How team engagement depends on workflow management

Due to covid, many workers appreciated the advantages of remote work. Employees want to work a few days a week from home or switch to remote work entirely. In turn, employers want to give their employees the opportunity to work, as the flexibility to work in a way that is convenient for them, and also keep them engaged.

When the just work goes wrong

Recent studies published on the Gallup website have shown that employee engagement is decreasing every year. Also, the largest decreases in 2021 included health or social assistance workers (down 12 percentage points) and managers (down 7 points). But why do workers feel out of touch with their work?

Here are some potential reasons why things are not working out for employees:

Feelings of disenfranchisement or dissatisfaction with your organization.

Burnout is caused by heavy workloads or excessive manual labor.

Feeling disconnected from co-workers and corporate culture.

Frustration at clumsy, slow, ineffective processes and their consequences.

Lack of access to the tools or information they need to do their work.

You might think of even more reasons. Ultimately, when the job is satisfactory and functioning well, workers are more likely to participate. But the more trouble, boredom, and other negative aspects of a person's working life, the greater the likelihood that he/she/them will either leave.

Making positive changes

Now let's see how we can drive team engagement by making positive changes to how employees do their jobs. We will take a broader view, but you can apply these ideas to all kinds of specific fields in your company.

Improve and rationalize bad processes

None of us like to wait. Downtimes can easily happen when an employee has to wait for another employee to participate. And it's a great time to start surfing the Internet... and looking for new jobs.

With workflow automation, you can make sure things go smoothly with an orderly and efficient digital calendar. Workers are encouraged to take action when necessary through automated messaging, and when done, the next person is alerted with just one click. The concept is quite easy: better processes = less time wasted = more engaged employees.

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Reduce workload to ensure employees are able to focus on meaningful projects

One of the most important reasons that companies install workflow management software is to save time. With automation taking care of manual and monotonous tasks, it empowers your staff to do it themselves. With all this additional time available, your employees are free to work on tasks that bring value and significance – which are essential for enhancing engagement.

We conducted our research on this topic, communicating with people of different professions (mainly managers and business analysts). The results showed that 78% of workers do note the benefits of workflow managers. Why? Because technology has relieved staff of repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on creative and strategic work instead. This, as we remember, is one of the most important reasons for whether employees will be satisfied with the work as a whole and engaged in it.

An illustration by Diana from absurd.design

Improve internal communications & automate the feedback process

An engaged employee is one who feels in the loop with company news, organizational knowledge, and performance. At the other end of the spectrum, the lack of clarity and transparency in your internal communications may cause your team to disengage. By neglecting proper communication well with your team, you simply consider that the employees can’t be trusted or should only be privy to information on a “need-to-know” basis. Lack of ongoing feedback on their performance also leaves staff feeling directionless.

Turn things around by using Execution Flow, which is an integral part of workflow management software so you can streamline internal communications and facilitate ongoing feedback.

A dedicated Survey streamlines the feedback process and ensures employees receive regular updates on their performance, as well as the ability to share their concerns. For example, instead of sending a yearly questionnaire to employees, you can schedule frequent surveys to find out how employees feel, understand their current workload, and provide support.

Give your employees more space

Not all people fit the standard work schedule in the office. Apparently, many of us felt that after dinner the company seemed to have a “quiet hour”. And this is not the fault of the employees – most people find it difficult to maintain a stable level of efficiency for 8 hours in a row, not counting the meal break. Together with Workflow Management Software, your employees will be able to follow a flexible floating schedule that suits them. Obviously, this is the most convenient type of schedule that increases engagement and performance.

Is increasing team engagement real?

Employee engagement is crucial for a number of reasons, but it's also one of the easiest things to slide if it's not supported by the right level of attention. Above all, if organizations are engaged in their team and employees, taking an active interest in ensuring their working lives are as good as possible, employees will be engaged in return.