Why does employee engagement matter? No matter how involved you are in the day-to-day operations of your water damage restoration company, the front line of your company will ultimately determine the reputation of your business.
These employees are the face of your business, they’re the individuals who answer calls, carry out restoration tasks, and interact with your clients. When they’re engaged, they create an image of a business that cares about what they do and who they serve. When they’re not engaged, they could be projecting frustration, boredom, exhaustion, and more to the people who matter most to your business.
So how do you heal company culture when your employees aren’t engaged? And what can you do for employee engagement when your budget is tight? Here are five low-cost ways to improve employee engagement.
Make a Big Gesture
If you’ve failed to encourage employee engagement in the past, it’s time to own up to your downfalls. Make a big gesture like an employee town hall and be open and honest about the shortcomings you see in the company culture, your role in those shortcomings, and how you hope to change things moving forward.
Don’t forget to make space for feedback! Open communication is a two-way street, so devote at least half an hour of the meeting to asking for employees to suggest ideas for improving engagement. Listen well, take notes, and implement the ideas provided by your team members.
Schedule Weekly One-on-Ones
Big gestures make a statement, but a town hall meeting will seem like nothing but lip service if you don’t follow it up with action. One of the best habits a business owner can get into is regular, one-on-one conversations with their employees. Don’t wait for your employees to come to you.
In your schedule set aside time weekly for a quick one-on-one. This can be done over coffee, over lunch, or even in more casual settings like an informal chat in the break room. Track who you are speaking with, what is discussed, and what ideas your employees are bringing to the table. Make these meetings about listening to your employees, not making a point. They will feel valued and you will be given the opportunity to understand them better.
Make Their Job Uncomplicated
There are certain things every employee in your water damage restoration business needs to have provided for them so they can do their job well. There is nothing quite as a frustrating for an employee than realizing that your employer hasn’t equipped you well.
If your employees aren’t engaged, consider that they might be frustrated. Have you provided them with adequate training? Is their equipment well maintained? Have you kept staffing high enough to meet the demand of business or are they stretched too thin? These shortcomings are simple fixes and will make your employees incredibly happy.
Reward Them for Their Work
We know that many employers avoid rewarding their employees for improvement because they are concerned about the financial implications. Raises and bonuses can be costly for new business with a limited budget.
There are ways to reward your employees without messing up your budget. Two popular approaches are with time off and commission. Rewarding high performing employees with extra time off will certainly cost you money, but not a lot. This can be a good incitive for meeting new goals as a company. For sales individuals, offering a commission is a really straightforward approach to rewards. When they earn your company more money, they can earn more, too!
Make it Personal
Sometimes in our efforts to keep our work life professional, we forget that the employees working for us are real people with lives outside of work. We all want a professional environment to work in, but we also don’t want something so sterile and detached that we feel invisible.
Know your employees, not just in their role in your company, but also who they are outside of work. Do they have kids? Ask about them. How do they spend their free time? Talk about that.
You can also foster connections with employees by planning social time outside of work hours. Buy everyone coffee during an early morning meetup, order pizza to be delivered on Friday right after the close of business. Take these chances to loosen up, be yourself, and get to know the people on your team.
At More Floods, we help business owners creating water damage restoration companies that grow. We do this by connecting them with resources and training that make day-to-day operations, including encouraging employee engagement, automatic. To learn more about joining our network, click here or call 1-866-667-3356.