If you've clicked on this article, it's probably because you're trying to figure out how to get your key stakeholders on board with investing in an employee engagement solution, right?
It’s no secret that employee engagement often gets overlooked by senior executives who are mainly focused on making the company grow. They set their sights on clear goals like increasing profits and cutting costs, yet in their quest for this, the importance of having a strategy for employee engagement often gets swept under the rug. The thing is, senior leadership intrinsically knows and understands that employee engagement is important, but they need to recognise and make sense of the information that an employee programme delivers.
But it isn’t until you start connecting employee engagement to your business objectives, can clearly demonstrate ROI on employee engagement and articulate its value, and at a time where concerns over skill gaps and talent shortages escalate, that you should begin to speak to your different stakeholders and gain their support.
To do this successfully, it's essential to speak their language and grasp their distinct needs and expectations. Maintaining consistent, transparent communication with each stakeholder group is important, allowing you to promptly tackle any emerging concerns. However, be aware that aligning multiple stakeholders can create challenges and demand time. To achieve this alignment, make yourself accessible by hosting open office hours and dedicating time to engage with individuals directly to address their queries.
Here is a list of stakeholders you must speak to, along with what their key focus would be when looking at investing in an employee engagement solution:
Finance Director
The Finance Director drives cost-effective measures, focusing on cost optimisation and scrutinising running expenses. Their focus also extends to evaluating the impact of employee churn, retention and disengagement on the bottom line. They prioritise implementing cost-efficient talent management practices to enhance retention rates. From their perspective, by attracting and retaining talent, you not only gain cumulative financial advantages but also position your organisation as an employer of choice, reducing hiring costs and controlling overall spending on employee compensation.
Operations Director
The Operations Director prioritises productivity, cross-functional collaboration and increased output. They’re focused on streamlining operations, reducing training costs and enhancing efficiency. For this stakeholder, data is pivotal for pinpointing operational challenges, driving informed decisions to optimise processes and resource allocation and fostering continuous improvements.
Marketing Director
The role of the Marketing Director encompasses a range of responsibilities crucial to an organisation’s success. They manage customer reputation, ensuring high levels of customer satisfaction and elevating the Net Promoter Score while actively fostering advocates and nurturing trust within the customer base. This is all while managing high- performing marketing teams capable of consistently delivering impactful results.
Employee engagement data empowers the Marketing Director to gauge team satisfaction, foster creativity, enhance collaboration with sales and align strategies for a cohesive and effective marketing approach.
Head of Internal Communications
The Head of Internal Comms’ primary priorities involve fostering transparency, disseminating crucial information, cultivating a cohesive company culture and aligning employees with the organisation's mission and goals. Employee engagement stands as a critical focus for internal comms due to its profound impact on organisational success. Engaged employees are more productive, committed and aligned with the company's objectives, and Internal comms play a pivotal role in nurturing this engagement by facilitating meaningful dialogue, recognising achievements, providing channels for feedback and creating a sense of belonging.
IT Director
The IT Director has a broad role ranging from ensuring robust security and reliable systems to improving accessibility and seamlessly integrating technologies across the organisation. Beyond technical aspects, their focus extends towards nurturing an environment where frontline teams can thrive. By facilitating the implementation of resilient systems and streamlined processes, they empower teams to operate efficiently, fostering a culture of productivity.
To maintain technological success, the IT Director proactively identifies and resolves issues to elevate performance standards and boost productivity. Using first-hand data from employees and users, they continuously refine operations, identify challenges, and enhance efficiency.
Sales Director
The Sales Director’ role is centred on optimising sales performance and bolstering the overall team efficiency. Prioritising bottom-line results, they focus on ensuring the organisation has a seamlessly functioning sales department by reducing any friction that might impede progress and create time inefficiencies. This approach includes employing skilled sales professionals and fostering a culture of healthy competition.
However, exceptional customer service is key to boosting satisfaction, loyalty and sales. And central to this is highly engaged employees, essential for creating customer advocates, building trust and enhancing overall performance. Employee engagement data is therefore pivotal for customer satisfaction. Insights enable targeted strategies, refined engagement and seamless coordination, fostering sales growth and lasting customer relationships based on satisfaction and loyalty.
CEO
Among the CEO’s multifaceted role, the primary focus is growth. Sustainable growth implies increased market share, expanded revenue streams and a stronger competitive stance. It attracts investors, enhances brand value, and allows for more significant investment in innovation and talent, ensuring continued relevance and success in dynamic markets>
From a CEO’s perspective, a key driver of growth is employee engagement and increased productivity and performance. They are foundational pillars for organisational success. Engaged employees exhibit higher commitment, innovation and satisfaction, leading to a positive work environment and enhanced retention rates. This, in turn, fosters a culture of collaboration, creativity, and loyalty, crucial elements for sustained growth and competitive advantage in the market.
This article contains a snippet from The Business Case for Employee Engagement eBook where we explore essential strategies for HR leaders to secure internal buy-in for investing in employee engagement initiatives for deskless organisations.
Download the eBook here as we dive deeper into HR’s four biggest priorities. To view all our other eBooks, click here.