Employee Engagement for Small Business

Employee engagement tends to come off as a "flavor-of-the-month" activity. Everyone knows how important it is and is willing to take it on, until something catches on fire or a shinier light catches our attention.

Most large companies have a department or a task force that takes on employee engagement and workplace culture; however, small and medium sized businesses find it hard to dedicate a chunk of the budget to something that doesn't shoot directly to the bottom line--- that's the bottom line.

Big improvements are something that take a back seat when the going gets tough. Managers are busy and employees don't always speak up. As a result, the culture of the company ends up taking a hit. So, if you work for a smaller company, who can take this task on? Better yet, WHAT can take this on? The answer might be software... free software. We allow computers, smartphones, and incredible software to help us communicate throughout our personal and professional lives and developing the ideal culture and engagement in your organization doesn't need to be any different.

At a very basic level, here is the foundation of a solid employee engagement and company culture improvement system:

1. Give feedback

2. Gather feedback

3. Act on feedback

4. Track progress

I understand this is overly simplified, but it is a starting point. The idea behind this is to foster multi-lateral communication that is constantly making ideas known and acted upon. The good news is that there are many different pieces of software that can manage this constant communication. One tool I've recently seen used is called officevibe.com.

Officevibe.com is a great way to keep in touch with what employees are thinking because they can speak openly and truthfully. The website provides short, science-based surveys, and communication avenues, and compiles feedback into actionable reports. The benefits of a system like Officevibe can be exponential. The best part is the software manages the system, not you. That means management only needs to review the regular reports and use guidance content that the website offers to improve the metrics that need attention.

Employees will feel like their voice matters by providing feedback through structured surveys or through voluntary messages. Employees can choose to make their feedback anonymous so they shouldn't feel shy about being honest. Truthfully, the most honest feedback tends to come through software communication and is less likely to come by face-to-face discussion. If you've been on Twitter or Facebook recently, you know exactly what I mean!

A system like Officevibe will make clear what the organization needs in order to improve the engagement and culture throughout the company. There is plenty of awesome, free software that can benefit small and medium sized businesses. Take advantage!!

This kind of powerful tool will help the company improve by addressing these powerful employee engagement triggers:

1. Helping with Personal Growth

2. Implementing Continuous Feedback

3. Making Work Fun

4. Giving Employees a Voice

5. Promoting Wellness

6. Respecting employees

7. Encouraging experimentation and creativity

8. Building relationships at work

Let us know if they help!