Q2 2019: HR BRIEF

Communication and Employee Engagement

A recent survey by professional services firm Aon found that employee engagement improved globally to 65 per cent from 63 per cent. Canada, however, saw a decrease to 69 per cent from 70 per cent. This should alarm employers across the country, as low engagement means employees are not committed to their own success in the workplace.

Investing in employee engagement might seem unjustifiable for a business that is focused solely on profits, as it might not recognize the benefits of engaged employees. One simple and cost-effective way that you can improve employee engagement at your organization is by improving and expanding your communications strategies.

Typical benefits and workplace communications can be bland and difficult to understand, but they don’t have to be. The key messages for each topic in an effective communications plan should be simple, relatable and actionable—and presented in a variety of content formats that you can use to communicate through multiple channels.

By implementing a multichannel communication strategy, where you use posters, emails, flyers and videos to communicate company and benefits information, your message will reach more employees. This will help employees feel more informed about your company, which, in turn, will improve their workplace engagement.

Recruiting From Within

Recruiting new talent can be time-consuming, and leaving positions vacant may become costly and impact productivity of other employees. An alternative to hiring new employees is recruiting from within your company. Recruiting from within is a thoroughly rewarding process, both for your organization and your employees. Here are some tips to help guide you:

• Open available positions to all of your employees via your company intranet site or career site. Also, consider offering an internal job fair to promote open positions.
• Offer job shadowing programs where employees can learn the skills of others to eventually transition into a different position.
• Create a policy or a standard on how long someone must reside in his or her current position before being promoted or moved to another position.
• Consider requiring employees to notify their current supervisor before applying for a new internal position.
• Clearly communicate the internal application process and policy to your employees, and be consistent in implementing the policy with all applicants.

By recruiting from within, top performing employees are encouraged to flourish along with the company and contribute to its success.

© 2019 Zywave, Inc. All rights reserved.