Companies often proudly proclaim that their most important asset is their people. Employee engagement is widely recognised as essential for a company’s success. Engaged employees are brand advocates, they provide better customer service, and they encourage their friends to apply for essential roles within your company. They work harder and remain loyal to your business even during challenging times.
The cost of a disengaged workforce
The cost of disengaged employees is measurable, and it is higher than you might think. A study from Deloitte estimates that disengaged workers cost American businesses as much as $300 billion annually. Employees who are not engaged are linked to lower productivity rates and high recruitment costs as they are more likely to leave their employers. Engaged employees are 87% less likely to leave their employer than companies with low engagement.
Yet while many companies boast of their most important asset, “our people,” not all of them do enough to ensure those people are happy and engaged. They wrongly assume that a once-off Christmas night out or occasional pizza party is enough to show their appreciation. Just google “pizza party meme” to see how that can backfire!
Deloitte’s suggestion to solve the employee disengagement issue is developing a culture with ongoing measuring of engagement. They call it “always listening”. We prefer to think of it as ABC – always be connecting.
Why employees may become disengaged
There are many triggers for employee disengagement. Corporate change is often a contributing factor. These changes can include restructuring, significant scaling or contraction, or changes in personnel. Changes to a company’s business model, products or services can also contribute to disengagement.
How to ensure employee engagement
Like everything in business, you need a strategy and action plan. It’s something you should approach with the same forethought as you would with your client engagements. To win new clients and retain existing ones you would plan a series of ways to connect with them. You wouldn’t expect a once-off contact or scattershot approach to ensure their continued custom. Similarly, to increase and retain employee engagement you need to plan more than one way to connect. Rather than an annual event, a series of meaningful and memorable events will have longer lasting impact.
Those events will be shaped by your company’s strategy and goals, but we think the following is a good example for quarterly employee connection events.
1. Goal-setting and strategy
2. Recognition
3. Social
4. Celebration
Goal setting and strategy
This could be an organisation wide or departmental event, or a combination of both. At this connection event employees can contribute to, and be informed of, the organisation’s strategic aims and goals. By bringing everyone together at once, your company avoids confusion and potentially damaging rumours. You can help employees to recognise how their roles contribute to the company’s goals. And you could use independent facilitators or speakers to help them to set their own professional goals at the same time.
Recognition
Recognition events are an opportunity to acknowledge employees’ contributions. These could be an awards event with a formal nomination and selection process. What you recognise is up to you and your strategic aims. And it doesn’t have to be limited to work achievements like exceeding sales targets. Why not recognise an employee for their volunteer work or sporting achievements?
Social
These events are purely about giving people the opportunity to relax, socialise and connect with each other. This could be a summer barbecue, an activity like a cookery demonstration or craftmaking. The larger and more diverse your company is the more factors there are to consider. Your social event should be inclusive and accessible to everyone. And most importantly, it should be fun with opportunities for people to mingle and enjoy each other’s company.
Celebration
Remember those goals you set at the other employee experience event? Now that you and your people have successfully achieved them it’s time to celebrate! Bring the fun with entertainment, good food and a few drinks. Wow your employees with a memorable experience, close hand magicians, live music or a DJ, all in a stunning location.
The benefit of regular employee engagement events
When employees feel connected they are motivated to take action. Holding regular employee engagement events fosters their connection to each other and to the company’s vision. In-person events allow those connections to arise naturally in a way that virtual events cannot. Up to 70% of attendees at in-person events go on to become long-term customers after the event. There is reason to believe that the same can be said of employees at in-person engagement experiences: they will become long-term advocates for your company.
As well as the potential to engage existing employees, engagement experiences can help with your talent acquisition strategies. They provide social media assets through photos and videos of your events. However, the primary motivation for your event should be to connect with your employees. High Tide can organise all aspects of your event. This means that you and your people can focus on being present and connecting with each other.
If you need help to identify and execute employee engagement experiences, we can help. Whether you need support with a once-off event, or a suite of events, talk to us about your strategic aims.
Connect with us.
