The Competitive Advantage of Engaged and Connected Employees

Even before March of 2020 changed how we all work and connect, my company, Four Winds Interactive, understood that engaging employees was going to be critical to our success. Three years ago, we embarked on a mission to create and nurture a more intentional, people-first culture – with employee engagement as a core pillar to our overall business strategy. We knew from the research that engaged employees are more productive, absent less, and more loyal.

Then the pandemic hit, and everything changed dramatically.

As a leading software provider for enterprise digital signage networks, Four Winds Interactive (FWI) transforms the way our customers communicate with their customers and their people. We support more than 6,000 clients, powering millions of screens around the world. We are known for helping organizations in every major industry inform, inspire, and connect with their audiences using a network of targeted signs.

It only made sense that we do the same thing internally

To truly tap into what our employees thought and felt, we realized that we needed to collect better data. We started by replacing our annual employee satisfaction survey with a quarterly Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) survey. We used Alchemer, a highly customizable and easy-to-use survey solution. It allowed us to create our own anonymous eNPS survey with other benchmarked engagement questions to gauge the pulse of the organization quarterly.  The ability to pre-define and segment the data allows us to look at the data in meaningful chunks making it easier to take immediate action on the feedback. Alchemer’s flexibility and reporting capabilities allow us to drill down to the department level and then use both the scores and commentary to uncover valuable insights and trends.

Collecting Data Is Just the Beginning

The eNPS survey also includes several follow-up questions that allow us to dive deeper into the reasons behind the scores, providing valuable detail and context. Data from these surveys also informs the entire FWI employee experience, including everything from benefits to development to diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We also work closely with individual teams and managers to create action plans to increase both engagement and productivity within their business units.

It is easy to fall into the trap of collecting data, only to tuck it away in a report. However, data has an expiration date. To be truly useful, the feedback collected must be used to close the loop by feeding other systems throughout the organization quickly and enabling stakeholders to drive change. 

The human impact of ignoring data is also destructive. Instead of feeling heard, employees view surveys as an exercise in futility. This hurts the very engagement companies hope to foster.

Rapidly Changing Times

Throughout 2020, we have seen a constantly shifting environment. Consequently, we have been using Alchemer on a semi-weekly basis to stay in touch with the general well-being of employees and how they are adjusting to working remotely, and how they feel about coming back to work. This includes a working-from-home survey to assess the overall sentiment of the workforce and what additional needs or wants they have to ensure our people still have the best possible working experience. The survey even led us to adopt a new “Work Where You Want” policy that gives employees the freedom to work from where they do their best work. Employees also shared in their comments how we can best redesign the office space to meet our changing needs.

Do Not Underestimate the Role of Managers

All too often, engagement is seen as just another initiative owned by HR. But according to Gallup, “70% of the variance in team engagement is determined solely by the manager.” To move the dial, FWI realized that we must put managers on the front line of engagement strategies. To effectively engage their teams, it’s essential to deliver fast access to the insights we gather from our surveys. Each leader was encouraged to discuss the results and themes with their team, putting into action things the team could do to improve the employee experience of the team. And the results followed. We saw a 10x increase in our eNPS, putting us well above the national average for employee engagement.

The Engagement Struggle

Even before the world so radically changed, organizations struggled to keep employees engaged. While many have embraced employee engagement strategies, nurturing an engaged workforce remains an elusive goal. Gallup, which measures employee engagement, reports that about 36% of American workers are actively engaged, another 13% are actively disengaged, and the remaining 51% are psychologically unattached to their work and company.

A different Gallup report found that highly engaged teams deliver a “10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales.” Similarly, according to a report from The Engagement Institute, disengaged employees cost U.S. organizations up to $550 billion in lost productivity each year.

At Four Winds, we’ve learned that showing employees how the company is acting on the feedback we receive goes a long way in engaging our employees. It’s not enough to simply gather the feedback. We believe that increased engagement means developing deeper connections through open dialog with employees. With ongoing feedback that turns into action, our employees are empowered to share their input. They also feel a sense of ownership, as this feedback is integrated into operations. At a time when current events increase feelings of powerlessness, this sense of control goes a long way to easing fears and anxieties.

The Path Forward

Organizations across the globe are still struggling to find their footing, nurturing employee engagement is more important than ever before. Feedback is an essential ingredient to success, allowing you to tap into the pulse of your remote operations. The insights gleaned from this data keep you connected, helping employees stay engaged and productive during this time of unprecedented uncertainty.  As a result, you can tackle this crisis as a cohesive team, better navigating whatever comes your way.