6 Employee Engagement Best Practices You Need to Know

Employee engagement is directly tied to productivity and performance. According to a 2020 Gallup poll, teams with engaged employees not only produce better outcomes across the board, but they also maintain stronger customer relationships and lower turnover.

But employee engagement doesn’t just happen. For sales teams, especially the SDR role, work often consists of repetitive activities — which is not to say those activities aren’t important or impactful. It does mean that it’s easy for reps to burn out, or to go into autopilot mode, or to lose sight of the bigger picture.

All of those things can ultimately result in disengaged employees. And all too often, that’s the case. According to that same Gallup poll, 13% of employees reported being actively unengaged (the lowest level of engagement) and 52% reported that they are “not engaged.” In other words, the majority of employees are suffering from disengagement at work.

The good news is that sales managers and sales leaders can improve and strengthen employee engagement — that is, it’s not some immeasurable, intangible thing that you can’t control. Here’s a quick rundown on employee engagement: what it looks like, how to measure it, and employee engagement best practices you can implement on your team.

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What is employee engagement?

Much like your sales culture, employee engagement isn’t a program or initiative. It’s something that sales managers constantly need to tend to and nurture.

There’s no hard-and-fast definition of employee engagement, but generally, it’s impacted by a number of factors. When evaluating your overall employee engagement, you can use this as a starting point to audit how engaged your employees are.

Clarity of role and position: Does each and every rep understand their role and responsibilities? More importantly, do they know how their work contributes to the bigger picture — i.e., team-wide and company goals?
Playing to their strengths: Does the work that your people are doing align with what they’re good at (and/or passionate about)? Hopefully, if you’ve hired the right people for the right roles, you can answer yes to this question. And of course, that’s not to say there may not be learning and skill development that needs to happen. But keep in mind, as teams and companies grow and evolve, roles change, too.
Healthy relationships and culture: Are your employees connected to each other and do they have healthy relationships with management? Your people don’t have to be BFFs, but they should have solid working relationships. Employees will also be more likely to feel engaged if there’s trust and transparency between employees and management, and a culture of open communication.
Team alignment: Is everyone working toward the same mission and vision? Do your people understand how their personal goals are integral to achieving shared goals?

Why do sales employees struggle with engagement?

As mentioned above, it can be all too easy for sales reps to slowly drift into autopilot mode. Daily and weekly activities can feel repetitive and even meaningless if there’s a lack of understanding around how that work is critical to hitting quota and the Big Number.

It’s also worth mentioning that transitioning from in-office to remote work can have a huge impact on employee engagement. Going from a high-energy sales floor to working in your spare bedroom can be tough. Whether open communication takes a hit or your employees start feeling isolated or disconnected, it’s worth paying extra attention to employee engagement best practices