How to use Technology for Measuring Engagement Success

Dry January doesn’t have to mean dry EFS panel discussion. On 14^th January we put the marvellous into measuring engagement outcomes. Rachel Armstrong, L&D Business Partner at One Manchester (a gold IiP award winning housing association) and Mark Thompson, Head of Growth at The Happiness Index, as used and championed by One Manchester joined us on the panel. Here’s their top tips on how to use technology for measuring engagement success.

Recognise that employee engagement is multi-dimensional

Rachel attributes One Manchester’s high employee engagement to the business strongly believing in being a healthy, and thus engaging, place to work. This breaks down to recognising that engagement is cognitive – staff have a clear notion of what it means to be engaged through their actions, their connectivity to their role and contribution to the business objectives.

And engagement is emotional. To which those responsible for managing engagement need to be vigilant. For One Manchester this justifies their investment in tools such as The Happiness Index, to monitor and provide real time data on how people are feeling since feelings imbue actions and collectively contribute to how the organisation performs and thus its bottom line.

Put in place effective measures based on what you know works and keep reviewing them

At One Manchester some of those measures include use of a daily scrum, online briefing sessions, digital coffee breaks where no one is allowed to talk shop and informal offerings such as evening quizzes and debates.

Get leadership on board

A common refrain when it comes to engagement echoed is the importance of having buy-in at the top. ‘It’s the holy grail’ according to Mark. Rachel says that at One Manchester all levels of leadership pull their weight and that their CEO takes engagement very seriously with regular ‘Natter with Nic(ola)’ sessions that anybody can attend.

Put a lot of thought into what you want to measure and why

Start with being clear about your philosophy eg that you want to change, from the outset. Clearly define what you want to measure and why and baseline this. Identify your anchor points and don’t be afraid of measuring qualitative things such as how people are feeling. Technology offers as many effective ways of measuring the qualitative as the quantitative nowadays, something Rachel says surprised her the most.

Only invest in fancy new measuring tools if you’ve invested in staff who can use them

A tool is only as effective as the people using it. If they don’t have the time or the skill you won’t get your full money’s worth. And at worst you’ll be accused of wasting it, so make sure you invest in your user team. Make sure you have good relationships with partners in the organisation who can help you such as Internal Comms.

ClearVoice works in partnership with The Happiness Index and other platform providers. We can help you with advising and measuring engagement success and achieve the desired engagement outcomes. For an informal discussion please book a consultation with us.

Only ask questions the business is prepared to answer

And share results such as from employee voice surveys weekly, advises Mark. It moves the onus back to everyone to take ownership over what’s been learned while it’s still fresh. 

Show what measuring engagement success can do for the business

Platforms such as The Happiness Index have significantly boosted the capability of One Manchester to engage their employees and react positively to challenges that would lower engagement if left too late. For instance, using the Happiness Index to support their employee voice survey gave them real time results. They gained insight quickly on how employees were feeling during the lockdown. Their C suite could readily digest the results and allocate budget to remedy.   

In an excellent example of how data can inform major business decisions Mark recalls a recent solicitor client. The data revealed that neither the company’s customers nor 1800 staff were suffering unduly after the shift to home working. So they shut all their offices and pivoted their recruitment process. As a result they gained major cost savings for the company for no loss of performance.

How to use your technology for measuring engagement success?

We at ClearVoice are experts in measuring employee engagement and will be happy to advise you on the various options for achieving the outcome you want. Simply get in touch to arrange a free consultation to discuss how we can help.

At ClearVoice, we are experts in advising on and delivering employee engagement and culture change strategies that inspire your people and transform your business. We help you steer towards a future of work that is human by enabling you to truly discover how to attain and sustain high levels of employee engagement and create a culture where you and your people can thrive. For more information or help with using your technology to measure employee engagement success, call or email us today.

Because today’s best performing companies put their people first.