Our jobs are one of the most important things in life since it bears the onus of financially sustaining our lives. If you own a business or are leading a team, you are well-aware of the primary motive that drives your team members to perform at work—their paycheck. However, this isn’t motivation enough to get your team to perform their best. A highly motivated employee is the true foundation of any organization, and you need more than a paycheck to engage your employees at work.

These days, most organizations have recognized the importance of employee engagement since high levels of employee engagement has been linked to superior business performance. So, if you wish to keep your employees engaged in every task they undertake, and boost their morale at the same time, here are some tips to help you attain your goal.

• Make the environment approachable – One of the primary methods of increasing employee engagement is to get them to open up to you. You need to ensure that you are approachable so that your team members can talk to you without hesitation. Make the environment more conducive to open communication among you and your team members. An “open-door” policy would prove beneficial in such cases.
• Explain the goals clearly – It is essential that you ensure that coming to work and performing all the tasks is not a monotonous routine for your members. Since every employee’s professional growth is in sync with the company’s growth, explain the organizational goals to them. Let them drive home the fact that their path to success is linked to company’s growth and that they need to look at the bigger picture instead of simply thinking of their individual growth.
• Be the perfect mentor – Since you are heading a team, it is natural for the team members to look up to you and approach you in case they face any problem. In order to increase employee engagement at work, you need to mentor them and guide them in difficult scenarios instead of letting them deal with everything on their own. A good mentor would surely increase their engagement levels.
• Employment rewards – Nothing motivates people more than being appreciated for the work they did. It would be a nice idea to have certain rewards such as “employee of the month” or “team of the month” to motivate the employees to perform well and increase their engagement in activities at work.
• Encourage wellness and health – Ensuring that your team or your employees are happy and healthy is an important part of employee engagement strategies. A happy employee would contribute to helping your organization progress. Introduce employee assistance programs at your workplace where your employees can seek assistance or counseling if the need arises. Taking care of their physical and mental health is essential for a healthy working environment.
• Combine work and play – Employee engagement programs assign great importance to add the “fun” quotient to work. Weren’t we all subjected to the “all work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” maxim at least once in our life? Similar thoughts should motivate you to devise ways to incorporate fun into your daily activities.