A Look Ahead: Employee Engagement Trends for 2016

It’s almost the end of 2015! Are you prepared for the coming year? With the advancing times, the

workplace is changing and so should your engagement strategies to keep up with the changing

trends! Strategies and ideas that worked 5 years ago might not be as effective, if executed today.

With the changing dynamics and people’s likes; needs and preferences keep evolving and it is

imperative to be aware of this so that the right strategies are put to action and the desired level of

engagement is achieved.

How well do you know the people who come to work for you every day? Do you know what their

personal likes are? What is your plan to engage them in the next 12 months? Read on to know what

you can do to design and execute the best engagement program for your organization.

Top trends in engagement for 2016:

1. Focus on happiness -

Organizations tend to push engagement. However, are you doing it right? What employees really

want is happiness, pure and simple. Gone are the days when monetary rewards took the front seat!

People now crave for a happy life.

So, what can you do?

Acknowledge contributions and efforts with unique recognition. If not recognized, employees tend

to underperform. Recognize service and performance early (before the traditional 5-year mark) as

people now have no patience to wait until that long in a single company if they do not feel happy

and motivated. Enhance your culture so that your organization is a place where employees ‘want to

be’, not ‘have to be’.

2. Ask more from managers -

There’s always a greater perceived value when an immediate supervisor or manager recognizes

excellent work. Provide the managers with the right tools to recognize and reward their employees

in the best possible way.

So, what can you do?

Your managers might not be fully aware of the importance of engagement and the employees might

be low on confidence. Train managers on why recognition is important and how it is best given to

reinforce key behaviors. Build awareness about the program by communicating often with the

managers and measure how much or how little they are using the tools that they are given to

recognize their employees.

1. Make work meaningful -

Employees now are looking for more than ‘just a job’; personal satisfaction is increasingly taking

importance. Employees are seeking work that’s personally meaningful. If they feel they aren’t using

their skills and being challenged, they will look for other options. Hire managers who will hire people

not only to complete tasks immediately but who also make sure that the entry-level jobs provide

them with opportunities to learn, contribute and grow.

So, what can you do?

Ask, don’t tell. Instead of dictating the process to team members, challenge and motivate them to

find improvements. Let your team members get the opportunity to run with an idea that you haven’t

had the chance to explore. Give them some basic parameters to follow, and then let them lead.

2. Lead with compassion -

A compassionate leader, one who is authentic and has a sense of dignity, is always the best thing a

team can have! 74% of employees who work for compassionate leaders say that they are unlikely to

leave their current organization in the next five years.

So, what can you do?

Make individual goals. This requires listening to your employees and having a willingness to be

flexible and adaptable. Focus on developing their skills as well and communicate to create

credibility, trust and influence.

3. Meet them where they are -

Inventive technologies allow employees to speak and be spoken to with relevance, and relevance

certainly leads to better results. Employees are habituated to checking their mobile devices

whenever they have free time and crave instant, easy access to news, apps, pictures, videos,

statuses – all on their terms. They expect the same of their recognition program.

So, what can you do?

Start with a clear direction and use multiple channels and touch points to communicate with your

employees. Give them the ability to recognize each other on devices with which they are

comfortable. Also, don’t miss to incorporate social elements like news feeds, comments and sharing

that’s built using responsive design or in a native app. Provide several ways to communicate to

employees, including traditional methods like company intranets as well as mobile, social

recognition platforms and data visualization boards in areas where employees gather, such as break

rooms and pantries.

1. Train more, with less –

Research shows that today’s learner is overwhelmed and impatient. Most of them don’t have

enough time to do their jobs properly and can devote just a few minutes during an average work

week to learning.

So, what can you do?

Make it short and sweet! Divide the learning data into ‘learning snacks’ - 2 or 3 minute learning bites

about a single task. Be aware that they almost unknowingly reach for their mobile phones first. So

you could make your learning content mobile friendly as well. Introduce customized learning. Each

of your learners has previous knowledge and expertise. Use this to dynamically configure the

learning experience for individual learners.

These are some of the most important trends for 2016. Follow them wisely, engage your employees

and have a happy work life together as a team.

For more information on how BI WORLDWIDETM India can help you engage your employees in the

year ahead, contact us.