Winners of the Engage Employees Challenge

Thank you to everyone who has pledged to Engage Employees and who has participated in the Engage Employees Challenge where we asked people to provide examples of how they are engaging employees within their organizations.

Temkin Group has selected four winners who are each being sent a $250 gift certificate to Amazon.com. Here are their great ideas:

Nancy Gallant: Employee Engagement Model

As part of the Change Management Planning Team which supports a number of Customer Contact Centres across the country we have been demonstrating the value of engaging employees to increase the rate of adoption of change. To achieve this we have developed an Employee Engagement Model with engagement activities across the Planning, Implementation, and Benefits Realization phases of projects.

A key ingredient is the creation of Champions of Change amongst the employees. To do this we created the following employee groups:

• Employee Action Teams: Frontline & Management teams that are impacted by the change. Responsible for providing insight and recommendations on training, communication and implementation of ‘initiative’ at stages of the change.
• Employee Engagement Advisory Council (EEAC): A subset of the Employee Action Teams are selected to join members of the project team and business representatives at this council. The Advisory council acts similar to a steering committee and is responsible for reviewing and signing off on communication, training, and benefits realization recommendations to sponsors.

Following details employee involvement across the phases of the project lifecycle:

• Planning:
  • Validate the current state assessment with EEAC & Action Teams
  • Complete a PCM assessment with EEAC. The goal to this activity is to identify desired behaviours, mindset and attitudes for employees & identify strategies to mitigate impact to employees.
  • Conduct Action Teams (management and frontline): gather feedback and recommendations on implementation, communication and training.
  • Learning & Communication assessment: Review & confirm learning & communication assessments with EEAC. Ensure close loop with EEAC as changes are made
• Implementation:
  • Pilot with cross section of frontline and leaders from the EEAC and Action Teams :
    • Gather feedback from pilot group identifying areas of opportunities and recommendations for addressing any opportunities.
    • Incorporate learnings & feedback into the training i.e. support tools, FAQs, etc.
    • Continuous close loop with EEAC and Action teams as changes are made
  • Monitor results post launch:
    • Gather and assess feedback from Action Teams & EEAC
    • Continuous close loop with EEAC & Action teams on any identified gaps
• Benefits Realization:
  • Based on assessment of progress towards key project success measures EEAC confirms if desired behaviours, mindset and attitudes have been achieved
  • Close the loop with Action Teams & EEAC

Sibylle Huffman: Pat on the Back

Employees love to be recognized, not just for big successes and long nights spend on projects, but also their every day efforts. In my group we have implemented giving ‘Pats on the Back’ many years ago to improve morale and teamwork. The concept was simple. All my staff were asked to do is to give a ‘Pat on the Back’ to a coworker, staff member, or peer for any act of kindness and support given to one another, regardless of how big or small the gesture may be. In return, anyone who earned 5 ‘Pats on the Back’ received a $25 gift card to a place of their choice. Building an environment where support and positive attitudes are encouraged creates an infectious atmosphere and culture that makes them feel appreciated and constantly motivates employees to do more. When gift cards are handed out to the staff, it’s a big deal. The team gathers together and every recipient receives a round of applause while the gift card is handed to them, creating another moment of pride.The team has become an incredibly cohesive, supportive, and high functioning group. A small gesture, and oftentimes just a simple ‘thank you’ can go a very long way in making employees feel valued and subsequently engaged. I have found many times that the key to success is consistency. Our groups philosophy of giving ‘Pats on the Back’ is spreading throughout the organization. Choose your attitude in the office and don’t forget to say thank you for the big and little things that way to frequently go unnoticed because we are all too busy. I pledge to Engage Employees!!

Roger Pugsley: oPositive Intranet Site

We have implemented an Intranet site we call “oPositive”. Picture a Pinterest lookalike site allowing employees to post stories with Facebook functionality (other employees can like, comment or share stories).

Employees are sharing an average of 50 stories per month on anything to do with CX: best practices, successes, customer feedback or recognizing their peers who have exceeded customer expectations.

It’s fun, uplifting, and very engaging!

We also mine the stories to identify winners of our annual “Customer Service Excellence” and “Story Teller” Awards. We have great people with great ideas. We therefore leverage oPositive content to feed “Site Initiatives We Love” to share great ideas and best practices with other sites across our portfolio. Collaboration is alive and well at Oxford!

Lisa Hrnken Ramirez: New Employee Scavenger Hunt

At NetSpend, we like to engage employees from their first day on the job. We created a new employee “scavenger hunt” using the mobile app Scavify. The hunt guides new employees through a series of tasks that connect them to other employees, our mission and our customers. Activities include having lunch with someone in another department, taking pictures with a tenured employee, listening to customer service calls and using our product features to name a few. Now new employees have a fun way to learn about the company, their fellow employees and our customers. New employees also get to show their unique personalities as the upload pictures of themselves accomplishing the tasks.

The bottom line: An engaged employee is worth the investment.