Employee Engagement Today: What New Techniques Are Making a Real Difference?

Apart from techniques like Management Games, Outbound Trips, sponsoring Paid Family Trips, etc., what are the new effective employee engagement techniques that are in store now?

In my view, employee engagement means the way you can make an employee committed to the organization and contribute value to the business, thus staying in the organization. Therefore, it is an engagement of both the heart and head of the employees.

The above initiatives are welcome. You can add wellness initiatives also to them. However, the real challenge is engaging star performers. They are creative, fast-thinking, and eager to leave their mark on their work. They look for learning opportunities and recognition.

While games and fun activities engage the hearts of the employees, you need to look for initiatives that engage the heads of the employees also, more so in the case of star performers. You can start an initiative like "Idea Labs," encouraging the employees to come out with ideas that add value to the business and reward them all in one way or another, as per the value quotient of the ideas, of course excluding ideas that are already tried or in vogue. For example, if you are a food retailer, you can ask them to design a food wrap that makes the mouths of customers water. Just an example.

The innovative idea in ice cream selling, which I found, is to mix natural fruit in it. It seems to have captured the taste buds of the ice cream fans. As there is no one medical kit that cures all ills, there is no one universal employee engagement formula that fits all organizations. You need to design your engagement activities that suit your business goals and culture.

Regards,
B. Saikumar
HR & IR Advisor
Navi Mumbai

Hello Archana,

In my experience, solid engagement comes through Career Management, Learning & Development Activities, and a Strong Performance and Leadership Culture. People join organizations to grow financially, advance their careers, and enhance their skills and capabilities. If this core is taken care of well, then a large part of engagement is addressed.

Some visionary companies have been allowing people to work on their dream projects to enhance engagement. Psychologists and Behavioral Scientists have discovered that people are at their best when they work on their strengths, dreams, and passions. Visionary companies put these insights into practice with courage. Here are some examples:

• 3M's technical staff spends 15% of their time on projects of their choosing.
• Atlassian, an Australian software company, allows its employees to work on projects of their liking for 20% of their time.
• Googlers, as Google employees refer to themselves, spend 20% of their time on projects of their own calling.
• Semco, a Brazilian company, has radically re-engineered workplace norms. At Semco, employees appoint their managers, and targets and projects are chosen and delivered by autonomous groups.

Companies have their own titles for such policies: 'Bootlegging,' 'Experimental Doodling,' 'Workplace Democracy.' They are in different continents—Americas, Australia, Asia—however, the underlying beliefs are the same: "People are at their best while working on their own dreams and passions."

Activities mentioned by you are like the icing on the cake. I would keep focusing on core activities pertaining to career enhancement, capability building, coaching, innovation, and rewards, and use family gatherings, outbounds, etc., as feel-good programs.

Regards,
Rajesh

Hi Rajesh and Saikumar, I must appreciate your inputs on this topic. Hi Archana, I must say to innovate new techniques and tools for employee engagement, you actually need to understand the key areas of engagement that the majority of employees are looking for. I have gone through an article a few days back on "How to Retain Your Star Performers" by HBR, and that I can connect to Rajesh's comment. Activity and encouragement towards "Career Planning," "Effective Training and Development Plans," "Creating a Cohesive Atmosphere" are those areas that engage and motivate employees the most.

Apart from that, regular activities like events, family trips, etc., also help. I believe once the key areas are identified, it will be very easy to come up with new engagement plans.

Good luck!!

Employee engagement is a complex subject and is very relative. However, I can jot down some of the tools to this effect:

1. **Strong Goal Setting (Purpose):** Establish clear and meaningful goals for employees.

2. **Sync Goals with Company Vision (Link Purpose):** Align individual goals with the company's overall vision to create a sense of purpose.

3. **Regular Interventions:** Conduct regular interventions like trainings, reviews, workshops, and forums to periodically revisit the purpose.

4. **Company Dashboard:** Design the company dashboard in such a way that employees are motivated to be featured on it, providing immediate amplification.

5. **Responsive and Transparent PMS:** Ensure the Performance Management System (PMS) is more responsive and transparent.

Regards,
Hemant

As rightly pointed out in one of the responses above, employee engagement techniques are industry-specific. There may, no doubt, be some techniques with universal application. However, one must be cautious in trying out what suits one's organization only. For example, what is a good technique for a knowledge industry such as software development or an essentially research-oriented industry may not be suitable for a service or manufacturing industry. Therefore, if you specify the type of industry you are in and the target employees you are thinking about, it would be easier to provide pertinent suggestions.

Hi Seniors/Friends, I have had an innovative idea in my mind for quite some time. That is, to hire some agricultural fields, bring the employees, and have them work in the fields (ensuring they do not spoil the crops). This initiative would be beneficial for corporate individuals to better understand the challenges farmers face, and it would also foster a greater appreciation for food.

I have been contemplating this idea since my time in MBA (2011) when I was looking for opportunities to explore. I consider this as my platform to share this vision.

I urge you to give it a try; it really does work. Coming from an agricultural background and currently working in a corporate setting, I strongly believe in the value of this experience.

Kindly correct me if I am mistaken.

Regards,
Manikkavasagan R
[Phone Number Removed For Privacy Reasons]