4 steps to increase employee engagement in 2021: Step 3 company impact
“My company has a positive impact on society?
How would your workforce rate your company on this question?
We want to go to work and know that the work we do has a positive impact on our environment, our community, our nation and our planet.
While Millennials are often thought of as having the highest need for alignment to a cause; the bottom line is that most people seek meaning in what they do. We are finding that employees ask more questions, have a voice and are more discerning, when it comes to being part of an organisation that is creating value in the communities they serve. The statistics speak for themselves, Harvard Business Review* found 9 out of 10 people are willing to earn less money to do more meaningful work.
You can build employee engagement by enhancing awareness around the positive impact your organisation makes by taking several deliberate steps.
Capitalise on what you are already delivering
During our work measuring employee engagement within organisations, we have seen this in action.
75% of respondents rated their company positively (agree / strongly agree) when asked to rate the question ?My company has a positive impact on society.?* That is a fantastic result, and you can further capitalise on this strength, by increasing the engagement score further by shifting employees from neutral to agree or even agree to strongly agree.
Organisations don’t always regularly inform and educate employees on how the company they are working for contributes to their community and to nation building.
You can do this by:
- Regular internal newsletters on different activities
- Updating social media channels, so employees and their families can read about the impact.
- Incorporating this into your onboarding process
- Celebrating success and milestones
Use storytelling to explain your company’s purpose
Those great stories and examples of how your organisation positively impacts society are important, and should be shared as part of your leadership practice.
These narratives remind employees of how far the company has come or the positive impact the organisation has made. Find a mechanism that you can introduce that will help you curate examples and stories, so that these can be shared by the leaders within your organisation. These stories have an inspiring effect on the organisation, and foster a greater sense of purpose amongst your employees.
Involve your employees in Corporate Social Responsibility
Studies establish there is a positive relationship between CSR and employee engagement*. Involve you employees in your CSR by getting them to be more involved by contributing and potentially finding greater value congruence at work. Design CSR initiatives that are symbiotic with your core business and that provide employees opportunities to make a difference and find ways of helping individuals see how what they do matters.
These higher purpose initiatives can increase your employees? pride in working for an organisation that is actively contributing to their community, as they further reinforce that what they do matters.
The deliberate steps to increase engagement in your organisation should start with communication. Your impact as a business is important to the people that work for you and directly impacts their level of engagement. By communicating this effectively across the business you can build engagement, build pride and help integrate your company’s mission and purpose with sustainable values.
How can we help you?
Peopleconnexion can facilitate an Employee Engagement Survey, which can help you collect insights as well as you give your employees a voice. This actionable feedback will help you implement deliberate steps to increase engagement and drive performance. Book your free 1×1 conversation with our engagement survey expert, Jean Kilner to find out more.
- https://hbr.org/2018/11/9-out-of-10-people-are-willing-to-earn-less-money-to-do-more-meaningful-work
- Peopleconnexion led engagement surveys
- https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00796/full