7 Employee Engagement Tips From The Happiest Organizations

HR leaders of 2022 carry a huge responsibility of engaging their workforce between burnout, "the great resignation", "quiet quitting", and much more. Because employee engagement is such a huge feat, we like to recognize our TINYpulse customers that are succeeding in this area. Although investing in TINYpulse, in general, is something to be proud of, these organizations are implementing engagement initiatives and seeing exceptional impacts. 

The TINYawards are an annual TINYpulse tradition to acknowledge our customers that are excelling in building a culture of engagement and appreciation. Every year we celebrate the happiest, most engaging, and most dynamic TINYpulse companies around the globe during the TINYawards ceremony at TINYcon.

Our winners are determined by data experts using TINYpulse statistics from 2021-2022. Out of 800+ TINYpulse customers, we narrowed down the top three companies exceeding in the following categories: 

• Raising the Bar - Organizations with the greatest yearly Happiness Score improvement in 2022 
• Employee Recognition - Organizations with the highest Cheers for Peers per capita in 2022 
• Company Wins - Organizations that celebrated the highest number of Wins per capita in 2022 
• Employee Engagement - Organizations with the highest improvement in Engagement Index from 2021 to 2022  
• Engagement Strategy - Organizations with the highest % of theme-based survey questions relating to Engagement Survey categories 

Building a thriving culture in 2022 has been no easy task. With so many unprecedented challenges for HR leaders to overcome, like engaging remote workers, burnout, and the pandemic aftermath, it’s now more important than ever to focus on what is working for organizations.  

We asked our TINYaward winners to share their top tips on how to accomplish a successful, engaged workforce despite all the chaos. Check out what they had to say. 

Advice from companies with some of the happiest employees on the planet: 

1. Consistently Pulse-check your employees and provide answers to questions in a timely and genuine manner. 
2. Listen! Listen openly without expectation or prejudice. 
3. Go back to your “people-first” roots. 
4. Don’t quit! Find something that works and then use feedback on it to guide your next initiatives. 
5. Focus on the benefits of feedback for self-development. 
6. Create an active feedback culture. 
7. Keep everyone connected.

Consistently Pulse-check your employees and provide answers to questions in a timely and genuine manner. 

"During the height of the pandemic, we started bimonthly all-hands Zoom huddles and began to use the surveys for feedback and culture pulse-checks. We'd share the survey results next call and let that guide what topics to cover, from financials, and marketing strategy, to new software training.

TINYpulse surveys enhanced these meetings by facilitating honest anonymous insight, allowing management to provide answers to questions in a timely and genuine manner. The productive feedback loop has been invaluable for all of us across Burnham, provided additional stability in uncertain times, and we’re invested to continue with TINYpulse!"

-  Lindsay Fleener, Captain of Culture, Burnham Nationwide Inc. - 2022 winner: Employee Engagement 

Listen! Listen openly without expectation or prejudice. 

"First and foremost – Listen. Try to find what motivates your team and recognize that it might not be consistent across the board. I also believe it is vital to ask questions and then either act or, at the very least, acknowledge the responses you get. Nothing is worse than when someone asks for your opinion and completely ignores your response. TINYpulse is an excellent tool for this because you can customize the questions you are asking your team and create a safe space for everyone to share and offer insight. Our organization often uses the responses from TINYpulse as a jumping-off point when planning and instituting change in our organization. When teams feel heard, they are far more engaged than when treated like a faceless worker bee." 

- Kimberly Doig, Accounting Manager, Splice Software – 2022 winner: Raising the Bar 

Go back to your “people-first” roots. 

"The biggest challenge we have had to overcome this year is adjusting to the changing expectations of employees. The post-pandemic world is very different than it was in 2019, and we have been working hard to find the balance between providing our team with the freedom to work how they want and still seeing operational success. We have gone back to our ‘people-first’ roots and have taken a good look at many of our HR policies to gauge whether they are still working in this new work environment or need a refresh. We have been focusing on the concept of ‘earn the freedom’ and using feedback from our team to help us create a highly successful work environment full of happy, fulfilled SPLICE’rs."

- Kimberly Doig, Accounting Manager, Splice Software – 2022 winner: Raising the Bar 

Don’t quit! Find something that works and then use feedback on it to guide your next initiatives. 

"Developing a thriving culture in a remote company can be a challenge but should not be overlooked. It's important to know that sometimes cultural initiatives may not succeed the way you initially thought, and in those cases, don't quit. Keep trying until you find something that works, and then observe or survey the team to figure out why your team liked it. Once you have that information, use it to guide your next initiatives. Every company, team, and the department is different and has a different culture. What works for some may not work for others." 

- Cody Jensen, CEO, Founder, Searchbloom – 2022 winner: Employee Engagement 

Focus on the benefits of feedback for self-development. 

"When we first started to use TINYpulse, it was all about sharing and repetition. Frequently reminding our team of the benefits of providing public praise. I also focused on the benefits of feedback for self-development. To improve collectively, we have to improve individually, and that was to be aided by peer-to-peer feedback.  
 
After a couple of years, this became a habit. We no longer have to encourage employees to provide feedback as much, and our monthly team meetings also serve as a useful time to reflect on individual and team successes that may have gone under the radar during the month."

- Scott Colenutt, SiteVisibility – 2022 winner: Employee Recognition 

Create an active feedback culture. 

"It’s important to create an active feedback culture. We have organized communication training sessions for non-violent communication based on the concept of Marshall B. Rosenberg. The goal of nonviolent communication is to develop human relationships in such a way that those involved spontaneously and with pleasure contribute to each other's well-being.  

We have integrated TINYpulse via MagicINFO directly to our Samsung screen at the reception desk and also a feed cheers and wins to Microsoft Teams. This enables colleagues to give feedback to each other and share Cheers and Suggestions transparently with all employees."

- Denoshan Rajasingam, CM Informatik – 2022 Winner: Company Wins   

Keep everyone connected.

"Since we are still working hybrid our biggest people challenge has been finding ways to keep everyone in touch and have some face-to-face time. We have been doing monthly lunches in the office and company outings like sporting events and our favorite, Escape Rooms. Everyone seems to enjoy it and we get a great turnout each time. We are a telecommunications company, so we get to use all our tools and practice what we preach to keep everyone connected. 

Our favorite tool [in TINYpulse] is Cheers!! It makes it so easy to give someone a shout-out and then let the whole company know. We have it integrated with our Slack so everyone is notified right away and we always get other comments and discussions that boost the person or team receiving the cheers. And the GIFs make it even better!"

- Scott Baxley, COO, TeleVoIPs – 2022 Winner: Engagement Strategy