The Strategic Employee Engagement Approach

Contrary to popular belief, employee engagement is more than just event planning. Defined as the “strength of the mental and emotional connection employees feel toward the work they do” (Source: Quantum Workplace 2021), employee engagement is a psychological construct linked to several key organizational outcomes: performance, productivity, morale, and retention. While the concept has historically been regarded as just an ‘extracurricular’ way to boost workplace morale (i.e., hosting office pizza parties), that is no longer the case.

Employee engagement can have a significant impact on an emerging field of organizational interest: the overall employee experience (EX). Since EX encompasses the entire employee lifecycle (i.e., from recruitment through separation), more companies are looking for different ways to enrich the employee journey for their stakeholders (Source: Qualtrics 2022). And numerous studies have demonstrated the tremendous, measurable impact that employee engagement can have on stakeholders.

In order for employee engagement to be effective and drive real EX improvements, it needs to be strategic and data-driven. A solid business case needs to be made and clearly articulated in order to generate the stakeholder buy-in required for it to be successful. And this can be achieved via a simple 3-phase strategic approach:

• Phase #1 (Preparation)
• Phase #2 (Execution)
• Phase #3 (Measurement)

Phase #1 (Preparation)

The first phase of strategic employee engagement involves several planning tasks. Every employee engagement strategy should be tied to an overall business objective. Whether it be financial (i.e., boosting productivity), non-financial (e.g., fostering collaboration), or a mix of the two (i.e., minimizing voluntary turnover rates), engagement efforts need to be aligned to a specified business goal. Not only does this help to secure support (and resources) from senior leadership, but it also helps to define the scope of your employee engagement strategy and map-out which EX aspects you are aiming to improve.

Additionally, employee engagement efforts should be data-driven. To determine where to focus your resources, you should gather stakeholder input via employee feedback loops. Whether it be via formal employee surveys or anonymous suggestions, collecting this data is valuable insight into current perceptions of the company’s EX (Source: Optimizely 2021). Reviewing this data will help you identify which EX aspects are (not) working well, as well as which areas are within your team’s control to address.

Phase #2 (Execution)

The second phase of strategic employee engagement constitutes the execution of engagement approaches and activities. Based on the data collected in the prior phase, design a slate of employee engagement activates that address these areas of potential EX improvement. For example, if the collected data shows that learning opportunities are lacking, then design a set of development-focused activities. Whether it be a formal training curriculum (e.g., leadership development program) or a casual learning series (e.g., lunch-and-learns), ensure that these activities are tailored to address the insights uncovered in data collection data collection (Source: Clark 2022). And be sure to also make these engagement activities accessible to your employees via different formats. For example, organize some activities to be on-site at the office – while others can be virtual.

Consequently, implement whatever engagement activities that you design. Ensure that whatever employee engagement efforts you organize are well advertised to your stakeholders (i.e., via a company newsletter) with plenty of prior notice for registration. This will help bolster employee participation and positively impact other aspects of the overall EX (i.e., cross-functional interaction). And if feasible, try to collect feedback from attendees of your employee engagement activities. Whether it be via post-event surveys or employee testimonials, this feedback will help you gain a “deeper understanding of your workforce and their expectations” (Source: Optimizely 2021). This will also prepare your team for the next phase of strategic employee engagement.

Phase #3 (Measurement) 

The final phase of strategic employee engagement focuses on measuring the outcome of engagement approaches and activities. As with any other company initiative, it’s important to implement mechanisms that can help measure the impact of engagement efforts on the overall EX. These mechanisms could be as simple as a qualitative comparison of employee comments received before and after these engagement activities; or it could be as in-depth as a quantitative analysis of survey data collected before and after these efforts. Whichever approach is taken, analyzing stakeholder feedback (and indicating progress) is critical for highlighting the return-on-investment (ROI) of employee engagement initiatives.

In addition, key employee engagement findings should be shared to further demonstrate the ROI of employee engagement efforts. The impact of your strategic employee engagement approach on EX aspects needs to be shared with senior leaders on a regular basis (i.e., quarterly or biannually). Along with your anecdotal observations, sharing the analytical progress will help illustrate the impact that your engagement efforts are having on the employee journey. This data-driven approach will help convey the progress made on improving specific EX areas and connect back to your initial business objectives. And you can also share this progress companywide as appropriate – to help bolster employee buy-in for your future employee engagement efforts.

Conclusion

Ultimately, employee engagement has the potential to be a key optimizer of EX. When aligned with specific business objectives, strategic employee engagement can drive significant improvements to the overall employee journey. This in turn can bolster employee morale, performance, productivity, and retention. But in order for it to be successful (& taken seriously), employee engagement needs to be data-driven and tied to company goals. Failure to do so will restrict the impact that engagement efforts can have on your stakeholders and their EX at the company. So it’s important for employee engagement managers to conduct their engagement initiatives with a solid, business-aligned approach.