In every workplace, the organization's success relies on the people who are a part of it. Not the tools, work processes, or resources but the people. This is why the more involved your employees are, the better for your organization.
Simon Sinek, renowned author and founder of the Optimism Company, says, “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.”
These words highlight the critical role that employee involvement plays in the success of your organization. From low turnover rates to high profitability, there are several benefits to ensuring they actively participate in the workplace.
We'll discuss what employee involvement means for organizations, the benefits of improving it, strategies to help you increase those engagement numbers, and examples of how companies do it successfully.
What is employee involvement?
Employee involvement has many definitions. While some describe it as allowing employees to voice their opinions, others say it's about aligning them with the organization's values and mission. As long as employees are invested in your organization's mission and take the initiative to be actively involved at work and other events, they're engaged.
This means you need to implement the right structures and processes to ensure they can contribute, participate, and control their work.
For instance, if a new project is coming up, your team members should be aware of their responsibilities and contribute ideas to improve the project's outcomes. If you find yourself micromanaging them or following up to get their initial inputs, they're not as involved as you think.
There are several initiatives you can implement to increase involvement:
- Suggestion systems to gather anonymous feedback
- Safety committees to monitor labor practices
- Work-life programs to improve performance
- Flatter hierarchical structure to encourage collaboration
- Continuous improvement teams to improve efficiency
The goal is to show employees you care for their growth and well-being, encouraging them to care about company goals.
Benefits of employee involvement in the workplace
From higher morale to healthier relationships, there are many advantages to improving employee involvement. Let’s look at what they are:
Improve employee morale
Employees who have a voice are more likely to be engaged and invested in their work. It happens when they know their contributions matter and help the overarching goals of the company. As a result, it improves their job satisfaction and creates a sense of ownership and pride in their work—ultimately improving morale.
Increased workplace productivity
A key factor in increasing employee productivity at the workplace is ensuring that employees feel valued. A 2020 study found that any form of employee involvement practice can increase productivity. When you allow them to be involved in the day-to-day activities, they're more invested and go the extra mile to get the job done.
Better change management capabilities
These days, change is considered the only constant in a business environment. Agile and adaptable companies perform better but can only do that with their employees. Including them in the change process makes it easier to get buy-in from the workforce, resulting in them being more supportive of change initiatives.
Healthier peer-to-peer relationships
Employees build stronger bonds when they constantly work together on various projects and initiatives. This happens as they're brainstorming together and making organizational decisions, resulting in a transparent culture that fosters open communication. Ultimately, employees are more understanding of each other's opinions and decisions, leading to healthier relationships.
Greater innovation capabilities
With more involved and engaged employees, you tap into diverse perspectives and ideas. This culminates in a culture encouraging experimentation and healthy risk-taking, resulting in higher innovation potential. It gives your organization a competitive advantage, leading to success.
Strategies to improve employee involvement
Now that you know the benefits of encouraging employee involvement, let's review a few strategies that allow you to do that:
Conduct regular employee surveys to gauge engagement
If you’re struggling with a drop in employee engagement rates, conduct a survey to gauge the pulse of the workplace. There’s no way to determine what’s causing that unless you speak to your employees, so deploy a pulse survey every month or a long survey every quarter to gather feedback.
It'll help management understand their employees' concerns and identify improvement areas. The specificity of the responses also guides the types of involvement strategies you implement. It also gives you specific metrics to track that make it easier to quantify vague employee performance indicators like engagement and involvement.
Organize team-building activities and summits
Give your employees a chance to move away from work and get to know their co-workers better. Organizing regular team-building activities is an excellent way to do it.
Bea Gutiérrez, head of people at Z1, recommends conducting them at least once a year. At Z1, they organize two summits each at Seville (their headquarters). According to Gutiérrez, the bonds that emerge from those days last the longest.
It also gives employees a much-needed break from work, leading to increased morale and productivity.
Ensure that leadership is active and present
It's crucial that senior leadership is visible, as many employees tend to make decisions based on the behavior of their leaders. A recent report found that 29% of executives think that a belief in the senior leadership team is responsible for driving retention in their company.
Grace He, the people and culture director at teambuilding.com, believes that "absentee leaders" erode employee satisfaction the most. This is why having an active and empathetic leadership team is essential. Employees are more likely to listen to them and become more involved.
Provide a financial incentive for better performance
Another way to ensure that employees are invested in your company's growth is to make them a part of it. By that, we mean providing financial incentives encouraging them to work toward the company's objectives.
Glen Bhimani, CEO of BPS Security, says, "I've seen it happen in several companies where a profit share was instituted (which may not be feasible for you as a human resources specialist to institute but could be something to work toward), and the employees immediately became more engaged and involved with the company."
Create your own unique working environment
Every organization is implementing common initiatives like virtual water cooler chats or personal development programs. But very few are investing resources into creating their unique program.
Companies like Peppercomm provide standup comedy training as part of their onboarding process. Its leadership strongly believes in using humor as a catalyst for client relationships, so training new employees on it helps them replicate that experience across the board.
So create your own unique working environment that reflects your culture and values—making it easier for employees to get involved.
Examples of successful employee involvement programs
If you’re looking for inspiration for your next employee involvement initiative, here’s what top executives have found success with:
1. Curate an incentive scheme
Everybody loves being recognized for their contributions at work. This is why it’s best to create an incentive scheme to keep employees engaged and actively involved. Only 52.6% of full-time employees tend to have such programs, indicating a need for them.
When Loopex Digital faced low engagement rates, they created a program that included bonuses, promotions, and public acknowledgment of individual/team achievements. It increased its employee involvement rate by 15% in six months.
Maria Harutyunyan, co-founder and head of SEO of Loopex Digital, says, "By providing meaningful incentives to employees, they are empowered to make a difference in their companies with tangible results—driving further motivation and employee commitment."
2. Create 1:1 mentorship or support pairings
As most junior employees need support when starting, implementing a mentorship or support program would be a good strategy.
At Poll Everywhere, we pair new hires with a teammate to ensure intentional connection and easy integration into the company.
On the other hand, companies like Nadrich & Cohen Accident Injury Lawyers pair junior associates with experienced partners for support and advice. This program led to a 15% increase in retention rates and positive employee feedback.
3. Invest in your employees’ needs
It's important to note that the needs of individual employees can differ, and you need to check in regularly to understand them. When you do that, it's easier to increase employee involvement and overall retention rates.
For instance, Peter Hoopis, owner and CEO of Peter Hoopis Ventures and Hoopis Group, conducted an internal survey to determine what his employees needed. Based on the data, he implemented more flexible work arrangements and personal development training. Eventually, their employee retention rate increased from 86% to 94%.
If you’re looking for a survey tool that’s easy to deploy and gather feedback, consider using Poll Everywhere.
Improve your employee involvement rates with Poll Everywhere
Employee involvement is a critical component of a successful and thriving workplace. By involving employees in the decision-making process and creating a culture of collaboration, you can ensure the long-term success of your organization.
You can do this by implementing feedback mechanisms, reward programs, or even creating your own version of a thriving workplace. Ultimately, these can increase morale and productivity, resulting in a more engaged and invested workforce.
If you're looking for a tool to help you gather feedback, Poll Everywhere is a perfect choice. It allows you to create pulse surveys that can be shared using links or email, making it easy to reach the entire workforce without too much effort.
Plus, they're easy to create and respond to, so response rates are high. You can access an automated summary report that shows you the most common responses—helping you drill down on the current needs of your employees.
If you’re ready to start understanding aspects that would increase your employee involvement rates, sign up for Poll Everywhere today.