For the last year and a half there’s mostly been one topic that’s atop of everyone’s minds—the coronavirus pandemic. When we’ve talked about how to improve employee engagement, it’s almost as though we’ve forgotten other issues.
When it comes to the workplace, there are many other transitional periods that companies face. How do they maintain their culture during a merger or acquisition? How do they inspire workers who have new leaders or managers? What if a company implements a new working style or structure? In this week’s blog we’re focusing on initiatives to improve employee engagement during times of change.
Communicate with honesty and transparency
The first thing to do during a transitional period in any organization is to communicate with honesty and transparency. Workers want to be looped into what change will happen at their organization and they want to hear it from leadership. The last thing you want is for workers to hear big news through the rumor mill or at the eve of an announcement.
Honesty and transparency builds trust, laying the important foundation for any initiative to improve employee engagement that you roll-out after the change. Once workers know that they can trust their leadership and organization, they’ll be more open minded to changes and willing to give their company the benefit of the doubt. Like any relationship, there always has to be two dance partners.
Improve employee engagement by knowing your metrics
This is where an employee engagement program comes in. If you want to have a holistic view of your organization, you need to know what your workers are feeling and thinking. To understand your metrics you’ll need to utilize survey methodologies and act on the results that you find.
Survey types will vary depending on what you’re looking to find out about your organization. If your transition is related to a change in management, you’ll need to see how workers are feeling about their new leadership. If you’ve just merged or acquired a new company, get a view of how workers feel about your culture. There are various survey types at your disposal. You can roll them out according to the cadence that matches your need, and the one suggested by your employee engagement consultant.
Emphasize physical and mental wellbeing
A transitional period in an organization can be difficult for workers, especially if it means a change on their team or with their working style. Larger management or cultural changes can pose even greater challenges, and these happen for workers on top of their already existing projects and deadlines.
One of the easiest ways to improve employee engagement when changes happen is to give workers the resources and time they need for physical and mental wellbeing. Encourage workers to take the time off they need, host virtual or physical events if possible, and provide office hours or Q&A sessions with employee groups and leadership to answer any questions that workers have. Lastly, make sure you round your initiatives with a wellbeing survey.
Get an engagement consultation
Regardless of the initiatives to improve employee engagement that you choose, you should never go it alone. Transitional periods are hard on organizations, and there’s no reason to take on the burden single handedly when there are resources available to you.
At Workify we specialize in employee engagement, including helping companies when there’s a merger or acquisition, re-org, or any other change that will impact an their organization. Connect with us for an employee engagement consultation and we can create a program with surveys that are right for you.
Book a demo today to learn more about our survey methodology and offerings.