7 Ways to Improve Employee Engagement in Nonprofits
Engaged employees are the pillars of any nonprofit’s growth and success. They are likely to stay longer and act as advocates of the organisation. Additionally, research says that engaged employees are far more productive than disengaged employees. Also, it helps in higher employee retention, lower absenteeism and increased employee productivity.
Below are some interesting statistics on employee engagement in UK:
Nearly all UK workers (90 per cent) are not enthused by their work and workplace
The UK rate of engagement at work (10 per cent) remains one of the lowest in Europe
Nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of UK professionals reporting feeling angry at work
The majority of Brits (76%) label themselves as quiet quitters which is significantly higher than the rest of the world (59%).
Source:
Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace 2023 Report
What is Employee Engagement?
Employee engagement describes the level of enthusiasm, motivation and involvement of an employee towards their job and at the workplace. However this cannot be related with employee happiness or employee satisfaction. Many times employees are happy at work, but not necessarily fully engaged.
Here are 7 ways to boost nonprofit’s employee engagement:
1) Offer innovative and challenging role
Make sure that roles offered to your employees are meaningful and challenging so that they are excited with their work. Ofcourse, it should be in-line to their interests and skill sets but at the same time, there is an opportunity to explore new skills and experience. By this way they will feel valued and appreciated.
2) Build transparency at every level
Transparency is key to build trust and make employees feel involved in the organisation. Also, include your employees in decision making and goal setting. Do share regular updates on what all is happening and ask for their feedback.
3) Encourage internal communication
Internal communication with volunteers, employees, and stakeholders is key for the growth and success of any nonprofit organisation. It is as important as you communicate with donors and beneficiaries. Having a clear and efficient internal communication helps to align all team members with the organisation's vision, mission and core values. For this, you can make use of free / paid internal communication tools to help employees, volunteers and stakeholders to effectively communicate and collaborate on projects.
4) Start an employee recognition program
Employee recognition programs are a great way for nonprofits to recognize the hard work of their employees and reward them. This helps to boost teamwork, increase productivity, reduce employee churn, enhance work satisfaction, improve employee morale and make employees feel valued.
5) Focus on employee wellbeing
No nonprofit organisation can perform better unless their employees are focused, healthy and motivated. Employee wellbeing is just about physical health, it also covers emotional health, financial stability, social relationships and psychological well being. By focusing on employee wellbeing not only makes employees happy, but also reduces their stress, increases job satisfaction and creates positivity.
6) Encourage a better work-life balance
Work-life balance is just beyond the time at work and time at home. Any good nonprofit organisation puts its employees first over anything else, knows about their work-life needs and then tries to fulfil them to the best possible. This makes employees feel valued, more incharge of their working life with improved physical, emotional and mental health.
7) Empower your employees
Just having the right team with the right skills is not enough to make your nonprofit successful. You need to empower your employees with required tools & technologies, foster open communication and give them freedom to make decisions or take required steps to achieve their goals.