Mary is a passionate writer actively looking for a new role as a Content Writer. She came across a job application and filled it out. The job description mentioned two things: her position at the organization and the tasks she is expected to complete in her role. During the interview, the hiring manager told her about the role, the salary she would start at, and her working hours. 

On getting hired, she had job satisfaction—she was appreciated for delivering the projects on time, attending meetings regularly, and engaging with fellow team members. Yet, when she received her first appraisal, it was below average. Shocking for Mary. But why did it happen?

What did Mary do wrong? Probably, nothing.

Mary and the organization she worked at—both became a victim of disconnect. 

The company discussed its culture during her onboarding but failed to tell her about its long-term vision. Without openness, employees lack direction. And you will find it hard to push them to achieve company goals.

So what do you need?

Measuring employee engagement and understanding how to improve it can be done by building a transparent work culture.

This guide will walk you through 6 employee engagement strategies to leverage using transparency at your organization.

Keep reading.

#Tip 1: Educate your employees about the business health

For sure, your employees know one thing—their role, the day to day tasks they need to perform, and the targets they need to achieve. And what if they don't? Probably, they won't receive employee recognition.

But that's the thing. Not hitting a target won't be a bigger deal for your employees than it would mean to you. Maybe by converting three deals with your sales team, your business revenue would have accelerated by 15% this month.

But your employees are not aware of this. You need to educate them about the revenue business generated, how the hike in revenue impacts business and how growth in business leads to the financial gain of each employee.

For example,

Conduct weekly growth meetings to share the monthly business status—the profits the business made the entire month, and what goals each employee achieved to contribute to these profits. If the employees haven't reached their goals, educate them on where they lack.

#Tip 2: Make communication crystal clear

To set a crystal clear communication, focus on message delivery and ask constructive questions to establish your communication flow. When creating workplace transparency, encourage your employees to participate in open communication too.

"One of the biggest successes I have had was implementing Slack in the organization. I created a bunch of open channels and encouraged everyone to read them and write in them. Whenever someone asks me something in a 1-1 chat, which may regard another person, I encourage them to share it on the open channel. If they didn't do it, I'd make a summary of the conversation and post it in the open channel saying: person X and I had this discussion which may be of interest to you."

Iliya Valchanov, the Cofounder of 3Veta

Here's how you can level up your workplace culture through transparent communication::

• Deliver the relevant information and avoid adding too many details while delivering the message. 

• Encourage the human resources to participate in open communication with employees by sharing challenges with the entire team. In the physical setup, you can arrange team meetings where the human resources can communicate about the challenges the organization faces. In the virtual setup, you can create team groups or open communication channels where employees can communicate their problems.

#Tip 3: Develop workplace transparency right from the hiring phase

Think about when you publish a job description without sharing the salary a candidate can expect. Or the tasks they would need to accomplish when they start working. 

The talent acquisition must follow a transparent hiring & onboarding process that involves communicating with the new hires and explaining the organization's work processes.

Here's how you can do it:

• Create a recruitment video to showcase your company’s culture and how the candidate can be the best fit for the company.

• Explain what the new hire can expect in the role, the tasks they will need to accomplish, who they will report to, and the expected monthly salary in the job description

• Tell them how you perceive the extra working hours. Do they need to work overtime? If yes, will they be paid for the number of hours or not? Be clear. You can use an overtime calculator to find the extra number of hours these employees work. 

• Implement the usage of tools like Slack and project management tools. Each employee can see their work progress, openly communicate with other team members, and expect feedback on projects.

For example, 

When you onboard a freelance writer, share the detailed process of receiving the writing assignments, how many edits would be required to make, when to raise the invoice, and how long it will take to process the payments. 

#Tip 4: Adopt "ask anything" culture

Holding team meetings weekly or daily is one of the best ways to keep engaged employees. With these meetings, help employees build a bond with other team members, take feedback and make the organization more employee-centric. 

Enable an "ask anything" culture where employees can ask the leadership team the questions that concern them.

“Recently, we have started using a tool that let’s user input questions anonymously, and we address them publicly. This gives them the liberty to ask anything without fear of being judged or misinterpreted.”

Harshanki Thakker, Founder, Deresk

#Tip 5: Conduct Pre and Post Event Surveys

Events are one of the best ways to identify disengaged employees. Understand where a team lack by sending an employee engagement survey.

Before the event begins, send your employees a pre-event survey and ask them:

• their expectations

• how they think it adds value on the professional front

Once the event is finished, send a post-event survey to employees and ask:

• how the event went

• what they liked about it

• what they disliked or would like to improve. 

Asking these questions will give you insights into which areas you lack, how employee feels and help improve employee engagement.

After collecting the data, hold a meeting with the managers and leaders to find out the solution. 

#Tip 6: Offer Timely Updates

Employees contribute majorly to the organization's success. That's why they must know about the significant changes or improvements within the organization. To keep them in the loop, introduce them to the changes or discussions in the future and how they will reshape the company. 

Ensure your employees are always in the loop with what's happening within the organization. Give them updates on how things are progressing, what challenges you are facing, and share the company's behind the scenes with them.

Conclusion

Bottomline: Employees are the drivers of employee engagement. When you implement these employee engagement strategies accurately, you'll see higher levels of employees engaged at work.  

Start by educating employees about the company's success and failures and how it impacts their growth. Next, encourage employees to communicate in an open environment where the team understands the challenges of a single person and comes up with the solution. 

Further, conduct team meetings, send employee engagement survey from time to time to identify disengaged employees and address them during the meetings. 

Author Bio:  Samantha Ridgey is a content writer, passionate about marketing and social media. She starts the day sipping a cup of coffee while checking on social media trends. She has been in the writing business for the last 8 years and aims to provide converting content.