Employee engagement is an important strategy to foster within an organization because it can create a sense of appreciation and belonging. Within my organization, while not required but encouraged, we receive company surveys twice a year and the latest survey results showed that 80% of the department’s employees felt no sense of belonging within the organization. This is in stark contrast to pre-pandemic engagement results, likely because we were in office and now everyone is spread out in other states due to the mass influx of new hires posting for remote positions. While less than 40 of the departments 120 employees are local to me, our leaders created an in person team building event and a virtual team building event for any employee not in the Dallas or Houston area. While the event was fun, it did create a sense of belonging and getting to interact with employees you have never met in person. Insurance and especially claims is a stressful environment to be in every day and my organization puts a big emphasis on our total rewards but those total rewards do not include employee engagement. People bring to their job many needs-for challenging work and for respect and appreciation, not all of which are satisfied by pay and bonuses. (Dessler, 2020) While everyone likes to get paid for their hard work, engaging with your co-workers whether virtual or remote can bring satisfaction. One strategy to foster an engaging environment in the workplace is team building events, whether quarterly or once a month, the employees can get together and work on an important cause together.
Dessler, G. (2020). Human resource management (16th ed.). Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN-13: 9780135172780