5 Ways to Work with an Employee Engagement Specialist

There are many reasons an organization may want to bring an employee engagement specialist on board – a couple of which might be a lack of internal resources and/or expertise or as a tool to help guide and inspire new ways of collaborating. With today’s challenges of hiring and retaining high-quality employees, it is more important than ever to invest in employee engagement. Whether you are operating with an in-office, hybrid, or work-from-home team, having the right employee engagement strategy will help boost morale and your corporate reputation.

Here are a few of the ways you can utilize an employee engagement specialist to strengthen your corporate culture:

Bring Them in for an Outside Perspective

There can be a lot of value to having an outside perspective as you develop your employee engagement strategy. Taking the time to evaluate what’s working, what’s not, and areas for improvement can pay off in the long term. Bringing in an outsider can help spark new ideas and creative solutions to strengthen your employer brand.

Bringing in an employee engagement specialist can be helpful in guiding the HR or management team through brainstorms and aligning employee engagement tactics with the strategic goals of the organization. If you want a cohesive plan for the year that all departments can leverage, you could also hire a specialist to put forward an annual strategy to help boost morale and drive the retention of top talent.

What it can look like:

• Brainstorms with HR and/or Management

• Employee engagement annual/quarterly strategy

• Employee engagement program blueprints (your team executes but is given the plans/timelines/key partners to bring it to life)

Hire Them as a Guide and Collaborator

In this case, the consultant is brought in to work alongside the HR/management team to bring an idea to life. This may mean leaning on the consultant for specific areas of expertise or to help backfill in areas where teams are short-staffed. In this case, the consultant is a key participant in decision-making meetings and works closely with the HR/leadership team to bring the idea to life. Defining a clear outline of the scope and deliverables of each project stakeholder is key to ensuring everyone stays on the same page. This should be defined early and adjusted as needed with amendments to the project scope.

What it can look like:

• The consultant leads the project with input and support from the internal team

• A key project manager is assigned from the internal team and the consultant provides support based on a clearly defined scope

Hire Them To Free Up Your Internal Resources

Although having a strong corporate culture is a key indicator of a successful company, often the responsibility of activating employee events or gatherings falls outside of an employee’s job description. Planning internal events or activities takes a lot of time and effort to get off the ground and is often done in addition to other core job responsibilities. For HR and management teams it can be a big undertaking, particularly when they are responsible for critical tasks like recruitment. If your team has other priorities to attend to, hiring a consultant to manage the details of the program can be the best path forward. Given the number of decisions that need to be made to bring a program to life, weekly status meetings can work to keep project approvals rolling forward. This is more of the “set it and forget it” approach where major milestones are completed between status meetings and the internal team signs off on key decisions week by week.

What it can look like:

• The consultant manages the planning, development and implementation of the program and the HR/leadership team provides timely approvals

• The consultant organizes any outside vendors (i.e. caterers, talent, entertainment)

• The HR/leadership team get the benefit of an amazing program being brought to life without all the heavy lifting (literally)

Have Them Explore New Unchartered Brand Engagement Territory

Perhaps you are new to employer branding and are looking for ways to tell your brand story to your employees. You know you want to rally your teams behind the company but you are not sure the best way to do that. Bringing in a marketing and event specialist can help you map out your strategy and deploy it in a way that will be meaningful to your employees.

What it can look like:

• Briefing and evaluating where you are now and where you want to be

• Developing a roadmap for sharing your brand story

• Implementing the roadmap

Collaborate With Them To Create an Employee Experience That’s Unforgettable

You have a big event planned, one that will unite your organization. It is big, has lots of moving parts, and requires a team of specialists to pull off. Maybe it’s a large corporate announcement, an internal launch, or an annual celebration but, one thing is for sure, it needs to be impactful. You have a vision for it but you are just not sure where to start. That’s when you pull in the pros. Executing a large-scale event is an art and great employee engagement specialists have honed their craft over years and years of experience and key learnings. They know exactly what will work, what won’t work, and how to amplify your efforts

What it can look like:

• Plan ahead - big ideas are best executed with a longer lead time

• Onboard your external support team early as they will provide insights on how to make a good idea great

• Collaboration on all levels - each project stakeholder will need to pull together to bring this big idea to life

These are just five of the many different ways to approach an employee engagement partnership. No matter which approach you take, respectful communication is key. Clearly outlining the brief and the roles and responsibilities early can help ensure everyone stays on the same page and expectations are managed.

About KindCo

KindCo is a Vancouver-based brand engagement consultancy that specializes in employee engagement and corporate events. We bring people together through the art of gathering.

Founder, Nikki Hedstrom, has over 15 years experience as a brand engagement and event specialist.