Employee Engagement and Development within Shared Services

Introduction

The foundation of any Shared Services organization is its people. As leaders, it’s critical to create an environment that keeps them engaged through a combination of challenging assignments, coaching and mentoring, a career path ^[1], and well-designed compensation and incentive programs. 

In a recent Peeriosity Peercast^TM, representatives from a Peeriosity member company shared what they are doing to meet these challenges through specific programs recently rolled out within their organization.

Company Experience

The Peercast^TM featured a major consumer products company with over USD $50 billion in annual revenue and operations in over 200 countries.  Within their Shared Services organization, they have built an employee program strategy to foster employee engagement and development called Associate Enrichment.  Some of the programs that are part of Associate Enrichment include the following:

• Org Health – The foundation of all Associate Enrichment activities.  Leverage employee insight surveys to identify areas where improvement is needed. Partner across all planks to implement initiatives aimed at improving our culture and employee engagement.
• Team Building – Sponsor and conduct events/activities that promote employee engagement, interaction and connectedness across sites.
• Employee Resource Group (ERG) – Coordinate events across sites, as applicable.  Ensure org-wide communication/awareness/participation in local ERG community events.
• Rewards & Recognition – Create and lead programs that demonstrate in a tangible way appreciation for associates.
• Communications – Ensure all Associate Enrichment activities are communicated timely and build communications that promote the related work (i.e. refresh the website, internal social media-type of communications & engagement venues).
• Mentor/Mentee – Serve as the liaison between Associate Enrichment and the Mentorship Council to ensure initiatives remain aligned across the two groups.  Mentorship Council is a complement to the Associate Enrichment program.

Peeriosity members can access the specific details of how the featured company administers each of these employee programs, including the Peercast^TM recording and detailed presentation material, on the Peeriosity member website.

iPolling^TM Results Review

A recent poll developed in conjunction with this Peercast^TM using the iPolling^TM technology provides some insights regarding employee communication and engagement in a Shared Services environment.  The first of two poll questions addressed the effectiveness of companies in fostering a high level of employee engagement in Shared Services. Looking at the poll results, 25% of the companies indicated that their efforts are very effective and that they consider themselves as leaders in this area, while 33% said they are effective and are pleased with their level of employee engagement.  However, the remaining 42% said their efforts were only somewhat effective and, while they are on the right path, they need to continue to improve in this area.

The second poll question then addressed the issue of what companies find the most effective in fostering good communications and engagement among employees in Shared Services, with developing a culture of continuous improvement where ideas are valued as the most popular response (52%). 

Some of the comments related to this poll made by Peeriosity members include the following:

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech Member: Also important to help people understand the various career opportunities available to them for future growth and development.

Consumer Products & Services Member: We have a robust employee-led engagement and development program that includes team building, rewards, and recognition ^[2], communication strategies, employee surveys, mentoring forums, etc. It’s a well-rounded program that we believe is a best practice.

Manufacturing Member: I agree with the comment that an individual’s belief in growth opportunities is a primary driver for engagement. 

Consumer Products & Services Member: The career path and growth possibility are also very important in fostering a high level of employee engagement.

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech Member: Leadership is very focused on continuously improving engagement and building teamwork. All of the choices in the poll are in scope for us.

Consumer Products & Services Member: We openly celebrate ideas and learning (1-3min videos on internal social media sites), acknowledge via rewards and recognition, and encourage reapplication to foster continuous improvement and excitement. We are intentional in our career pathing to provide employee development with a breadth of experiences and depth of mastery in a specific area and skill development.

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech Member: A balance of all of the response options.

Agriculture & Mining Member: Working to change the culture of continuous improvement from being solely process improvement focused to a more holistic approach considering all aspects of employee and customer experience, as well as the process.

Healthcare, Pharmaceuticals, Biotech Member: Career development ^[3] and retention are key as well.

Energy & Utilities Member: Leadership is open to employees’ ideas. Having an environment welcoming an individual’s contribution to process improvements keeps an employee engaged and helps with building a strong team.

Closing Summary

The experience of our feature company is a great example of what Shared Services leaders ^[4] can achieve in the area of employee communication and engagement.  By making employee communication and engagement a priority, and by applying the necessary resources, great strides can be made fairly quickly in this critical area.

What is the status at your company regarding the level of engagement by Shared Services employees?  Is your current approach successful or is it time to take another look at this key aspect of your operation?

Who are your peers and how are you collaborating with them?

“Peercasts^TM” are private, professionally facilitated webcasts that feature leading member company experiences on specific topics as a catalyst for broader discussion.  Access is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from attending or accessing discussion content.  Members can see who is registered to attend in advance, with discussion recordings, supporting polls, and presentation materials online and available whenever convenient for the member.  Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, attendees can easily communicate at any time with other attending peers by selecting them from the list of registered attendees. 

“iPolling^TM” is available exclusively to Peeriosity member company employees, with consultants or vendors prohibited from participating or accessing content. Members have full visibility of all respondents and their comments. Using Peeriosity’s integrated email system, Peer Mail^TM, members can easily communicate at any time with others who participated in iPolling^TM.