Building Employee Engagement How HR communication can make a difference.doc

building employee engagement: how hr communication can make a differencetable of contents1. the critical engagement connection2. where organizations are falling short?3. for winning strategies to build engagement make an offer they care about build a community personalize it add style to your substancethe critical engagement connectiona workforce composed of employees who are contented to do their jobs-reliably and with no thought of leaving the organization-may seem ideal.but in todays global business environment, its clear that satisfaction and stability -even loyal and commitment-are not enough to force the crucial connection between employee performance and positive business results. today, employers want to employees who are genuinely “engagement” their job and mission of the organization. what is the engagement?engagement is the product of two critical ingredients.the employment deal an employer offers to its employees in exchange their time, talent and efforts.communication about their deal to ensure that the employees fully understand and appreciate what they are receiving for their contributions.employer that fall short in either or both of these categories will miss the critical engagement connection -and the opportunity to improve the business results. changing behaviors to build engagementengaged the employees are critical to making business outcomes reality. mercer employee engagement module shows how employers should focus on moving employees, step by step, from satisfaction to engagement. each step requires a corresponding behavior and mindset change by employees, and will yield benefits by both employer and employee.engagement module:roll over the disks below to learn how employees behave at each increasing level of engagement.1. satisfied:enjoy the jobis not dissatisfied with terms and conditionscontent to work alonedoes not go “above and beyond”not necessarily a team playeroften externally focused2. motivated:contribute energeticallystrive to achieve personal goalvalues achieving personal goals more than team/organizational goalsfocus individual contributormore loyal to personal professional goals rather than organization satisfiedmotivateddcommittedadvocated3. committed:loyal to the organization, optimistic to the futuresee the bigger picture with the sense of how job fitscollaborate to achieve team goalsopenly ambitious for self, team and companybelieves the organization will enable his good performancehave a sense of belonging to organization, feels valued and involved at work, express views freely.4. advocated:contribute discretionary effortproactively seeks opportunities to serve the mission of the organizationspeak positively about the organizations products and servicerecommends the organization as an employeris willing to withhold criticism for the good of the organizationresilient to the short-term dissatisfiers where organiztion are falling short?organization faces challenge on both side of engagement equation:the deal is wrong:there are numerous ways an employment deal can be off-target, it may:offer one-size-fits all plans when diversity or flexibility is needed;encourage the wrong behaviors through misaligned rewards or policy;reflect current, not future, business futureget changed without full understanding of the impact this will have on engagementcommunication is not effectiveif an organization took a hard look at their hr communication, how many could honestly say their strategies, campaigns and deliver tools are powerful and effective and make a measurable difference in employee attitudes, opinion and behaviors?would you give your organization a passing grade for hr communication? would your employees?the changing communication landscape:to understand why and where hr communication is falling short today, take a look at forces and trends influencing todays communications landscape:information transparency: consumers are increasingly demanding openness and integrity from the companies with which they deal and with the continued explosion of technology, there is no shortage of way to obtain and present information.the empowered consumer: people have more information, choice and control than ever before, communication strategies and processes have forever changed.media ubiquity: blogs online social communities. my space and many more media have all raised the bar on not only what, but how and how fast, information is channeled to and from consumer.personalization: consumers want it their way and react passively or even choose to ignore direct, nonpersonalized campaigns and offerings.measure up to modern communication:do your hr communication strategies measure up? four winning strategies to build engagementthrough our experiences with some of the worlds leading organizations, we have identified four winning strategies to use as you rethink how to connect with-and consequently-engage your employees.a. make an offer they care about:understand the different needs of your unique employee segments and tailor your offerings and messages accordingly.b. build a community: gone are the days of elite-to-the-masses communication. consumers of all types want a chance to interact with and learn from others who face similar situation.c. personalize it:your employees are busy at work, busy at home and busy in between they want, deserve and will basically only respond to information that pertains directly to them.d. add style to your substance:our world is a visual feast of colors, graphics and icons. were tempted by sleek, new designs and yet remain drawn to classics such as “retro” and “vintage”. while the content must be credible, its design and delivery must grab and hold your employees attention.make an offer they care aboutjust as you wouldnt assume that your customers all want the exact same product or service, you shouldnt expect that your employees will all be motivated by the same “offer”. the key is making an offer that appeals to employees- and makes sense for the business.the role of researchresearch is critical to learning what engages employees- and to creating your offer. conducting research among your own employees is most important, but comparing to broader norms can provide useful perspective, too.one size doesnt fit all: new employees care a lot about orientation and development opportunities longer- tenured d pay closely attention to retirement planning and those mid-career closely manage spending and choice on everything from health care costs and saving investment plan.elements of the value propositionmany of the best-performing companies include both differentiating organization attributes and competitive total rewards as key elements of their overall employee value proposition.organizational attributes total rewardsunique company history and heritage base payrecognized commercial brands short-term incentivesrobust global business models long-term incentivesrespect company leadership wellness/medical/death benefitsexciting organizational cultures successful talent management models retirement benefitsspecial academic/civic/charitable partnerships work life balance/training and developmentimpressive worldwide/regional headquarters lateral moves/stretch assignmentsatisfied long-service employees career incentivesespecially during periods of change, its important that the value proposition keep pace with the changing shape of the organization, through the realignment of its elements (e.g, compensation, benefits, career development) with new employee deals. the most successful include some degree of flexibility for employees to design their rewards, their way.build a communityin hr communication, its an easy and all-too-common trap: the belief that pushing the right information to employees constitutes getting the job done.no matter how attractive the ”marketing” campaign, in isolation, push campaigns are no longer sufficient to engage employees in :understanding the rationale for change: or internalizing the impact of change- be it organizational or related to specific hr plans or programs.two-way communication =employee engagementits time to complement “push marketing” with hr communication that fully leverages the principles of adult learning: make it self-directed use life experiences and relevant examples align it to important goals keep it practicalappling these principles to all respects of hr communication build credibility and trust with employees.the new tools of engagementso, how do you build communities? you can begin by borrowing some of the best practices from the real world.the most prevalent and meaningful include social networking forums that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among employees, such as:employee and leadership blgos:blogs allow employees and company leaders to personalize their messages and communicate more effectively.employee chat rooms:chat rooms provide a forum for employees who are at similar points in their careers to communicate and share ideaswikiswikis are websites where employees can enter, edit and retriever information of all kinds, such as important company processes and procedures.onling communities of interrest:online communities promote interaction between employees and encourage team building.providing these interactive forums creates a culture of progressive, proactive information sharing, which reduces risk and puts hr back in the drivers seat. hr can leverage these conversations in a trusting, open environment that will better educate employees regarding critical hr and business issues, and increase the likelihood that theyll take action.personalize itin most organizations, employees are barraged daily with official messages everything from shifts in strategy to changing health care options to it alerts.the majority of these messages are ignored and possibly deleted before they are read, because employees see no value in them.it is no wonder, then, that hr communication is so often an uphill battle. in the world of e-mail and solicitation overload, most of us respond better to information that has a personal ring to it.hr portals offer perhaps the greatest opportunity to make information both relevant and specific to employees. to get the most from your portal, keep these two concepts in mind. personalized: a great portal provides an interactive communication spot-a window to the world of work- where employees can manage their personal relationship with the company. its where value comes together along with tools and resources to help individuals maximize that value. customized: a smart hr portal goes even further to support manager effectiveness- from plant manager to accounting to vice president of sales. it provides role-based information-through data dashboards- and tolls that support good decision making about staffing and workforce planning, compensation planning, performance management, absence management and much more.add style to your substancetraditional hr communication has primarily focused on the substance of the message- and the substance has generally been good. yet we know that getting people to pay attention to and retain important information also relies on visual stimulation.with the majority of todays communication occurring online. web user