Strategies to Elevate Employee Engagement in Automobile Industry

Employee engagement plays a pivotal role in today’s growing corporate world. From recognizing employees to elevating job satisfaction levels, employee engagement is the key to organizational success. HR managers must understand the organization’s right employee engagement strategies to improve the workforce’s overall efficiency. With the changing dynamics and fast-paced industrialization, the need for a robust employee engagement strategy has increased with time. From the aviation industry to the e-commerce sector, companies have now started to acknowledge the importance of employee engagement.

Let’s not forget how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected every sector of the corporate world and forced organizations to opt for work from home policies. While most of the corporate sectors did have the flexibility to adapt to work from home, few industries did not have any choice and work on-site.

One such sector was the automobile industry. This particular industry saw a massive decline in sales while the whole world went into lockdown and incurred huge revenue losses. Organizations were forced to let go of their employees and decrease salaries, resulting in higher levels of burnout and much more. This harmed the overall morale and engagement of the workforce.

However, with an appropriate employee engagement strategy, organizations can turn the tables and retain their prized assets while improving performance in the long run.

This article will focus on the engagement strategies, especially for the automobile industry to improve the employees’ overall morale.

Employee engagement strategies that will help the automobile industry

1. The Power of Rewards and Recognition

As an HR manager, you might be wondering if it is possible to facilitate a system of rewarding and recognizing employees on time. Well, the answer to that question is an obvious ‘yes’. The focus should be on curating a system that caters to the employees’ critical needs and requirements. It’s about understanding their perspectives and respecting their opinions.

Rewards do not have to be necessarily monetary. Few words of appreciation for their dedication can do wonders in improving the overall morale. During such difficult times, the care which you will show towards your employees will matter the most. Employees crave acknowledgment, and managers must focus on the same to elevate job satisfaction. When you appreciate employees for their hard work, it establishes good work ethics, improves productivity, and builds enthusiasm to do better.

And to help you with rewarding and recognizing your employees, Vantage Rewards provides a complete one-stop solution in elevating the employee engagement efforts of the organization. The rewarding platform allows the users to connect with the workforce in an interactive way and help increase employee morale in the long term.

Know More: Vantage Rewards- Helping Elevate Your Employee Engagement Efforts

2. Communication

Communication has always been a crucial part of a workforce that excels well in work. It is a two-way street. Employers and employees have to be transparent and work together to accomplish tremendous success. The current scenario of the pandemic has made communication even more essential to keep the daily operations intact.

Here is a quick question for you. How well is your internal communication, or rather how well do the leaders and the employees communicate? If the answer is yes, then you are on the right path towards an engaged workforce. However, if the communication is not effective, then it signifies you must work on improving it for the greater good.

Do not forget that your employees are the backbone of your business, and keeping them updated about every critical piece of information is a must. They have the right to know what is going on internally and externally. Include them in every decision if possible so that the matters stay transparent. It will help you open up to new ideas and build strong trust and mutual respect in the future.

3. Reinventing the Function of HR

A study was done by Mckinsey where they found that half of the HR respondents in the automotive industry were never functioning properly to deploy the right talent for the organization. If you consider this survey, then it can pose a threat to your employee engagement efforts in the long run.

When you hire a new candidate for a vacant position, the hiring managers need to make sure that they are the right fit for the organizational culture and the job you have to offer. New employees need to understand their roles. If they are not clear about their expectations, it can harm their productivity and decrease morale.

If we talk about the automobile industry per se, then it is critical that the employees perform at their best. The essential factor here is that the industry itself is based on customer success. They have to deal with the general public and keep them satisfied directly. But if the employees themselves are not satisfied with their job, it can negatively affect the customers’ overall experience.

To keep the workforce happy and engaged, the HR department has to revolutionize the way they worked. They have to think out of the box and facilitate ways to elevate employee engagement while keeping their traditional roles intact. It should be more about people management rather than managing people. The main focus should shift towards building an employee-centric culture while elevating the overall customer experience.

4. Surveys and Feedback

Organizations in the present era are pretty much reliant on employee surveys that help generate critical feedback. In fact, 52% of senior managers think surveys provide a very accurate assessment of reality. Conducting surveys and giving importance to the feedback from the employees is essential to keep the workforce motivated. It is one of the best employee engagement strategies that a leader can facilitate.

When we talk about pulse surveys and employee feedback in terms of the automobile industry, it becomes crucial. You may ask why it is important precisely for this particular industry? There are two essential factors to it-

• The first is the existence of the industry geographically

• The second is the number of employees that this particular industry consists of

Taking care of the employees of such a vast workforce can be a difficult task. And the main challenge arises when you have to cater to the employees with limited knowledge about employee engagement. You have to make them aware of the concept and help them understand pulse surveys and employee feedback. Facilitate a workflow that will help the employees to get a clear grasp of what the organization wants to achieve.

You need to have a strategic approach of how you are going to conduct the surveys and heed to the employees’ feedback. The surveys should be employee-centric that can help you figure out the problems faced by the employees. Make sure that the queries and questions are resolved in a timely fashion. Doing so will help the leaders maintain a good working relationship with their employees while establishing high engagement and trust within the organization.

Recommended Resource: The Ultimate Guide to Employee Pulse Surveys

5. Employee Well-Being

The COVID-19 pandemic changed the dynamics of how we used to work before. But most importantly, it made afloat the fact that employee well-being was much more important than any other aspect of people management. With no socializing and long periods of isolation, it took a heavy toll on mental health. On top of that, the pandemic has also resulted in companies laying off their employees that have resulted in job insecurity. Thus, increasing stress levels, anxiety, hypertension, and a drop in productivity.

All of these are few factors that have played a part in deteriorating the overall mental and physical health of your employees. The crucial aspect however is to find a solution through which you can minimize the after-effects and care for your employees’ well-being.

As a manager, you can introduce programs that can help decrease mental stress or conduct virtual events that can improve physical health. Moreover, the most important thing to keep in mind is that you need to show empathy, understand their problems, provide a helping hand in the time of need, and acknowledge their work in every possible way. The main objective is to keep the workforce happy, highly motivated, and satisfied to improve their overall performance and engagement levels.

Summing it Up!

Implementing the right employee engagement strategy will need patience and an approach that will be the right fit for the organization. As a manager, you need to figure out the best possible way that will not only increase the overall engagement of the workforce but also improve the bottom line. If you have any more suggestions, do let us know in the comments below.

Mrinmoy Rabha is a content writer and digital marketer at Vantage Circle. He is an avid follower of football and passionate about singing. For any related queries, contact editor@vantagecircle.com