Employee Empowerment: How to Do It Right

Can you identify the most common element of all successful organizations?

It’s their strong and successful workforce. Yes, the success of any organization is directly dependent on the success of its employees.

Employees are the face of an organization, and they act as its representatives while interacting with customers, calling prospects, meeting clients, closing deals, etc. In doing so, employees who are empowered perform better than the ones who feel disempowered. Empowering your employees can transform them, resulting in better organizational performance.

So, what is Employee Empowerment?

Employee empowerment is, in a sense, liberty at work. By creating a sense of accountability and a framework for team members to make decisions, they can then enjoy the freedom of being able to do a job well. Empowered employees are confident and perform better with guaranteed success.

At Etech, employee empowerment has been a key to the growth of our company, as we believe that when individuals grow, so does the company. Etech has experienced the benefits and positive outcomes of employee empowerment, making us profitable on all fronts over the last decade. Here are 5 valuable ways to make employee empowerment a part of your company’s culture:

Five crucial tips to empower employees in the workplace

1. Communicate the Vision of The Organization – Communication provides clarity. As an organization, it’s important to help employees understand the vision of the company. A vision sets clear expectations for teams and individuals. While sharing your vision with employees, encourage their interaction and feedback. Become aware by soliciting feedback and opinions from every employee to make sure that the team is heading in the right direction. When teams understands the big picture, it’s much easier for them to relate how their role and their work fit into the larger scheme.
2. Encourage Learning Programs for Your Employees – There’s no end to learning. Learning and development are essential for progress. Every industry is going through rapid changes. Employees should be encouraged and supported to seek ongoing training for required and new skills and to enhance their knowledge for solving newer challenges as they arrive. At Etech, we have a department that specializes in coaching, mentoring, and development programs for our employees at all levels. It is very important for our employees to understand that the company supports them in their growth and can work with them on career development. In this way, a partnership is created where the employee can take ownership of their success while also benefiting the company.
3. Listen to their concerns –An organization should encourage open talks/communication with their employees. Having an open forum to express thoughts respectfully without any hesitation makes people feel like their ideas, thoughts, and concerns are important and acknowledged. Whenever employees convey their concerns, it’s essential to appreciate them for speaking up and drawing attention to these issues. Having employees be a part of the conversations and solutions helps them feel valued at an organization.
4. Provide Timely Rewards and Recognition –What could be better than offering rewards and giving recognition to uplift an employee’s morale? This helps them gain self-confidence too! When hardworking employee feels ignored, it makes them feel disempowered. Timely rewards and recognition help employees feel inspired to go the extra mile. They feel appreciated and that results in the extra push to do even better.
5. Offer Regular Feedback to Employees – There’s always room for improvement. To facilitate empowerment, regular feedback to employees should top the priority list. This helps employees acknowledge their weak and strong areas which ultimately helps them to perform better.

Employee empowerment is all about supporting and guiding the team on their individual career journeys. It ensures an employee’s growth. An organization plays an important role in the career growth of its employees. With regular and timely feedback, employees can keep track of their performance graph. They know where they stand. Constructive feedback, professional mentoring and appreciation are the pillars of a supportive workplace for a strong and successful workforce.

These are just the top five tips on how to empower employees in the workplace. Try implementing these strategies and see how your company’s new commitment to its employees begins to unleash the great potential within each employee.

Now, let’s take a look at the benefits of empowering your employees:

 Top Five Benefits Of Empowering Your Employees

1. It increases employee initiative at work –Empowering employees encourages them to take risks and be able to make their own decisions. As they learn and grow, they can then become more flexible, taking ownership in their work, and becoming more confident.
2. It increases employee retention – Employees who feel empowered, appreciated, and encouraged are more likely to stay loyal to the organization in the long run. Higher rates of empowerment equal higher levels of engagement, a key factor in retention.
3. It improves customer service – When dealing with customers, employees often hesitate to check with their managers concerning certain issues, such as a customer complaint or resolution. By empowering employees, doors are open for communication and decision-making. They have more of the tools and knowledge to resolve customer issues at the lowest levels. In this way, a better customer service-oriented culture is built.
4. It results in higher productivity – Productivity levels for employees are boosted when they become part of the critical decision-making of the company. Because they feel more invested in the company, the by-product is naturally increased output.
5. It helps to develop careers – Career development has become one of the most important factors for any employee when they step into a role at an organization. An organization that focuses on developing and enhancing the skills of their employees yields greater returns from those employees. Not only are do the employees desire to contribute more but their skill development is ongoing which optimizes their efforts for the company.

Summing Up

Empowering employees is not a one-day process but a perpetual one. Empowerment is the global buzzword and empowering employees can benefit an organization in many ways including enhancing the customer experience remarkably.

Employee encouragement benefits the personal development of any team member. Employee empowerment is the key to a successful contact center. Etech can assist with innovative performance solutions. We have over 20 years of experience, nine (9) dynamic contact centers across the world, and over 3,000 employees. Contact us today to find out how we can make a smart, reliable, and actionable plan for a team.

As an employee, if you are planning a career and desire growth, Etech is the right place for you. We believe in and practice employee empowerment. Come and be a part of the Etech family. Check the multiple openings we have across our centers.