5 Game Winning Employee Engagement Strategies That Work

Not All Employee Engagement Strategies Work
When it comes to increasing levels of employee advocacy, discretionary effort, and intent to stay, some employee engagement strategies are better than others.

If you are serious about improving your workplace performance and achieving outstanding levels of employee engagement, you need to recognize that increasing employee engagement is not easy.  But the payback is significant.

Companies with Higher Levels of Employee Engagement Report

• 12% greater customer satisfaction
• 18% increased productivity
• 51% fewer voluntary job losses

Companies with Lower Levels of Employee Engagement Report

• 12% lower profits
• 19% less operating income
• 28% decreased earnings per share.  So engagement matters.

How Do You Become a Great Place to Work?
How do you become a great place to work and follow through on your commitment to greater employee engagement? It takes genuine interest in employee feedback, sound data, hard work, and employee engagement strategies that are designed to have a true impact on the people AND the business.

That’s what can make the difference between superficial promises of a better work environment and meaningful change.

5 Game Winning Employee Engagement Strategies That Work
Here are five recommendations for your overall employee engagement strategies so you, too, can be a winner at the “game” of achieving a winning level of employee advocacy, discretionary effort, and intent to stay:

1.  Conduct Annual Engagement Surveys
   Our research shows that annual surveys foster the highest levels of employee engagement. If less frequent, the data loses its relevance, and there is no consistent process for employees to give more up-to-date feedback. With an annual system in place, employees trust the initiative.

   Your first survey should ask specifically for feedback. In subsequent surveys, you should add questions that measure the company’s ability to follow up like:

   “Did your manager share survey results with the team?” “Did your team come up with a plan of action to respond to the issues raised?”  “Do you believe that company leaders are fully committed to addressing and solving those issues?”  “Has anything changed as a result of the employee survey? If so, what?”

2. Disseminate All Survey Results
   Sharing unvarnished survey results is the first step in building trust and showing that you are serious.  Do not fall prey to the misguided thinking that allows leaders to hide, change, or not share feedback because they do not like what they found.  If you want to truly improve, be transparent.
   
3. Select the Medium of Communication that Will Be the Most Effective for Each Group
   Webinars and emails may work best for remote employees; but, whenever possible, rely on in-person communication with ample opportunities for employees to ask questions and air concerns.   We advise our clients to use a multi-step communication model for sharing engagement results.

   Begin with a high-level summary of results by the CEO at an all-hands session.  Include the topic of employee engagement at all team meetings – large and small.  Welcome discussions on how to build engagement strength and where to look for areas of opportunity.

   Then, create cross-functional teams that commit to coming up with recommendations on how to increase engagement in a few of those promising areas.  Make sure that those recommendations are shared with senior leaders so they have the information they need for taking engagement actions specific to their area of the business.

4. Hold Leaders Accountable and Empower Managers
   The final two employee engagement strategies are related to holding leaders accountable.  Ensure that there is an Executive Project Sponsor for your engagement initiative that is accountable for driving the project toward a successful conclusion.  Remember that they do not bear responsibility for getting the job done – that would be the project manager.

   Then give managers the full authority and responsibility to take ownership for addressing and handling their team’s top engagement issues in away that aligns with the company’s strategic priorities and culture.

5. Create Exposure and Transparency
   Monitor and publish engagement progress – not in the spirit of punishment for those whose results are poor but in the spirit of sharing best practices and committing to the importance of getting better. Use transparency to make it clear that directors are accountable to coach their managers toward the goal of improved engagement.

The Bottom Line
Just about any corporate initiative that succeeds has clear goals, shared results, active employee involvement, and leadership’s follow-through.  Actively include everyone in the conversation about how and where to measure, improve, and sustain employee engagement  over time.  Then the winners’ podium is yours.

To learn more about game winning employee engagement strategies, download The Top 10 Most Powerful Ways to Boost Employee Engagement.