Employee Engagement Matters
Several businesses got an opportunity to receive invaluable information and strategies on how to improve employee engagement.
Spark Solution’s Genelle Payant and Cindy Simmons, leader for risk services at Henderson Insurance led a presentation hosted by the Moose Jaw & District Chamber of Commerce to discuss the importance of having employee engagement in the workplace.
Payant noted that, “employee engagement is the extent to which employees feel passionate about their jobs and their commitment to the organization by putting in discretionary efforts into their work. These are the employees that care about their work and want to be there and work to the best of their abilities to achieve desired outcomes and their willingness to go the extra mile to get the job done. They also speak well about the organization outside of work.” She said strong employee engagement leads to better work output and customer satisfaction. “Employee engagement has a strong correlation with lower turnover, high productivity and a strong organizational culture and ultimately more satisfied customers.”
Payant added that businesses of any size can use this information as a way to ultimately boost their company’s overall impact. “It is really important to provide this type of information because employee engagement is an emerging topic; there’s always new research. Businesses of any size can use this information to improve their workplace in terms of how to engage their workforce more fully and get the tools on how to do that,” she said. “There is employee engagement in some organizations, but it is relatively low compared to what organizations should have. If we get employees engaged, we change business and the experience for the employee, as well as the customer.”
Cindy Simmons, who is the leader for risk services at Henderson Insurance, says employee engagement will not only be better for the employee but also by extension, the community. “At the end of the day, this is managing for your employees and understanding the importance of having an engaged workforce. Like, taking the time to understand your employees so that they can become more engaged within the organization. If as a business you engage your employees, you’ll eventually increase productivity, customer service and your reputation within the organization and the community.”
Payant and Simmons indicated that one of the ways in which companies can start to have employee engagement is through workplace surveys that can allow organizations to learn more about their workers. “Employee/ workplace surveys are important because this can give managers an idea of how their employees feel, whether they’re satisfied and how the workplace environment can be improved. However, employers should not only collect this data but use it as a way to get employees more engaged and improve their experience at work. Having engaged employees is an asset to the overall well-being of the business and their employees.” Representatives from some of the local businesses welcomed the information. Krystal Chow, office administrator at Canadian Tire said the presentation was very informative. “We got lots of great information on employee engagement and how we can improve our workplace in that regard. We can definitely grow our business by learning how to engage our employees more into our business.”
Randy Redenbach, director of business development with RBC Royal Bank expressed similar feedback. “The presentation kind of makes you think about some things in regard to what an engaged employee looks like and what a disengaged employee also looks like and who you want working for your organization. It was important information that definitely can be applied to all organizations that want better outcomes.”
Meanwhile, Jessica Piche, Thunder Creek Pork said the presentation provided invaluable information that will impact how business is done moving forward. “This was a very good presentation that provided a lot of information we need to consider, especially for the younger generation that will significantly impact how we do business.”
For consultant services on improving employee engagement in the workplace and other human resource needs, you can contact Genelle Payant at 306-631-2528 or via email at genelle@sparkpeoplesolutions.com and www. sparkpeoplesolutions.com. You can contact Cindy Simmons at Henderson Insurance for employee engagement surveys for your company, by calling 306-694-5999 or csimmons@hendersoninsurance.ca or www.hendersoninsurance.ca.