Employee engagement about more than team communication

It is essential that leaders establish various "points of engagement" in the workplace that will give employees room to focus on their growth.

This is according to Omar Hadoui, managing director of BI WORLDWIDE APAC, in an exclusive feature with HRD.

Hadoui offered the advice as he underscored that engagement should be how well leaders understand employees on a personal level, not just how often they communicate with the team.

"Employee engagement is a combination of many simple acts that occur on a daily basis, and it really doesn't require any magic," he told HRD.

"Points of engagement can be created in various ways: by gathering ideas from employees, celebrating their achievements, catching up on their goals, or simply with an informal check-in."

According to Hadoui, a safe and inclusive workplace comes back to being authentic in all interactions and using that to foster a sense of belonging.

"In short, if you can show that you are genuinely invested in your team’s time at the company, both personally and professionally, then you will go a long way towards increasing engagement," he said.

His remarks become relevant again as employee engagement spirals in the past few years, mostly due to employers failing to act on employee feedback.

Omar previously pointed out that employee engagement begins at the top, and organisations with the right strategies on it can bring out the best in their employees.

"I'm a big believer that company success is only due to its people. This is why I devote a considerable amount of my own time to managing my team so that they’re always properly equipped in their work, stay motivated, and feel connected to our business mission and purpose," he said.

Hadoui further discussed with HRD the 12 New Rules of Engagement, the product of BI WORLDWIDE's decades of research that aims to improve the modern workplace.