1. A r o u g h g u i d e t o
Employee
Engagement

2. S o , w h a t i s
Employee
Engagement?

3. What is Employee Engagement?
• It can be seen as a combination of commitment to the
organisation & its values plus a willingness to help out
colleagues (organisational citizenship)
• It goes beyond job satisfaction & is not simply motivation
• Engagement is something that the employee has to offer and
cannot be „required‟ as part of the employment contract.
Simply put, it is…
The extent to which people feel personally involved in the
success of a business…

4. Dis-engagement?
We know it when we
see it!

5. Transactional to transformational
Transactional engagement
Act on feedback from survey
Set of activities and targets
Reactive engagement
Is an add on, separate activity
Not integral to business
Set of transactions
Transformational engagement;
A way of doing business
Employees are integral
Pro-active
Insight regularly sought,
harnessed and acted on
Integrated

6. “Employee engagement is the
difference that makes the difference
– and could make all of the
difference”
MacLeod review

7. W h a t c a n
Employee
Engagement
achieve?

8. The business case
Happy Employees
There are proven benefits to both the business and
the employee
Happy Customers
Less
Absenteeism
Customer
Loyalty
Employee Loyalty Greater Productivity Ability to attract
high quality staff
Ability to win
new customers
Sears employee customer profit chain
5 pt. Increase in
employee attitude
1.3 Increase in
customer satisfaction
0.5 Increase in
revenue growth

9. Does it
matter?

10. Glassdoor – ignore it at your peril
• Starbucks Barista in Falls Church, VA: (Past Employee - 2009)
“Good First Job”
• Pros - Fun environment, cool people, get to meet and talk with a lot
of regular customers, never bored
• Cons - tiring, at times stressful, not paid enough for work that they
do
• Advice to Senior Management: Need to pay employees more
Company rating 3.4 / 5 based on
788 ratings

11. Employee Engagement delivers
Return on Investment
 A reduction in call centre attrition from 41% to 22% in just one year,
saving over £370,000
 Increased cross-sales contribution of over £6 million
 A reduction in absence saving over £250,000
 87% of staff making a voluntary commitment to take a 10% pay cut
to ensure their business survived these tough times
 A movement from -14 to +28 net promoter score (customer
advocacy) in one year,
 An increase in engagement survey response rates from 50% to 94%
 Improved survey scores e.g. recommend this as a good place to
work 24% to 89% in 12 months

12. Some questions for you…
• What is your definition of employee engagement?
• Why are you focusing on it?
• For what purpose?
• So what are your goals and outcomes?

13. Employee
Engagement –
how do you do it?

14. Engage For Success Enablers
• Strategic narrative – a clear, compelling narrative of
where the organisation is going and why
• Line Management – employees know what is expected of
them, feel appreciated, are given autonomy and receive
training
• Employee Voice – the employee voice is offered and
heard up and down the organisation, people feel their
voice counts
• Integrity– most organisations espouse values, all have
behavioural norms. Any gap results in is distrust and trust
is at the heart of employee engagement

15. People Lab Engagement Elements
CHANGE
DIALOGUEINVOLVELEAD
SUSTAIN

16. Does this sound familiar?
The results?
• Dwindling response
rates
• Lack of buy-in
• Cynicism, low trust
• No real change achieved
• Low ROI
survey black holeaction plan
Is it time for a
change?

17. Time for a new approach – but what does
this look like?
17
What can we learn
from
positive psychology?

18. Focus on the (positive) psychology of
engagement
The current paradigm:
Work
harder
More
Success
Win/
happier

19. But this formula is scientifically broken
1. Every time we have a success the goalposts change. We
reach our sales targets, we get set higher targets
2. So we‟re continually pushing happiness over our
cognitive horizon
3. And in fact…. The opposite is true – positive brains
perform significantly better than negative, neutral or
stressed brains
4. So if we focus on creating happy, positive brains we are
more successful
5. Research shows increases in intelligence, creativity and
energy
6. This translates into business outcomes

20. Positive thinking
• Lyobomirsky 2005 found:
– 31% increase in productivity
– Improved resilience
– Less burnout
– Less employee turnover
– Increased sales -37%
– When your brain is in a positive state it performs better
then in a neutral, negative or stressed state

21. Why is this?
The formula is the wrong way round
Work
harder
More
Success
Happier
/ +ve
• Being in a positive brain state releases Dopamine
• This makes you feel happier
• But it also turns on all your learning centers in your
brain

22. Creating a positive lasting change
• You can rewire your brain by doing the following everyday
for 21 days:
– 3 gratitude's each day
– Journaling
– Exercise
– Meditation
– Random acts of kindness
• This will help train your brain to scan for the positive rather
than the negative

23. Discovery
“the best of
what is”
Appreciating
Destiny
“How will we
get there”
Sustaining
Design
“What should
be”
Co-
constructing
Dream
“What could
be”
Envisioning
Definition
“what frames
our inquiry”
Framing
Affirmative topic
choice
Appreciative Inquiry “5-D”
Cycle

24. SEE THE
DIFFERENCE
BE THE
DIFFERENCE
SHAPE THE
DIFFERENCE
IMAGINE THE
DIFFERENCE
CHANGE
The employee engagement
toolkit

25. Bringing it to life – Everest case study
Low survey
participation Lack of trust
Need to reduce
costs
Challenging
trading
conditions
the situation at Everest
the change?
to transform Everest into a great place to work

26. Action
workshop
with
champions
Leaders
action
workshops
All employee
action
workshops
•Quick wins
•Activity happening immediately
•Employees making it happen
Involving employees in creating a great place
to work

27. Did it work?
• 87% of employees voluntarily signed a consent form to
reduce salaries if required –potential £1.2 million saving
• Survey response rates increased from 50% to 94%
• Improved engagement scores across the board
• Contribution towards £2.5 million reduction in operating costs
• Volume of local activity focusing on reducing costs and
increasing sales
• An example of best practice, finalist CIPR Pride awards and
Personnel Today awards

28. Engaged, positive, happy
people!
O u r e x p e r i e n c e h a s s h o w n
u s t h a t h a p p y p e o p l e m a k e
w o r k p l a c e s b e t t e r f o r
E V E RY O N E - e m p l o y e e s ,
c u s t o m e r s , b u s i n e s s e s &
s o c i e t y.

29. The only question is…
Why wouldn’t you
take engagement
seriously?

30. THANK
YOU!

31. Fancy a chat?
Call Emma on 07595465515, or send
your emails to info@peoplelab.co.uk.