Best Practices to Engage Employees in the Workplace

Employee engagement is a concept that focuses on defining and describing the relationship between an organization and the employees. Employees plays a significant role in an organization as they take part in defining the performance of an organization based on their individual productivity. Employee engagement is important as it helps to ensure that employees feel passionate about their jobs and that they are committed to increasing their level of productivity. To capitalize on the effective engagement of the employees, it is necessary for an organization to focus on the implementation of strategies and measures to help in ensuring that employees feel good about their position and their roles in an organization. Some of the benefits associated with engagement include increased motivation and satisfaction, higher productivity, and increased employee loyalty (Tripathi, & Sharma, 2016). Employee engagement does not only impact the individual performance of the employees but it also helps to improve the overall performance of an organization.

Best Practices to Engage Employees 

The implementation of best practices the help to ensure that employees feel to be part of the organization. The first best practice for employee engagement involves encouraging teamwork among the employees. Teamwork is an important organizational strategy that helps to ensure that employees within the teams interact though engaging in a wide range of activities purposed to enhance individual productivity. (Mone, London, & Mone, 2018). Firstly, it is necessary to note the fact that teamwork helps to encourage competition, which is a primary factor that enhances individual productivity. Secondly, teams serve as a source of motivation for the employees considering the activities conducted within the team that focuses on building individual strengths. The development of teamwork strategies in an organization helps to develop a strong sense of purpose among the employees thus improving their individual connection with an organization. Ultimately, the employee teams help to improve on engagement levels in the society and encourages the commitment in individual roles and responsibility in the workplace.

The second practice that is necessary for promoting employee engagement involves the implementation of recognition measures in the workplace. Employee recognition is a vital aspect of engaging the employees as it focuses on the acknowledgment of a job done by the employees (Markos & Sridevi, 2010). Recognizing the individual efforts of the employees helps not only as a motivation but also as a tool for increasing the level of engagement in the workplace. The practices associated with employee engagement range from words of acknowledgment to the provision of monetary bonuses. The practice of recognizing employees helps in the process of boosting their individual morale considering that their efforts are acknowledged. Another major impact of employee recognition in the workplace involves the development of positive attitudes towards the management and leaders of the organization. An organization that practices different measures concerning the recognition of the employees tend to have a well-established relationship with the employees, which is a key factor that enhances productivity in an organization.

How Apple Inc.’s Organizational Practices compare to the Two Best Practices 

In Apple Inc. Company, there are measures put in place to foster good relationships between the organization and the employees. The company maintains that employee engagement is a primary factor that helps to capitalize on employee retention. The best practices implemented by the company to promote employee engagement include ensuring that the employees have a voice in the organization. The company focuses on ensuring that employees have a platform to present their concerns in the workplace. The management, on the other hand, is mandated to listen to the employees considering that they are an important part of the organization. The given measure to enhance employee engagement compares with the mentioned best practices considering the main objective of ensuring that employees feel valued as part of the organization (Shuck, Reio Jr, & Rocco, 2011). However, there is a major contrast considering that the measure focuses more on enhancing communication while the best practices focus on higher employee satisfaction through engagement.

The second measure implemented by the company to foster an effective engagement process involves sharing good practices and ideas between teams. The company considers employees as an important part of the organization considering that their individual productivity has an integral role in defining the organization's growth and development. Sharing of ideas and good practices within teams of employees is a vital aspect that helps towards increasing engagement of the employees considering that they feel valued and appreciated in the workplace. The measure of encouraging and sharing ideas among the teams within the company helps to increase employee connection and appreciation of their role and responsibility in the workplace. The measure compares with best practices defined above considering that aim is to enhance engagement among the employees and an organization. Additionally, the practice helps to increase employee loyalty, which a similar objective to that of the best practices for employee engagement.

Recommendations for Apple Inc. 

Considering the current measures implemented within Apple Inc. Company, it is important to focus on establishing new practices that may help in promoting effectiveness in the level of employee engagement. The first recommendation for the company would be the need to focus on increasing the flexibility of the employees working within the company. Flexibility is an important aspect of an organization as it enables the employees to have the ability and freedom to adjust their work schedules (Shuck, Reio Jr, & Rocco, 2011). The freedom to make different decisions and choices in the workplace helps to ensure that the employees gain confidence with the management considering that they are trusted. Most companies with effective engagement strategies tend to have an established relationship with the employees, which is the basis for increased productivity in the workplace. The implementation of the given measure may help the company to deal with a wide range of challenges concerning employee retention because of a lack of employee engagement.

The second recommendation for the company to enhance employee engagement includes mentoring the employees. The management of the organization should focus on the implementation of measures to mentor their employees by being role models. Employees require mentoring to help them appreciate their position and roles in the organization. The company should, therefore, focus on the implementation of proper mentorship programs to enable the employees to appreciate their input in the organization. Lastly, the company should focus on the implementation of recognition strategies as a measure to increase the level of employee engagement. Recognition of the employees helps to make them feel appreciated through the acknowledgment of their individual contribution to the organization. The ability to show gratitude regularly to the employees helps to increase their level of satisfaction, which helps towards increasing employee loyalty. The company should invest in measures such as monetary rewards for the employees who have outstanding performance in their departments.

Insights Gained into Employee Engagement 

Through the implementation of strategies to improve employee engagement, an organization may notice positive changes associated with the behavior of the employees and the overall productivity of an organization. The primary indicator of an effective employee engagement measure includes high rates of employee retention and low turnover rates. Employee retention is a major challenge facing most organizations considering external and internal forces such as competition in an industry. Organizations tend to compete for employees with better skills and qualifications thus increasing turnover rates. The implementation of effective strategies to promote engagement of the employees helps to increases the satisfaction and confidence of the employees thus leading to retention (Tripathi, & Sharma, 2016). The second aspect that indicates the success of engagement strategies include high employee loyalty and satisfaction. The level of employee loyalty is an indicator of the effectiveness of the organization to better the relationship between the employee and management. Through employee loyalty and satisfaction, a company experiences fewer cases of absenteeism and lateness considering that the employees motivated to work.

Leaders have a significant role in increasing the level of engagement of the employees in the organization. Firstly, leaders should focus on motivating and empowering the employees to put more effort to enhance their productivity level. Considering that leaders have a close interaction with the employees, it is possible that they focus on the implementation of motivation strategies to enable employees to feel a greater sense of connection with the organization. The second important factor involves enhancing communication between the leaders and the employees. Ariani (2013) communication is a vital aspect that helps to enhance the level of employee engagement in an organization. The leaders should focus on the establishment of proper communication channels to enable employees to present their individual concerns regarding the issues affecting the smooth running of an organization.

Conclusion 

Employee engagement is important as it helps to ensure that employees feel passionate about their jobs and that they are committed to increasing their level of productivity. The first best practice for employee engagement involves encouraging teamwork among the employees. The second practice that is necessary for promoting employee engagement involves the implementation of recognition measures in the workplace. Flexibility is an important aspect of an organization as it enables the employees to have the ability and freedom to adjust their work schedules. Recognition of the employees helps to make them feel appreciated through the acknowledgment of their individual contribution to the organization. The primary indicator of an effective employee engagement measure includes high rates of employee retention and low turnover rates.

References 

Ariani, D. W. (2013). The relationship between employee engagement, organizational citizenship behavior, and counterproductive work behavior.  International Journal of Business Administration ,  4 (2), 46-66. http://dx.doi.org/10.5430/ijba.v4n2p46

Markos, S., & Sridevi, M. S. (2010). Employee engagement: The key to improving performance.  International journal of business and management ,  5 (12), 89-99. doi: 10.5539/ijbm.v5n12p89

Mone, E. M., London, M., & Mone, E. M. (2018).  Employee engagement through effective performance management: A practical guide for managers . Routledge.

Shuck, B., Reio Jr, T. G., & Rocco, T. S. (2011). Employee engagement: An examination of antecedent and outcome variables.  Human resource development international ,  14 (4), 427-445. doi: 10.1080/13678868.2011.601587

Tripathi, J. P. & Sharma, S. (2016). The key to improve performance: Employee engagement. IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM), 18 (10), 19-25. doi: 10.9790/487X-1810041925