employee engagement by perks

Employee Engagement:Changing the Game

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Employee Engagement: Changing the Game


Table of ContentsEmployee Engagement vs. Employee Recognition 3

What is an engaged employee? 5

Developing a baseline 5

Step 1: Measuring engagement levels 6

Step 2: Employee Engagement survey 7

Step 3: Develop clear objectives 9

Methods and tactics

Programs that may improve Employee Engagement 9

Potential tactics 10

Communication strategies 12

Tools and technology 14

Surveys 14

Social networking 14

CRM 15

Video Tools 15

Challenges and Pitfalls: 15

Conclusion 18

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Employee Engagement is the outcome of consistent and effective employee

recognition.Employee engagement occurs as the end-state of a focused effort.


Employee Engagement vs. Employee Recognition

Employee engagement, as a concept, is sometimes misinterpreted as employee

recognition, but that is not the case. Both are important and related, however,

Employee Engagement is the outcome of consistent and effective employee

recognition. Employee engagement occurs as the end-game of a focused effort that

includes various tactics and methods—like employee recognition programs, salary and

benefits and other programs.

In this white paper, we will tackle various topics including:

Defining employee engagement?

The impact of employee engagement/disengagement on the overall

organization?

The importance of improving levels of employee engagement

Concepts on how this can be achieved.

The “Employee Engagement” term is used to measure the job satisfaction level of an

individual employee. A simple definition from Kevin Kruse1, contributor at Forbes.com,

describes “Employee engagement as the emotional commitment the employee has to

the organization and its goals.” While the “Employee Engagement” term is relatively

new, the concept is not.

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As access to a wide array of global markets continues to increase, the competition

for leading talent around the world is becoming more intense. At the same time,

economic conditions vary greatly across geographies, each with its own set of

challenges. The survey reveals that the top challenge over the next three years for

HR leadership across the globe is talent – finding it, motivating it, and keeping

it. And the challenge was consistently cited by employers in the Americas (24%),

EMEA (28%) and Asia-Pacific (24%). (2)


In fact, when you assess search trends, from 2005 to present, you see that Employee

Engagement (the blue line) has significantly overtaken Employee Recognition (the red

line) as a search term.

Why? The business landscape has changed dramatically over the past 10 years and

competition for talent has significantly increased. According to a recent Deloitte and

CEBS survey2, the competition for leading talent across the world is becoming more

intense. Companies have come to realize that just recognizing employees will not

necessarily achieve their business goals.

Establishing a protocol around how employees can be more engaged with your

company is a starting point. Employees indicating that they are engaged have a high

level of buy-in to the business objectives, wear the brand and create projects and

programs aligned to these objectives. They want to see success, have a higher level

of participation in meetings and collaborate more. These employees are of a mindset

that goes beyond the standard work day, same project-different day attitude, which a

disengaged employee might present.

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What is an engaged employee?

So how do you define engaged vs. non-engaged employees? Gallup desc ribes three

distinct employee types3.

Engaged employees work with passion and feel a profound connection

to their company. They drive innovation and move the organization

forward.

Not-Engaged employees are essentially “checked out.” They are

sleepwalking through their workday. They are putting in time, but not

enough energy or passion into their work.

Actively Disengaged employees aren’t just unhappy at work; they’re

busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, these workers undermine

what their engaged co-workers accomplish.

Clearly, the desired state is a highly performing company full of Engaged employees.

Unfortunately, the truth is that Gallup has found that 70% of employees are in the

bottom two categories4.

Counter to the engaged employee, and worse than the not-engaged employee, is the

actively disengaged employee. Through a focused approach, it must be determined

what causes or factors are in the way of getting them engaged at work and what the

course of action is to correct these factors. The long term effects will be disastrous by

leaving them unchecked, so research with these individuals and their leaders will pay

dividends.

Developing a baseline

Companies, that seek to improve the existing satisfaction level of their employees, need

to start with a measureable baseline. Once established, target goals for improving or

maintaining the measurement can be established. Without it, the company is forced

into using anecdotal evidence to gauge engagement levels and guess at determining

if efforts were successful. This method makes it difficult to plan around and identify

effective and ineffective methods of improving the measurement.

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Step 1: Measuring engagement levels

So, where to begin? How is the task of starting the initial project of measuring current

levels kicked off? First and foremost, executive level stakeholders within the company

need to be identified and established. This is the first of several major milestones that

will be developed and communicated.

The project team, guided by a program leader, leads the team through the milestones

of the program. They are the owner and manager of the program. All efforts, tools,

communication, and tactics have their fingerprints. This role will establish the Employee

Engagement team. The team consists of various individuals that will create and execute

on the program milestones created in alignment with company objectives.

Like other Employee Recognition type programs, these roles should include executive

stakeholders, Human Resources leaders, department leads, business partners, etc.

They will be the champions for the program. It goes without saying, that this team will

need to be among the most highly engaged of the company.

For all companies, especially those who do not have an Employee Engagement

program and think they have a lower level of engagement, a best practice is to select

employees at every level to participate in design and delivery of the program. This will

give them and their peers the comfort that they had a part in guiding the development

and that they can continue to be included in solving the challenges that may arise.

These companies’ employees will see this as a positive response to whatever negatives

they would like to see addressed.

You can find a sample Employee Engagement Project Plan from McLean and Company

at http://hr.mcleanco.com/research/employee-engagement-survey-project-and-

communications-plan.

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Step 2: Employee Engagement survey

The next step is to determine your company’s existing level of Employee Engagement.

The most common means to accomplish this task is through a survey or a series of

surveys to set a benchmark and gauge levels. A survey allows for a consistent method

of discovery, as long as the questions are positioned objectively.

As you are planning for your survey, keep in mind:

Questions that are broad leave too much open to interpretation.

Narrowly focused questions may cause you to miss key indicators

Examples of survey questions that leave too much for interpretation are:

Are you zealous about the brand?

Do you speak proudly about your company?

Does your job translate company’s results?

These do not provide any kind of measurement beyond just yes or no. Plus, the

responder may easily misunderstand them. Clearly worded questions with the ability to

select from a scale of agreement or disagreement are better suited for the task.

Examples of effective questions and structure are:

I know and support the company brand.

1 = Strongly Disagree

2 = Disagree

3 = Neither Agree or Disagree

4 = Agree


I can link what my role is to the company objectives.


2 = Disagree

3 = Neither Agree or Disagree

4 = Agree


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Some may debate the merits of the actual questions used with some degree of validity.

The real goal is not to get the perfect question, but to develop a baseline for each

employee survey to measure using a scale.

Make your questions specific and objective, so that employees will not be trying to

interpret the meaning of the question. This makes the survey completion easier and

more efficient for both the employee and the person analyzing the results.

If you are going to do this work yourself, you may get some helpful ideas about to

structure your survey from these sites.

http://www.custominsight.com/employee-engagement-survey/sample-survey-items.asp

http://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/employee-engagement-survey/

http://www.surveygizmo.com/survey-blog/employee-satisfaction-surveys-employee-

engagement-surveys/

Experience counts.

Hiring a consultant can get the project moving faster, since they will have tools available

for your situation. Companies that initially choose to take on this challenge without

a consultant may find that 3rd party expertise is needed. The consultant will provide

experience in setting up the programs aimed at Employee Engagement. They have the

program and project experience to pull together the right team, stakeholders, project

resources, and tools to execute a solid strategy for establishing and maintaining an

Employee Engagement. Using an expert, especially one with a good track record of

implementing successful programs, is the most likely path to improving a non-engaged

workforce most effectively.

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Step 3: Develop clear objectives

Now that you have your data in place, you should start developing objectives that will

focus on increasing areas of employee satisfaction that you uncovered in your survey.

Kevin Kruse, in his Forbes article, “What is Employee Engagement”5 provides a model

to illustrate ROI termed as the “Engagement-Profit Chain.”

Engaged Employees lead to…

Higher service, quality, and productivity, which leads to…

Higher customer satisfaction, which leads to…

Increased sales (repeat business and referrals), which leads to…

Higher levels of profit, which leads to…

Higher shareholder returns (i.e., stock price)

What might some measureable Employee Engagement objectives look like? Here are

some ideas, but keep in mind that your objectives will be specific to your challenges.

Decrease the percentage of employees in the lower two tiers by X percent,

within the first twelve months, as measured by an employee engagement survey.

Improve workforce productivity by X%, as measured by a reduction in both sick

days and retention rates.

Increase creativity at work, as measured by the number of new patents filed.

Methods and tacticsThe survey is now complete, areas of opportunity have been identified and objectives

have been established. It’s now time to determine your course of action.

There are various factors that will determine what boundaries and limits will work for

your company. Methods and tactics can be tried and true programs or something new

and creative, what works will vary based upon your corporate DNA and the challenges

you are trying to overcome.

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Programs that may improve Employee

Engagement

Sales incentive programs can be effective to reinforce corporate or regional

sales behaviors and focus efforts on the same objectives.

Health and wellness programs work well to address issues in a company where

there is a sedentary work force.

Employee recognition programs can address survey input surrounding lack of

effective recognition.

Safety incentives programs help guide improved reporting and recognition

of unsafe behaviors and are very effective in companies with manufacturing

locations.

Education and training programs develop a culture of growth, minimize

complacency and can easily be incorporated as elements in any of the

programs mentioned above.

Potential tactics

Gamification fuels the competitive nature of your workforce and keeps the

person engaged through a series of learning based activities. The end-result of

completing various steps can be social recognition, badges and/or points.

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Social recognition can be used as standalone tactic. Creating a way to let

employees be recognized, liked, etc. is a powerful tool. Who doesn’t like to see

that the people they work with value them?

Badging programs can be used as “entry” points for points-based incentive

programs.

Debit cards, gift cards, merchandise and travel can be used as stand-alone

incentives (rewarding someone for achieving a goal) or as part of a rewards

catalog that is used in an overall points-based program

Concierge services will bridge the gap of expected versus actual results.

There is nothing better than personal outreach to understand why someone is

not participating and/or to help them register, and fully utilize the program.

Other tactics include items like vacation bonuses, tuition and certification

reimbursement or health club memberships

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An end-state of Engaged Employees is what is desired and the lack of feedback from employees is a sure way to alienate them from reaching that goal.


Depending on your objectives, the resources available, timeframes, and budgets, some

of these tactics will be more effective than others. However, these methods of working

the planned approach should not be temporary. A fixed, long term approach is critical

to long lasting improvement. The tactics may change, but the programs should remain

as long as possible. What should be changed quickly are tactics that prove to be

ineffective or too taxing on available resources.

Communication strategies

Just as with any program, communication is important to your success. This can

be through an existing communication processes or one created specifically for the

purpose of improving engagement levels. How a company communicates is important,

but secondary, to ensuring clear and regular messaging about the program is taking

place.

Company culture, legal, risk, and other factors will help determine what is

communicated and how. Your survey can help you determine the best communication

vehicles and messages for your participants. Remain objective to the survey and

results. If findings are generally negative, then the communication should center on the

programs and tactics and limit statistical facts from the findings. The company that is

in a crisis mode will need to be careful and have a clear communication plan.

Communications should be two-way, meaning a feedback process should be

implemented that all employees can access. The best suggestions, no matter how

critical, provide additional opportunities to gauge employee engagement. They also

identify areas of opportunity that even the best survey does not uncover.

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Registered

Targeted Messaging Generic Messaging

You justearned points.

Now what?

You haven’tbought anything

in a while.

You haven’tlogged in for a

while.

New promoand/or promo

close

The value ofpromotions by

“tier” and website

Direct mail totop/bottom XX

participants

Winnerquotes

To others asfeedback

mechanism

Banners

Surveys

Leaderboards

Blogs/Resources

Updates to FB

Updates to Twitter

Pinterest

Etc.

Just a reminder...

FIRST:Why does participation

make sense?

SECOND:Do you know what

you are missing?

LAST:Why aren’t youparticipating?

Invited /Not Registered

Quarterly Com

munications


Typically, there should be communications to two distinct audiences –those who have

registered and those who have not. Here is an example of a communication hierarchy

to people who have registered for a program.

Also develop a communication hierarchy for people who you would like to participate,

but who have not yet registered or logged into your website. Communications to this

group could like something like this:

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Tools and technology

Throughout the process, there are many tools and technologies that may help you

achieve your goals. Let’s discuss a few of them.

Surveys

With the need to execute on surveys there many resources readily available on the

internet. If your company or consultant does not have a survey engine available, there

are hundreds available making the survey design and delivery process very simple, fast,

and effective. These offer a simple management interface to define the survey control

options, like timeframes, invite survey takers, real-time reporting, and question builds.

The best practice is to use the interface which the client or consultant is most familiar,

to avoid technical concerns that might deter survey takers.

Social networking

In addition to Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, we now have specifically developed

social business tools such as Chatter and Yammer . These tools give employees, within

their company boundaries, an internal means of sharing and collaborating on a myriad

of topics.

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A site or group can be created on a topic and the users can be encouraged and even

directed to post their thoughts and opinions to questions or discussions. Usage reports

from these tools are a unique way to gauge employee engagement as a complement to

the survey process.

CRM

Common complaints from non-engaged workers are that they are not equipped to

do their jobs effectively. CRM or Customer Relationship Management tools rose in

popularity as a way to manage a customer’s service, perform changes, and manage

various contact activities and history. These tools make it convenient to provide

important information to employees in and outside office boundaries.

Video Tools

Video tools have developed in the office environment to help improve the challenges

for remote workforces. These foster a higher level of collaboration with peers and

customers when effectively implemented. Skype and Google Hangouts are two

examples of generally available tools that can be used by all size organizations. Larger

groups may employ a full featured or high quality solution depending on their business

focus or other factors.

Hardware providers like Cisco and Polycom can provide a slick, high-end solution for

connecting multiple offices. Microsoft’s Lync service may be a good choice for those

same organizations, if their video needs are internal to the company. With options for

instant messaging and tying into the Microsoft Office suite, users can find a higher level

of job satisfaction with their ability to be more productive.

Challenges and Pitfalls

To maintain success, the Employee Engagement team must manage through the

challenges that will result from initial discovery and ongoing programs. Common

challenges to success are issues such as:

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Non-engaged employees’ apathy towards the efforts of the program.

Change-resistant management not endorsing the activities of the team.

Budget-minded financial groups with dubious assumptions on the potential ROI

of the program.

The project team should be prepared to address the issues shown above and

continually champion the merits of improved Employee Engagement scores. This is

done by providing defensible facts on:

Expected outcomes

Realistic improvement projections

Potential outcomes of the current path

Another challenge is not maintaining a program, once it has already begun. To be

successful, continual care and feeding is required. Communication of the program,

its tactics, performance improvements, ongoing survey activities, and executive

stakeholder support are all needed to keep the program on the minds of all employees.

The non-engaged employees and disengaged employees don’t need an excuse

to continue with their apathy and unhappiness. Remember, they are the company

representatives and could be your best marketing tool.

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How a company shows success will appear in many ways. Feedback is the most

obvious and simple. There are many other ways that may be directly and indirectly

influenced by the programs.

Employee engagement survey benchmark increases

Individual and company performance and productivity increases

Attendance and absenteeism improvements

Fewer HR incidents

Employee retention improvement

Employee initiated programs and projects from feedback

Company logo appearing on employee shirts, mugs, etc.

Improvements in customer service

Profitable results of projects, products, sales

Increases in customer spend

Increases in customer lines of business

Customer referrals

This list is just meant to provide you a few examples of how a focus on Employee

Engagement can improve your business. The list should build over time and employees

should be encouraged to add to the list. Another way they can get involved in the

process to improve their engagement level.

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Conclusion:

Lost revenue to the U.S. Economy as a result of losses attributed to disengaged

workers was estimated at $450 to $550 billion6. Gallup concluded that dissatisfied

workers cause greater absenteeism, loss, and lower productivity.

To change behaviors, executive endorsement is critical. The executives will need

to clearly communicate how the actions being taken link to the business objectives

and what types of activities—such as the surveys—are being taken to correct current

conditions.

We all know that employees are most engaged when they are provided clear objectives,

a healthy environment to be productive, a platform to express their ideas and opinions,

quality tools, resources to be effective, and recognition for their efforts. Nothing tells

more about the state of a company like a positive statement from a brand-wearing

employee outside of their office. Gaining a reputation for being a great place to work is

a noble and profitable objective of any successful organization.

Assess available tools and technologies. Do not make the mistake of thinking that

introducing Gamification to your company will correct your business challenges.

Remember, these tools can be very effective to drive results in a target area, but are just

that—tools. A comprehensive program will make use of multiple tools and methods and

can include tactics within the program like gamification and social recognition which

support of their program objectives. Basing the program on one method alone may not

provide the long-term results needed to support your program ROI.

A company that wants to foster real change in their environment should seriously and

carefully consider the Employee Engagement program by dedicating resources to that

effort. The ROI of the program will be proven in many facets when the programs are

applied correctly. Applied in pieces or incorrectly may prove to be temporary and are

not advised, as they may end up being too costly. It is best to commit more resources

to a comprehensive plan than piecing a solution together.

Employee Engagement is not a game. It demands a consistent, thoughtful, and

employee-focused approach with clearly communicated, executive endorsement at

every step. An Employee Engagement program is a critical and fundamental piece of all

leading companies.

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About Perks

Perks.com offers global rewards, recognition and retention programs for some of the

most influential companies in the world. With a listing on the Salesforce AppExchange

and a global user base of over 3.5 million people, Perks takes the guesswork out of

figuring out what drives employee behavior. Rewards and Incentives all backed and

supported by years of expertise and our “Science of Motivation” platform.

For more information visit us at www.perks.com or contact us at 866.4.Perks.1 or at

[email protected].

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Footnotes:

Kevin Kruse. “What is Employee Engagement?” Forbes. 2012. 22 June 2012.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-

what-and-why.

2013 Top Five Global Employer Rewards Priorities Survey http://www.iscebs.

org/Resources/Surveys/Documents/Top5RewardsSurvey2013_030813.pdf

Gallup. “http://businessjournal.gallup.com/content/24880/gallup-study-

engaged-employees-inspire-company.aspx

Gallup. “State of the American Workplace.” p12. 2013. http://www.gallup.com/

file/strategicconsulting/163007/2013%20State%20of%20the%20American%20

Workplace%20Report.pdf.

Kevin Kruse. “What is Employee Engagement?” Forbes. 2012. 22 June 2012.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/06/22/employee-engagement-

what-and-why.

Gallup. “State of the American Workplace.” p12. 2013. http://www.gallup.com/

file/strategicconsulting/163007/2013%20State%20of%20the%20American%20

Workplace%20Report.pdf.

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