With such a focus on connecting with members and potential customers, organizations sometimes neglect employee engagement. But to retain talent, organizations need to understand that people need more than money or perks, writes Marcel Schwantes, founder of Leadership From the Core, in Inc.

“Leaders need to get in the game of engaging employees,” he says. “This means fostering an environment where employees want to go to work, where the work has meaning and purpose, and where people feel like they belong to a family.”

To create this environment, your organization needs a caring boss who is approachable, celebrates the team’s successes, and recognizes that employees need a work-life balance.

“You’ve heard the saying, ‘People leave bosses, not companies.’ Bad bosses suck the meaning out of the work environment, and people who work for them can’t wait to get out of their jobs, no matter how well they might be paid,” Schwantes says.

Your organization should also allow employees to develop meaningful relationships with coworkers. According to Schwantes, a Gallup report shows a relationship between strong work friendships and high engagement. In Gallup’s research, employees who reported having a “best friend” at work were 27 percent more likely to say that the mission of their company makes them feel their job is important.

“Developing a sense of camaraderie and a belief that your team is smart, fun to work with, and successful means a lot to team members,” Schwantes says.

Slack Debuts a Major Redesign

Slack unveils its biggest redesign yethttps://t.co/GX6vUA2GAz pic.twitter.com/v5G1pBGHxE

— The Verge (@verge) March 18, 2020

Slack is unveiling a redesign to its communications app that will make it easier to use, The Verge reports. According to Tom Warren, Slack is trying to address known design flaws with better sidebar customization, a new compose button, and a top navigation bar, among other changes.

“Slack’s new redesign all starts with the sidebar. The biggest change is that messages, channels, and apps will all now support grouping into collapsible sections within the Slack sidebar,” Warren says. “That means if you’re working on a project that has certain channels and group DM conversations, then you can nest them all under one handy section and drag and drop it to exactly where you want it in the sidebar.”

Other Links of Note

Apple just unveiled a new iPad Pro, and the release date is next week. TechRadar has the story.

Story time. Nonprofits can use Instagram Stories to raise awareness for their causes, says Non-Profit Today’s Kerstin Heuer on the Wild Apricot blog.

For digital workplace success, involve people strategically, says Shaun Slattery in an interview with CMSWire.

(Cecilie_Arcurs/E+)