What’s the secret to employee engagement?

More and more companies are beginning to realize that the U.S. workforce is changing, and that it is important for employees to feel valued in their roles. A shocking survey conducted by Officevibe, an employee survey tool, unveiled that 88 percent of employees don’t have a passion for their work. You might say, well a job pays the bills, you’re not supposed to be passionate about it.

The problem is that employees who don’t have a passion for their work become disengaged and much less productive. In fact, the same survey said that employee disengagement costs $500 billion per year to the U.S. economy. Think how much of that could be coming from your own company’s revenue each year— probably more than you’d like.

So what can companies do to keep employees engaged and, in turn, satisfied with their job?

1. Give your employees room to grow and goals to reach. You should sit down and discuss your employees’ personal goals for growth, and then also tell them your expectations or where they have room to grow. Keeping track of personal goals will help an employee feel like they are accomplishing something important and help them stay on track with productivity. Celebrate reached goals to give them even more motivation to keep doing good work, and overall improve the moral of the office by recognizing their achievements.
2. Be available to your employees. Be an approachable manager so your employees feel like they can discuss goals or problems with you. If they know they can come to you for help or an extra push, they won’t feel like giving up if they hit a snag.
3. Share the company vision. When your employees are on the same page as management, a common goal is shared and work becomes cohesive. Let it be known where the company is headed and how they can help it get there. Let them know why these goals are important as a whole and individually.
4. Be transparent. It is so important for employees to know that they can trust you. Trust directly correlates to happiness and respect, but is actually lacking in many employee-management relationships. If they know what is going on in the company and management, they will have a clearer picture of their role in the grand scheme and will feel more invested in their work.