Employee engagement refers to your workers’ emotional connections to the goals of your company. High team member engagement is often linked to strong employee retention, while a lack of engagement results in workers feeling less satisfied and invested. It also means that you may not get as many unique contributions from your staff and will likely suffer from costly turnover. But in order to know how to achieve high engagement, you need to know what that looks like. Continue reading to discover three stellar examples of employee engagement in companies.
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Examples of Employee Engagement in Companies
1. Taco Bell
One of the best employee engagement examples is Taco Bell’s Start With Us, Stay With Us program. First launched in 2016, the platform highlights Taco Bell’s genuine commitment to their workers. Their employee-first attitude recognizes the realistic needs of staff such as tuition reimbursement, scholarship opportunities, and growth within the company itself.
Frank Tucker, Chief People Officer at Taco Bell, understands that many people get their first job at a restaurant: “Whether they want to start with us for a year or stay with us for life, we feel it’s our responsibility to make sure we’re offering benefits and programs that create innovators and leaders for our communities inside and out of our restaurants.”
Even when workers decide to leave the taco chain, Taco Bell ensures they have learned valuable skills that will help them with future endeavors.. The company hopes Start With Us, Stay With Us will motivate their workers to advocate for the Taco Bell brand and increase loyalty.
2. Chick-Fil-A
Chick-fil-A has a unique set of employee engagement ideas because of the way it empowers its franchise owners. Most franchise companies regulate their brand in a top-down manner. However, Chick-fil-A gives franchise owners the freedom to implement their own set of standard operating procedures. Rather than saying “this is how we do it,” Chick-fil-A owners are given a chance to customize how they think things should be done based on their location, team, and customers.
Franchisees are in charge of everything from the hiring of workers to providing employee benefits. They also have excellent training models in place. This strategy helps employees feel less overwhelmed by customer demands and more enthusiastic about their work. Additionally, Chick-fil-A refuses to let individual franchisees treat each other as competitors. The fast food restaurant will even fly representatives from successful stores to struggling ones so that the hard-hit stores can learn from them.
3. Buffalo Wild Wings
When it comes to understanding team member engagement, communication is key. For example, Buffalo Wild Wings responded to high employee turnover with surveys to understand the experiences of their workers. The restaurant then used this feedback to determine how they could improve their employee engagement strategies. Staff who truly believe employers listen to their concerns are more likely to have a positive experience working with the company.
At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, Buffalo Wild Wings implemented Brand Champ. This employee engagement program was designed to teach employees the “how” behind the brand and equip them with background brand knowledge to succeed while performing daily operations. Additionally, Buffalo Wild Wings launched “What’s Hot at B-Dubs,” a virtual employee engagement program featuring inspirational guest speakers. The goal of both programs is to help employees understand why and how their work matters.
Go Beyond Employee Engagement Examples
Now that you’ve read these employee engagement examples, you’re ready to start improving your own strategies. Whether you’re a restaurant owner or hotelier, that starts with hiring the right people for your business. Luckily, Sprockets’ AI-powered platform reveals what character traits make your top performers so successful. Our Applicant Matching System then identifies which potential hires share these same characteristics. Essentially, it’s like replicating your best employees. Plus, Sprockets’ hiring solution is proven to boost employee retention by an average of 43%.