Employee Engagement

NaeNae55

I recently saw a small question/answer session where an employer asked about measureing employee engagement. The answer involved surveys and thorough interactive sessions with a third party on a regular basis.

We are a small organization. The last survey we did was not very helpful except to confirm what we already believed. We are so small that anyone answering in detail would be likely to be recognized so it was pretty much a true/false survey.

We think most of our employees are happy, but we don't want to take that for granted. Plus, there is always room for improvement. On the other hand, we are too small to really think about a 3rd party survey. We cannot justify the costs.

Any suggestions?

Still Need Coffee

We recently went the employee Net Promoter Score route. We adapted the NPS system (you can Google it) to find out essentially one question - how likely are you to recommend our company to a colleage for services or employment (rating scale of 0-10)? We then asked why that rating was given, and what we could do to improve that rating. We used SurveyMonkey to do the surveys, as it is free and anonymous.

Using the NPS calculation, we have an internal "goal" of an NPS of 40 or more. Until we get to 40, we will continue to improve on the suggestions given in the survey, and we have a non-anonymous suggestion system whereby employees can suggest something, and if implement, receive recognition and a small bonus.

The NPS system isn't perfect, but as a small company, we felt like it effectively measures employee engagement and happiness without the tediousness (and expense) of 3rd party surveys. I'd be happy to talk more with you about it, just private message me!

Sharon McKnight SPHR

You might try employee round table discussions. I know some believe that employees won't be open about what they really think but I've found employees to be very open in this environment.

If you decide to do this, I suggest asking for a volunteer from each department to talk with the others in the department to find out their questions for management and bring them to the table. Then, meet with that group in a conference room (a restaurant works well also, loosens everyone up a bit) and go through their lists of questions.

You have to be open as well (at least as much as you can be given whatever situation they bring up) and you have to be prepared to hear some tough criticism about the company, the management team, the facility, and maybe even about yourself.

I remember, during the first round table I led, after a lot of hemming and hawing, an employee finally asked if HR could be a bit more warm and fuzzy and bubbly. I was the only person in HR at the time and am, admittedly, a bit stern by nature. With as straight a face as I could muster, I promised to make every effort to be warm and fuzzy as often as I possibly could but that bubbly was probably stretching it a bit too far... without a margarita and a really good foot massage. By that point I could no longer hide a smile and finally let loose a short spurt of the giggles. Everyone burst out laughing and relaxed and the session continued with a very open and helpful discussion.

All of the sessions we had were very helpful and provided the management team with a lot of valuable feedback. It also gave me an opportunity to interact with employees in a way that I'd never had before. I found it very refreshing and I think, from what they told me, the employees found it to be a very positive experience.

A few things:
- No one on the management team should be told which department raises which question. This helps employees to feel more comfortable about talking about their issues.
- No one should be forced to attend a round table session or even contribute to the discussion if they attend.
- That first session is the toughest but once you get past it, the rest are usually pretty productive.
- Every question that employees bring to the table should get an answer, even if the immediate answer is that you don't know and will have to get back to them. And, every question that goes unanswered at the meeting should be followed up on and the answer given to all participants.
- Meetings can be held monthly but quarterly works well too. It really depends on the size of the company and your own time constraints but once you set a schedule stick to it. You'll lose credibility if you don't.

I hope you'll decide to host round table discussions. I think you'd find them very rewarding.

Sharon