How To Form an Employee Engagement Committee (+Examples & Best Practices)
How do you make decisions about elevating employee engagement? If you’re relying mainly on assumptions or employee survey data, you haven’t tapped into a valuable resource. An employee engagement committee can get to the heart of what employees need to become more engaged at work.
Starting an employee engagement committee is a proactive step in the journey to improve employee engagement. Engaged employees are motivated to innovate, encourage each other, and invest more effort in their work. An engaged workforce can ensure your organization will carry out its mission and goals
As a word of warning, there’s a good chance your organization’s engagement level could use a boost. Gallup research has revealed a downward trend in U.S. employee engagement to an 11-year low of 30%.
This article explains what employee engagement committees are all about and shares some examples and best practices that will help you implement or upgrade to one that flourishes at your organization.
Contents
What is an employee engagement committee?
HR’s responsibilities in an employee engagement committee
The purpose of an employee engagement committee
Employee engagement committee responsibilities
How to establish and run an employee engagement committee
Employee engagement committee company examples
What is an employee engagement committee?
An employee engagement committee is a group of individuals who are dedicated to forging a stronger connection between employees and the overall organization. The committee serves as a voice for the employee perspective and contributes ideas and solutions for strengthening employee engagement. Its presence demonstrates that employees matter to their employers.
The employee engagement committee participants are volunteers from various levels and departments across the organization who have a vision and passion for making the organization a better workplace. They strive to understand the root causes of employees’ frustration and apathy and devise innovative methods for addressing them.
These teams can be instrumental to an organization’s employee engagement strategy. While employee engagement surveys provide valuable data, they can only glean the information the questions cover, and they lack the nuance that dialogue offers.
Surveys won’t necessarily capture the underlying reasons for employees’ opinions and sentiments that affect engagement. Employee engagement committees offer an authentic take on your culture’s pulse and facilitate free-flowing discussions, creating a space for deeper insight and new ideas.
HR’s responsibilities in an employee engagement committee
HR should spearhead and supervise the employee engagement committee to provide support and ensure it remains organized and productive.
Specifically, HR’s responsibilities will incorporate the following:
- Selecting the committee members
- Ensuring that the committee establishes clear goals and objectives
- Facilitating meetings
- Providing employee survey data and insights
- Supporting committee efforts by allocating resources and promoting its initiatives
- Encouraging employee participation in engagement activities
- Overseeing any rewards and recognition programs
- Planning training opportunities when necessary.
The purpose of an employee engagement committee
The main purpose of employee engagement committees is to perpetuate an engagement philosophy throughout the organization and drive greater business success. They do this by helping employees feel more connected to the organization and motivated in their jobs.
Ideally, employee engagement committees will:
- Represent the employee perspective and be a voice for their wants, needs, and ideas (a Gallup poll showed that only about 30% of U.S. employees think their opinion matters at work)
- Uphold and foster company culture
- Bridge the gap between employer and employee by promoting communication and interactions between management and workers
- Boost morale with events, activities, and positive changes.
HR tip
Employee engagement committees have the potential to be a conduit that strengthens the employee-employer relationship by championing transparency and building trust. This can create the type of culture that breeds motivated, content, high-performing employees who will positively impact customer satisfaction, as well as turnover and retention rates.
Employee engagement committee responsibilities
Employee engagement committee responsibilities range according to the group’s scope of influence and the organization’s goals.
Some common employee engagement committee responsibilities include:
- Creating a community environment in the workplace that fosters a sense of camaraderie and belonging among employees
- Acknowledging and showing appreciation for employees’ efforts and accomplishments
- Empowering employees to express authentic feedback and monitoring that feedback
- Encouraging employee wellbeing and work-life balance
- Facilitating access to career progression opportunities
- Providing input for employee survey topics and questions.
How to establish and run an employee engagement committee
A successful employee engagement committee starts off on the right foot and is well led. However, not all committees will look or function in exactly the same way. Each reflects its organization’s unique purpose and workforce. Nonetheless, there are some general recommendations that can be widely applied.
Listed below are six best practices to guide you through starting or revamping your organization’s employee engagement committee:
Step 1: Define goals and objectives
As with any meaningful endeavor, you must begin with the end in mind. This means articulating what the employee engagement committee is meant to accomplish within the context of your workplace.
It’s up to HR to set well-defined goals and objectives that outline what the organization hopes to achieve through the committee. For example, boosting morale, increasing retention, cultivating a more cohesive culture, or enhancing two-way communication between leadership and employees.
Assuming they’re aligned with organizational goals, HR strategic plans can be a starting point and good resource for ideas on the committee’s objectives. Once you have some concepts in mind, meet with one or more high-level leaders to explain the employee engagement committee benefits, get their buy-in on the committee, and hear their thoughts on employee engagement.
With senior management onboard, you can start gathering more input to find out what expectations others will have for the employee engagement committee.
Try this
Organize a planning session with managers and potential committee members to build rapport and strategize about what the committee could achieve. Outline specific goals and measurable objectives the committee can adopt.
Step 2: Select committee members
The next step is for HR to get the word out about the committee and fill it with willing and capable participants. The size of the committee should be large enough to have diverse representation. However, it should not be so large that not everyone has the chance to be heard and coordinating schedules becomes unreasonable. A sufficient number is often 8-12 individuals.
Try this
Issue a company-wide announcement explaining the employee engagement committee and inviting volunteers to apply. If this doesn’t generate enough interest, you can also send out employee engagement committee invitations to target people who would be a good fit.
Narrow down the interested parties by conducting interviews or selection discussions. Look for potential participants who are enthusiastic about the organization yet still in touch with their coworkers’ views and attitudes. Committee members should have a positive outlook and serve as ambassadors for the organization but also have a vision for how it can evolve into a more engaging workplace.
Ensure the committee is made up of a diverse group of individuals, regardless of title or tenure. They should represent a variety of departments and job levels. It is crucial to get viewpoints from across the organization, especially frontline workers who are not decision-makers but responsible for carrying out the day-to-day operations.
Step 3: Define committee structure
An established employee engagement committee structure will help it run smoothly and keep the group focused and productive.
Try this
Develop a preliminary employee engagement committee charter that outlines roles, responsibilities, meeting frequencies, and ground rules or guidelines. Bring this to the first committee meeting to gather input from members and agree on a finalized version.
HR must also help the employee engagement committee define its scope and understand how it will go about accomplishing its goals. Group discussions will be the fundamental component of meetings, but the committee must take action as well.
Decide what this will look like. For example, planning activities and events, proposing new initiatives and programs, recommending policy changes or new amenities, etc. Whatever is decided on can be expressed in an employee engagement committee mission statement.
Step 4: Facilitate and support
HR must work hand-in-hand with the employee engagement committee. This starts with allocating the financial and other resources it needs to function. For example, assigning a budget for the committee and securing a physical location or ensuring remote connectivity for meetings.
Other ways HR can align with the committee and support its efforts include:
- Fostering an environment of trust in meetings by reinforcing confidentiality and offering everyone a platform to share their input
- Informing leadership of the committee’s progress by providing updates and reports
- Forming a connection between the committee and leaders by inviting them to drop by meetings and take or ask questions
- Incorporating committee suggestions into trainings or other HR activities
- Creating visibility for the committee by highlighting their ideas and success stories via internal communications
- Equipping the committee with the proper resources by asking members what type of support they need.
Step 5: Provide data and insights
HR data is a crucial resource for the employee engagement committee to build on. It can use insight from employee performance metrics, employee surveys, retention rates, and other HR related statistics to identify what the committee should address. Knowing which areas are most concerning for the organization and employees means the committee can focus on initiatives that will bring the greatest value.
Try this
Collect and analyze data from performance metrics, employee engagement surveys, and feedback forms specifically in light of how the employee engagement committee can act on it.
Step 6: Encourage ongoing employee engagement
While the employee engagement committee is working in the background, HR must remain a crucial contributor in fostering employee engagement in the workplace.
Here are some of the many ways HR can reinforce ongoing employee engagement:
- Launch an awareness campaign that emphasizes the importance and organization’s commitment to maximizing employee engagement
- Persuade leaders to share with employees what is being worked on at the highest levels and where the organization is headed
- Review the onboarding process for opportunities to make a better first impression and connection with new hires
- Implement an employee rewards and recognition program
- Coach managers on how to provide feedback and better listen to and communicate with team members for more meaningful interactions.
HR tip
Establish high expectations for the employee engagement committee and hold it accountable for accomplishing tasks and goals. Set definitive deadlines and give individual members a sense of ownership over their responsibilities.
Once employees can feel the impact of engagement efforts, the momentum builds and compels more engagement. This can also lead to more individuals developing an interest in being part of the employee engagement committee.
Employee engagement committee company examples
Plenty of organizations have vibrant and productive employee engagement committees. Many of their accomplishments remain behind the scenes within the company, but the creative and team-building activities that employees take part in are often on full display.
Here’s a quick look at four real life examples:
- James Hardie: The employee engagement committee at the corporate office of this global building materials manufacturer enriches company culture. It plans fun weekly events to bring employees together and foster camaraderie and collaboration.
- Dearborn Group: This insurance products and services company’s employee engagement committee has a mission to promote well-being for employees and their communities. In addition to planning social occasions, the committee organizes a variety of volunteer opportunities for employees to donate money or spend time serving charitable organizations in their communities.
- BlueTriton Brands: Brightening employees’ days is what this water products supplier’s employee engagement committee strives for. They make sure people have something fun to look forward to when they come to work, such as a free meal, an ice cream truck, or a golf tournament.
- Harvard Law School: Employees of this university have multiple learning and connection events to choose from throughout the year. These consist of communication workshops, mock classes, social gatherings, cultural celebrations, and many other opportunities.
To sum up
When employees feel invested in their employer, they are more compelled to put out their best effort. A purposeful and well-supported employee engagement committee will take an active role in creating a positive environment and influencing corporate decisions that link employees to the organization. The committee’s efforts and achievements can inspire the kind of healthy workplace atmosphere that shapes a more satisfying employee experience.
HR is paramount to every organization’s employee engagement endeavors. Setting the right foundation and providing ongoing tactical support and encouragement for the employee engagement committee is one worthwhile path HR can take toward building a more connected and fulfilling culture.
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