As individuals are reconsidering their work-life balance and deciding exactly what motivates them to work for a particular organisation, employers are vying to win over the best talent and secure their loyalty as part of their long-term business growth strategy. And with this trend firmly in place, there is a fresh focus on the importance of employee wellness and engagement in the workplace. The question is, what can employers do to get that workplace engagement up to a level where staff look forward to coming to work, and where they’re happy to become advocates for the company’s recruitment drive?
The benefits and importance of engagement in the workplace
Companies that are engaged with their workforce experience 17% higher productivity, 20% higher sales and 21% higher profitability. In fact, increased workplace engagement has the potential to add around £26 billion to UK GSP.
Engaged employees take less than half the amount of sick leave than those who aren’t engaged. One study reckons that the average cost to the UK of poorly engaged staff is as much as £70 billion annually in lost productivity and over £5 trillion plus globally.
What’s more, according to a report by Deloitte, 85% of business leaders say that employee engagement is a strategic priority.
An engaged workforce is one that is more likely to stay around for the long haul. Poor staff retention is in no way conducive to healthy productivity and profitability. Constantly hiring in new workers puts a burden on a business, with valuable time and funds spent onboarding and training rather than focusing on growing the company.
Engagement in the workplace, combined with a clear commitment to employee wellness, is vital if a business is to thrive. Staff should feel happy to go to work every day. They should feel valued, enjoy their roles and enjoy a sense of belonging and a shared vision of success.
And when you can achieve all of this, it becomes infectious. Everyone’s positivity rubs off, and you will soon have a thriving workforce with a clear sense of workplace community engagement.
The question is, how to achieve it, how to boost engagement in the workplace?
How to boost engagement in the workplace?
Of course, communication is the crucial cog in the wheel when it comes to workplace community engagement. Keeping everyone connected is vital, especially if your workforce is geographically scattered and you have a hybrid model in place. Organising events, sharing regular updates, holding get togethers – virtual, physical or otherwise – it’s all part and parcel of good workplace engagement.
Technology is key here. Productivity and networking platforms and company intranets will help you streamline communications and keep everyone in the loop. But there’s something way more powerful available to organisations in every industry. Something that harnesses the many advantages of machine learning and artificial intelligence to create a sense of workplace community that’s as strong as your organisation’s vision for success. And that’s smart building technology.
How to harness the power of smart building technology to boost workplace community engagement?
A smart office is a workplace environment where important factors such as workplace comfort, energy usage, desk and meeting room bookings and security and access are all auto-controlled, based on user data gathered via Internet of Things (IoT) connected sensors, thermostats, cameras and monitors placed around the building.
Smart building technologies will differ in their abilities, but some feature a smartphone community engagement app, making it possible to develop a community feel within your workplace by bringing everyone together courtesy of shared interests. You may even be able to connect different companies within the same building.
A smart community engagement app may include features such as newsfeed style local events, special offers and community chat forums, all fed into interactive social walls and backed by private in-app call and messaging tools. Everyone can post and share. It’s all about keeping in touch and sharing interesting updates, boosting that sense of engagement in the workplace.
What about employee wellness?
Smart building technology has employee wellness covered too. It very much supports the vision for a healthy building, where indoor air quality is optimised to its full potential, and smart lighting works out the best possible lighting settings, altering tone and type to suit current conditions.
In a smart building, workers even get to control their own personal spaces, setting climate and lighting to suit individual preferences, with settings stored for ease of future use. It’s something that is known to have a considerable influence on workplace engagement by showing staff that their individual needs are important.
And finally… the power of the automated desk booking system in boosting engagement in the workplace
Everything we’ve discussed so far comes down to making employees feel valued and included. Community engagement, a focus on employee wellness… and when everyday working frustrations are removed, that sense of feeling valued gets an even bigger boost.
The process of securing suitable work and meeting space is one of the biggest day to day frustrations, especially in an activity-based or hot desking environment. Finding the right space in the right place with the right people can be a real headache for everyone involved, from the admin staff trying to manage space allocation to the workers seeking somewhere to get the job done or meeting underway.
The good news is that there is a smart building technology solution in the shape of an automated desk booking system which shows admin staff – in real time – current availability and usage status, for example, recently cleaned and restocked, or pending attention.
Individual users can make their own bookings on the smart desk booking system via a smartphone app, and they can even locate friends and colleagues they’d like to collaborate or meet with, as well as store desk and meeting space preferences to speed up future bookings.
How does Smart Spaces help to boost engagement in the workplace?
Smart Spaces is a cloud-based platform that uses Internet of Things connected sensors to collate valuable data about various aspects of a workspace. Used alongside a building management system, it can introduce a raft of benefits into the working environment that can be enjoyed by building owners, employers, facilities managers and staff alike.
From workplace community engagement and meeting room and desk booking systems to smart building controls that automate the processes involved in keeping buildings healthy and energy efficient, this is highly empowering technology that can thoroughly support every organisation’s mission to create an engaged and healthy workplace.
To learn more about how Smart Spaces can help you boost employee wellness and engagement in the workplace, you are welcome to request a free demo or get in touch.
