How To Develop an Employee Engagement Plan: Examples + 7 Steps
When engagement falls, so does everything else—productivity, morale, and retention. Teams with low engagement see 78% more absenteeism and 51% higher turnover. A focused engagement plan gives you the structure to help people work, connect, and stay.
Organizations often invest time and money in employee engagement plans without understanding their strategic implications. For instance, implementing trendy employee engagement activities without knowing whether the activities will genuinely resonate with the workers. Good intentions alone don’t drive engagement, you need a clear, actionable plan to make a real impact.
Contents
What is an employee engagement plan?
Key components of an employee engagement plan
Why create and implement an employee engagement plan?
Employee engagement action plan examples
How to create an employee engagement plan
What is an employee engagement plan?
An employee engagement plan is an intentional roadmap to improving how employees feel about their work, their team, and the organization. It defines and prioritizes actions that will strengthen employees’ emotional connection to their work and foster job satisfaction, motivation, and commitment. This involves recognizing the key drivers of employee engagement, identifying employees’ pain points, and creating targeted initiatives to address them. These can be fast and easy employee engagement improvements or long-term programs.
Even though employee engagement is receiving increased attention, many workers are still disengaged. This can stem from a variety of causes, including little respect from superiors, poor company communication, and a lack of alignment with the company’s mission. According to a Gallup survey, employee engagement has fallen to a ten-year low. Only 31% of U.S. employees said they were engaged at work.
Since engaged employees contribute to long-term employee retention, higher productivity levels, and increased job efficiency, it’s clear that company leaders need to start seeing employee engagement as a strategic business goal. An employee engagement action plan demonstrates an employer’s commitment to being an organization where employees can thrive.
Key components of an employee engagement plan
An employee engagement plan needs structure to make a real impact. A clear framework helps focus efforts, align stakeholders, and turn ideas into actions that actually matter to employees.
Here’s an overview of key sections of an effective employee engagement plan:
1. Problem description
This is the issue(s) that the plan will address. For example, “Survey results reveal that employees don’t have a clear grasp on how organizational decisions are made because they feel excluded from crucial updates.”
2. Clear objectives and goals
Areas of focus and measurable goals to address the identified issue(s) are the heart of an employee engagement plan. It must state what the aim is and how it will be carried out. This includes explaining what the proposed initiatives and programs are and how they tie into the organization’s objectives and culture.
3. Communication strategy
Employees must be fully aware of and drawn into the plan’s ideas and activities by understanding how it addresses their concerns and will create positive change. Therefore, the plan should detail how regular, transparent communication will take place. For instance, using multiple channels (i.e., emails, team meetings, digital platforms) to ensure employees are informed about the goals, expectations, and feedback mechanisms.
4. Stakeholders and responsibilities
A plan can’t execute itself. Stakeholders must champion it and take responsibility for the necessary actions. This requires assigning projects to people or departments who will take ownership of each initiative and setting deadlines for them. HR will often be the main sponsor of employee engagement action plans, but managers, senior leaders, technology experts, and other teams can also spearhead efforts.
5. Timeline and milestones
A timeframe for carrying out the employee engagement plan keeps it on track and holds stakeholders accountable. It’s helpful to break it down into short-term and long-term targets. Here’s a simplified example:
- 0–3 months: Launch pilot program
- 3–6 months: Spread awareness through communication channels
- 6–12 months: Company-wide participation.
Some employee engagement plan action items can be accomplished in weeks, while others can take months or even years. For longer-term campaigns, the timeline should include review periods and designated landmark accomplishments.
6. Tools and resources
Carrying out an employee engagement plan takes resources—both time and budget. These should be built into the plan from the start. That includes identifying how you’ll support and fund areas such as:
- Engagement survey tools and analytics platforms
- Internal communication tools and channels
- Time allocation for managers and HR teams
- Events and activities.
7. Success metrics
The point of an employee engagement plan is to deliver meaningful results, so it must quantify what success looks like. Surveys, stay interviews, and exit interviews can measure engagement factors. In addition, certain metrics can reflect the impact of the employee engagement plan, such as:
- Employee Net Promoter Score
- Absenteeism and turnover rates
- Revenue per employee
- Employee participation rates in initiatives.
Improving engagement is about connecting the dots between what employees need and what the business demands. That’s where a strategic HR approach makes all the difference.
AIHR’s Full Academy Access equips you with the strategic, business-focused skills to drive real organizational impact through effective HR strategies. Gain the skills to create meaningful change where it matters most—your people.
Why create and implement an employee engagement plan?
Having a purposeful plan for employee engagement compels organizations to focus on developing employees’ emotional commitment to the organization.
This results in the following benefits:
Improving employee experience
Employees are the foundation of your business; without them, you won’t succeed. An employee engagement plan addresses factors that enhance employee satisfaction and improve the employee experience. A positive employee experience and high employee engagement foster a better work-life for employees. They feel more dedicated to the organization, which translates into increased employee retention and decreased recruitment costs.
Enhancing customer satisfaction
Employee engagement has a ripple effect on customer experience. In fact, employees at companies with excellent customer experience are 1.5x more engaged than their competitors.
Employees who feel synergy with their employer take greater individual ownership of the company’s product or service. Therefore, they are more inclined to be attentive, build relationships with customers, and offer more thorough, personalized service.
Creating a high-performance culture
An employee engagement plan contributes to increased performance and, eventually, improves business results and profit margins. Engaged employees feel a stronger commitment to the organization because they realize that their efforts make a difference. They take pride in their work and focus on what they can do to help the company succeed.
When this mindset is shared across teams, it shapes the culture: one where people are motivated, aligned with company goals, and consistently go beyond the minimum. Over time, this becomes the standard, not the exception, building the foundation for a high-performance culture that drives sustainable results.
Boosting shareholders’ value
Employees who are invested in their jobs bring more to the organization. High-engagement businesses benefit from increased sales, lower absenteeism, fewer staff shortages, better safety, higher efficiency, more innovation, and lower operating costs.
According to Gallup research, teams with high employee engagement rates are 23% more profitable than those with low engagement. All of this leads to a higher return on investment for shareholders.
Getting known as the “employer of choice” in your business
A positive reputation goes a long way in recruiting top talent. Engaged employees become brand ambassadors who enrich their organization’s public image. According to Dr. Wayne Cascio, author of Investing in People: Financial Impact of Human Resource Initiatives (FT Press), companies that make Fortune magazine’s annual “Top 100 Places to Work” list receive twice as many applications as firms that do not make the list.
Being an employer of choice means you get to select from a higher-caliber talent pool compared to your competitors. Planning a great employee engagement strategy is the first step toward becoming a sought-after employer and reaping the advantages that come with it.
Employee engagement action plan examples
Let’s look at how companies handle real-world employee engagement challenges. These two examples showcase the difference an employee engagement plan can make:
Example 1: Boskalis
Boskalis, a Dutch dredging and heavy-lift company in the maritime industry, had traditionally conducted decentralized employee surveys. Because the surveys were segmented into certain business units, they didn’t provide a full picture of employee sentiment across the company.
HR decided to roll out a company-wide employee survey that included a first-time focus on diversity and inclusion. The results gave them a clearer view of where employees saw gaps and what needed attention. Based on this feedback, the HR team developed an engagement action plan that prioritized inclusion and belonging.
As part of the plan, they formed a group of employees from various areas of the organization to provide input. They also held workshops and training on confronting conscious and unconscious biases and developing cultural understanding.
The result was a targeted, collaborative approach that addressed employee concerns and strengthened engagement across the organization.
Example 2: A large manufacturing company
A U.S. manufacturing company was hiring an average of 39 new employees each week, mostly to backfill roles left vacant by constant turnover. This negatively impacted the workplace culture and was a drain on production levels. The company desperately needed to decrease employee turnover.
It teamed up with a staffing consulting company to create a plan for improving employee engagement. They devised a strategy that included techniques such as:
- Detailed materials and personalized communication for onboarding
- Check-ins and support for all new employees
- Exit interviews
- Employee focus groups
- Employee recognition campaigns.
As a result of investing in a structured employee engagement plan, the company experienced a 40% decrease in employee turnover.
How to create an employee engagement plan
Developing an effective employee engagement strategy plan requires forethought and some groundwork. We recommend you factor the following seven steps into the process:
Step 1: Determine your company’s purpose
Before you start on the mechanics of an employee engagement plan, be sure you can articulate what your organization’s purpose and values are. These should be incorporated into the plan because employees who feel connected to the organization’s ideals and priorities become more immersed in their jobs. Employees must be inspired by and able to quickly express what the organization intends to do and what it stands for.
To begin, write down your company’s mission, principles, short- and long-term objectives, as well as what your company is doing to strengthen its brand positioning. Why was the company founded, and what values does it serve to customers, vendors, and local communities? What traits do you look for in your employees?
For instance, the American online shoe and clothing retailer Zappos aims to provide exceptional customer service, which they refer to as “wowing” their customers. This is a core part of their company culture and what the company wants to be known for. Therefore, Zappos wants to instill it in all its employees.
Step 2: Conduct an employee engagement survey and examine the findings
To build an effective action plan, you must understand your audience. Find out what your workforce is looking for by administering an employee engagement survey and analyzing the results. Then, you can determine your company’s strengths, weaknesses, and areas for growth. Learning what drives employee engagement will reveal some underlying issues and, most importantly, what is working and what isn’t.
The following factors are critical considerations because of their powerful effect on employee engagement:
- Learning and growth opportunities
- Promotion procedures
- Parental leave policy
- Health insurance
- Communication norms
- Frequency and type of employee rewards and recognition
- Meaningful work
- Hands-on management
- Supportive work atmosphere.
Pay special attention to the qualitative employee feedback you get, as well as the scores. Take note of any recurring themes or trends in the categories of questions. Encourage managers to meet with their teams to discuss the findings. You can also get more insights into the workforce’s engagement through manager feedback, focus groups, and company get-togethers.
Step 3: Establish what you want to change
You must determine where you want to concentrate your efforts. Review the data and make a list of the main priority areas to take a closer look at. Begin with two to three focus points. These focus points can serve as a springboard for creating actionable takeaways.
Consider:
- Which points from the survey have the biggest effect on employee engagement?
- What were the places where we scored the lowest?
- Which outcomes would we be able to improve with a few minor tweaks?
For example, your employee engagement survey results might show that your employees don’t feel appreciated and recognized. That’s why they are not motivated to provide stellar customer service. You’d want to change this and start showing employees more appreciation and recognition for their hard work.
Step 4: Brainstorm solutions
With the desired outcomes in mind, you can start gathering input. Assemble a team to discuss the issues and propose employee engagement ideas. This team might include HR professionals, department managers, team leads, and even a mix of employees from different levels and functions. Involving people from across the organization helps capture diverse perspectives and makes it more likely that the ideas will resonate with a broader group.
Find ways to encourage an innovative and open dialogue, maybe through applying design thinking concepts. This allows teams to question assumptions, consider different points of view, and reframe challenges as opportunities.
Review the input and begin brainstorming tactics for enhancing each focus area. Make a list of as many ideas as you can, then discuss which ones the teams find the most impactful. Strive to gain a deeper understanding of how a particular program aligns with your organization’s priorities and needs. Be sure to identify potential obstacles to resolving the problems you’ve identified and prepare to confront them.
In our example, the employee engagement plan focus would be on formalizing employee appreciation. You’d need to define the characteristics of a rewards and recognition program. What kind of behaviors will be rewarded? When and what kind of rewards will be offered and how often? Furthermore, how does this all relate to the organization’s goals?
It’s also essential to have an estimate of costs (including hidden costs) to prevent overspending or a negative ROI.
Step 5: Take action and assign accountability
Now that you’ve established your top options, convert the employee engagement plan into distinctive actions and assign who will oversee them. The team should know who is responsible for specific activities, timelines for monitoring progress, success metrics, and deadlines.
This vital step in the process will have a long-term effect on engagement and keep team members accountable. By clearly outlining what will be done and who’s responsible for the outcomes, you’ll avoid the possibility of the strategy falling through the cracks. Most people lose interest or become distracted by other goals during the year if they do not consistently commit, take ownership, and hold themselves accountable.
Setting SMART goals for your employee engagement plan and what it ultimately aims to do helps you track progress and results. Let’s have a look at an example:
A company is receiving multiple customer complaints concerning undesirable interactions with customer service employees. David, an HR manager, is tasked with addressing this problem. His solution is to develop and implement an employee recognition program that will encourage employees to provide better customer service.
What could a SMART goal look like in this scenario?
- Specific: Implement an employee recognition program aimed at encouraging customer service staff to deliver more positive customer interactions.
- Measurable: Increase the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) by 10% over baseline within 6 months.
- Achievable: Leverage an internal recognition platform to highlight positive customer feedback and reward exemplary service weekly.
- Relevant: Improved recognition is expected to boost morale and motivation among service staff, which directly impacts customer experience.
- Timely: Launch the program by the end of Q2, with results to be evaluated after 6 months.
Step 6: Improve the core element of employee engagement – communication
Transparent communication is key to the success of any employee engagement campaign. Once your employee engagement plan is ready to roll out, communicate the different aspects of it to your workforce clearly and concisely.
In our example of an employee recognition program, this would involve explaining how it works, what it offers, and what outcome it will achieve. Another way to stir up interest and participation is to get senior managers to promote and encourage the program to employees.
Strong overall communication within the organization is a compelling driver of employee engagement that should never be overlooked. Ways to enhance internal communication include:
- Facilitating peer-to-peer and peer-to-management contact
- Increasing the number of opportunities for managers and their staff to work together and set priorities
- Scheduling presentations by both managers and non-managers on company news or interesting topics
- Developing employees to be brand ambassadors who communicate the company’s mission, ideals, and messages to their coworkers, allowing them to connect their work to the broader context.
Step 7: Evaluate the outcomes of the initiatives regularly
Once you’ve put the engagement plan into effect, keep a close eye on how your staff adapts to these changes. Communicate with employees regularly to gather feedback and make any required adjustments quickly and efficiently.
It is essential to evaluate the engagement action plan’s effectiveness against defined performance metrics regularly (once a month or every six months, for example). Measure turnover metrics, Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), employee attendance metrics, and in-house engagement survey results to see how effective these facets of the strategy are at increasing engagement.
Regularly revisit your program, evolve, and adapt according to the results and new requirements.
Over to you
Nurturing employee engagement is vital to your organization’s long-term success. Developing and executing a strategic employee engagement plan requires significant effort and resources. However, when done right, employee performance, satisfaction, and happiness improve.
Whether you’re implementing a new learning and development initiative, a rewards and recognition program, or another employee engagement solution, make sure you understand its objectives, purpose, priorities, desired outcomes, and how it advances your organization’s goals. This will help you establish an employee engagement plan that galvanizes motivation and long-term success.
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