get behind and a purpose to inspire them. Your core values and mission statement are the foundation of your company culture, which plays a large role in how engaged your employees are. Start by creating a concise list of company core values, then train each employee in these values.

Doing so will guarantee employees understand the importance of the company’s values, how they positively impact the business and what’s expected of each individual. Employees are proud of their role within the organization when there is clarity of goals so communicate with the workforce about the organizational vision and strategy.

 Lead by example and hold every member of your team accountable. Failing to do so will foster a bad company culture of distrust that will disengage employees. It has a significant effect in improving engagement when everyone has an overall sense of the organization’s goals and objective.

• Communicate effectively

Effective communications help each worker connect with strategic organizational goals while making the most of their own potential. Demonstrate to all employees that their insights are important as this will build loyalty and engagement as well as effective collaboration. People thrive and perform to full potential within a culture that aligns with their own values and aspirations.

• Build a culture of cooperation

One of the pillars of employee engagement is collaboration. Encourage employees to share knowledge and ideas, use your talent to unleash latent creativity and help the organization to foster innovation and growth while meeting customer needs.

• Use feedback

Ensuring a culture of providing regular performance feedback. Ensures that employees feel a connection with the objective of the organization, that new employees are welcomed in and feel part of the team quickly. It’s also important to recognize and celebrate success, achievements, progress and accomplishments. If you want the best chance at achieving positive results and improving your employee’s performance, here are some tips you can follow whenever you offer feedback:

1. Focus on the issue. Proper constructive criticism should always focus on the situation or issue caused by the person, rather than focusing on the person’s character.
   
   
2. Be sincere. Whether you’re giving positive comments or negative criticism, effective feedback must be earnest. State how you feel about the issue, and pay attention to your tone of voice and body language so that the person not only hears your sincerity but feels it too.
   
   
3. Avoid the sandwich method. A feedback sandwich is when you sneak in a negative statement between two positive ones in order to soften the blow. Contrary to popular belief, however, this is an ineffective performance management technique. It will often cause the recipient to focus solely on their accolades and your constructive criticism can get lost in the shuffle.
   
   
4. Be specific. Give specific feedback focused on one issue rather than addressing multiple incidents at once.
   
   
5. Allow a response. Good feedback operates best as a two-way street. The recipient will feel comforted by knowing you’re also open to receiving feedback, so ask them what they think about the issue you’ve brought up.
   
   
6. Recommend a solution. Once the individual has had a chance to respond, offer up specific examples of the next steps they can take to solve the issue.
   
   
7. Provide a summary. To end the feedback session, give the individual a brief summary of the discussion in order to make sure they properly received the message. You can also encourage them to check in with you at any time to follow up on anything that may have been unclear.