Are you a busy boss? Five quick tips to intentionally engage with your employees
By: Christie Zeb
By implementing these five simple tips, employers will have more engaged employees with enhanced skills.
New employees, especially co-op students, can feel lost when starting new jobs. They may feel unsure about tasks or how much to get involved in projects. As a manager, being too busy can hurt the progress, performance and job satisfaction of co-op students and new employees. You don’t want co-op students to leave the role without learning or gaining new valuable experience.
Here are some tips to keep employees engaged and supported:
1. Set up one-on-one meetings
Make time in your calendar to schedule regular one-on-one meetings with new employees. Use these meetings to discuss their progress, address concerns and provide feedback. Short and purposeful meetings with their manager or a small team can help employees, including co-op students, to build personal connections and feel heard and supported.
“My weekly update meetings were with a smaller team, which helped me feel more connected to the people I was working with.”
- Ruth Xie (she/her), co-op student at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada (AAFC)
One-on-one meetings are a great opportunity to provide personalized guidance. You can use the time to help employees set clear goals and navigate any challenges they may face.
2. Assign mentors
Pair new employees with experienced colleagues who can act as mentors. Mentors can help them acclimate to the workplace, answer questions and provide guidance.
MAC LLP offers a comprehensive onboarding and training program, including mentoring through a buddy system. Team members mentor co-op students while passing on valuable insights from their own experiences.
“The buddy is an experienced peer who trains, mentors and helps to acclimatize co-ops and new hires to the office community. They help guide them through training, introduce them to colleagues or even grab lunch together.”
- Rihanna Cote (she/her), human resource manager at MAC LPP.
In addition to assigning a buddy, it's important to ensure each new hire has a dedicated supervisor. Their supervisor is responsible for providing regular support and feedback to the new employee.
3. Involve team members
Involving new employees in important projects makes them feel trusted and valued. They can contribute and learn while gaining needed work experience.
Leander Campbell (he/him), remote sensing specialist at Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, creates custom work plans for co-op students based on their skills and interests. The organization gives students a range of tasks and timelines to help them meet their goals.
“Some tasks will be short, where we tell them, ‘I need this by the end of the day.’ We also give them longer tasks that might take a couple of weeks or months. We want students to have the ability to juggle workload and prioritize on their end.”
- Leander Campbell
Delegating tasks empowers employees by giving them autonomy in their work. Many employees thrive when they can make decisions and take ownership, which boosts their confidence.
4. Create opportunities to connect
Organize informal interactions such as coffee breaks and team-building activities. These interactions make employees feel comfortable when they need to walk up to another team member to ask questions about a task or project.
To make these connections successful and consistent, consider setting up a team of staff volunteers to organize these social events.
Questrade Financial Group uses its workplace experience team to make team bonding an ongoing activity.
“Our workplace experience team and campus recruitment program give students opportunities to connect in a non-formal setting. This includes lunches, social events and games.”
- Daniel Leone (he/him), early career talent acquisition lead at Questrade Financial Group.
5. Provide training
Offer comprehensive training programs that cover essential skills and knowledge. Employee training options may include technical training, soft skills development and company-specific procedures.
At Agriculture and Agri-food Canada, students get training in areas where they may be lacking skills. The training gives students the skills they need to contribute to a range of projects within the department and beyond.
“For Computer Science students who have been exposed to Python or R programming languages, we get them some training in something like ArcGIS. This gives them some kind of Geomatics background.”
- Leander Campbell.
Creating a structure for continuous learning helps employees stay updated and grow professionally.
By implementing these tips, you can make time to create a supportive and engaging work environment that helps new employees feel seen, valued and motivated to succeed.
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