Employee Engagement for Women

Employee Engagement for Women

Male employees are more likely to be engaged at work than their female counterparts – so what are the girls missing that the guys aren't when it comes to successful management and, more importantly, how can you better engage your female staff?

Females are more likely to leave a business earlier than males and it seems like the number of unhappy female employees is on the rise. What can be done to reel these numbers back in and retain this segment of the workforce?

If you're running or managing a business and you want to have a greater impact on the female employees of your organisation, check out these five engagement methods that might just hold the answer

Offer More Flexibility Over Work Hours
Flexibility can be a really effective form of engagement. Giving your staff the ability to exercise control over their work hours will lead to them becoming more productive and invested in the company. Having more control over our lifestyles and more responsibility helps us to regain a sense of work-life balance that many are sorely missing.

Offer More Diverse Opportunities
Studies have shown that women prefer to explore multiple areas of work compared to the men of the office. Offering the opportunity to be involved in different aspects of company-life can reduce turnover rates and enrich the lives of your female employees.

Recognise and Reward
Enough cannot be said for a solid rewards program. Recognising employee achievement is absolutely crucial to the satisfaction of all of your staff, not just females. When something is done well, a difficult project is completed or a team achieves exemplary results, you need to recognise and reward these individuals as a manager or business owner. Give them an afternoon to do something fun, take them to lunch and make sure you let the office know what they've achieved and what impact it's had. You don't need to call a conference or throw a parade, but recognition is important.

Promote Internally
Nothing is more frustrating than busting your hump for twelve months only to have the boss hire from outside the organisation to fill that new titles you were aiming for. When at all possible, promoting internally is a fantastic idea. It gives something for staff to strive toward and shows how much you value your employees giving it their all.

Leave Titles Behind
Women prefer to work an environments where hierarchies are not prominent. Instead of designating titles like 'Team Leader", make sure work engages everyone in the office equally. Give responsibilities to those who have performed well recently, but encourage every staff member to contribute ideas and put forward their suggestions. The more fluid your team is, the more adaptable they will be to tackle new challenges.

There you have it! Five fantastic ways to engage female staff and (hopefully) improve retention and lower turnover. By implementing these ideas you can encourage productivity, help staff grow their skill sets and encourage a more engaged team.

Josh Armstrong manages Gift It Now, an Australian experience gift store. Through Gift It Now Corporate, Josh wants to inspire your company to improve through engagement and by achieving a more positive, flexible and desirable workplace and culture.