A high level of distraction can reduce employee engagement. When this happens, you must find a way to boost employee engagement, or else, it affects overall productivity.
The question is, how do you improve employee engagement when they are distracted at work. There are ways to do this. In this article, we will discuss the most effective way to boost your employee engagement.
Ways to boost employee engagement in a distracting work environment
1- Set attainable goals and deadlines
Set both individual and organizational goals. Let employees understand why they need to work on their goals and how it is going to affect the organizational goals and productivity.
Track individual goals by Monitoring and documenting employees’ engagement. Moreover, you should set deadlines for the completion of all tasks.
When setting deadlines, it’s important to set achievable deadlines that work for individuals. Individual goals and deadlines will help you know the performing and underperforming employees.
Work on improving distracted employees. For example, if a set of employees are not completing tasks or meeting up with deadlines. It’s a tell-tale sign that they are distracted during work.
2- Reward hardworking employees
One way to motivate employees and boost their engagement is by rewarding them for their performance. Apart from their wages, give a bonus to outstanding performances.
Continue doing these every time, don’t wait till the end of the year before recognizing their effort. No matter how small, the employee will appreciate the reward with improved engagement.
For example, if an employee gets a bonus for quality jobs and meeting up deadlines, they will try their best to earn it.
3- Prevent distraction instead
It takes the human brain over 23 minutes to refocus after a distraction. Why can’t you avoid those things that lead to distraction instead of managing it? Indeed, one cannot eliminate distractions in a working place.
Phone calls, e-mails, social media, food, and family can be a distraction in the workplace that you may not separate from your employees. However, when they get too much, you have to set boundaries to prevent these distractions.
Another way you can avoid distractions and boost employee engagement is by giving free periods to attend to other things in their life.
For example, you can create time in the morning and afternoon for breakfast and lunch. During the period, the employee will be able to reply to messages and attend to family issues.
4- Provide the right tool
To improve employee engagement in a distracting environment, you must provide them with the tools to help them stay focus. With the right tools, the employee will complete tasks efficiently and on-time.
The office equipment should be easy to use without draining off employees’ energy. For example, if employees are provided with a time tracking app, they will only have a focus on the task. The app will do time management, and this will improve employee engagement.
5- Break the Routine
Doing the same thing is a way to improve expertise, but could also lead to boredom. A bored employee may find it challenging to perform at their best in a distracting environment.
Consider breaking down job tasks and allow the employee to take up new roles. Challenge and motivate them to share job duties among themselves. It will help them to master new skills and create a fun environment for all.
It will also help you to know the tasks that are more difficult than others. By sharing with more employees, you will boost engagement. For instance, if after breaking down routine, you discover a particular task is challenging. Consider sharing it with another employee.
6- Remind the employee of the importance of physical and mental health
Always advise your employee about the benefit of staying healthy physically and mentally. Give the employee enough time away from work to relax and manage stress.
Job stress can reduce employee engagement in a distracting environment. Encouraging physical exercise at the workplace is a way to show that you care about their well-being.
You can organize health talks where you can advise your employee about the kind of food that is good for their health. You can enroll employees on free health tests to monitor their health status.
Conclusion
There are many ways you can boost employee engagement in a distracting environment, few discussed in this article.
But it is crucial to reduce distractions to the barest minimum to improve employee productivity and engagement. A distraction that keeps occurring could lead to errors in the task.
