If you’re a manager, you know it’s not easy. In addition to responsibilities for their direct reports, managers help set the tone for the entire workplace. How they interact with employees affects morale and engagement.

Managers and employee engagement

According to a Gallup poll, U.S. employee engagement averages less than 33%, and their report, State of the American Manager, indicates that managers have a significant impact on employee engagement. That’s not surprising considering how often employees interact with their managers and how managers affect the work environment.

The most important factor is the relationship the manager has with each employee. According to SHRM’s report, Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement, over half of respondents indicated the relationship with their immediate supervisor was very important to their job satisfaction. It ranked third as a condition for engagement and had been in the top five for five years. Trust, constructive dialogue, exchange of ideas, and feedback were listed as important aspects of that relationship.

4 types of feedback

When a person feels trusted, respected, and valued for their ideas and input as well as performance, their engagement deepens and they are more likely to stay and work through difficult times. There are a variety of ways managers can provide this kind of feedback to their employees:

• Casual conversations
  • These can be impromptu when you see an employee at the coffee machine, in a break room, in the office, or on the factory floor.
  • Informal conversations can also be scheduled for a short time each week or so, checking in to see how an employee is doing in regards to goals or to listen if they have something they want to discuss.
  • These casual conversations don’t always have to center around work-related topics. You may have an employee who has just returned from and exciting trip or who has an event coming up that they’d like to share. Listen and appreciate other aspects of your employees.
• Recognition of a job well done
  • Recognition events may be scheduled or included in regular meetings of employees. Acknowledging specific achievements or contributions is then done in front of other employees. But remember, different people have different preferences for recognition. Some like the limelight, others don’t. They may prefer a private conversation.
• Asking for input
  • Whether you want to know how an initiative worked, how a procedure could be improved, or how to meet a particular goal, don’t overlook employees as a valuable source of information. They offer ideas from a different perspective. Inclusion in these types of conversations increases employee participation and provides a sense of ownership in both the particular work discussed as well as in the organization. It also sends the message that they are respected members of the team.
• Performance appraisals
  • While organizations are moving away from annual performance reviews, many use some type of formal evaluation process more often throughout the year. Focusing on employee development and looking ahead rather than “grading” past performance is more beneficial.

Automating feedback

Providing ongoing feedback can include all of the above with the more formal performance appraisals conducted frequently throughout the year. Software like Sage HRMS HR Actions and additional plugins (e.g., Multi-rater Feedback for Sage HRMS HR Actions) simplify the process of providing comprehensive feedback. It enables managers to gather information from a variety of sources and automates the routing and tracking of forms and responses.

If you’d like more information, visit our website or contact us at 1.888.421.2004. We are always happy to help.