Engaging employees in a fledgling organisation

For start-ups, it's never too early to adopt an employee recognition plan

Today, even small start-ups can teach traditional businesses a lot about attracting and retaining some of the best talent. How do they do this without the hefty pay packages, superior work environment and additional perks and benefits that larger organisations are armed with? The answer often lies in their exciting company vision and communication that gets employees on board and enthused about being part of building something great. But start-ups can lose this advantage easily as they scale up and miss out on motivating some of their key employees due to the lack of a planned engagement strategy. In fact, the Dale Carnegie India Employee Engagement report has shown that larger companies in India (with more than 100,000 employees) tended to have the lowest amount of disengaged employees (five per cent), while smaller companies (between 100 and 501 employees) had 14 per cent of disengaged employees. We outline five things you must do to ensure that your employees are willing and able to do their best work for your start-up:

Build a great employer brand: Most large corporations tend to look and act the same way. Decide what sets your start-up apart (besides your disruptive product) - it could be your flat structure, strong ethics, community focus or unconventional approach. Map out qualities that your ideal candidate would find important and try and include the ones which match with your larger goals. Whatever you decide, make sure it will be able to represent your brand for the long term as you will have to live these values and reiterate them to candidates for years to come. An aspirational, long-term vision and how you intend to achieve it is often why employees move to start-ups in the first place. Go one step further and differentiate your company from other start-ups by finding something unique that your company can "own" and become known for.

Exceed expectations about your company culture: Start-ups have the ability to be refreshingly honest in interviews, which is highly appreciated by candidates. Don't make grandiose promises to fresh hires. Instead be realistic with them about the type and amount of work which is expected. This does not mean focusing on the negatives, but instead giving them a clear picture while also mentioning the great aspects of joining the team. Having game-changing people at the helm usually acts as a strong magnet for exceptional talent who want to work with other like-minded people. If your company is lucky enough to have these founders/leaders, capitalise on it. Once a candidate is on board, this is your best chance to exceed his expectations with your great policies and workplace culture.

Offer non-monetary benefits: It has been shown that salary alone is not a strong determinant of employee motivation. Smart start-ups make the maximum use of non-monetary perks like flexi-time, employee stock ownership plans, work from home and company-sponsored trainings. Investing in your employees' future shows them that they mean a lot to the company, while the flexible work hours will help them maintain work-life balance and perform better. It is difficult for large organisations to offer this sort of flexibility to all their employees or implement the latest developments in working styles and structures. Put your petite size and relatively high responsiveness to use and update your employee offering regularly. Don't forget to publicise these benefits, especially if they are unconventional as they make for great talking points.

Enforce strong employee recognition plans: No one wants to be a faceless bot in an endless stream of workers. Your start-up is a chance for high-performing individuals to stand out and be recognised. This is more motivating than you think, especially for individuals who are tired of putting in loads of time and effort and it going unappreciated in earlier, larger companies.

Measure and improve: A large portion of motivated people value ownership in their work and abhor micro-management. Others love the idea of working in cross-functional roles. Depending on which sector you are in, employees may value different aspects. Why not ask them what they find important and try to introduce it. It is a great motivator for an employee to know she is being heard and her suggestions being acted upon. Quick reviews or employee engagement surveys have shown to be very effective in determining what companies or HR should focus on first.

Moreover, according to a Dale Carnegie study, companies with engaged employees have been shown to outperform those without by up to 202 per cent! It is never too early to put in place a simple employee engagement plan for your start-up. At the end of the day, employees are your biggest asset, which will move the company forward, and missing out on engaging them is a risk you cannot afford.

Pallavi Jha
Managing director & chairperson, Dale Carnegie Training India