How to Improve Employee Engagement

How willing are your employees to come to work every day? Are they collaborating with other team members to help fulfil your charity’s cause? How likely are they to stay and recommend working at your charity? Do they love their job? Are they flourishing in the culture you’ve set up? The answers to these questions all determine the level of your employee engagement.

Employee motivation is critical in driving your charity’s goals. If your employees aren’t engaged with their work and their team, you’ll likely see a drop in output and a negative impact on retention―both things that you’re looking to avoid.

Recent trends in employee engagement  

Employee engagement impacts performance―more engaged employees perform better, while less engaged employees are more likely to be absent from work. Engagement even improves family life.

Employee engagement in the charity sector is high, but not everyone is equally engaged. There are challenges for employees over 45, employees with a disability and those who have been in their organisation for over three years.

Engagement really matters. 80% of job seekers cite the values of a future employer as key criteria to consider when applying for a job, and 45% would think about quitting a job if an employers’ values didn’t align with their own.

So let’s look at how to improve employee engagement.

Tips to improve employee engagement 

Do you sense that there may be a need to improve employee engagement at your charity? Perhaps you‘ve even conducted a survey which has proven this to be the case? The good news is that there are many ways you can boost motivation and productivity and reverse any negative trends. Here are some tips that will help you improve employee engagement at your organisation.

1. Build trustworthy leadership

If you want to improve employee engagement, you need to build trust between your employees and the organisation. When your employees trust the senior leaders in your organisation, they’re much more likely to stay at your charity and contribute their time and energy to your cause. One key way to build trust is through open channels of communication. If you don’t already have regular monthly or quarterly catch-ups for the whole organisation, consider setting these up.

Building trust includes sharing both good and bad news. So, when you’re presenting stats about your performance, don’t focus solely on the positives. Perhaps your donor income is down? Or you’re behind on setting up the events that you’d planned for this quarter? Be honest about these things and talk about measures each team is taking to address them.

Be open about your plans for the future, and set achievable goals for the charity which you can regularly check performance against.

2. Show that you’re embracing diversity 

Research has shown that diversity and inclusion can improve employee engagement.  One way of embracing inclusion is by eliminating bias from your recruitment.

Have you tried CharityJob Recruiter? We launched the sector’s first anonymous hiring tool, which will go a long way in helping you to achieve your diversity pledges. It’s available free of charge to all charities posting jobs with us. Recruiters have the option to anonymise the applications they receive for a role, removing key personal details such as names and email addresses until first contact with the applicant.

3. Set realistic goals  

Linked to communication, another way to improve employee engagement is to set realistic goals for the organisation as a whole and for individual teams. Show how each employee will contribute to these to give them a strong insight into the importance of their role.

Employee engagement is often low if employees get the idea that goals aren’t achievable or that there aren’t enough plans set in motion to ensure their continuity. So be sure to regularly review targets and address any challenges that you come up against.

4. Offer flexibility 

Many employees and organisations now believe that flexible working improves employee productivity and morale. During the pandemic, many employers embraced remote work and in doing so gave employees greater flexibility with their hours, which was positively received. Now that things are relatively back to normal, it could be a good idea to survey your employees to find out about their preferences. You could ask the following questions:

• How many days a week would you like to work from the office vs. remotely?
• Would you benefit from a meeting-free day?
• During which times of day do you feel that you’re most productive?

If your employees understand you’re willing to be flexible and allow them time for both their work and personal lives, they’re much more likely to stay with your charity for longer, and to recommend it to their contacts as a great place to work.

5. Empower your employees 

As a charity, you work towards empowering others to achieve their life’s goals. It’s only fair to do the same for your employees, too.

Empowering your employees includes:

• including them in decision-making around team targets
• giving them access to the documents, tools and training they need
• allowing them to voice their opinions without fear of consequences.

74% of employees feel more engaged and motivated at work when they feel that their opinions matter.

Put in the effort and you’ll reap the rewards 

There are many things you can do to improve employee engagement, which are all ultimately down to creating a culture of trust and empowerment. Put some of these measures into action and you’ll soon reap the rewards of a positive and motivated workforce.

CharityJob Recruiter allows you remove unconscious bias from the recruitment process and easily select, filter and communicate with candidates throughout all stages. Why not try it today? It’s free with every job posted.

This post was originally published in 2021 and has been updated to ensure relevance and to reflect the current job seeker experience.