Kickstart your culture

Tim Wilkinson-Hall, Head of Knowledge and Culture, covers three simple things you can implement straight away to boost your company culture among remote workers, including:

• Surveys >
• Conferences >
• Engagement >

Employee engagement has always been critical. However, over the last 18 months, the challenge has never been greater. Face to face communication, the chat at the watercooler and the good old 'walk & talk' has now diminished. Remote working is the new norm.

Despite a change in working location, the connection between employer and employee is even more significant. As we hit the halfway point of 2021, there is no better time to focus on true employee engagement.

Surveys

Did you know that 58% of employees wish their company conducted employee engagement surveys more frequently? However, only 1 in 5 organisations deploy them!

Source: 2020 Culture Report survey, Achievers Workforce Institute

At Chess, engaging with our people is key to our Vision of being a Great Place to Work and a Great Place to be a Customer. So every three months we invite everyone to complete the Chess 'Quarterly Survey', which helps us find out how our people are feeling and how happy they are. Results are shared with the company and the leaders.

Our Blueprint states that we must communicate openly, positively, honestly and constructively, and engagement surveys allow this to happen. The odd time there is a challenge within our business, a simple but highly effective 'Stop, Go, Continue' survey allows us to quickly resolve issues and focus on re-engagement based on our people's feedback.

To be successful, communicate expectations before and give people time to complete the questionnaires. Then, after the surveys close, set goals, clarify accountability, and commit to a timeline. Acting on the feedback is vital for employee engagement. However, those analysing the results must know what they are looking for and how to translate feedback into action.

Virtual Conferences

Virtual conferences are now a forced trend, with 79% of all recent events online. The benefits to both engagement and the bottom line are not to be ignored. 47% of people are more likely to ask a question at a virtual conference. There's no need to hire a conference venue, pay for travel or hotels, so you can keep overheads to the minimum.

Internal conferences are an essential part of any business. They can positively maintain an active and thriving workplace community.

We build excitement six months before at Chess by sending a formal invite, which gets people talking! For a virtual conference to be successful, your people need to feel involved. For example, we ask our people for pictures and videos from the last 12 months and questions for the live 'Q & A'. We set a conference theme at the start (this year was Future Fit!) and right at the end we recognise our people with 'Employee of the Year', 'Customer Passion Hero' and someone always wins a holiday of a lifetime. The conference should set out the strategy for the next 12 months by showing passion and energy so your people will buy into the plans!

Microsoft Teams Live Events allows any organisation to broadcast live events without the need for complex, expensive hardware and software – this has been essential to the success of our virtual conferences at Chess.

Engagement

"People are the greatest creators of value in organisations, and good performance management is critical for an organisation's success."

Source: CIPD

A simple but effective employee engagement platform like engageyourpeople.com can allow leaders and employees to communicate with transparency and with the help of analytics to enhance culture. The platform is built on the Four Pillars of Employee Engagement, an award-winning methodology.

These four principles implemented in organisations have shown significant success in increasing Employee Engagement.

• Leadership - Open and honest 121's that recognise and celebrate the true potential of all employees.
• Recognition - A fun and immediate way to provide companywide recognition and praise for all to see.
• Communication - Wide-open communication channels that reach every employee, meaning everyone feels part of the team.
• Knowledge - Providing employees with valuable expertise and up to date information to deliver results, increasing performance and confidence.

Employees who are engaged and managed well will not only be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled but are also more likely to drive productivity, better products or services, and innovation.

We are always happy to help if you want a chat about this. Don't hesitate to get in touch with me directly at TimWilkinsonHall@chessict.co.uk.