How print can increase employee engagement
It's what every leader hopes for: a highly engaged team who are productive and make customers happy. More engaged employees also tend to be happier and healthier overall, resulting in less sick leave, as well as being loyal to the business and to their team. Read on to learn how print can help you get there.
Two-way communication
One of the most effective ways to increase engagement is to make your employees feel heard and to be transparent with them. This kind of two-way communication is important from the very beginning and should be ongoing. It makes your employees feel that their voice matters and it can help build a trusting employee-employer relationship.
However, great communication can be surprisingly tricky. One way for your organisation to practise good communication is by producing visual communication tools that can't be missed and by distributing them among your staff.
These can include:
- Onboarding materials that clearly communicate the company's purpose, and the employee's role within that.
- Feedback opportunities, such as surveys and question cards.
- Printed training material for managers, covering how to improve their team's engagement levels.
Encouragement to achieve
When your staff has common goals and a purpose, they're more likely to be part of the team. First, though, you should help them see what those goals are. And while some may be content with a verbal brief on the matter, everyone can benefit from decorative, visual reminders in the long run.
You can keep team and personal goals front of mind with:
- Visual reminders of team goals, placed around the office (for example, in the form of removable wall prints).
- Awards or certificates when milestones are achieved.
- Vouchers and gift cards as employee rewards.
Connection matters
A highly engaged employee has a strong connection with their team. They enjoy working together and thrive on forging strong professional relationships. As such, they create a sense of cohesion that increases their engagement.
You can nurture this through:
- Simple acts of recognition, like thank-you cards.
- Encouraging team members to purposefully interact, perhaps by providing 'random acts of kindness' cards to hand out to each other.
- Invitations to regular social gatherings, with posters promoting them.
Bring your values to life
It's tempting to save your best impressions for your clients. They are, after all, the ones who make your business profitable. However, as Richard Branson said, "If you can put your staff first your customers do better and your staff are happy."
Every interaction with your employees is an opportunity to engage them. If your interactions continue to represent your brand values and make your employees feel part of something, they're more likely to be engaged.
You can try:
- Sticking your core value words onto the office walls.
- Nomination cards for employees who display the company values.
- Ensuring the values are printed on all correspondence with your employees.
Every organisation wants highly engaged employees, and print can help you get there if you're willing to think just a little outside the square.
Contact our experts at your local Snap Centre for more advice on how to spruce up your internal communications.