There has been news and coverage that after the lockdown fiasco employee motivation & engagement has been at an all-time low. The delineation from the workplace is a new employee phenomenon and major employment losses are being incurred by corporations. Employee engagement lies at the core of corporations and it is suffering at an incredible rate. In a recent Gallup poll, it was noted that employee engagement which drives employee motivation & employee feedback was at an all-time low at 13%. There are however certain companies that entail an excellent rapport with their employees where employee satisfaction rests as high as 80%, for example, Unilever, a fairly large corporation with an employee base of over 200,000.
Now the main question rests at,
How are companies ensuring employee motivation?
Big corporations like Unilever have publicly dedicated themselves to working towards a sustainable business model which places environmental & social issues at a primary vantage. This conversion embeds a sense of a higher & a better purpose very imperative for the human psyche in everybody associated with the company. The employees feel that they are working towards something that inspires change in a positive way. This is an excellent example of sustaining employee motivation by generating a higher purpose. Inculcating a collective spirit all merited towards a higher good enhances a sense of direction in a human at the workplace which provides a feeling of individual level accomplishment.
To be able to achieve this, there are some ground rules that need definition and careful acknowledgments.
Provide a Purpose to your employees
This is an important query to make at the very beginning of the company’s development journey, the vision and mission of a company shouldn’t be an asset on paper for official drives, instead, they should be robust pillars indicating the direction in which a company is headed. Your company’s purpose can be anything from creating an equitable environment to aspiring net-dero emissions, it can be a long-term determination or a phase-wise process. Remember that a company grows organically just like you and I, it acquires character, it showcases the personality and it speaks of creation at its very inception. The very famous campaign run by Unilever’s product Lifebuoy in India has a distinct social purpose that showcases the quality of the product itself- “help a child reach the age of five”. This in turn creates meaning and a sense of direction in the perceptions of the people behind the campaign. Investing in generating & spreading knowledge, leading by actions & to be able to inspire change translates successfully to better employee engagement.
Showcase the economic sensibility of sustainability to your Employees
Research has maintained this one finding that a sustainable business, in the long run, acquires a considerable profit percentage & its operational cost cutting is very high. For instance, when IBM initiated the conversion towards an energy-efficient enterprise, it made it public knowledge to ensure the full participation of its employees. The program was advised as a long-term gradual change in the company’s bottom line. Over the years, IBM has maintained a considerable reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from its over 340 offices globally which in turn has very highly improved its bottom line cost reductions. The company has been able to save more than $40 million! Cases such as these, if, are conveyed to the staff & requisite energy-efficient behavioral dynamics at the workplace are constructed, a huge support can be acquired on sustainability grounds.
Expect Sustained Actions after you inculcate Awareness Drives
If you are a collective of people, you cannot expect uniformity in information acquisition from each individual, especially on topics as far-fetched as Sustainability. You must invest in driving awareness about concepts first before taking concrete conversion measures. Every enterprise must seek knowledge of sorts about sustainability initiatives, kinds of conversions, what your company can do & how are the systems inculcated from scratch. To be able to excel at the sustainability initiative, it is important that the employer & the employees are at the same page. The mechanisms of control & conversion should be looped in with the employees. Correct people should be hired for maintaining standards of ‘real-time’ Sustainability conservation programs. It is important to follow the footsteps of the giants like Nestle & IBM & consider ample relevance for training & development of Sustainability models.
Engagement is the key, help your people participate
One of the most important drivers of enhancing employee engagement is to co-initiated, co-create & co-implement. Make your employees the heart of the organization, measure growth in terms of employee skill development & ensuring proper channels of employee communication. This is one of the important sustainable standards that are quoted in the ‘S’ of ESG. Doing this makes sure that the company is run with many minds, this gives more space to fresh & innovative ideas that can help scale up the company’s gains. For example, Mark & Spencer implemented one of its finest ideas of clothes-recycling boxes in its stores for non-profit welfare and today it is one of the most celebrated ideas of CSR!
Show your Sustainability, make the practices Public
Showcasing Sustainability practices & implementations inspires positive employee affiliations. As discussed above, having a higher purpose always instills motivation in the people associated with the company. Regular measurement and accurate communication of progress help people feel that they are included in the entire process, and open platforms for discussions regarding these implementations. Every company has to work towards building visibility & driving inclusion for maximum success. One way to do this progressively is to collaborate with expert Sustainability trackers!
Build changes that are phenomenal & purposeful
It is important that after all the high talks, credibility is maintained. Work towards a purposeful & transformational change. It is important to build your network & draw credible sources of new partnerships. The change that is sought from drawing a Sustainability map is not achieved single-handedly, we all have to be part of the change. A constant addressal to this issue develops trust among the employees & enables rapid organic affiliations with the company.
It is important to understand that there are many human psyches at work for the development of a common entity, which is your brand. Apart from deriving dry benefits, the employees who spend most of their time working towards the progress of one company should be inspired towards a larger cause. Big corporations especially are in a good spot to intensify this practice owing to their scale. It’s time to bring some positive change to the world!
Read also: How Does Sustainability Report Help Your Business?