You hear it more and more often: employees drop out with burnout symptoms. They experience increasing work pressure and less autonomy at work, are emotionally exhausted and feel "empty" after a day's work. The percentage of employees with burnout complaints (absenteeism rate) actually increased by 5% from 2007 to 2017, indicates research by TNO reveals. Work pressure is often the problem, but without work pressure, boredom strikes quickly. So a middle ground must be found. A good atmosphere, room for participation and opportunities for growth appear to be crucial here. Do you meet all these elements? Then you (probably) have inspired and involved employees. But how do you create that?
Satisfied, inspired and engaged employees
First, we would like to explain to you the difference between satisfied employees, engaged employees and committed employees. It sounds great if you have satisfied employees, but that does not mean that satisfied employees actually contribute something to your organization. An employee can be very satisfied because he/she has pleasant colleagues, gets to work from home once in a while and has a break four times a day. But that does not mean that he/she is doing his/her job well and contributing something to the organization. By inspired employees we mean employees who have heart for the work they do. This gives energy and they will therefore put everything aside to accomplish their tasks to the best of their ability. Engaged employees are employees with a heart for the organization. They feel connected to the company they work for and are in the right place.
Inspired and engaged employees
What you ultimately want is a combination of inspired and engaged employees. Employees who love the work they do, but certainly with heart for the organization. Are they not involved? Then they will quickly leave your organization through the back door once they have found an organization that suits them better or has better conditions. So the goal is to ensure that employees can do their job as well as possible and become better at it, as well as having a heart for the business. For example, Professor of Occupational Psychology Wilmar Schaufeli conducted research at several hospital intensive care units in Europe. What emerged? In the hospitals where nurses were more involved in their work, more patients were found to survive.
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Reduce absenteeism rates with engagement
Research ( Employee Engagement Index ) has shown that engagement is directly related to productivity. In fact, engaged employees are 21% more productive than non-engaged employees. In addition, employee turnover is lower when you have inspired and engaged employees. And so there is less need to invest in the whole process of recruitment and selection. Finally, there is much less absenteeism in organizations with engaged and inspired employees. Because they enjoy going to work more and get energy from the work they do, they are less likely to end up in a burn-out and absenteeism. Just a small calculation: The average absenteeism rate in the Netherlands is 4.4% , according to CBS . When someone drops out, you are obliged to continue paying him/her 70%. There are also costs for replacement, loss of production, health and safety services and reintegration costs. We give you an example calculation based on an organization of 500 employees. Can you reduce the absenteeism percentage by 1%? Then that can already save €282,459 (see calculation example below).
How do you create inspired and engaged employees?
Of course that sounds like music to your ears when we say that you can cut so much money back by reducing your absenteeism rate, but how do you do it? We'll give you three tips:
1. Continuous feedback
We humans all get a kick out of getting recognition for something we have done well. We prefer to know at any time of the day how we are doing and how we can improve ourselves. Don't you get to hear this? Then you remain stagnant. And standing still is going backwards in this rapidly changing world. Research has shown that 87% of employees want to continue to develop. Yet only one-third get the feedback they need to develop. So feedback is crucial, and not once a year in the performance review , but continuously throughout the year. Thus, scientist Tom Stafford said that feedback is the essence of intelligence. Feedback, according to Stafford, allows us to become more than simple programs with simple reflexes. We can develop more complex responses to the environment, and it enables us to achieve a goal. And achieving goals is energizing!
2. Setting goals
Employees want more freedom and responsibility, according to a Gallup survey. In many organizations, goals are still imposed by the organization. They determine who does what and what the associated goals are. Give employees more responsibility in this and let them set their own goals. By clearly telling them what the organizational goals are, they can adjust their personal and team goals accordingly. This way they see that they are contributing to the higher goal of the organization, and as a result they feel much more involved.
3. Lifelong learning
In the past, people looked for security and retirement. Today, one of the most important requirements is personal development. There is less focus on finding a job where you want to stay for 30 years, and more on developing skills. Consequently, the younger generation sees a job more as an intermediate station, rather than an end station. So lifelong learning is becoming increasingly important. In fact, it is one of the most important requirements when employees look for a new job. People are constantly looking for how something can be done faster, better and even easier. Can't they develop enough? Then they will soon be bored and move on to the next intermediate station. So make sure you give employees the opportunity to engage in this. Discuss with them how they want to do this themselves, ask what they need from the organization and what this will deliver for the organization.
A tool to support
For any agile organization, it is important to support a new way of working with a good tool . For the younger generation, this really is a must. They have grown up with technology and know all too well how to use it. If you want to lower your absenteeism rate, a tool can certainly help you with that. It is important that you do not see the tool as an end in itself, but rather as a means to an end. To begin with, it is important that all employees are aware of your common goal. What are you all working toward together? Winning from the competition? To innovate? Internationalize. Whatever the objective is, put it at the center and adjust your working method accordingly. Only when the way of working is shaped can you look for a tool like Treams to support this. Ultimately, a tool ensures that it becomes accessible, that you can ask and give feedback at any time of the day, that you can divide your personal development into small steps and that you have everything transparent in one place.
How to keep employees engaged in times of corona? You can read it here .