Steps for senior leaders to re-engage their workforce after lay-offs

No doubt the heat is on; companies are shedding what they consider excess weight, in terms of their staff strength, for reasons related to poor corporate performance, declining revenues (blame it on recession, if you like), or even sheer bandwagon effect. On the surface, it seems these companies are all making very rational decisions, or how else are they supposed to cope with the declining revenues and profitability, current and projected. The direct fallout however is that employees have become disengaged in the process; these companies inadvertently are killing the very soul and spirit of their enterprises.

Engaged employees are fully involved and enthusiastic about their work and will act in a way that furthers their organization‘s success. But how do employees maintain this sort of spirit after seeing several of their colleagues literally shoved off the door, and still not sure who’ll be next?

When you consider the fact that companies with engaged employees outperform their competitors by as much as 46 percent to 202 percent in one business year, no senior leader ought to sit pretentiously as though employee engagement does not matter. Below are five steps senior leaders can take to reengage the workforce, in order to boost employee morale, increase productivity, and improve customer satisfaction, all of which are recipes for boosting revenue and profit:

Listen to Your Employees

You cannot just assume that things will normalize with the mere passage of time; nobody performs well under an atmosphere of uncertainties. Call “Town hall” meetings and “sell” why the downsizing had to happen in the first place. When an organisation encourages open and honest communication, employees feel more engaged. They welcome the opportunity to share concerns and work together to find solutions. Always remember that people only support a process that helps them succeed.

Develop an action plan that enhances employee engagement

Management needs to measure the current levels of engagement, understand how engaged their employees are, department by department, cadre by cadre, and location by location. They also need to understand the factors that enhance engagement, and those that detract from it. With this information, senior leaders can develop a targeted action plan at the individual, departmental, and organisational levels.

Create a culture that encourages engagement

There’re basically two ways to create any culture; you demonstrate it and you teach it. Because the senior leaders are the visible face of the organization, they must understand the concept of employee engagement and be able to demonstrate that they have what it takes to lead an engaged workforce. Employee Engagement surveys have consistently shown that those who hold supervisory function over others are the key drivers of engagement. Therefore, Management must be willing to provide “Supervisors” or rather managers with coaching and other opportunities to develop the skills required to engage others.

Hold people accountable for building engagement

Senior leaders would need to establish the parameters for an engaged workplace. In other words, they must define how they’ll know when they “arrive.” The immediate supervisors who interact on daily basis with employees can best evaluate if employees are engaged. Senior leadership should therefore support and ensure that the immediate supervisors have the appropriate skills and motivation to identify changes in the engagement level.

Reward those who demonstrate progress in building engagement

Successful executives set realistic targets and reward employees and managers who increase productivity and who build enthusiasm. Benefits and incentives can be customised to appeal to different segments of the workforce. Recognition and praise, in addition to physical incentives, creates engaged employees.

If employees can be disengaged, they can also be re-engaged. It’s all about understanding the little things that count for so much.

Patrick E. Nwakogo