Podcast: ‘Employee Engagement’ - written version

In this #ZigZagHR podcast, TriHD and OTA Insight discuss the various aspects of employee engagement. Listen & watch the podcast via the links below or read the transcribed version here.

1. Florence, what do you understand by employee engagement?

Florence: Employee engagement, to me, is a catch-all term describing the level of enthusiasm and dedication an employee feels for their work and the company.

For businesses, it's crystal clear by now that they benefit from having engaged and enthusiastic employees. Keeping a close eye on the level of enthusiasm and involvement yields a handsome ROI: improved retention, productivity, and customer satisfaction.

But how do you precisely achieve a high level of engagement? I believe this comes from a combination of several factors:

• Clearly communicating the company's vision and direction
• Providing an individual perspective and offering flexibility
• Ensuring good working relationships and conditions

In today's tight labor market, employee engagement is no longer just a 'nice to have' but a real 'need to have’. It would be a shame to put in significant efforts in recruitment on one hand, only to let employee engagement falter or even have employees leave the company on the other.

2. That indeed captures the essence of employee engagement comprehensively. Florence, what advantages does your extensive experience in HR strategy bring you when it comes to the topic of employee engagement?

Florence: My experience has mostly taught me the importance of not getting complacent as a company by assuming that you have everything in order. Coming from my legal background, that was more of the mindset after drafting and implementing a policy, but in the realm of HR, it doesn't work that way. You have to constantly monitor the solutions you implement. There's no such thing as a status quo. Employee Engagement is an ongoing process, just like all other HR domains.

3. Elise, a few months ago we had Peter De Moor, your Chief People Officer, on the podcast. It was a particularly fascinating episode about an equally fascinating company, OTA Insight, which develops software used by one in ten hotels worldwide. A rapidly growing scale-up. You're in charge of Talent Enablement. Where does the term 'Talent Enablement' come from and what does it entail?

Elise: Talent Enablement is a term that isn't widely spread yet, but it's gaining traction. At OTA Insight, we were fortunate to build the HR team from the ground up in our startup setting, hence the deliberate choice of the Talent Enablement approach.
In many organizations, HR tends to focus more on Talent Management: performance, evaluations, talent acquisition, and employment conditions. Talent Enablement is an extension of that. We emphasize aspects such as employee engagement, retention, growth, and feedback. So, you could say it's a more proactive approach. We concentrate more on empowering employees in their current roles, as well as for the future, within or beyond OTA Insight.

4. I would assume that the context of your companies, which is quite different, leads to very distinct challenges when it comes to employee engagement.

Florence, at TriHD, your consultants work at the clients rather than at the TriHD office. How do you ensure that they are connected and remain connected with TriHD?

Florence: In our context as a project consultancy company, we do ensure regular connection with our consultants in a series of manners. For instance, our TriHD consultants work at our office for at least 1 day per month. This fosters an organic connection with fellow consultants and our internal team.

Additionally, each consultant has numerous touchpoints with their career advisor - I'll delve deeper into this shortly. This is part of our comprehensive support for consultants during their Furthering or growth journey at TriHD.

Furthermore, we organize various activities to help our consultants stay in touch with their colleagues. This includes initiatives like after-work drinks and business updates. We also put our efforts into learning activities by and for our consultants. For example, we have a book club that meets bi-montly around a certain book. Two consultants read the book and share the takeaways with the other participants.

Another initiative is the Young Innovation Board: a group of employees meets quarterly with our CEO, Xavier Gabriëls, to brainstorm about tomorrow's challenges. This proves beneficial for both our organization and the employees who engage in it. I see this as a trend that more and more companies are adopting.

Elise, at OTA Insight, you operate globally, so remote collaboration is significant. What additional challenges does this pose for employee engagement?

Elise: We've never known it any other way; we've been an international company from the start. About 75% of our people can come to the office and are hybrid workers. The other 25% work fully remote, in various time zones. This demands a specific approach, for example when it comes to communication. We've noticed that some people underestimate the challenges of fully remote work. As a company, we try to support people as best we can and set up the necessary tools, but for some, it can lead to feelings of isolation. This is something we really need to address as a company. Opting for a remote-first strategy as a company requires a significant investment, not only from the HR team but also from the leadership.

From the perspective of talent enablement, this also presents a challenge: how do you ensure that people continue to develop in a remote context? At OTA Insight, we choose to bring people together physically once or twice a year for events such as learning days or summits on a specific topic. This ensures that people stay connected and regain a clear focus on the objectives for the upcoming months.

5. Florence, as you already mentioned, at TriHD, you have career advisors. Can you tell me more about their role?

Florence: The role of a career advisor at TriHD is to guide our employees throughout their careers, and also to inspire them. What we refer to as the ‘Furthering’ of our employees is key. Their individual growth. To facilitate this follow-up, we have established processes that involve both formal and informal discussions between the career advisor and the employee. These discussions are aimed at exploring how the employee can progress along their career path. Think of the career advisor as a co-driver. While we expect the employee to be in the driver's seat, the career advisor navigates them through the twists and turns of their career path, ensuring they reach their destination, which could be an intermediate milestone as career paths often involve multiple stages.

We also take into account the personal context in the progression of one's career. For instance, if an employee has recently become a parent or is undergoing home renovations, they may prefer to temporarily invest less time in career development.

All the information gathered by the career advisor in these discussions is also communicated to the Business Managers, who then match the right projects with the appropriate consultants. This ensures that each consultant is assigned projects that align with their skills, interests and ambitions.

Elise, what is your approach at OTA Insight?

Elise: At OTA Insight, we are working on fostering the growth of our employees in two ways. We have developed a Growth Framework that all employees can utilize in collaboration with their team leaders. This Growth Framework consists of a set of foundational competencies and specific skills linked to career progression within a role or transitioning to a different position. Furthermore, we provide training for leaders on how to engage in meaningful conversations with their team members.

Additionally, we are in the process of establishing an internal coaching framework for employees seeking guidance on determining their career direction or improving their work-life balance. Therefore, we are training one of our own employees as a coach so that we can offer individual tracks.

6. How have you seen the drivers for Employee Engagement change in the last 3-5 years?

Florence: I believe that the successive crises of recent years have acted as an accelerator, making it clear that we cannot have control over everything.

This confrontation has, on one hand, fostered a desire for certainty where it can be provided. This manifests in the connection between the employee and the company. Employees now seek a deeper understanding of the purpose, and at an individual level, they are interested in exploring development opportunities.

Additionally, there is the economic aspect to consider. Labor shortages, a high job vacancy rate, and a candidate-driven market mean that retention has become the new focus, rather than just recruitment. And how can one ensure high retention rates? By prioritizing employee engagement.

Elise: Due to the COVID-19 crisis, employees now seek much more flexibility. Work and personal life have become much more intertwined. As a company, it is crucial to address this and provide more guidance to employees in finding the right balance between maintaining connection on one hand and working remotely on the other.

Do you see any differences by age or generation?

Florence: There are certainly differences, particularly with Generation Z explicitly advocating for setting boundaries in the context of a healthier work environment. However, we must be cautious about framing certain generations. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the 'new' generation might be more inclined to vocalize certain issues, from which other generations can also benefit.

7. I constantly hear that salary is never the decisive factor when choosing a company, but purpose is. However, I don't always see this reflected equally in the choices people make today. In my opinion, salary is still very important. How do you view this? Are we overestimating the value of purpose?

Elise: Purpose is what attracts people and plays a significant role in retention. However, on the other hand, there is the economic situation, which makes salary equally important. Salary remains a fundamental requirement. A salary that aligns with one's experience and responsibilities is necessary to create a certain level of comfort, enabling individuals to contribute to the purpose of a company.

Within OTA Insight, this may become even more apparent in the context of the acquisitions we undertake. We place a strong emphasis on cultural fit and the drivers behind purpose and engagement in the acquired company. We then continue working on these aspects throughout the integration process.

Both purpose and the salary component undoubtedly go hand in hand.

Florence: I also believe that one should not come at the expense of the other. It is crucial for a company to ensure that the salary package is fair. If a company has a strong purpose but underpays its employees, it will eventually bear the consequences.

What constitutes a fair salary package? Fair compared to a benchmark, but also and particularly in terms of how it is perceived internally. This aspect is sometimes significantly underestimated.

8. How do you measure engagement?

Florence: We measure engagement on two levels. On one hand, there is the qualitative aspect, which is assessed amongst others through the regular formal and informal interactions with our career advisors. However, this qualitative aspect alone is not sufficient, as quantitative data is also necessary.

At TriHD, we conduct an annual TESI survey (Team Emotional and Social Intelligence) that aligns with our purpose of 'Furthering people for better performance in Do-How.' This survey allows us to monitor internal trends over the years. An essential aspect of this monitoring cycle is the communication of the results and the associated action points.

Elise: "Providing feedback on those results and taking action based on them is indeed very important. We approach qualitative feedback in a similar manner, utilizing HR Business Partners, team leads, informal conversations, and more. For the quantitative aspect, we have a slightly different approach using a quarterly pulse survey with 2 questions. One is the classic eNPS score, supplemented with another variable question. This allows us to assess at the team level whether action is necessary and develop a tailored approach. We choose to conduct a limited survey organization-wide and then proceed qualitatively on a team level where needed. Leadership plays a crucial role in this, alongside our HR team."

9. What is the role of the manager when it comes to engagement? We often come across the quote 'People don't leave companies, they leave bosses.'

Florence: "It is important to involve the leadership in the initiatives developed by HR. If there are managers who act in ways that contradict the company's purpose, it significantly undermines the company's narrative."

Elise: "Hence the importance of investing in your leadership as a company. If you aim to create a motivating environment for your team members, we follow the ABC principle. Can people work Autonomously, is there a sense of Belonging, and are we developing the necessary Competencies within the team? In HR, we strive to support each of these aspects."