Forget employee engagement: 5 successful colleague engagement indicators for your organisation
14 Nov 2023, posted in Blogs
Understanding colleague engagement, and what strategy you can implement to achieve your engagement objectives is essential to organisations thriving and succeeding. This article explores these aspects and how technology can enhance not only employee engagement but help to create thriving colleague communities.
Forget everything you know about employee engagement
Employee engagement refers to the emotional commitment and level of employee involvement with their work, organisation, and team. Gallup defines employee engagement as the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and workplace. According to the Global State of the Workplace Report 2022, only 10% of employees are engaged at work in the western hemisphere.
Engaged employees are motivated, enthusiastic, and invested in the success of their company, and they are more likely to go above and beyond in their job duties. A Society for Human Resource Management study found that engaged employees are 21% more productive than disengaged employees. They are also more likely to stay with their employer long-term and be advocates for the organisation. And engaged employees are 37% less likely to leave their jobs than disengaged employees, according to the Harvard Business Review.
So, there you have it. Employee engagement can increase productivity, improve morale, and result in better business outcomes.
But we advocate for something more enduring than employee engagement…
What is a thriving colleague community?
We recognise the value in transforming interactions with all your people – whether employees, temporary workers, suppliers or business partners. Even customers.
Why? Because unlocking the power of engagement requires you to think bigger. It’s about creating thriving colleague communities.
Get it right, and you’ll be taking the whole picture into account, and will benefit from everything from increased employee motivation to retention, productivity to profits, and more.
5 indicators for effective colleague engagement
There are five common threads that are evident across businesses that have moved from old-style engagement to successfully create and actively engage thriving colleague communities.
- Communication
Crystal clear, ongoing colleague communication is vital. And it shouldn’t be solely reliant on email. Thriving colleague communities boast everything from the broadcasting of company news to the targeted distribution of key information to individuals or teams, right through to the collaborations within social networks.
- Accessibility
Every one of us need information at our fingertips all day, every day. Thriving colleague communities provide exactly. And then some. Whether it be telephone numbers, health and safety materials, training schedules, company handbooks, corporate directories and more.
When it comes to effective colleague engagement, an intranet in 2023 simply doesn’t cut it as a universal solution. And hasn’t done for some time. Why? Because for many businesses, their people – disperse, deskless or hybrid and without a company email or log- in – can’t access them. Likewise, any other central system that’s solely depended on.
- Enablement
The introduction of more self-service options are highly unlikely to drive any sort of meaningful level of loyalty, and get people amped up about their role and purpose. But it can remove lots of little annoyances and inconveniences and time-consuming sidebar activities.
Enablement is an undoubted significant force for immediate good: experience and empowerment for the individual, efficiency, and efficacy for the organisation.
- Recognition
When done right, employee recognition can help to create a culture that helps people thrive. But while reward and recognition are fundamental – it’s a part rather than the whole.
It takes recognition and building social capital through peer-based timely, meaningful acknowledgement – whether it be for work anniversaries, birthdays and more – and rewards.
- Feedback
On-off, expensive ponderous annual surveys simply won’t cut it. Creating and maintaining thriving colleague communities requires more regular engagement. Which is why we advocate for a switch to ad hoc pulse surveys and regular polling.
The internet and social media have given us a ‘now’ world where people expect to receive and share news when they please. Your people need to feel heard and know that know that their feedback contributes to improvements.
Understanding colleague engagement, and what strategy you can implement to achieve your engagement objectives is essential to organisations thriving and succeeding. Our colleague engagement platform moves you far beyond employee engagement and towards the creation of thriving colleague communities. How? Because it revolutionises colleague interactions and fosters engagement seamlessly.
From company-wide announcements to team-specific and individual updates, we ensure every message reaches its intended recipient securely, promptly and efficiently. With integrated feedback tools, you can effortlessly provide constructive feedback, promoting growth and a culture of continuous learning. Our platform equips you with the tools to foster engaged thriving colleague communities and unlock the true power of engagement.
