Home topics news Source: Smartworks Coworking on Unsplash News News Why SMEs need to focus on boosting employee engagement Chris Ellis September 29, 2023 Businesses are constantly on the hunt for ways to improve staff performance and raise productivity. Increasingly, attention is being focused on the challenge of deepening employee engagement. When staff feel engaged with their place of work, they are more likely to perform well and deliver better outcomes – something every business is keen to see. However, achieving effective and sustained engagement is not an easy task. It’s something that requires constant effort and continuous improvement on the part of both organisations and senior executives. Engagement and communication An important part of increasing employee engagement is ensuring that effective communication channels exist within an organisation. If staff feel they are being listened to by senior management, engagement is much more likely to occur. Unfortunately, however, it appears effective communication is not happening. According to a study by the US-based Workforce Institute, 86% of employees feel people in their organisation are not heard fairly or equally. Of those surveyed, 63% said they felt their own voice was ignored in some way by their manager or employer. It appears the challenge of disengagement is on the rise. According to a Gallop poll conducted earlier this year, only 32% of workers said they felt engaged with their work. This compares with 36% in 2020. One of the more troubling findings of the Workforce Institute research was that one-third of people