6 Methods for Boosting Employee Participation

5th August 2022

Employee participation can be challenging – some people love to engage whilst others don’t want to get involved immediately. In this article, uncover our six actionable methods for boosting employee participation within your organisation.

Talented people are at the heart of every successful business. Once you’ve assembled an outstanding team, the next step is motivating employees to take an active role in the company’s growth.

Employee participation refers to the business activities staff take part in to achieve a common goal. For example, a team leader can provide an open forum where employees can suggest ideas to help complete a complex task. When employees are involved in decision-making, they can gain a professional and personal stake in its overall success.

Employee participation is a crucial part of building engagement – managers need to create opportunities for people to get involved so that they can make a positive impact. Staff who are engaged with a business’ mission and core values create an inspiring working environment. Continue reading to find out 6 methods for boosting employee participation.

Engaged employees make companies more profitable

Actively encouraging staff to take part in company decision-making increases overall morale and reduces absenteeism. A study from Gallup found that engaging employees in their organisation’s goals can reduce absenteeism by 41% and boost productivity by 17%.

However, many companies maintain a distinct separation of powers between senior management and employees, making it challenging for teams to grasp where their input is valued.

Employee participation initiatives can provide more transparency and reduce the power gap, creating more open communication between supervisors and employees.

Furthermore, involving employees in the decision-making process, rather than outsourcing decisions to consultants, can save a company time and money. Employees who know their business well can offer valuable insights and innovative ideas. Organisations reporting high levels of engagement are 22% more profitable than brands that don’t engage staff in making decisions.

How to boost employee participation and engagement

1. Get your leaders on board

Company leaders are responsible for the culture of their organisations and may be the deciding factor in an employee participation initiative’s success.

Therefore, the first stage in boosting employee participation demonstrates why fostering a transparent culture amongst senior management is so important.
Executives have the power to create an open and transparent working environment. So make sure, as an HR leader, you make your case for boosting employee participation wherever you can.

2. Establish open communication

Improving your workforce communication methods should be one of the first things you look at when boosting employee participation. Proactively communicating with your employees creates a healthy company culture.

You can, for instance, provide digital channels to communicate updates easily and address employee feedback and ideas. Trickle’s MoodSense feature allows you to measure your team’s wellbeing and feelings towards various areas of your business operations – giving leadership responses in real-time. To learn more about how tools like MoodSense can identify employee engagement levels, read our article on the 7 Signs Of Low Employee Engagement And How To Fix It.

3. Engage employees from day one

A recent study found that 69% of employees were more likely to stay in their role for more than 3 years if the company provided a positive onboarding experience. You can inspire and motivate new hires from day 1 with a practical onboarding experience that focuses on engagement.

Ensure that your colleagues are notified when someone joins the team and invite them to welcome your new recruit. Facilitating conversations across departments can help new employees feel more comfortable and engaged.

4. Organise workshops

Host team-building sessions where employees can share their thoughts about how to make the business a better place to work. You could, for example, set up a brainstorming session where teams can contribute new ideas for innovations, or how they can make their working environment more inclusive.

It’s also important to encourage participation from both leaders and wider teams — especially when it comes to implementing new processes or procedures. Hosting workshops creates a safe, welcoming space that gives people the confidence they need to voice opinions and share ideas.

5. Approach employee participation like marketing

HR leaders’ central role is to ensure that everyone is getting the most out of a brand’s working culture. The easiest way to achieve this goal is to find out what your employees think and set the best example you can for other team members.

Identify team members who are proactive about improving their company’s working culture. You can then harness their enthusiasm to launch positive, community-building initiatives that encourage other employees to participate.

Interactive employee engagement platforms like Trickle can provide a platform to showcase the efforts of talented employees. Trickle’s Shout About feature provides the perfect opportunity to highlight employee successes.. The Trickle activity feed also promotes open and honest discussion where your employees can share further suggestions, ideas and concerns. To learn more about the benefits of championing your employees’ work with technology, check out our previous article, How HR Technology Can Transform Your Business.

6. Reward the right behaviours

Recognising when employees help the business reach its goals will reinforce its commitment to your vision and mission. Give leaders and colleagues a centralised spot to share company-wide kudos, peer nominations, and promotions.

For example, Trickle has a simple tool called Fist Bump, which encourages peer-to-peer praise and support for a job well done. It is a fun and quick way to acknowledge success, the importance of which Trickle has outlined in a previous article about Why Fun At Work Is Important.

How boosting employee participation helps businesses grow

Employees are a business’s most valuable asset. People are more likely to engage with their work if they feel listened to and respected. By providing opportunities to participate in the wider business, leaders can drive more participation and inspire change.

The fundamentals for building positive engagement and employee participation include:
Helping employees find value and meaning in what they do.
Showing people how their work aligns with a company’s core mission.
Acknowledging team members’ contributions to the working culture.
Giving employees an open line of communication at all times.

How To Boost Employee Engagement and Participation with Trickle

Trickle’s cloud-based employee interaction platform is packed with features that can help drive more participation and engagement within your organisation. Any company can use Trickle and its features to promote employee participation and actively engage with staff.

Book a free demo with us today or you can get instant access, free for 28-days.