Small businesses have notoriously high turnover rates due to factors like limited resources, less competitive salaries, and fewer opportunities for career growth.
According to research by LinkedIn, small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) have a turnover rate of 12%, which is much higher than the 9.9% turnover rate seen across enterprises. On top of this, the professional services sector has the highest turnover rate of any industry, which makes retention a huge challenge for small firms in services like consulting and accounting.
Luckily, there are some simple strategies small teams can use to boost employee engagement and, in turn, retention. This article covers what true engagement looks like among small teams, the benefits of employee engagement, and workforce management strategies that can help your business get there.
How Do You Know When a Small Team Is Engaged?
It can be challenging to know when your team is truly engaged in their work and the company’s mission versus when they simply conform to avoid conflict. Employee engagement refers to each team member’s level of commitment to their work.
Common characteristics of engaged employees include:
- Motivation: They approach tasks with enthusiasm and drive.
- Productivity: Engaged employees perform well and typically complete their work to a higher standard.
- Positive attitude: They help create a supportive culture that promotes a sense of belonging and openness.
- Pride: They take pride in their work and in the organization they work for.
- Proactivity: They’re more likely to proactively problem-solve rather than try to push the work to someone else.
- Desire to improve: They focus on continuous improvement and seek feedback that pushes them to grow professionally.
Engaged employees are also more likely to advocate for the company they work for and feel a sense of purpose in their work, which they often spread to other team members.
Benefits of Employee Engagement
Keeping employees engaged comes with a lot of benefits for your business, including:
- Increased innovation: Employees who are engaged are more likely to speak up because they feel valued, which facilitates greater idea sharing and new perspectives.
- Enhanced productivity: Because engaged employees are committed to their work, they’re more likely to be productive and produce high-quality deliverables.
- Cost savings: Lower turnover and greater productivity can translate into significant cost savings for your business.
- Reduced absenteeism: Employees who are committed are less likely to take unnecessary leave, which can lead to fewer productivity gaps.
Workforce Management Retention Strategies to Improve Engagement
Investing in employee engagement is important because of how closely it’s tied to employee retention. Considering the cost of replacing an employee can be up to two times that person’s annual salary or more, greater retention rates can significantly improve profitability for small teams.
Here are a few practical retention strategies you can try to strengthen engagement within your workforce.
Recognize and Reward Employee Performance
One of the easiest ways to improve employee engagement is to simply recognize team members for their achievements. This can come in the form of verbal kudos during a meeting, a note left on their desk if they work onsite, or an instant message sent to the team chat.
If you have workforce management software, this becomes even easier, as you can recognize accomplishments in real time to show employees you’re paying attention. These systems give you visibility into individual and team progress as it’s made on specific projects, enabling you to stop and congratulate your team members when major milestones are hit.
Encourage Work-Life Balance
A big retention killer is burnout, which can make employees feel so overwhelmed that they have no choice but to leave your company. To combat this, empower your team to prioritize work-life balance, and help remind them to do so.
This is another instance where workforce management systems can come in handy. With solutions like coAmplifi, staff can receive alerts reminding them to log off when they’re about to work overtime and subtle nudges reminding them to take their scheduled meal breaks.
coAmplifi also has a unique feature that lets you quantify each employee’s work-life balance based on the number of hours they’ve tracked via their timecard. This can help you identify anyone who may be at risk of burnout before it’s too late.
Avoid Micromanaging Employees
Employees feel valued when you trust them to do their work. Micromanaging screams the opposite idea, which can be a hard hit to morale.
However, this doesn’t mean you can’t stay on top of their progress on important projects. Workforce management software offers a solution by letting you track individual tasks and goals without having to constantly ask the employee for updates. This way, you know the work is being done, and the employee feels like they have ownership over their work.
Boost Retention and Profits With Tools That Simplify Engagement
Employee engagement is a critical factor for small business owners who want to maintain their employees. It can help create a positive culture, increase accountability, and improve productivity across your team.
Show your people just how integral they are to your team with a comprehensive workforce management solution offered through coAmplifi. Schedule your demo now!
