Experienced HR professionals and people managers know that engaged employees are the foundation of a successful organization. Engaged employees are generally more productive, but they also contribute to a positive company culture and better customer experience. But how do you create a robust and effective employee engagement program? In this blog post, we will discuss high level best practices for running a successful employee engagement program. We will also review some common pitfalls you should avoid when setting up a new or adjusting an existing employee engagement program.
Employee engagement programs typically include elements such as goal setting, feedback systems, corporate recognition and rewards, open communication channels, and opportunities for growth and development. The program should also have a strong focus on creating an environment where employees feel their opinions are valued and heard.
In terms of who facilitates or creates these programs, usually this responsibility lies with the People & Culture team or HR department. However, it is important to get executive buy-in on these programs and ensure that senior leadership takes ownership and is actively involved in both promoting and measuring employee engagement success.
When setting up an employee engagement program, there are several key best practices you should keep in mind:
The most common pitfall in an employee engagement program is an unclear objective. What do you want to achieve with the program, and how will you measure its success? Defining your objectives will help you tailor employee engagement initiatives to the organization's specific needs and create engagement metrics that can be used to track progress over time. Being able to repeat and clearly communicate the objective is important for program adoption.
Start by identifying key performance indicators (KPIs) that align with your goals, such as employee satisfaction, retention rates, or productivity levels. If it's not immediately obvious how to codify all of the potential underlying objectives of an employee engagement program, try starting simple.
The eNPS methodology is a simple starting point. An employee NPS (Net Promoter Score) or eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) is a metric used to measure the level of engagement and satisfaction of a group. It's a single question survey that asks employees a variation of the following question:
On a scale of 1-10, rate your likelihood to recommend your employer to others.
Those that respond 9-10 are considered 'promoters' (+1 pt), 7-8 are considered 'neutrals' (0 pt), and anyone 1-6 are 'detractors' (-1 pt). Add the points for promoters, neutrals, and detractors and you can quickly see if you have more promoters than not. It's an easy way to get a regular pulse on engagement and satisfaction without requiring a tremendous amount from the employees.
There are many other measurement options available, including employee surveys with specific questions about workplace engagement and satisfaction, more in-depth research such as focus groups or interviews, and even explicit measures of productivity from internal systems.
If you're looking for a more thorough, specific, and mature methodology for measuring engagement, here are a couple of methodologies to review.
The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) is a comprehensive and well-respected method for measuring employee engagement. Developed by researchers at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, the UWES consists of 17 items in full (originally having 24, short form using only 9) used to evaluate work engagement among employees. The items measure three dimensions of work engagement: vigor, dedication, and absorption.
The Vigor scale evaluates employees' energy levels, enthusiasm for work, and willingness to expend effort. The Dedication scale assesses the amount of importance placed on work by employees and their determination to perform it well. Finally, the Absorption dimension measures how involved employees become in their tasks by gauging their level of enjoyment and focus while performing those tasks.
The UWES is a powerful and reliable tool for measuring employee engagement, but it is also more complex than the eNPS approach and requires expertise and experience in using it correctly. It is, in essence, an evolution of the origination of employee engagement developed by management psychologist William Kahn in 1990.
To give you a sense of the system, here are the items that are rated in the short form version:
These are then scored on a scale from 0 - 6 (Never -> Every Day) representing the frequency at which you have that feeling at work. It does require some expertise to interpret results accurately.
The Job Engagement Scale (JES) was also based on psychology research by William Kahn in 1990 and developed by Bruce Rich into an 18-item scale used to measure job engagement. Even further simplification from some of the same researchers in 2021 led to a 9-item scale that is well adopted. To give you an idea of the system, here are the items rated:
You use a 1 - 5 (Strongly Disagree -> Strongly Agree) scale to rate each of these dimensions. It certainly gives more detail than employee NPS scores, but requires a bit more effort as well. The JES is a useful tool for measuring employees' job engagement, but it is not as comprehensive or widely adopted as the UWES. It also requires expertise and experience to interpret results accurately.
Once you've sorted out your objective and methodology, it's important to get the right leaders on your side.
No matter the methodology utilized for measuring engagement, having the support of leadership is essential for implementing a holistic employee engagement program. A lack of clear and consistent leadership support can immediately topple a very well organized initiative.
Top-level leaders need to understand and value the importance of an engaged workforce, and ensure that their organization has the resources needed to commit to a long-term view on improving engagement. Without leadership support, organizations may lack the necessary environment required for employees to feel valued and engaged. It's important to make sure that leaders are involved in the implementation of any initiatives, and can be held accountable for its success or failure.
Often times, tying engagement to specific and tangible costs for the organization can help leadership understand the urgency and importance in an increasingly competitive labor market. For instance, according to Gallups extensive research, in 2023 only 32% of US employees are engaged at work and that drops to 20% if you expand the research to global respondents. In 2021, Joblist noted that 73% of employed workers said they were actively thinking about quitting. Teams with low engagement experience much higher turnover rates and that turnover can cost 1.5-2x the current employee salary. Find the leaders who are capable of helping you shepherd engagement programs forward and recognize the real cost of a disengaged workforce.
To create a successful employee engagement program, it's crucial to understand what your employees need and want. One way to do this is to conduct regular focus groups to gather feedback on their attitudes toward the workplace, their job responsibilities, and their perception of the company's culture.
The key to successful employee feedback program (and the implementation of employee feedback tools) is acting on the important feedback. Make sure to give credit to the source of feedback. When appropriate, giving credit publicly (i.e. via communication channels, all hands meetings, emails blasts, etc.) will encourage more feedback and ideas. Use this feedback to identify areas where your organization can improve and create initiatives that address employees' concerns and enhance their overall experience.
The cycle of hunting for good feedback and ideas, organizing change around that feedback, and crediting the source of that feedback can be a very powerful retention tool. Just doing the work to understand where engagement can be improved shows care and can have a boost on employee moral and satisfaction ongoing.
One of the most effective ways to engage employees is by providing them with opportunities for professional development. This can include offering training sessions, mentoring programs, or tuition reimbursement for further education. By investing in your employees' growth and development, you demonstrate a commitment to their future success.
A proper mentoring program can help employees learn new skills and competencies at a rapid pace. Learning is a key driver of engagement. A good program will have people who are experienced in the job helping people who are just starting out. A good mentoring program will also have leadership involvement to ensure the right matches for mentor and mentee.
A typical mentor program can be structured to meet as often as necessary, though typically they meet on a biweekly or monthly basis. This gives mentors and mentees the opportunity to develop a strong relationship. The frequency should be such that progress can be made or displayed between sessions.
A tuition reimbursement program is an employer-sponsored benefit that allows employees to take courses for free or at a discounted rate. Many employers will offer tuition reimbursement as part of their employee engagement and development efforts, allowing them to invest in their employees' careers while also helping them remain competitive in the job market.
Tuition reimbursement is beneficial for both employers and employees. For employers, it creates more highly skilled workers who are better able to perform in their jobs. Employees benefit by having the opportunity to advance their skills while also reducing or eliminating out-of-pocket costs associated with education.
Be sure to understand the resources and costs associated with offering additional development opportunities. When structured well, they can be a great mechanism for driving engagement... But if you have to take the program away or limit the usage, it can be very tricky to do without having a negative impact on the employees.
Recognizing employees' contributions is essential for creating a positive work environment and fostering employee engagement. In the last twenty years, research has focused in on elements of positive psychology and the impact on workplace engagement. Overwhelmingly, recognition and reinforcement have been noted as drivers of positive psychology and increased productivity. In The Carrot Principle, Gostick and Elton point out that, "79 percent of employees who quit their jobs cite a lack of appreciation as a key reason for leaving."
Find ways to develop a culture of appreciation and positive feedback that is shared publicly. The key is to ensure the feedback is genuine and matches behaviors you'd love to reinforce team or company wide. It's not a popularity contest or an open forum, but rather a well coordinated award or appreciation that will be meaningful to the receiver. Programs around recognizing achievements and contributions can be some of the most cost effective engagement drivers, and yet they are consistently written off or underutilized by people managers.
While there are many best practices to follow when creating an employee engagement program, there are also common mistakes to avoid. One of the biggest pitfalls is focusing too much on perks and benefits. While it's essential to offer competitive compensation and perks, it's equally important to create a positive work environment, a culture of respect and trust, and other elements that have a more significant impact on workplace engagement. Remember, employee engagement is a measure of how committed an employee is to their work. Perks and benefits can certainly be a factor, but they usually have a minimal impact on employee engagement as a whole.
Just to be sure, here are a list of perks and benefits that probably do not qualify as an employee engagement programs:
While these perks can certainly be appreciated, they are not the same as an employee engagement program. An effective engagement program should focus on creating meaningful connections between employees and their work.
Employee engagement programs may not work if everyone gets the same thing. Different people need different types of help or support, but they also may need to be recognized in very different ways. If everyone gets the same things, you can almost guarantee it won't be helpful to certain people.
Think about the roles and different job functions within your organization. Are there any particular teams or roles that don't fit the traditional mode? Any teams working outside of normal hours or off-site? Where and how will your engagement programs fall apart before they even hit the ground. Understanding the weaknesses of any individual engagement program will help you adjust or alter the program to meet the broadest set of employee needs without unnecessary surprises.
I guess it's worth saying: employee engagement programs won't fix organizational issues. Often times, employee engagement is a reaction to some other unfortunate company symptom, like high employee turnover, a dip in employee morale, decreased productivity, or otherwise. If there are fundamental organizational issues, scrambling to build an engagement program won't help.
Employee engagement is not something that has a quick fix. The programs and mechanisms you implement to positively impact engagement must have a long-term focus as well. It takes time for employees to develop a sense of commitment and loyalty to the organization, and this process is dependent on trust and positive relationships between managers, colleagues, and the organization as a whole.
Developing an effective employee engagement program requires careful planning, ongoing assessment and adjustments, and thoughtful implementation. By taking the time to understand your employees' needs, developing positive relationships between managers and employees, and offering meaningful rewards and recognition programs, you can create an environment that is beneficial for everyone involved. Doing so will help ensure that your employees remain engaged and committed to the organization.
In summary, creating an effective employee engagement program requires a strategic and holistic approach that addresses employees' needs, goals, and aspirations. By defining your goals, setting up the right employee feedback tools, soliciting employee feedback, offering professional development opportunities, recognizing employee contributions, and avoiding common pitfalls, you can create an engaged and motivated workforce that contributes to your organization's success. Remember, employee engagement is an ongoing process that requires continuous improvement, so be sure to regularly review and refine your program to ensure you are maximizing its impact.
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