CB Benefits believe ourselves to be the most comprehensive Benefits and Engagement partner in the industry. We are committed to ensuring your employees fully value the benefits you are providing, and we use a number of strategies to support you. Helping to tie your benefits and employee engagement together is something we enjoy. One useful tool we use to engage your employees is the Pareto Principle. When combined with an effective communication strategy, you’ll be on route to establishing a fantastic employee engagement and benefit package.
So before we show you how Vilfredo Pareto may just help you crack Employee Engagement, let’s paint you a picture of the 70 per cent of workforces that provide benefits in the UK.
If you want to be an Employer of choice, become part of the 30 per cent
You value your employees and you’re committed to making your workplace a happy and productive place to be. Budget permitting, you have implemented a solid employee benefits and engagement package, and you’re confident your employees value these as a recruitment and retention tool. You outline the benefits provided during the interview process, and you provide a Benefits Booklet to your new employees. You may even provide access to an online hub where employees can view their benefits. You throw in a couple of educational seminars over the course of the year and ‘hey presto.’ You’ve done your bit. Your employees are happy and content. — Or are they?
The above is a somewhat clinical description, but most likely not too far removed from the reality of how most companies operate in regards to their benefits and engagement. A recent study from the CIPD stated only 30 per cent of companies are communicating their benefits effectively. When benefits are not communicated in an engaging manner, they will not be valued or have their desired effect of helping to recruit and retain key employees.
Fortunately, Pareto offers a simple formula to help point you in the right direction.
What is the Pareto Principle?
Using the Pareto Principle, you will quickly understand how often you need to engage your employees to ensure you become an employer of choice. The Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) derived from its namesake, Vilfredo Pareto. Pareto discovered that a small number of events give rise to the majority of effects. As an economist, his initial observation was that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of individuals. Through countless research and studies that followed, it has been discovered that this 80/20 rule crosses over to a large number of areas. Specifically in regards to employee engagement, the Pareto principle is a highly effective formula because 20 per cent of decisions will lead to 80 per cent of happiness. Get this right and your employee retention will take a great leap forward.
Bringing the Pareto principle into the workplace
In life and work, individuals typically thrive on two things; Consistency and Variety. Let’s outline the two in a work setting:
- Consistency is the fundamental aspect of an employees’ week. Employees require a level of certainty in their day to day lives. Whilst there will be natural variation in their work, employees will want to know that most of their working days will run in a similar way.
- Variety is also important. Variety is the small caffeine hit that keeps employees engaged and excited. It gives employees an understanding and anticipation that not every day will be identical, and most importantly, it demonstrates to employees that you’re thinking of them. You value them. You are committed to helping them improve and develop both professionally and individually.
A 50 per cent split of the above would be an imbalance and for most would prove unsettling. Therefore, a good guide for a solid engagement platform is to provide the above in line with the Pareto Principle.
Excluding holidays and weekends, this broadly translates to companies engaging their employees 45 times a years (broadly once a week). This sounds a lot, but with the use of a number of ‘quick wins’ and a robust engagement calendar, this can be achieved with relative ease.
CB Benefits have created a sample with a few ways to keep your employees engaged.
For a free copy our sample Engagement Calendar , please click here.
Remember, to simplify the process, some engagement strategies can be repeated on a number of occasions over the course of a year.
At Bigmore Benefits, we help our clients create an Annual Engagement Calendar, to ensure companies maintain their engagement. Having an outsourced partner can provide a fantastic resource as we can provide much of the leg work and also act as an accountability partner to ensure you stay on track. Below is an example of an annual Engagement Calendar:
What value are you getting from your current Benefits Broker?
Our experience is that all too often, Employee Engagement gets placed at the bottom of the pile. This is not surprising. HR departments are pulled in all directions and whilst they fully understand the importance of Employee Engagement, often other business priorities take precedence.
In order to maximise your engagement strategy, there is a great advantage to having an outsourced partner to call upon for all of your Benefits and Engagement needs. We are not a typical broker. We are not really an Employee Benefit Consultant either, because both of these typically rely on a one off, passive or reactive service. We much prefer to refer to ourselves as a Benefits and Engagement partner. This is because we work closely with HR, proactively becoming an addition to your team.
Book a FREE Benefit and Engagement Proposal
If you would like to receive a free benefit and engagement proposal from us, please click here or contact us at support@bigmorebenefits.com or 01932 253939. There’s no obligation to use our services, and at the end of the process, you’ll be in possession of an insightful 20 page manual guiding you on how to get the most out of your Benefits and Engagement.
