5 Reasons Your Workforce Isn’t Engaged and What to Do about It

Thanks to the width and breadth of online marketing guides, you likely understand the importance of engaging your target audience. Through blogs and social media, infographics and email newsletters, you can encourage your core customers to continue supporting your business. Yet, while you are expending so much energy trying to keep your customers coming back, what are you doing to keep your workforce content and committed?

Employee engagement is just as important as customer engagement, but many business owners fail to engage their workforce effectively. Engaged workers are more productive, have higher morale, and are more loyal to their employers, which reduces turnover rate and improves a business’s bottom line. If employee engagement hasn’t been among your chief leadership concerns, here are six reasons your workforce might not be as engaged as it should be.

There Isn’t Consistency in Leadership Style

There are hundreds of ways to be a leader, and there are dozens of leadership styles that help leaders become great. Unfortunately, if you don’t have a strong and stable leadership style, your workforce might be confused, frustrated, and disengaged from the business.

Workers thrive on consistency, which means the more often you change your attitude or behavior, the less likely your employees are to feel comfortable and engaged. If you weren’t certain whether your boss would reward you or reprimand you for the work you completed, would you be excited to clock in every day? Though different situations might necessitate a different leadership style, your day-to-day leadership should be relatively predictable, so your workforce will be able to sink into a relaxed and secure engagement.

They Don’t Understand Business Goals

Individual workers have individual goals: to complete their daily work and long-term projects as well as achieve raises, earn promotions, and generally excel in their careers. However, businesses should have overarching goals, as well, such as improving efficiency or decreasing expenses. If your workforce doesn’t know or understand your broader goals, your workers won’t be working with shared purpose, and they will fail to become engaged with your business.

To resolve this, you must ensure your workforce is aware of and working toward your overall business objectives. You might consider hiring a noteworthy business speaker like Trish Regan to explain the purpose of common goals and the benefits of engagement with one’s employer. Then, whenever your business goals change, you should host meetings and distribute information to keep your workforce informed and working toward the same thing.

They Don’t Recognize Business Successes

When your workforce isn’t informed, your workers don’t know when business is booming ― or when it is about to go bust. Uncertainty is one of the worst qualities in employees because it breeds insecurity and disloyalty. Simply put, an uninformed worker isn’t engaged, which means an ignorant workforce has expensively low retention rates.

Fortunately, it is easy to tell your workforce when their hard work pays off. As soon as you achieve a shared goal ― from those at the team level to those company-wide ― you should organize a celebration. Whether it is an entire day devoted to reveling in your successes or a half-hour at the end of the week, a party will raise your employees’ spirits by keeping them informed and engaged with company achievements.

There Aren’t Opportunities for Employees to Grow

If a position opened above you and management went with an outside hire, you might be disappointed. If this scenario occurred over and over again, you might become irate. Employees want opportunities to grow ― professionally and personally ― and when they are consistently denied, they will seek such opportunities elsewhere.

“Growth” doesn’t necessarily mean a promotion. Some employees are perfectly happy with their current positions, but they would like additional responsibilities or benefits as they excel at their jobs. Refusing to accommodate wishes or encourage ambitions is a recipe for disengagement and a disappearing workforce.

They Don’t Feel Good About the Company Image

It is possible to engage workers and consumers with a single marketing stroke. Excellent branding improves the reputation of a company, inspiring consumers to buy and boosting employee spirits. Often, employees will receive recognition and praise for being associated with a positive brand, which encourages them to feel more connected to their company. Therefore, any efforts you make to improve your business’s brand image will have effects on the engagement of your workforce.

Jackie Roberson is a content coordinator and contributor who creates quality articles for topics like technology, home life, and education. She studied business management and is continually building positive relationships with other publishers and the Internet community.