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To be able to empower employees, management should allow some decision making authority.

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Employee participation and empowerment can be achieved in a small business context. To empower employees, management must transfer some decision-making authority - this shows employees that management has faith in them. Participation may be encouraged through a variety of means; the result is greater employee involvement in certain aspects of your business and greater organizational efficiency.

Employee Empowerment

Employee empowerment generally involves management recognizing that employees are in a better position to oversee their own duties and work processes. Management plays a crucial role in empowerment, as employees cannot manage themselves without being trained properly. Once employees are well-informed and educated regarding problem-solving strategies, management may then transfer some decision-making authority to them. The basic premise of employee empowerment involves the idea that employees are uniquely positioned to identify problems and to solve them.

Employee Participation

Employee participation involves management actively encouraging staff to assist in running and improving business processes and operations. Also known as employee involvement, employee participation includes management recognizing individual employees' opinions and input, so that employees understand that management views them as unique and individually valuable to running the business.

Encouraging Participation

Employee participation may be solicited in a variety of ways. For example, ask employees to drop suggestions regarding solutions to obstacles in a suggestion box. Suggestions should be reviewed and addressed at monthly meetings. Management should provide a reward to the employees whose suggestions are implemented. Employees should also be encouraged to speak freely about problems - and provide ideas about how to solve them - at meetings or when placed on problem-solving teams.

Management and Empowerment

When decision-making authority is given to skilled employees, problems are resolved more quickly because employees can act fast and aren't required to seek permission for each decision they make. The end result is a more productive and efficient workplace. However, management does not completely relinquish decision-making authority in an empowered organization. For example, management still has the power to reject bad ideas or suggestions that might be counterproductive. Moreover, management still has authority to make any and all final decisions.

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What Is Employee Participation & Empowerment?

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What Is Employee Participation & Empowerment?. Employee participation and empowerment can be achieved in a small business context. To empower employees, management must transfer some decision-making authority - this shows employees that management has faith in them. Participation may be encouraged through a ...

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This involves management encouraging staff to assist in improving business operations.

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It is important for employee participation to be solicited multiple ways.

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Why you should have Employee Involvement 

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Why you should have Employee Involvement 

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Involving employee can be beneficial for the business and employees

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Asking employees can give their opinions to make better decisions. Employees often work closer to the customers.

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As a business owner, you have to make a lot of decisions. Even though you are the head honcho and have the most knowledge about the workings of your business, you might lack knowledge in some areas. Or, your business might be getting stale from a lack of fresh ideas.

Involving staff in decision making can make your business stronger. Your employees can supply you with new ideas that you would have never thought of.

Why You Should Have Employee Involvement In Decision Making

Involving employees in decision making can be beneficial for your business and employees.

When you let employees help with decisions, it shows that you trust them. Even if you only let employees give input to assist you in making the final decision, you still show that you value their opinions.

Asking employees for their opinions can give you different perspectives to make better decisions. While you have an overarching idea of your business, your employees are in the day-to-day trenches. Employees often work more closely with customers, so they know what buyers need and request. Employees can also come up with revenue-generating and cost-saving ideas.

Letting employees make decisions frees you up for work in other areas. For example, if employees have a say over how displays are set up, you might have more time for your accounting tasks checklist.

Involving Staff In Decision Making

You can't simply hope employees will give you their opinions. You must actively seek their advice.

Below are three ways you can let employees help you make decisions.

Suggestion Box

Gathering good ideas is the first step to making good decisions. Create a system for employees to give you their suggestions. This might be a physical suggestion box. Or, you might have a digital alternative, such as a designated email or online form.

If you do have a suggestion box, make sure you regularly check it. Don't let it go unopened for long periods of time. Create a routine of checking it. This helps you make timely decisions.

When employees give you suggestions, respond to them. Tell them how you will use their ideas. If the idea isn't right at the time, make a note of it. Tell the employee that you appreciate their idea and explain why you aren't using it. Be careful about rejecting all employee ideas. If employees notice that you never act on their ideas, they may quit submitting them.

Employee Surveys

Regularly survey employees to get their feedback. You might use a paper or electronic survey. The surveys can help you learn their opinions, ideas, and level of satisfaction.

When determining how to do a performance review, make sure you include a short employee survey. After you give employees feedback, ask them to give you feedback. Their responses can help you make decisions that will help your business and their positions improve.

Once you receive the feedback, use the results to take steps to improve your business. Look for common complaints and ideas. You can pull employees who had ideas or felt strongly about something and ask them for more details. Find out what changes they would make to improve your business.

Leadership Teams

You might set up leadership teams, or committees, at your business. The people on these teams don't have to be managers. The teams can comprise any employees.

The leadership teams might have a general focus on your business. Or, you can create specific teams. For example, you might have a team that focuses on marketing decisions and another team that focuses on developing your products or services.

The teams should regularly meet to generate ideas and make decisions. Or, you might set up a communication channel for ongoing conversation. Committee members should feel free to give input about upcoming decisions.

... Read More

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How To Encourage Employee Involvement In Decision Making

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As a business owner, you have to make a lot of decisions. Even though you are the head honcho and have the most knowledge about the workings of your business, you might lack knowledge in some areas. Or, your business might be getting stale from a lack of fresh ideas.

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Can lead to greater job satisfaction, creativity and innovation, increased efficiency, lesser need of supervision

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Employee engagement is quickly becoming one of the most important indicators in gauging work satisfaction. Employees today are looking for more than just a 9-to-5 job. They want to be involved in their work, enthusiastic about the organization they work for and committed to their fellow workers.

Low engagement can be caused by several factors including lack of recognition by managers, poor company communication and not being aligned with the mission of the company.

Employee Retention

HR leaders are focused on improving employee engagement at their organization and retention is one of the key reasons. Organizations with high engagement reduce both turnover and hiring costs and disengaged employees are a major factor contributing to high employee turnover. Engaging employees is critical for retaining valuable talent and is an important piece of the employee satisfaction puzzle; as disengaged employees are more likely to leave their jobs. According to Forbes, employees who are engaged in their work are more likely to be motivated and remain committed to their employer. This leads to achieving more business goals and helping to drive the organization forward.

Employee Productivity

Employees who are engaged at work are more likely to be productive on a consistent basis - which leads to more revenue. Companies with a high level of engagement report 22% higher productivity according to Gallup data . Employers are quickly seeing this trend and investing more in employee engagement. The Workplace Research Foundation found that employees who are engaged are 38% more likely to have above average productivity. But is there a dollar amount that can be associated with an engaged employee? Actually, yes. Talent Culture found that increasing employee engagement investments by 10% can increase profits by $2,400 per employee per year.

Significance of Employee Engagement

Engaged organizations have double the rate of success compared to less engaged organizations according to Harvard Business Review.

Employee engagement needs to go beyond a cool-looking foosball table in the break room, or shiny incentives like flexible work hours or bringing your dog to work. Employees who are truly engaged will be motivated to do their best work every day and stay with a company who is taking employee engagement seriously. By investing in employee engagement, your company will be able to increase productivity, work quality, and retain top talent. Good news - according to Gallup data, employee engagement is on the rise with 40% of employees engaged as of July 2020 - the highest level of employee engagement since Gallup began tracking in 2000.

What is employee engagement anyway?

Let's take a step back. Employee engagement is such a hot topic but how is it defined?

According to , an engaged employee is "one who is fully absorbed by and enthusiastic about their work and so takes positive action to further the organization's reputation and interests. An engaged employee has a positive attitude towards the organization and its values. In contrast, a disengaged employee may range from someone doing the bare minimum at work (aka 'coasting'), up to an employee who is actively damaging the company's work output and reputation."

Employee engagement has also become synonymous with concepts like employee satisfaction and the employee experience, which is more about the complete employee journey from hiring to when they leave their job.

Why is employee engagement so important?

For engaged employees who are happy and completely committed to their work, it's more than just a paycheck - it is the dedication towards their employers and role that makes them passionate about their work, which is often reflected in their individual outcomes.

If you've been wondering why employee engagement is important and how to improve it, start with employee communication.

Connection, communication, and engagement are the three most vital aspects for the growth of an organization, both internally and externally.

Often, companies miss the core issues related to employee engagement because executives assume engagement is directly linked to salary and compensation. Most leaders figure employees leave the company due to the lack of promotional opportunities or the lure of better job packages elsewhere.

However, a study conducted by the MSW Research and Dale Carnegie Training contradicted this particular theory, stating that, apart from just money, three other, strong and more important factors directly impact employee engagement. These include:

1. Employee trust in the company's leadership,

2. Employee relationships with the management teams/supervisors, and

3. Employee pride in being a part of the company.

Of these three factors, it turns out cultivating work relationships through proper, clear, and open communication is the core of improving engagement. (A fact that every Human Resource manager must take note of.)

Gallup Employee Engagement Survey

There's no reason for any of these conditions to hold your organization back; with the right approach to employee communication, in fact, each of these conditions can vastly improve employee engagement.

How to Improve Employee Engagement

If you're in HR, you must create an environment that encourages employees to naturally want to be involved in and care deeply about their work. If you want high levels of involvement, motivation, trust, commitment, and empowerment, invest your efforts in improving employee communication.

For large companies, ensuring employees are aligned with the changing priorities of the business is also vital. This is precisely why internal communication is even more essential today.

If employees lack relevant, accurate, engaging information and instruction, how can you expect them to do their jobs well (much less be excited about their work)? With proper communication, employees will minimize the time and resources they might otherwise waste.

Communication is also key to setting clear expectations. When employees lack guidelines about what's expected of them, they won't know precisely what they need to do, or by when. Communication in this area helps them prioritize tasks and plan their workdays efficiently.

Importance of Effective Communication in the Workplace

Encouraging proper employee communication can build a strong bond between your company and your employees. With proper communication, employees start to identify themselves with the company's vision, values, and goals. They are then enthusiastic about doing better and becoming more engaged in every aspect of their jobs.

That includes even your remote or deskless workers, or employees who might spend most of their time in the field. In fact, this is the population that's most vulnerable to feeling disconnected from the company. If a large part of your workforce does not come into a central office every day and instead 1) works remotely from home, or 2) spends lots of time out in the field, you need to pay particular attention to what you can do to make sure your communication efforts reach those groups.

How Can HR Teams Use Communication to Improve Employee Engagement?

When you improve employee engagement, you improve performance and therefore increase your own value as an HR professional.

Develop clear internal lines of communication and execute the strategy effectively within the company.

Enable and promote better organization transparency through communication.

Effectively communicate business plans and strategies for every member of the team.

Encourage open lines of communication within the company between employees.

Recognize the efforts made by employees on various grounds and reward them well.

Use a workforce communication platform to integrate your communication channels (intranet, email, mobile app, etc.) to target, personalize, and measure your internal communications. This will help you understand how best to communicate with your employees on the channel of their choice, and will vastly improve your employee engagement.

Encourage your employees to use social media. More than 82% of employees believe that their work relationships, including communication, can improve greatly through social media channels.

Finally, if you want to create effective engagement and communication as an HR professional, you need to adopt a clear, confident mindset.

As Shiv Singh, author of Savvy: Navigating Fake Companies, Fake Leaders and Fake News , stated in a recent Culture, Comms, & Cocktails podcast: "It couldn't be a more important time for an internal communicator. This is their time to lead from the front. The rule is [to be] much more of a strategist behind the communications. To be a trusted advisor in the post-trust era also means really deeply understanding the meaning of trust, and then what it takes to build trust."

He made it clear that with low trust in business, internal communicators need to work harder to be mindful of ethics and fake news. Because the good news is though people don't trust businesses, they do trust their employers. To increase the employee experience and improve communications, leaders need to cultivate this trust with engagement and the idea of "working as one."

Learn more on how to increase employee engagement with our new guide, 4 Steps to Improving Employee Engagement. Read it now.
Related Stories: Top 6 HR Technology Trends to Watch in 2019 The 10 Critical Drivers of Employee Engagement for 2020 The Employee Experience in 2019 How to Improve Your Human Capital Management [Podcast] How to Communicate with Employees During Mergers and Acquisitions 6 Simple Ways to Improve Internal Communications in the Workplace

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Why is Employee Engagement Important to Company Success?

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Employee engagement is quickly becoming one of the most important indicators in gauging work satisfaction. Employees today are looking for more than just a 9-to-5 job. They want to be involved in their work, enthusiastic about the organization they work for and committed to their fellow workers.

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Egotism, Security, Risk, Industrial Democracy

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What motivates people to work? Money may be the primary reason, but beyond a certain limit it fails to. Organizations have been trying out different things to increase the level of motivation of its employees. Employee empowerment is one of them.

Employee empowerment means that an employee is given a chance to be enterprising, take risks without compromising with the organizational goals, mission and vision. His say in the process of decision making in increased. This can be for one particular individual or for the entire organization. In the latter case it is called participative management.

There are pros and cons to this employee empowerment. Whereas it is said and has been observed that participative management may lead to increased productivity, motivation, job satisfaction and quality enhancement; it may also slow down the process of decision making and act a potential security threat in terms of ease of access of information it offers to the employees.

From an organizational perspective the following pros and cons may be associated with employee empowerment.

Pros of Employee Empowerment

It leads to greater job satisfaction, motivation, increased productivity and reduces the costs.

It also leads to creativity and innovation since the employees have the authority to act on their own.

There is increased efficiency in employees because of increased ownership in their work.

Lesser need of supervision and delegation.

Focus on quality from the level of manufacturing till actual delivery and service of goods.

Employees when empowered become more entrepreneurial and start taking more risks. Greater the risk, greater are the chances to succeed.

Cons of Employee Empowerment

At the individual level employee empowerment means you are an integral component of the organization. This may sprout egotism or arrogance in the workers.

Apart from disadvantages at the organizational level, there are certain challenges that emerge at the individual level. Supervisors often complain disgust from the empowered workers. The following points go against employee empowerment:

Egotism / arrogance: Worker arrogance can create a big trouble for the supervisors and the managers. There can be problems in delegating. Employees avoid reporting about their work and feedback can be taken negatively.

Security: Since information comes and is shared by all, there are apprehensions about leakage of critical data.

Risk: Creativity and innovation demands a greater risk bearing capacity and there are equal chances of success and failure. Workers often lack the expertise to execute are enterprise, which can cost big.

Industrial Democracy: Labor unions and workers are empowered and they may misuse the same. Strikes and lock outs become more frequent. Also, labor unions gain insights into management and their functioning and they leak the same.

Participative management or employee empowerment does not mean relentless transfer of authority. It has to be in a controlled and regulated manner. Each aspect has to be carefully studied and levels of participation decided. For example, the level of participation of knowledge workers is different from that of a floor worker.

Authorship/Referencing - About the Author(s)

The article is Written By "Prachi Juneja" and Reviewed By Management Study Guide Content Team. MSG Content Team comprises experienced Faculty Member, Professionals and Subject Matter Experts. We are a ISO 2001:2015 Certified Education Provider. To Know more, click on About Us. The use of this material is free for learning and education purpose. Please reference authorship of content used, including link(s) to ManagementStudyGuide.com and the content page url.

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What motivates people to work? Money may be the primary reason, but beyond a certain limit it fails to. Organizations have been trying out different things to increase the level of motivation of its employees. Employee empowerment is one of them.