What are connected employees?

The term “connected employee” is synonymous with “employee engagement” in most instances. This is someone who is invested in their work, passionate about doing the job well and looks forward to coming to the workplace each day. Actively involved employees are willing to go above and beyond because they care about their work and benefit the company, rather than simply working for a paycheck.

What does a connected employee look like?

As an employer, you need to know what a connected employee looks like to ensure your team members achieve their full potential and productivity. Evaluate your workforce based on these criteria to determine if you have connected employees or if your team is not feeling involved at work.

A connected employee:

• Goes above and beyond their expected duties because they feel valued and want to help their coworkers
• Has an optimistic attitude in the workplace and about their work
• Keeps the company’s best interest in mind (they are not self-serving)
• Seeks opportunities for personal development to improve their performance
• Builds positive relationships with colleagues and gets to know people outside of their workplace roles
• Has a healthy work-life balance and interests/hobbies outside of the workplace

Connected employees feel like they are an integral part of your organization, and they demonstrate this by doing more than is expected of them without being asked, choosing to spend time with coworkers (their friends) outside of working hours and contributing to a positive environment in the workplace. Connected employees make the workplace more pleasant for everyone and are valuable assets to your company’s future.

Aspects of a connected employee experience

Part of your responsibility as an employer is to actively work on ways to improve employee engagement and encourage your staff to feel connected at work. To ensure employees feel their workplace is a positive, stimulating and rewarding environment to be in each day, focus on these components to create a connected employee experience:

Growth mindset

Connected employees feel like they have a future at your company, allowing them to invest time and energy into their own futures while working hard for your organization. To create a connected employee experience , you need to promote a growth mindset throughout your company. This is possible by ensuring there are opportunities for employees to grow through personal development activities such as workshops, training modules and moving into higher-up positions that advance their career the longer they stay with your organization.

Leadership

Good, reliable leadership is a key component of a connected employee experience . A survey from ValuePenguin found that 82% of employees would consider quitting their job if they weren’t happy with their manager. For your team to be actively involved with their work and feel invested in the company, they need to trust your leadership and that of other managers within the organization.

Appreciation

To keep employees motivated, there needs to be a certain level of recognition for their contributions to the company. If your staff is putting in 110% but feels like nobody notices, it is unlikely to sustain this work ethic long term. According to a survey from the American Psychological Association, more than 21% of working Americans don’t feel appreciated by their employers. Per the same survey, 93% of employees who reported feeling appreciated by their employer said they were motivated to perform well because they were valued. Meanwhile, 88% of those who felt valued by their employer said they would also consider themselves to be connected employees.

Healthy company culture

A company culture that fosters inclusion, transparency and positivity is essential to creating a connected employee experience. Your team needs to feel comfortable and confident that you are keeping them in the loop at work, telling the truth and that efforts are underway to ensure everyone is included and offered the same growth opportunities.

How should you connect with your employees as their employer?

As a leader in your organization, you can take steps at the management level to create an environment where employees want to actively be involved in the workplace and the tasks they must complete each day. Here’s what you can do to establish a connected employee experience and build a positive relationship with your team.

Share and explain your vision

Employees feel valued and involved when you take the time to explain your ideas or vision for a project to them. If they are directly involved in a task or project, speaking to them one-on-one about your goals for the outcome or how you plan to approach it is a great way to motivate your employee and make them feel like an integral part of the process.

Make communication accessible

Whether your team is working in-office, remotely or in a hybrid setup, it’s critical to make communication with you accessible to them. By ensuring your employees feel like they can talk to you, ask questions or share ideas, you encourage them to feel connected to the team and management. You are also indicating that you value them and their input when welcoming open communication from your staff across various channels (email, phone, text message, Slack or Zoom).

Ways to help your employees feel more connected

Besides your own communication skills, you can put initiatives in place at your organization that help ensure all employees, even those who don’t interact with you directly, enjoy a connected employee experience. When employees are connected, it benefits your company and those working for it.

Clearly define company values and your mission

Employees cannot form a connected workforce unless they have a common goal to get behind. To align your employees with your company goals and values, ensure the mission of your team or corporation is clear from the outset. Share your values (such as being environmentally conscious or championing diversity) from the early stages of the interview process so that you are bringing like-minded individuals on board. This allows you to build a team that is proud of the company they work for and is more likely to work hard to support it.

Prioritize team building

Putting effort into team-building initiatives is an effective way to create more connected employees. A 2018 Gallup Poll found that employees with a work best friend are twice as likely to be actively involved with their work. To help your team members connect on a level that boosts productivity and employee retention, consider encouraging conversation and interaction between coworkers even when it doesn’t directly pertain to the work.

Dedicate time to collaborative exercises such as icebreakers and other fun games that don’t serve a direct purpose in completing a project-related task but benefit your team as a whole.

Set a positive example

It’s challenging for employees to feel connected in a workplace where their manager or employer doesn’t exemplify the company values. These employees took on their respective roles because they appreciated the organization’s mission statement and felt that the brand values aligned with their own, so it’s important that you, as an employer, work hard to model these traits in your leadership role. Set a positive example for inclusiveness, respect, honesty and communication in your workplace.

Help employees feel heard

Employees are likely to be more actively involved with their work when they feel like their opinions matter to the company. Provide opportunities for your team to share their input, voice concerns or give critical feedback about areas where your organization can improve.

Take their critical feedback onboard

Taking the time to actually implement their suggestions is just as important as providing opportunities for employees to feel heard and valued. Asking for feedback and ignoring it, especially if a suggestion or issue comes up multiple times, is bad for morale and can cause your employees to disengage because they don’t feel valued. Show them that you care and appreciate their opinions by actively applying their feedback to how you operate the company daily.

Encourage social events

Team building and forging connections in the workplace don’t have to be limited to office hours. You can create a stronger team environment where employees view each other as friends by setting up social events outside work hours, such as pub nights, cocktails after shifts end at 5pm or company picnics on the weekend. Whatever suits your company culture, find a way to bring your team together outside the office so they can build a more comfortable dynamic, learn more about each other and gain confidence by getting to know one another.

Celebrate achievements and milestones

Employees who feel like employers value their lives outside work are more likely to take their work more seriously. Showing your employees you care about their careers and personal lives is an important part of employee engagement and connection. Celebrate workplace achievements regularly, such as a pizza party when a sales team hits a goal or a meeting to recognize an employee going above and beyond on a project that received positive client feedback.

You can celebrate milestones such as an employee’s one-year, five-year or 10-year work anniversary with a small party at work and a gift to show appreciation. If an employee is having a baby and preparing for maternity leave, you can also recognize and celebrate this milestone with a card and flowers. It’s critical that you afford these celebrations equally to all employees, meaning that if you celebrate an achievement for one staff member, others who achieve the same thing should receive the same recognition as part of your HR policy.

Treat everyone with respect

A connected team feels valued, appreciated and safe when it comes to work each day. You can set the tone for this type of workplace by treating everyone on your team with respect and kindness. Keep your cool, be the voice of reason and provide equal opportunity to all your staff to succeed.