We all know that engagement increases workplace happiness and productivity. But how do we increase engagement?
Engagement comes as a result of focusing on what human beings need in order to be able to work effectively rather than on what the business wants to achieve. Marie Gervais of Shift Management works with businesses to understand their employee needs and address them through processes, interactions, and mandates designed for a business to be intentionally inclusive.
We recently hosted her at one of our HR discussions series events on diversity and inclusion, where she explained to us the six human needs which contribute to an employee’s happiness.
The Six Human Needs as explained in People, A Reliability Success Story, are:
- Certainty – safety, order, control, consistency, security
- Variety – uncertainty, change, diversity, challenge, surprise, adventure
- Significance – being seen and validated for who we are, feeling that we belong to another, collectively knowing that we have a unique role to play and that we are part of a web of others with unique roles to play
- Love and connection – loving others, being loved, belonging and feeling that we are connected
- Growth – need for physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual development
- Contribution – the need to give, help, protect, serve and contribute to the common good
Consider each need. Does your workplace provide the environment for employees to achieve fulfillment in each area? To have an affirmative answer, one must consider this question with the perception that each employee is an individual with a unique role and unique relationships.
For example, an employee that has been in a junior position for 2 years, but that is an extremely active member of the social committee, will have different needs fulfilled compared to the senior manager of business development, whom the company depends on for acquiring business.
How to understand employee needs
To identify what needs are being met by each employee, you need to consider the following:
- Do they have the information they need to work effectively?
- How are they being involved?
- Are they provided incentive and are they acknowledged?
At the discussion, Marie provided practical exercises and examples of each of the three themes to show when human needs are met, people feel included and empowered to contribute towards common goals. We practiced these to better understand how our workplace impacts the individual people in our organization.
Engaging people as human beings first, and employees second, brings inclusion and a sense of belonging to the workplace. This increased sense of inclusion, in turn, increases business impact and achievement of business outcomes.
Marie hosts an online workshop on Aligning Your Workplace for Inclusion, which is a 3 part series for certification in workplace inclusion taking place April 10, 17, and 24, 2018.
If interested in learning more about workplace inclusion, we would recommend reaching out to her at marie@shiftworkplace.com.
