The newest (non-obvious) trends for employee engagement in 2021/2022

20 Jan

The topic of employee engagement never ceases to surprise us. There are constantly new trends giving you the extra knowledge you need to engage employees in the workplace and even more so as a result of the global pandemic.

With so many ideas flying around, it can sometimes be a struggle to decide which ideas are useful and which are just fluffy nonsense 🤷‍♀️.

In this article, we are going to discuss the newest, non-obvious trends for employee engagement in 2021/2022 to help you gain the knowledge you need to improve performance and engagement for the months ahead.

Taking back the reins in 2021/2022

The trend for employee engagement has usually been to take a step back and empower employees to get on with tasks in the way that they think is best. Whilst this is still partially true, a trend for 2021 which is steadily emerging is to take back the reins and give your employees clear direction and guidance.

Because 2020 was so unpredictable for many employees it led to them taking a back seat and leaning heavily on the advice and guidance from their managers. Employees looked up to their employers to give them confidence in times which were very uncertain.

To help your employees regain their confidence back and effectively engage them in 2021 and beyond it’s crucial that you give them lots of structure and guidance. This is especially true for those who have been on furlough for extended periods of time and are perhaps feeling uncertain in the security of their position within the company.

A bigger focus on personal achievement and development for 2021

2020 almost felt like a wasted year for many of us because the focus was just on surviving at work rather than developing and prospering.

With less focus on personal achievement for employees, it meant that engagement levels were significantly reduced.

With this in mind, many employers are looking at how they can enhance their employee development plans for the year of 2021 and beyond to not only improve employee fulfilment and happiness but to also transform company performance.

In fact, over the past 30 days, some of our most popular articles have been about improving employee performance and development. Take a look at the links below:

Embracing a more family-friendly approach to work

Prior to COVID-19 our work life and home life were kept very separate.

Not many of us worked from home on a regular basis and if we did it was a very strict working day.

No interruptions from family members and certainly no screaming kids could be heard on our meeting video calls.

With almost half (46.6%) of the UK population working from home due to the pandemic in 2020 it was inevitable that there was going to be blurred lines between family time and work time.

This is why one of the biggest trends for employee engagement in 2021 and 2022 is embracing a more family-friendly approach to work. What do we mean by this?

Being more forgiving when employees get interrupted by children or family members.
Letting employees know that it is ok if they need more flexibility in their working hours to help out with child care or family duties.
Including family members in virtual hangouts and games.

By easing up your attitude to family issues which arise, it will help your employees feel less stressed and frantic about managing day to day problems which in turn, allows them to produce better quality work.

Banishing work/life balance and designing work for wellbeing

In August 2020, Jen Fisher, Deloitte US’s chief well-being officer posted a LinkedIn message that asked leaders to share the strategies and practices they were piloting to influence well-being in their organisations.

What was highlighted from the answers was the number of employers who were designing wellbeing initiatives into work itself as opposed to thinking of wellbeing and work as two separate things.

As a result, the idea of a work/life balance has been shunned for a more holistic approach to wellbeing.

One example was from Starbucks who explained how they make sure all rotas are given to staff 2 weeks in advance and if a barrister lives over an hour away from the store they will begin trying to transfer them to a store closer to home.

The idea is that you do what you can to make your employee’s day more comfortable whilst they are working.

Encouragement of Personal Productivity in 2021/2022

Employers are using more personally targeted tools to allow for productivity and development. This allows employees to improve their skills and knowledge whether they are working alone or in a group.

This is largely due to the uncertainty of when we are all going to be working together again like we used to prior to COVID-19. With experts stating that the virus will be with us for years to come. It’s only natural to focus on tools which will help employees when they are working independently.

When asked about a date prediction for when the pandemic will end, Dr Jenna Macciochi, a lecturer in immunology at the University of Sussex said it’s hard to estimate a date: “It’s a question we probably all want to know the answer to and I doubt anyone knows for sure as it depends on many factors. I’d say we don’t currently know.”

Because of such uncertainty in the year ahead, it’s crucial that you keep employees engaged by making it easy and accessible for them to improve and hone in on their skills no matter where they are working from.

Our clients are using Oplift to give their employees access to training and knowledge whenever they need it. The platform has seen product knowledge levels almost double in the first 3 months of using the platform and 65% of employees even using it in their own time.

A huge focus on productivity rather than routine

2020 was a tough year for productivity. Concentration levels were depleted by a change in routines and normal day to day practices were banished leaving employees wondering how to get on with work in a fast and efficient manner.

To catch up and make sure 2021/2022 are more productive than ever before, employers are more interested in increased productivity as opposed to religiously sticking to routines. Not only is this going to make your employees feel more productive but it will leave them feeling more energised and their work satisfaction will dramatically improve as a result.

Examples of this include;

Getting rid of unnecessary meetings if they take away from valuable work time.
Allowing employees to help out with tasks which are outside of their role remit because it makes more sense to.
If you can let employees work earlier or later than usual if that’s when they are most productive.
Allowing employees to do work in ways which they think are best rather than forcing them to follow an outdated procedure.
If it makes sense to outsource a piece of work to an external agency or self-employed professional rather than piling it onto an employee who is already swamped with work, then do it.

We got bored of reading the same articles about trends in 2021 and hope you enjoyed our take on the newest (non-obvious) trends for employee engagement in 2021/2022. If you have any ideas which you think will benefit this article please send them over.