Boosting employee engagement is often at the forefront of HR initiatives today - But one of the simplest ways to improve engagement is sometimes overlooked - Communication.

Simply put, your team wants to be in the know. Communicating company goals, having managers frequently check in, and using internal software are just some of the ways you can keep your team engaged and productive.

These easy to implement communication hacks will help you boost employee engagement at your organization:

Engagement surveys

Using an engagement survey is one of the best (and easiest!) solutions that works two-fold to improve employee engagement. First, engagement surveys demonstrate to your team that you care about their well-being, and they allow you to gain valuable insights that will help you make improvements.

You can get a free template from OfficeVibe right here, or use other free software like Survey Monkey to collect data from your employees.

Regular check-ins

This means both between employees and their managers, but also between high-level executives and the rest of the company

While It’s important that employees feel comfortable speaking openly and honestly with managers, it's also crucial that your team has a viable platform to provide suggestions to high-level executives. Communication that comes from management to employees helps when organizations want to adopt new initiatives, but also demonstrates that an executive team supports and values their team. 

As well, the manger-employee relationship is really not all that different from other valuable relationships, in that it takes good communication to keep both sides happy and engaged. Make sure the managers at your company are communicating frequently with their employees. If you're unsure they're comfortable with the task, provide training.

Use an internal communications platform

There are helpful online platforms like Slack that can be great for internal communications between and within departments - You can even use them to collaborate on projects.

Similar to Slack, are internal communications platforms like HipChat, Mattermost, and Yammer are all affordable and great options for collaboration, project management, chat, and knowledge sharing.

Share your story

As a leader, you should be frequently communicating your organizational mission and values. If your team doesn't understand why the company does what it does, it will be difficult for them to align their own work objectives with the company’s goals.

Show recognition

Remember that gold star you got on your homework in grade school, how happy you were? As we get older, it turns out our desire to be recognized doesn't change a whole lot. 

Even though employee recognition programs are a key driver of engagement, only 59% of employees say that their managers lets them know when they've done a good job.

Not sure where to start? Think about how you will define what should be recognized, and which platforms you will use to recognize employees both in public and in private.

Interested in learning more about employee engagement and other helpful HR insights? Check out one of our free resources below: