- by Version 1
Does your business have a Staff Engagement team? At Version 1 Belfast, the Staff Engagement team has helped retain its 130 staff during the Covid-19 crisis.
Version 1 Belfast employs more than 130 staff and has operated a Staff Engagement team for over five years.
The team is composed of chairpersons from sub-teams that focus on areas such as Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging, Health and Wellbeing, Community First, and Rewards & Recognition, with Buzz Managers allocated for some of the larger teams.
Over 30% of the total staff are now engaged in one or more of the teams, and the results have been impressive. Staff engagement scores have increased from 72% in 2015 to over 90% this year, and our staff retention rate is now one of the highest in the Northern Ireland IT marketplace.
How important it is to have a staff engagement team in a company?
Version 1 agrees with the concept of encouraging and supporting our engagement team because we believe that staff engagement describes employees who are committed to their work and the goals and values of their company. Engaged employees show up not just because they are paid to but because they are invested in the company, and they work for the company both emotionally and productively.
Organisations with high engagement reduce both staff turnover and hiring costs, and employees who are disengaged can be a major contributing factor to high general employee turnover. Engaging employees is critical for retaining valuable talent and is an important piece of the employee satisfaction puzzle. It forms an important part of the Version 1 triangle of success, playing a pivotal role in maintaining our Strength in Balance.
With a world that has been rapidly changing this year, it’s more important than ever to have a workplace that includes a positive work environment, excellent communication, and a well-managed work-life balance.
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“Most companies often only think about how to build good relationships with their customers, but to build these relationships with our employees is important too. I think the way we communicate with our employees does not have to be static. Focusing on engagement helps our employees to increase productivity, development, community and strengthen retention. As part of the Version 1 engagement team, I truly believe, if a company you work for cares about you, it is going to create a more enjoyable environment. In consideration of that, your energy and happiness will be transformed into results.’’ Fernanda Valeiro Soares- NI Operations Co-ordinator |
How has staff engagement changed since Covid19?
Covid-19 has changed just about everything in business, including employee engagement. The major challenge for the engagement team at Version 1 NI has been to adapt the effort and creativity in communicating and demonstrating values online. We’ve strived in this period to make our employees feel engaged and together even while we are kept physically apart.
Covid19 restrictions have made it necessary for us to be apart at the moment, but we strongly believe this crisis has shown us that we can be just as strong as ever because we are in it together. We’ve been helping each other as much as we can online and have seen a lot of success so far, with a recent Staff Engagement survey showing our Trust score in NI of 91% and an Engagement score of 92%.
The uncertainty surrounding COVID has been quite stressful, and sometimes it’s understandable for staff to feel fed up with phone calls and meetings every day. The engagement team at Version 1 has been working hard to counteract this by bringing fun and creative events for the purpose of gathering our employees online and providing them with a relaxing and enjoyable time.
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‘’Version 1 have a strong and clear core values with evidence of trust and fairness with is based on mutual respect. We are grateful that Version 1 allow and cater for the level of engagement that we have achieved and we are very proud be of the Version 1 Family, as LEO (Local Engagement Officer) for the engagement in Belfast I’m luck to work with the people in the engagement team who work hard in their spare time to make everyone feel included.’’ Ciara Havlin- Software Developer - LEO |
Moving engagement events online
The fact that events have had to move online has changed our perspective on how to catch our employees’ attention. We have found that it can be difficult to get feedback during the events as we can’t see everyone, some people feel embarrassed to share their video, and only one person can talk at a time.
The staff engagement team has been working to overcome these challenges and adapt to help everyone feel as comfortable as possible on our events. We have created a WhatsApp group for the Version 1 NI office where we can all chat, share pictures, post ideas, discuss current events, or even ask for assistance. We have also set up a 30-minute virtual kitchen that runs once a week on MS Teams so that employees can enjoy a coffee and have an informal chat.
We are now working with external companies that provide innovative events during Covid19, such as our very successful online cocktail mixology class that managed to attract more than 60% employee attendance. We also expect over 80% of the staff will be attending our online Christmas party this year.
(Above: Version 1 ran a cocktail mixology master class for staff)
In October we hosted our Empowered People day, which allows various teams to present to their peers on what they are doing within their teams and helps new staff to meet people outside their immediate teams. This year we have almost doubled in size with over 40 new starters so far, so this event was a great way for our new team members to get to know the wider Version 1 NI family and to learn a little more about what we do.
We have had many successful events across a diverse range of topic, such as the successful “Care, Share, and Inspired’’ hosted by our own Version 1 NI Women in Tech group saw some inspirational Version 1 ladies share their career path within the IT industry. We have also shared culture via our ‘’Virtual Culture Cook Off’’ challenge where entrants shared recipes inspired by their culture with the whole Team.
(Above: The "Care, Share, and Inspired" event hosted by Version 1 NI's Women in Tech group)
Employee engagement makes a difference
We believe that employee engagement is about positive attitudes and behaviours, and about feeling pride and loyalty in working for our organisation. Employee engagement is about being included fully as a member of the team, focused, trusted, empowered, thanked, and praised. It’s about receiving regular and constructive feedback, being recognised for achievement and drawing on our employees’ knowledge and ideas, leading to improved business outcomes in a way that they trigger and reinforce one another.
"The engagement team in Belfast have set a fantastic standard for engagement and communications, not just for current employees but for new joiners to the team. The engagement team have put in a huge amount of effort to make sure new joiners are made to feel part of the team from day 1, particularly as we continue to work from home.
"Even with the impact of Covid-19, the team have excelled in continuing to deliver fun and creative digital events for their team to get involved with and are continuously called out by other teams and our senior management team for their excellent engagement strategy. I know I, for one, look for their ideas when rolling out some of our company-wide engagement events!"
- Amanda Kelly, Employee Engagement Partner at Version 1.
