By Murray L. Harber
Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company has adopted a mission of improving employee engagement as part of its strategic vision for 2022. SFBLIC has a long history of providing a healthy and supportive workplace for its employees, agents, and business partners. In fact, they have been awarded Mississippi’s Healthiest Workplace for several years running. They have moved from a wellness approach to an overall wellbeing strategy to coincide with its engagement metric.
Employee engagement is a key lever to any business/organizational performance. It has been defined as the emotional commitment of the employee to its employer and the goals of the organization. Research shows that when employees are not engaged their quality and quantity of work is reduced. Companies all across the globe have been working to improve employee engagement as employees are the key to making a business operate. As HR Professionals, employee engagement has been our business or a long time where in the past we have been seen as the “police” of the organization, however the tide is turning towards facilitating talent development of individuals and teams.
The Gallup Experience
The strategic visioning team at SFBLI selected the Gallup organization’s approach to employee engagement. Various SFBLI team members attended Gallup training and workshops to learn more about the evaluation process and training systems. SFBLI launched the initiative in 2017 where they began with employee surveys which reflected an overall engagement score of 55% compared to the national average of 33%. They set a goal of reaching 65% engagement by 2022. At the end of 2018, the survey results reflected an improvement to 74% where the national average was 34%, a drastic improvement. The aim now is to sustain and/or continue these improvements.
The Gallup survey includes twelve questions which measures a variety of employees views of supervisor and organizational supports, recognition and growth opportunities, along with their commitment to the organizational mission. The Gallup organization has many resources for employers and organization who strive to learn more and improve the employee engagement and wellbeing of their workforce.
Talent Development and Management
Employee training and development has been a cornerstone in SFBLIC’s efforts to build and evolve their workforce and improve operational efficiencies. They have a culture which supports learning at all levels of the organization. Training supervisors and managers on how to promote and support employees health and wellbeing has been successful and this approach was expanded to employee engagement. Management can be either a barrier or facilitator in creating a supportive workplace climate and culture. The connection of work productivity and satisfaction is linked to the relationship an employee has with their supervisor which is why more employers are moving toward employee engagement efforts.
At the core of the Gallup process is identifying and training on an strength-based approach for employees, managers, and culture. SFBLIC has given tools and empowered its supervisors and managers to improve their own team scores by understanding the various strengths of their team members and finding opportunities for improvement. These efforts has helped with personal performance and team cohesion throughout the organization. The culture continues to evolve in a positive direction especially with the addition of the younger generation with the older generations where work styles and expectations often conflict in the workplace.
“Our efforts in employee engagement has shown improvement with our efforts in improving engagement and performance at all levels. We have integrated our approach over the past few years where we have a coordinated effort in internal communication, events & activities, and resources at SFBLIC. Our approach has been focused on training employees, superiors, managers, and leaders of the company on the importance and value of being engaged at work and how it carries over into our non-work life. An employee who is truly engaged in and committed to their work on a daily basis creates an awesome culture where everyone feels valued and appreciated for the work they are doing.”
Matt Ginn, Manager, Corporate Communications, Training, and Health Promotion
Human Capital
The Human Resources team has worked to build incentives in many areas to engage and support the human capital within the organization. Historically, they have provided a great compensation package including salary, benefits, and years of service rewards. SFBLIC also offers a variety of internal supports including a subsidized onsite cafeteria, a free onsite clinic for health plan participants, and a LifeFit room which offers onsite fitness opportunities. SFBLIC health plan participants also have access to a voluntary health plan premium reduction offering for completing a series of steps. They are working to maximize their human capital by leveraging their onsite resources, sustaining a learning community, and supporting with team engagement budgets.
Attracting, engaging, developing, and retaining employees has and is a focus for SFBLIC. The employee engagement efforts build trust, efficiency of work which optimizes the performance of the workforce. Last year they created a new engagement policy and budget for departments which includes a $150 per person per year allocation. These funds can be used for a variety of activities including team meals, celebrations, flowers, gifts, and team building events. For example, some departments have attended team building events at a local cooking school which allows team members to work together in creating a variety of food items. Other departments take their teams to lunch at local restaurants or bring in catering for team celebrations.
“Employee engagement is an area which we are focused as part of our overall Human Capitol strategy. We want our employees engaged as it makes for a healthier, happier, and long-term stable workforce.”
Joyce Plunkett, Vice President, Human Resources
Employee engagement is a term often thrown around, but SFBLIC is applying all the necessary components to maximize engagement of its human capitol. HR Professionals should learn from them and other great employer examples on how to implement with their own workforce.
