Better Engagement Can Turn Employees into Company Ambassadors

 

An organization’s employees can be its best advocates. When employees recommend a company’s products and services to friends and family, they’ll probably be a trusted source when giving recommendations. Employees can also be convincing advocates on social media.

Employees must be engaged, however, before they become brand ambassadors. They must like their work and their company. Engaged employees also work harder and are more innovative, according to the National Business Research Institute. Disengaged employees, by contrast, tend waste time at work on social media and may spend their work hours looking for other jobs.

PR teams involved in employee communications have the task of engaging employees and mobilizing the marketing army inside the company.

There’s quite a lot of work to do. According to web-based messaging system, DeskAlerts, 72 percent of American workers are not engaged with their work and their employers. The 28 percent who are engaged are often senior level executives who have a greater stake in the company. DeskAlerts estimates that up to $540 billion is lost every year due to employee disengagement. The four main factors that companies with disengaged workers must address are: opportunity, recognition, communication and work process.

The Employee Test

Try this test: Individually, ask employees what their company does and what it stands for. If they can’t answer it or provide a range of different answers, you’ve got work to do, according to sales and marketing expert Ed Mayuga.

The core corporate message to employees should be:

Simple. No one is going to memorize a long elevator speech.

Positive. Stress solutions and benefits the company provides customers, clients or end-users.

Consistent. Everyone should be on the same page. You want to avoid a multitude of viewpoints and answers.

The first step is listening to employees through internal communications. Feedback allows organizations to define internal stake holders, understand effectiveness of communication methods, and instill a business mindset in employees.

20 Tips to Engage Employees

Business management expert Torben Rick at Meliorate offers 20 tips to improve employee engagement and performance. Here’s a sampling:

Communicate clear goals and expectations. Most employees want to contribute and do a good job, but they must know what excellence looks like.

Tie individual objectives to the organization’s larger goals to assure that the individual objectives are meaningful.

Share information. Keep employees abreast of company performance and how their own work impacts overall performance. Employees will then feel a greater sense of worth and ownership. Be truthful but hopeful.

Encourage open communication. Use surveys, suggestion boxes and team meetings. Be open to criticism and address employee issues forthrightly. Show how their feedback is being used.

Communicate. Relay news to employees quickly — before they hear it from the media or friends or family.

Bottom Line: PR internal communications teams have the important function of improving employee engagement. With surveys indicating that most employees are disengaged at work, business and their PR staff must step up efforts to improve communications with employees.

Added note: The most successful employee communications programs today are digital (online) and personalized by division, geography, job responsibilities and other factors.