Action Plan and Implement Employee Engagement Initiatives Move

Action Plan and Implement Employee Engagement Initiatives Move beyond measuring employee engagement – start improving it. Mc. Lean & Company is a research and advisory firm that provides practical solutions Mc. Lean & Company is a research and advisory firm providing practical solutions to human executable research, to human resources challenges with resources executablechallenges research, via tools, and advice that willtools haveand a advice that have a clear and measurable impact on your business. © 1997 2012 measurable Mclean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group clear- and impact on Mc. Lean your business. © 1997 -2012 Mc. Lean & Company is a division of Info-Tech Research Group Inc. 1

Introduction After prioritizing areas of opportunity and choosing engagement initiatives to address them, it’s time to get to action. This Research Is Designed For: üHR professionals or executives accountable for the day-to-day logistics of their organization’s employee engagement program. üAny one looking for ideas or templates to use when preparing for employee action planning. This Research Will Help You: üJumpstart initiatives that will positively impact employee engagement. üForm effective working teams to assist in developing action plans for engagement initiatives. üCreate, formalize, and assign roles to a postsurvey engagement communication plan. üSet up checkpoints and feedback loops to maintain momentum during implementation. Note: This solution set doesn’t walk you through every step of the way between engagement survey A and engagement survey B. It is intended to help you develop engagement action and communications plans for specific initiatives chosen after getting your survey results. Mc. Lean & Company 2

Executive Summary Failure to take action following an engagement survey can lead to increased disengagement. • On average, 1 in 3 employees are engaged. Even worse, of those employees who saw no follow-up on survey results at their organization, only 1 in 4 employees are engaged. • Employee engagement declines further in organizations that are “all talk, no action” following the survey. Only 1 in 5 employees remain engaged at organizations that committed to making change, but then never made any modifications. Mc. Lean & Company recommends a four-stage approach to successful post-survey follow-up: Prioritize, Participate, Activate, and Communicate. • This storyboard focuses on the last two stages: developing an action plan for chosen engagement initiatives, and communicating those initiatives to employees. Before reading this storyboard, you must choose the engagement initiatives you want to implement using the solution set, Identify & Select Employee Engagement Initiatives. Post-survey action planning is a project that requires clear roles and objectives to succeed. • Organizations that set clearly defined roles before assembling teams for each chosen initiative are 17% more likely to successfully implement their chosen engagement initiatives. • While each initiative is unique, Mc. Lean & Company has identified four key roles to include in each team: Executive Sponsor, Task Owner and Task Performers, as well as an HR Project Manager to oversee all teams. • Each working team should break down its initiative into tasks with defined time frames and accountability for implementation. This action plan can be documented in Mc. Lean & Company’s Post-Survey Engagement Program Plan. Regular communications and checkpoints keep employees informed and propel momentum. • Create a formal communication plan that documents required touchpoints, key messages, who’s involved in each touchpoint, and which channel will be used. Organizations that keep employees updated on the progress of initiatives are 12% more likely to see increased retention, productivity, attendance, and engagement throughout the year. • Organizations that set up monthly checkpoints for everyone accountable for implementing the change initiatives see increased retention, productivity, attendance, and engagement throughout the year. Mc. Lean & Company 3

There are many parts to an employee engagement program – this set will help you move beyond just measuring engagement Steps in your engagement program Associated solution sets Understand why engagement is important to your organization. • Make the Case for Employee Engagement Conduct an engagement survey. • Optimize Employee Engagement Surveys Move beyond measuring engagement, and actually start improving it. • Identify & Select Employee Engagement Initiatives • Action Plan and Implement Employee Engagement Initiatives Focus on key components that drive your organization’s employee engagement. • • Optimize Rewards and Recognition Empower to Engage Rid the Organization of an Inconsistent Culture See Mc. Lean & Company’s website for more Ensure managers are playing their role in engaging their employees. • • Identify & Reengage the Disengaged Engage Generation Y Onboard New Hires for Ramp-up & Retention See Mc. Lean & Company’s website for more The storyboard you are about to read is part of the postsurvey recommended process Mc. Lean & Company 4

Make the case What’s in this Section: • Understand that employee engagement isn’t just about surveys. • While 84% of employees report being highly engaged in organizations that follow through on survey results, only 39% of employees report high engagement in organizations that do not continue the effort. Sections: Make the case Set the stage Activate Communicate • Even those organizations that do implement changes as a result of an engagement survey make some significant mistakes. Mc. Lean & Company 5

Improving employee engagement at your organization is key to staying competitive and improving your bottom line Research has repeatedly shown that employee engagement drives organizational success… Engaged employees drive: Performance, retention, and creativity drive: Increased Revenue Retention Creativity Decreased Costs Increased revenue and decreased costs drive: Profitability & Shareholder Value To better understand the benefits of employee engagement to your organization’s bottom line, refer to the solution set, Make the Case for Employee Engagement. And that there are many downsides of disengagement: • Gallup estimates that a disengaged employee costs an organization approximately $3, 400 for every $10, 000 of salary. • Disengaged employees cost the American economy up to $350 billion a year due to lost productivity. • Disengagement breeds disengagement. A disengaged employee’s negative attitude has a multiplying effect on peer performance, productivity, creativity, retention, and engagement. Mc. Lean & Company 6

Case Study: Generico’s working team planned, and executed a communication plan for the CEO Q&A After a discussion with Jack about communication roles, the working team documented the key messages for the launch of the CEO Q&A action plan by audience. As HR Project Manager, Jack used the information to create a draft communication plan for executive approval which used multiple deliverers of the information as well as multiple communication channels: executive & management meetings, a town hall, department meetings, posters, and a Q&A email inbox. Audience: Executives Audience: Management Key messages: • The initiative will be introduced at the next management meeting, launched at the November town hall, and the first Q&A will be December 10. . • Executives will be expected to help prepare topics in advance to speak on. • Executives should be prepared to answer questions from employees during the Q&A sessions. Key messages: • We are acting on your feedback. • Logistics of CEO Q&As. • This will supplement, rather than replace, managers’ regular interactions with their staff. • Sessions will be launched at November town hall, managers should cover it in department meetings; will start December 10. • FAQs will be provided to help the managers answer any questions. Messenger: Kim Lee (CEO) Channel: Oct. executive meeting. Messengers: Kim Lee; working team Channel: November management meeting two weeks before launch. Audience: Employees Key messages: • We are acting on your feedback. • Logistics of CEO Q&As. • This will supplement, rather than replace, managers’ regular interactions with their staff. • Your manager will have more details for you at your department meeting. • Questions can be directed to your manager or the Q&A email. Messengers: Kim Lee; working team Channel: November town hall, department meetings, posters. Mc. Lean & Company 7

Case Study: The working team created a feedback loop with Generico employees The working team promoted the Q&A mailbox at the town hall, and on posters placed around the office. However, only a few questions trickled in. The working team asked managers to gauge employees’ overall reaction to the initiative during their departmental meetings and one-on-one conversations. Initial Feedback Solution • The initial feedback was that employees were generally positive about the initiative but also nervous about being the first person to ask a question. • Additionally, employees new to the rapidly growing company did not know the CEO well, and were unsure how he would react to their questions. • The working team realized that most employees saw the CEO as a distant figure rather than the approachable individual she really was. • The team then asked each department to prepare a question in advance of the first CEO Q&A session, and appoint a spokesperson to ask the question. • Once the department questions had been asked, the floor would be opened to ad hoc questions. Result • The CEO quickly built rapport with the employees by answering their department questions in a straightforward way, and using humour to get her points across. • Employees felt so comfortable asking ad-hoc questions that typically time was up before questions were. • At a later checkpoint with the working team, managers reported that employees felt comfortable asking the CEO questions directly. Mc. Lean & Company 8

Understand that following this process exactly may not work at your organization Take the pieces that fit your organization, and implement some of the best practices to improve engagement action planning. Our organization is changing constantly through acquisitions. Because of this, it doesn’t make sense for us to do one big action planning session as soon as we get survey results back, that outlines our plan for the next year. What we decide on now won’t make any sense in six months. Instead, we constantly refer back to our results whenever we are making changes or going ahead with a new initiative. We use the results to inform our decisions and as a basis for change. - Hannah Barkley, HR Manager, Ross Video Given the size and nature of our organization, it’s impossible to involve every employee in everything. So when it came to involvement in focus groups and action planning after our employee survey, we asked for volunteers and encouraged high performers. We made sure there was good representation from different employee groups. - Communications Coordinator, Professional Services Mc. Lean & Company 9

Summary • Employee engagement is not just about a survey. Following up on survey results is imperative to improving engagement. • Mc. Lean and Company recommends a four-stage approach to post-survey action: Prioritize, Participate, Activate, and Communicate. This set focuses on the last two stages – action planning and communication. • Like any other project, engagement initiatives require action plans with clearly defined roles, tasks, and time frames. • Include the following key roles in all engagement initiative working teams: ◦ ◦ An Executive Sponsor to oversee, and promote the initiative. An HR Project Manager to provide support, tools, and advice. Task Owners to plan, and manage the individual tasks that make up the initiative. Task Performers to help plan, and carry out individual tasks. • Assign each working team one initiative, and ask them to develop a formal action plan that breaks down implementation into smaller tasks, time frames, and individual accountability. • Document a communication plan to maintain momentum during implementation. Assign communication roles, and outline appropriate channels for different types of communication touch points. • Schedule monthly checkpoints for each working team to ensure accountability, and evaluate progress. • Gather employee feedback to assess your progress of each initiative, and its impact on engagement. Mc. Lean & Company 10

Appendix I: Resources While the recommendations and insights in this storyboard originate with Mc. Lean & Company, we have drawn on the following sources for supporting documentation: • The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Creating an Engaged Workforce. CIPD Research Report. 2010. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. • The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. HR: Taking Employee Communication Seriously. CIPD Practical Tools. 2010. Web. 14 Sep. 2012. • Church, Allan H. et al. “Without Effort There Can Be No Change: Reexamining the Impact of Survey Feedback and Action Planning on Employee Attitudes. ” Research in Organizational Change and Development 20 (2012): 223 - 264. Web. 14 Sep. 2012. • Communications Planning Section of Communications Nova Scotia. Internal Communications: It’s Not Rocket Science! Communications Nova Scotia. 2006. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. • Sanchez, Paul M. “The Employee Survey: More than Asking Questions. ” Journal of Business Strategy 28. 2 (2007): 48 – 56. Web. 13 Sep. 2012. • Welch, Mary. “The Evolution of the Employee Engagement Concept: Communication Implications. ” Corporate Communications: An International Journal 16. 4 (2011): 328 – 346. Emerald. Web. 14 Sep. 2012. Mc. Lean & Company 11

Appendix II: Research Methodology Mc. Lean & Company engaged in the following primary research activities to write this research project: • We conducted in-depth interviews with HR professionals, subject matter experts, employees, and managers to gain a better understanding around post-engagement survey follow-up. • Data collected from a series of engagement surveys administered by Mc. Lean & Company was used to understand the impact that follow-up action has on employee engagement and drivers of engagement such as manager relationships, employee empowerment, company potential, and senior management relationships. • We fielded a survey to better understand the challenges faced by organizations when following-up on engagement survey results. The survey was completed by 45 individuals, all at different organizations within a variety of industries. • Expert contributors include: – Bob Kelleher, CEO Employee Engagement Group – Kyle Lundy, Ph. D. , Principal, Global Aspect Human Capital Advisors Mc. Lean & Company 12

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