What is an employee engagement plan?
Companies frequently spend money and effort on employee engagement plans without considering their strategic consequences. For instance, investing money in a program before determining whether or not employees are interested in participating, or launching a popular employee engagement project without understanding whether people can benefit from it. Just saying you want to boost employee engagement won’t cut it; you actually need to come up with a concrete, workable plan!
Organizations use an employee engagement plan as a tool to prioritize and describe the steps they will take to boost employee engagement. It allows them to pinpoint the main aspects that affect worker engagement, as well as the problems that workers face, and develop efforts specifically meant to solve them. These plans can be both long-term initiatives and quick fixes for raising staff engagement.
The employee engagement plan communicates to staff members the company’s promise to respond to employee engagement feedback.
An employee engagement plan is a great place to start if your business is willing to significantly alter its approach to employee engagement.
The majority of employees are not engaged at work, despite the fact that many businesses are paying more attention to this issue. A Gallup poll found that just 36% of workers claimed to be engaged at work. Low employee engagement can be caused by a variety of factors, such as mistreatment by superiors, inadequate company communication, and a misalignment with the objective of the organization. Given the correlation between engaged employees and improved job efficiency, productivity, and long-term employee retention, it is obvious that company executives should view employee engagement as an important company objective.
What is the purpose of an employee engagement plan?
- Improving worker experience
Your company’s workers are its core; without them, success is impossible. Therefore, greater employee satisfaction has a favorable effect on staff engagement. High employee engagement and a positive work environment all contribute to higher retention rates, happier workers, and more job satisfaction.
- Improving consumer satisfaction
Employee engagement directly impacts customer experience. Employee engagement at businesses that provide exceptional customer service is 1.5 times higher than that of their rivals.
- Establishing a culture of high performance
Your plan for employee engagement increases productivity, which in turn improves profit margins and business outcomes.
- Increasing the value for shareholders
Workers who truly care about their work do 147% better than their rivals. These companies benefit from more sales, fewer absences, fewer shortages, improved safety, greater efficiency, greater innovation, and lower operating expenses. This results in a larger return on investment for stockholders.
- Establishing yourself as the best employer in your field
Dr. Wayne Cascio, author of Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives, claims that businesses that appear on Fortune magazine’s yearly “Top 100 Places to Work” list receive twice as many applications as organizations that do not.
Here, the aim is simple. As opposed to your competition, you should get (and choose from) resumes of talent of a higher caliber for an open position. Developing an excellent plan for employee engagement is the first step in becoming a top employer and enjoying the perks that follow.
How to design a strategy for employee engagement
- Explain the purpose of your company
Before implementing an employee engagement plan, a company needs to define and state its values clearly. Workers who have a sense of purpose and alignment with the company’s values and goals are more invested in their work.
Begin by defining the mission, long-term and immediate goals, guiding principles, and steps your organization is taking to better its brand positioning. What ideals does the company uphold for its clients, partners, and neighborhood communities, and why was it founded? What qualities do you search for in staff members?
Workers should have no trouble communicating the organization’s goals and values and feeling motivated by them.
For example, Zappos, an American online retailer of shoes and apparel, strives to “wow” its consumers with outstanding customer service. This is a fundamental component of their corporate culture and what the business stands for, and it is something they teach all of their employees.
- Review the results of the poll on employee engagement
You must first determine what engages your staff and what doesn’t before creating an action plan. It includes studying the survey data to figure out the advantages and disadvantages of your business as well as possible growth areas. To grasp the fundamental causes and, most importantly, what is and isn’t working, you need to understand what motivates employee engagement.
The following elements should be taken into account due to their significant impact on employee engagement:
- Opportunities for growth and learning
- Policies regarding promotions and parental leave
- Health coverage
- Communication standards
- The frequency and nature of employee recognition and rewards
- Fulfilling work
- In-depth oversight
- Uplifting environment at work
Pay more attention to the employee input you received than the test results. Make a note of any patterns or reoccurring themes in the questions. Supervisors ought to convene with their teams to reflect on the results. Employee engagement surveys are meant to help the business grow, not to make it merely appear good.
Additional information about employee involvement can also be obtained through focus groups, business gatherings, and regular meetings.
- Decide what you wish to change
You need to decide where you want to focus your attention. After going over the information, list the key areas that require additional research. Start by concentrating on a few points. You can use these focal themes as a starting point to develop practical takeaways.
Think about:
- Which survey questions have the greatest bearing on how engaged employees are?
- Which categories did we perform the worst in?
- Which results could we improve with a few little adjustments?
For instance, the findings of your employee engagement survey may show that your employees lack a sense of recognition and appreciation. They are therefore unmotivated to deliver excellent client service. This is something you should start changing so that you may start rewarding your staff more for their efforts.
- Brainstorm ideas for solutions
As you identify and develop solutions for the challenges you’ve discovered, be aware of potential roadblocks. Getting the team together to talk about the situation can enable you to concentrate your efforts more effectively. Establish focus groups in each of the areas you have identified as priorities.
Look for methods to promote a creative and transparent conversation. It enables groups to test assumptions, take into account other viewpoints, and reinterpret obstacles as possibilities. Go over the meeting notes you took, the meetings you attended, and start coming up with ideas for improving each emphasis area. After jotting down as many ideas as you can, discuss which ones the group finds most appealing.
Learn more about how a certain program fits the goals and priorities of your organization.
In our example, you may choose to emphasize awards and recognition in your employee engagement plan as a way to show your appreciation for your staff. Describe the features of the given program. Which actions will be recognized and rewarded? What kind of prizes will be given out and when? How frequently (frequency) ought to they receive rewards? And how do all of things relate to the objectives of the organization?
To avoid overspending or a poor return on investment, it’s also critical to have a rough concept of the cost estimate, including any hidden expenses.
- It’s time to take responsibility and act
Now that you have identified your best options, it’s time to implement your employee engagement plan. This is an essential step to preserve team members’ responsibility and have a long-term impact on engagement. If they do not accept responsibility for their actions, own up to their mistakes, and remain consistent over the year, most employees lose enthusiasm or become sidetracked by other goals.
The group should be conscious of who leads each specific task, as well as the deadlines, success criteria, and timetables for tracking progress.
By defining the action steps and assigning responsibility for the results, you can prevent the plan from falling between the cracks.
You may better monitor your progress and outcomes by setting SMART targets for your employee engagement plan and its ultimate objectives. Let’s explore an example.
Tom, an MNC HR manager, received an email that his CEO, Alina, forwarded to him. The email was sent by a Texas-based customer who was unhappy with a customer support representative. Tom assured the CEO that in order to motivate staff to deliver superior customer service, he would investigate, create, and implement an employee recognition program.
In this case, what might a SMART goal look like?
- Specific – To boost client service
- Measurable: In the next six months, a 10% increase in customer satisfaction ratings.
- Achievable: By putting in place an employee appreciation program.
- Relevant: Giving team members recognition will raise morale and productivity, increase the quantity of tasks finished, and lower customer complaints.
- Timely – In six months.
- Strengthen communication, which is the foundation of employee engagement
After you’ve implemented your employee engagement plan, concisely inform your staff of it. Using our employee recognition program as an example, walk your staff through its operation, advantages, and worth. Then, let senior managers urge and promote staff members to use it on a daily basis.
Any employee engagement program’s success often depends on open communication.
It is important for your business to support communication between peers and management. One way to improve communication is for managers and employees to meet more frequently to talk about tasks and decide on priorities.
Management can also sponsor weekly employee presentations, during which managers and workers discuss a variety of themes.
Create advocates for the brand who will motivate their colleagues. These ambassadors help staff members relate their work to the larger picture by sharing the company’s mission, values, and messages with them.
- Regularly assess the plan’s results
After you implement the engagement plan and the team begins to adjust to any changes, you need to remain watchful. Engage in regular communication with the staff to get their input and swiftly and effectively make any necessary changes. It is important to periodically assess the efficacy of the engagement action plan using predetermined performance indicators (every month or every 6 months, for instance).
To find out how successful these parts of the approach are at raising engagement, track employee attendance, turnover, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) performance, and results from internal engagement surveys. Strategic employee engagement plans are difficult to create and implement, but when they are done well, they increase productivity, pleasure, and employee satisfaction.
Review your program frequently and make necessary changes based on new requirements and the outcomes.
In sum
Maintaining employee engagement is essential to your company’s long-term success. It is best to first determine the problems and then come up with workable solutions. Whether you’re putting in place a new learning and development project, a recognition and incentive scheme, or any kind of employee engagement program, make sure you grasp the program’s goals, priorities, objectives, and intended results. If so, you’ll be well on your way to putting together a productive plan for employee engagement.
