A People-Focused Approach: Why Employee Engagement Matters
As a people-focused company, we place a strong emphasis on employee engagement. This is because we believe that our people are our most valued asset and are what set us apart. In our last edition , we talked a little bit about our company culture, summarized below.
D&G's #culture  can be summed up by the untold story of David & Goliath, where David's unique skills, talents, and life experiences equipped him to tackle the formidable giant. David & Goliath changes our perspective of strengths and weaknesses, advantages, and disadvantages, blessing and misfortune. In many cases in life and work, what we consider valuable arises out of these kinds of lopsided conflicts, because the act of facing overwhelming odds produces tenacity.
Our success has been the result of hard work, finding the right people, and creating a company culture predicated on openness, strength, integrity, and comradery. We build that comradery by consistently showing our employees that we value and appreciate them. Regular gift giving, events, and handwriting cards to our employees is a big part of building team spirit and ensuring that nobody gets left behind. By uplifting and providing professional development opportunities for our people, we are promoting a positive and healthy company culture each day, allowing our people to grow, mature, and find the skillsets that suit them best. We believe that #employeeengagement is a crucial component of success and happiness in the workplace. So how do we keep our employees engaged and why is engagement so important?
Having an engaged workforce has an array of benefits beyond what most people think. An engaged workforce feels connected to their peers, their managers, and feel welcome at work. When employees are engaged and valued at work, everyone benefits. Teams go from being good to great, productivity increases, employees are better equipped to handle stress and are less likely to experience burnout, and overall performance improves. Let’s go into a little more detail on each of these benefits of employee engagement.
1)Â Â Â Â Â Increased Productivity
When employees are engaged, they tend to be more invested in their job, feel valued, and feel as though they belong to a team. Engaged employees may feel more personally invested in their job performance because they are aligned with both the team and the business’s goals. Not only that, but employee morale does wonders for productivity. Being surrounded by people who are happy to be at work and who care about what they do can be contagious, boosting morale and in turn boosting productivity overall. One way that D&G has focused on boosting morale and productivity is by ensuring that not only all teams set goals for themselves, but also setting goals with individual team members so they have a clear path forward and feel valued and supported in their professional development goals through their work.
2)Â Â Â Â Â Less Stress, More balance
Everyone experiences stress in the workplace from time to time. Whether it is because there is stress in home life that impacts work or vise versa, stress will always be present at one point or another. Engaged employees experience stress too, but the difference is that when employees are engaged and feel #valued and supported at work, they are better able to handle that stress and are more likely to ask for support. Part of valuing your workforce is about taking a personal investment in their lives and understanding that when your team is stressed beyond the healthy range, everybody suffers. Feeling a strong sense of comradery among your peers and your managers can have a huge impact not only on stress levels at work but can also play a huge role in how your workforce is equipped to handle stress and is able to ask for and receive the support that they need.
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3)Â Â Â Â Â Less Burnout, Healthy Boundaries
Similar to how an engaged workforce is more likely to seek support when they are stressed, they are also more likely to seek support when they are experiencing #burnout . A crucial thing that employers can do to help reduce burnout is to encourage their workforce to take breaks when they need them, have a #worklifebalance , take PTO or sick days when they need them, and to encourage healthy work-life boundaries. D&G’s company culture emphasizes the importance of work-life balance and making time for family, friends, hobbies, and proper rest and relaxation. We strive to make work-life balance the norm on our teams, making time for each other.
4)Â Â Â Â Â Higher Employee Retention Rates
A hindrance to employee productivity in any company is if they have a high employee retention rate. It can become difficult to create a high performing team when there is a constant ebb and flow of employees leaving and onboarding. While we believe in cultivating the best, most unique talent at D&G, we also recognize the importance of retaining the talent that we do have and strengthening our performance as much as we can. We are proud of our incredibly high employee retention rate and know that our success in retaining employees lies in how we treat our people and the culture we promote. A highly engaged and satisfied workforce is less likely to leave.
It is no secret that employee engagement matters. However, engagement is about much more than hosting events and boosting company morale or company image. At its core, employee engagement is about valuing your team for not only the work they put in each day, but for who they are as individuals, recognizing the individual value each person brings to the team. Engagement has an array of benefits that go well beyond boosting morale. This is why we believe in taking a #peoplefocused approach to leadership. Our workforce is strong because we believe in the individual contributions, skillsets, and life experience that each team member can bring. Our faith is in people. That faith has brought us farther than we could have imagined and will take us farther still. #companyculture matters and is much more wholistic and important than people realize.
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