3 methods to turbo charge engagement in just about anything

Engagement, engagement, engagement! If you work in HR, rewards or pensions you are probably sick to death of this word. However, despite this word’s overuse it remains the biggest issue out there for many of the UK’s employers. How do you get employees to care about their new employee benefit?

The bad news is there is no ‘one size fits all’ or ‘silver bullet’ approach which can encourage employees to engage with you. Different methodologies will resonate with different people.

For that reason, as a basic rule, a diverse and varied approach can be a good idea. However, there is a number of tried and tested methods employed by many of the companies we speak to which have yielded some impressive results.

The 3 ideas below are by no means exhaustive but hopefully will give you a bit of a head start if you have been left scratching your head for new ideas.

1) The power of 20 minutes

Employees in the workplace have a number of demands on their time. One of the most engaging strategies we have seen involves a ‘company sponsored 20 minutes’ to devote to completing a task which is focused on wellbeing.

For this to work everyone has to have it in their diaries; managers have to respect it and the business needs to endorse it. For 20 minutes employees know they will not be judged for taking some personal time to improve an aspect of their wellbeing.

2) The trigger point

I am always amazed when it comes to engaging employees how much ‘low hanging fruit’ is missed. New employee inductions; work anniversaries; compulsory training; new role assignment; bonus review etc. are periods during which you are guaranteed to have the employee’s attention.

Extending such interactions by just a few minutes could ensure employees have time to take action there and then, which will pay dividends when analysing participation in the program you are monitoring performance in.

3) Make the most of it

Employee and indeed business time is precious so you must make the most of it. One huge error we see is the medium in which information is given to employees. If you want an employee to take action, then combine information and the ability to transact in one place.

We so often see financial wellbeing programs take place in the form of seminars. This is great for raising awareness but often individuals leave the room and take no further action. Consider the power of combining that seminar with technology, this gives everyone in the room the ability to take action.

Whether they increase their pension contribution rate; get help with budgeting or finally receiving help with debt management, in these circumstances you will have truly made a difference to the employee and their wellbeing

I understand much of this may appear as common sense but it is amazing how often we see people struggling with the basics. Technology exists to make people’s lives easier and it has never been more affordable to roll out effective programs to your workforce especially in the financial wellbeing sector.

The final thing I would say on this issue is have fun with the above. Too often the communications we see are bland and laden with dull information. Our attention spans are short and we need to ensure the precious time given to us by employees is used to maximum effect. So please mix, match and innovate, your employees will listen… eventually!

Phil Blows is director at Wealth Wizards.

This article was provided by Wealth Wizards.