Expect DISENGAGEMENT- if your employee engagement activities have not changed by now.

In 1964, Bob Dylan sang "The Times They Are a-Changin". Fast forward 56 years. The words are so relevant today. COVID-19 has changed the world as we knew it. Employees not being in office is the new normal. Since most of us have been working from home, ZOOM, Slack, Microsoft Teams and other collaboration tools are our best buddies now!

Some HR people are worried as to how they should handle their engagement programs when people are not in office. How do you do recognition online, how do you judge the voice of the employee online, how do you communicate important news and updates using a virtual medium, how do you rally the organization together for a virtual all hands meeting, etc. 

I would like to give an example of an activity that my Company (Harbinger Group) is doing to create a fab experience for our employees. It’s called VItaMIN. Pay attention to the capital letters – it stands for VIrtual MINgling. This was an activity that was conceptualized immediately after the lockdown started, because we wanted to be in touch with our employees, know their pulse, ask them questions, share updates with them, have people share their talents and of course have loads of fun.

Since our first session on March 19, we've done around 35 live sessions so far. Our first session had a modest audience of 20 employees, our sessions now clock approximately 200 employees – the max being almost 450.

So, what is it that makes VItaMIN a magnet? Here’s what I believe. It’s a short burst of engagement – only 30 minutes from 4.00 to 4.30 pm every day. It’s also settled down into a routine or a custom. I think customs are important. Like all families have their specific customs and traditions that bond the family together, companies should have customs and traditions that makes them unique and VItaMIN is just one of them.

So what happens in VItaMIN? So much! We have our employees coming online using ZOOM, to share their experiences, talents and talk about what's going in. Here are some examples of the sessions that we’ve had so far –Adventures of an ex-Army captain, a virtual tour around popular international travel destinations, online cooking and recipes, a short learning in User Experience, Photograph / Art / home creations, the art of running marathons, animal rescue stories, a biking trip to Ladakh, a story about people with disabilities, and much more. I must also mention the amazing musical talent we have at Harbinger – vocals, instruments et all!

We’ve also had external guests coming in – The owner of a farm who walked us around her farm live and told us more about diversity and sustainability, a doctor from Mumbai who spoke to to us about his preparation for an expedition to the North Pole at the end of this year, live online workout by a trained fitness professional who grilled around 200 of us for around 30 minutes, we’ve had employee's children and family members come online and perform for us. We were also honoured to have one of our customers from the US talk to us in one of our programs.

VItaMIN can be a success if employees see commitment from the senior management and I must say that at Harbinger we have had all Senior Management attend almost every one of these sessions - which talks volumes about their commitment and passion to create an engaged workforce. Our CEO, Dr. Vikas Joshi speaks in every single session and also has had full sessions with employees on how the company is coping during the lockdown and how we should focus on serving the customer better.

We also understand the voice of the employee by numerous Polls, interactions and chats during VItaMIN. We ran a set of short pulse checks to understand on how employees are managing during the lockdown. View a summary of it here.

And what do employees have to say about VItaMIN? They love it, Almost 100% of people have given it a thumbs up and have said that they want it to continue after the Lockdown as well!

Now isn’t that truly engaging employees? Want to be a part of the VItaMIN stage? Write to [email protected].