The employee engagement levels have hit an all-time low in the new normal. As employees and employers adapt to the work from home environment, the dropping engagement levels may not be the best news for any business.

With an unprecedented hike in remote jobs, employees have so many options. So, failing to keep them engaged will lead to employees moving on to the next glittery opportunity in the horizon resulting in high churn and its own Pandora’s box of problems.

How can organizations keep employee engagement high during this age of remote work (and beyond?) While people may believe that compensation can not make much of a difference, listed below are three unique ways that the right set of benefits can make a real impact on your employee engagement levels.

1. Deliver on your promises

With so much chaos happening around us, it’s no wonder that some organizations have trouble paying their employees on time. Although employees understand and empathize with the hurdles their employers face, employees will neither wait around forever nor will they stay staunchly loyal if they receive a tempting offer.

That doesn’t mean you have to up your ante and overpay your employees to retain them. When everything around us diverts into chaos and madness, just deliver on your promises. If you intend to cut a percentage of your employee’s salaries to keep the cash flow strong, make sure that it doesn’t affect those employees who are living from one paycheck to another.

A recent Towers Watson research shows that employees who believe they are paid fairly will be 4.5x times highly engaged as compared to those employees who aren’t paid fairly.

2. Move towards pay transparency

Payroll and compensation have always been shrouded in secrecy. What’s worse, a few leaders believe that compensation and benefits of employees must be treated sacred and it should remain confidential until eternity. But what they don’t realize is secrecy only breeds mistrust.  

On the other hand, organizations like Buffer who have an open pay system show that it not only ensures high trust among employees but also enables them to treat their employees fairly without any bias or favoritism.

Being transparent about employee pay can pave the way to reduced pay gaps, improved employee engagement, and enhanced organizational trust. What’s more, it can help functional managers and department heads take data-driven compensation decisions. This will also put a stop to all concerns of employees about substandard or unfair compensation.

3. Reassure your employees

These uncertain times have left employees in a state of panic filled concern. They are worried about everything from their job security to business continuity. Transitions are always hard, particularly if the way they work is changing. What is the best way to help employees and ease their concerns during these uncertain times?

Here’s what we at Compport did to reassure our employees and assuage their fears. As we moved swiftly to remote work, we put in all our efforts to get our virtual remote network up and running. Once that was ready, we offered all our employees with high speed unlimited broadband connection and even went so far as to pay extra to establish a new connection.

We did not cut any corners when we helped our employees set up a home office. We ensured that they had ergonomic chairs and sturdy tables to work from. To out win power outages, we provided our employees with inverters that ensure backup support. In addition to that, we went ahead and extended timelines of project deliveries to reduce their stress levels and help them get used to the new normal.

While daily sync calls helped keep each other up-to-date, we kept a close watch on the health, motivation, and sentiments of our employees. Our leaders reassured all employees frequently to assuage their fears associated with job security. All our employee reassurance activities from sending safety equipment for family members to extending mediclaim and life insurance policy covers were welcomed by all our employees unanimously.

Conclusion

Unique benefits and compensation not only play a huge role in attracting the right employees, they also have an equally strong say in retaining those employees. By providing your employees with the best benefits you can offer, you can encourage them to go the extra mile and invest their heart and soul to meet your business goals.

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