Case Study: Employee Engagement as a Business Strategy

In today’s fast-paced business world, employee engagement isn’t just an HR buzzword—it’s a key strategic initiative. Engaged employees are essential for retaining top talent, boosting productivity, driving innovation, and enhancing customer experiences. Here’s a deep dive into how our company has seamlessly integrated employee engagement into our overall strategy, the tangible benefits we’ve seen, and the practical steps we’ve taken to foster a culture of engagement.

The Scenario

Focusing on our employees has always been a priority, but it was in 2019 that we began conducting comprehensive employee engagement surveys. These surveys highlighted both our strengths and areas needing improvement. The resulting data-driven changes helped us build a cohesive team, transforming it into a community united by common goals and shared values.
Today, our employee engagement rate stands at an impressive 64%, well above the national average of 47% and 9 percentage points higher than the recommended threshold for significant business impact. Our HR director, Toma, observes, “There’s no single path to ensure engaged employees create value. Effective organizations enhance employee experiences in five key areas: trust in the organization, inclusive leadership, meaningful work, an empowering environment, and recognition. We’re proud that our organization exceeds the Lithuanian market average by 4 to 14 percentage points in these areas.”

Our Approach

Each year, following our engagement survey, we pinpoint critical areas for improvement, aligning them with our core values. This approach not only maintains our value-driven focus but also strengthens it through continuous improvements. Over the past year, we’ve concentrated on four main areas:

1. The Employee Journey: we audited the entire employee lifecycle, from recruitment to offboarding, making necessary adjustments and refining key aspects:
   • Recruitment: We ensure new hires align with our culture and values.
   • Onboarding: New employees undergo structured, digitized training programs, guided by a core group of expert trainers to help them understand their roles, expectations, and resources.
   • Competency Development Plan: We identified critical competencies and created a tailored development plan.
   • Offboarding: We established clear criteria for termination, including non-compliance with our values and cultural agreements.
2. Value Chain Awareness: with critical competencies defined, we developed a comprehensive employee development plan. Every employee now understands: their role in the internal value chain, how customers perceive this chain, requirements for maintaining quality, their responsibilities and those of their colleagues. Also, supervisors regularly assess competencies and set clear, individualized development plans.
3. Empowering Responsibility: employees can initiate and participate in strategic and daily projects, contributing to continuous improvement and personal development. They also engage in our LEAN culture, taking on ambassador or expert roles for company methodologies.
4. Benefits Package: we prioritize our employees’ well-being, focusing on physical and emotional health.

Key to Success – Unified Vision

Our strategy thrives on clear communication. It’s crucial to articulate planned actions and document achievements. “Creating an acceptable culture for everyone is an ongoing process requiring constructive dialogue. Key elements are clarity, constructiveness, and trust, which we nurture through focused communication,” says Toma. We foster a unified vision among colleagues by:

1. Constantly reinforcing company values, revisiting behaviors that demonstrate these values, and explaining their importance.
2. Adhering to common agreements on decision-making, meeting rules, information sharing, calendar marking, conflict resolution, and taking responsibility.
3. Organizing calibration sessions to strengthen cooperation, using our unique methods, including balance wheel and coaching cards.
4. Allocating a specific budget annually for team-building activities, allowing each team to decide how to strengthen internal collaboration for external effectiveness.

Communication – A Two-Way Street

“Generational differences, evolving technologies, changing topic relevance, and balancing ‘too much information’ versus ‘too little information’—communication will always need fine-tuning,” Toma notes with a smile. Despite the challenges, we promote open communication and have a robust feedback system:

1. Employee – Manager:
   • Frequency: weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually.
   • Format: one-on-one meetings, SMART goals, and annual reviews.
   • Results: personal responsibility, situation analysis, corrective discussions, activity management, goal tracking, and ensuring emotional well-being.
2. Company – Employee:
   • Frequency: weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annually.
   • Format: weekly updates, monthly OnePagers, quarterly, and annual meetings.
   • Results: understanding personal impact, analyzing company performance, recognizing employee contributions, and organizing team actions based on results.
3. Employees – Company:
   • Frequency: annually.
   • Format: engagement survey report.
   • Results: identifying corrective actions for an acceptable work environment.

Additionally, we regularly communicate strategy implementation, and share discoveries, news, and colleague stories to ensure employees feel connected across all locations:

1. Teams chat: a company-wide chat for birthday wishes, playlist creation, and various messages for all employees.
2. Intranet: a platform for sharing company news and daily discoveries, managed by a dedicated content creator.
3. Internal Events: building sustainable company traditions with significant annual events, and recognizing employees in key categories, including the prestigious Person of the Year award.

Engaged employees are empowered employees who feel integral to the company and contribute to both organizational and personal growth. They create change through daily activities and are unafraid to take personal responsibility. By creating an environment where employees can maximize their potential, the results can be astounding.