The Changing Nature of Work Means Employee Engagement is More Important Than Ever

Job-hopping is a relatively new concept. It used to be that an employer offered you a generous salary and benefits and you gave in return a lifetime of work. But in the last twenty years, job hopping has become much more prevalent as the millennials begin to take over the workforce.

There are many people from the baby boomer generation who have been in the same job for the majority of their life. However, the average millennial has had at least three jobs in the last ten years according to futureworkplace. This is the “new normal” to them since they are the first generation to enter the workforce where job hopping is common.  

This is why employee engagement is more important than ever. If you have employees that feel the need to hop around job to job, then you need to provide an environment that’s worth staying for. Unfortunately, it doesn’t come down to just a paycheck and benefits anymore. Employees need more to be further engaged in their work.

Here are some ways to combat job hopping and promote employee engagement in your organization:

Create Meaningful Work

Almost every job has some sort of excel spreadsheet type of work (sorry to those who actually enjoy spreadsheets.) There needs to be a balance between the busy work and the fun stuff in most jobs or else your employees will start to not care as much about their work. When people are working on something exciting and mentally stimulating they excel at it and their productivity levels increase. Basically you’re at your job for 40 hours a week, you might as well spend that time doing something you love and are good at.

Provide Internal Growth Opportunities

Part of the reason that today’s employees switch companies so often is that there are no promotion opportunities within their original company. They’ve put in hard work for a few years and yet they’re staying in the same job with the same responsibilities.

That doesn’t exactly encourage confidence in an employee.

So instead of staying at the same place, they look for growth opportunities in different organizations where they get more responsibility and higher pay. If you want your best employees to stick around, you need to provide room for them to move up in the company.

Encourage a Culture of Learning

Challenge your employees to take on projects that stretch them out of their comfort zone. A great place to work helps their team build different skills throughout their time at the company. Allow your employees to take workshops, learn from other departments and take on personal learning projects to help them develop new skills.

Breed Collaboration and Mentorship

On the same thread of learning, you don’t develop much when you are only working on your own. When you work in a collaborative environment you have the ability to bounce ideas off of each other and assign tasks to people whose skills best suit them.

In order to do this, you should allow your employees to work together as a team as well as have an open office policy. This way your employees and management can work closely together as a cohesive team.

The days of sitting at your desk for eight hours straight and churning out work are over. Employees need more stimulation and excitement in their jobs or they’re at risk for burnout. By providing the steps for an engaged workforce you are ensuring your employees will be there for the long run.

Why do you love your job? Let us know on twitter: @_Vocoli