1. Employee Engagement: Best Practices
Amy Larson and Dan Boomhower
Minnesota Housing

2. Why Does Engagement Matter?
70% of US workers are disengaged or underengaged
Unengaged workers cost $300 billion annually in lost productivity
DAN
Productivity of orgs with engaged employees 3x that of those with disengaged employees
Gallup Survey, Towers Watson

3. What Engages Employees?
Survey of 10 million workers in 150 countries found engagement boils down to:
Growth
Recognition
Leaders that can be trusted
Faith in health and direction of the organization
DAN
Kenexa Research

4. What Engages Millennials? (1980-2000)
Adapting to our Demographic Changes
Interested in causes and want to make positive difference
Teamwork
Flexibility in schedules
Mentors
Growth
Training and learning new skills
Average age decrease from 55 to 45 in last 10 years
DAN
83 mm workers years old
Largest work group in America
More than 100 new hires in last two years
Multiple waves of retirements

5. Engagement Formula Right Leadership Right Employees Engagement DAN
Bottom line is the engagement formula
Will talk about right leadership in few minutes, but want to focus on right employees part of the equation for now

6. How Minnesota Housing Creates an Engaging Environment
Recruitment
Onboarding
Development
Feedback
Retention Activities
DAN
Taken these themes of engagement (known engagers and what engages millennials) and woven them through all of our HR and communications practices
Recruitment

7. Recruitment Emphasize vision and mission Employee referral program
Personality and skills testing
DAN
Recruitment
1. Play off of our vision and mission
Vision- All Minnesotans live in a safe, stable home they can afford in a community of their choice
Mission- Housing is the foundation for success so we collaborate with individuals, communities and partner to create, preserve and finance affordable housing.
2. 70% of our employees say our mission played a role in their being hired
3. Employee referral incentive 11% referred were minorities
4. Personality testing- 32 traits in three major areas Relationships with people, thinking style, dynamism 32 sub traits

8. Onboarding Ergonomic assessments and sit/stand stations Assigned buddy
Meet with senior leadership team
Three-month process with clear responsibilities for employee and manager
Revamped orientation program
Interactive modular process with tests facilitates sporadic hiring
New hires meet in group setting to discuss topics and bond
DAN
Orientation program is self paced, interactive and has tests
Opportunity for new hires to meet as group

9. Leadership Development
DAN

10. Leadership Development
Understanding strengths, weaknesses, and preferences
Providing a great work atmosphere
Self awareness
MBTI
Zenger Folkman 360 reviews for all managers
Specific leadership development programs
Situational leadership
Elevating feedback
Extraordinary coach
Senior Leadership Institute
NCSHA Executive Development program
DAN

11. Employee Development
$209,000 for Tuition Assistance Program over last three years
Individual seminars
Agency-wide workshops
Project management
Conflict and problem solving
Business writing
Growing emotional intelligence
Creating introvert extrovert friendly environment
Emerging Leaders Institute
DAN
In addition have goal driven performance appraisal system where employees develop goals at beginning of appraisal period. Cascade down from Strategic Plan, Affordable Housing Plan and Division work plans
Mid year informal and annual formal review

12. Employee Development Individual Growth Planning
DAN
New this year is optional and allows for employees to identify growth goals, skills needed, barriers and how to overcome them and has timeframes for growth goals
Based on best practices from Zenger Folkman and Yale University

13. Employee Development Individual Growth Planning
DAN

14. Feedback Employee Engagement Survey Anonymous Online
Same questions each year for year-to-year measurement
Themes provided to all staff; results by division and tenure
Incentives for participation
Specific actions taken based on this feedback – visible changes
AMY
The backbone of this infrastructure is our employee engagement survey, an annual survey comprised of 46 questions in the areas of:
Leadership
Agency management
Customer service
Mission, morale and recognition
Career path and professional development
Workload and autonomy
Information, communication and technology
Management response to previous survey
Each year this valuable tool gives us important insight on what’s working, what’s important to our employees and what needs improvement. We launched this survey in 2011 and keep the questions comparable year-to-year, giving us a baseline to measure against and helping us respond to emerging trends.
The anonymous survey is conducted during the first two weeks of December and results are analyzed and reported back to staff in February at an all staff meeting. We provide staff with overall themes and results by division and tenure. (See Attachment A for a list of survey questions and Attachment B for Frequently Asked Questions)
To encourage participation, we provide a combination of incentives and friendly competition. The division that reaches 80% participation first and the division with the highest percentage at the end receive a free casual day. If the entire agency surpasses 80%, everyone gets an entire week of casual days. We also created a fun advertising campaign to emphasize the importance of letting your voice be heard. (See Attachment C). We frequently reiterate the anonymity of the survey to ensure staff feels comfortable sharing openly.
Senior leadership and management then take specific actions based on the results of the survey. For example, when we saw that communication among employees needed improvement, we created a weekly update from the commissioner and have since seen great improvement in that category. When survey feedback showed that staff feels a strong connection to our mission, we created additional volunteer opportunities to make that connection. When feedback showed improvement could be made in how management connects with employees, we provided managers with additional training to better support their staff.

15. Work-Related Retention Activities
Mentor Program
Discussions about career, training and networking
Job shadowing
Cross functional work projects
Book club
Panel of employees describing their jobs
Alternate Work Schedules
32% work flex schedules (4/10’s or alternate Fridays off)
3% Telecommute
Performance Appraisal and Achievement Awards
Goal driven, cascades from strategic plan and includes organizational and management competencies
Achievement award program where employees can receive up to $2,000
AMY
In addition to the survey, our employee engagement initiatives include ways for staff to get to know each other, have fun, and engage with our mission.
Typically 25 mentors and mentees 3rd year of program
Cultural Competency Committee 9 members 2nd year

16. Just-for-Fun Retention Activities
Habitat 500 Ride
Yearly 500 mile bike ride to raise money for Habitat affiliates across the state
Conducts fundraising events and social activities throughout the year
Combined Charities
Themed baskets donated for silent auction each fall
Benefits the state’s combined charity campaign
Cultural Competency Committee
Build more inclusive workplace
Cultural competency survey
Facilitated discussions around 3 video series on “Race the Power of Illusion”
Wellness Committee
Hosts events from training for a triathlon training to easy bike repairs
Posts healthy tips and recipes on employee intranet
Works to integrate healthy behavior into the workplace
Employee Appreciation
Yearly off-site event simply to show appreciation for employees
Photo slideshows, entertainment, etc.
Cultural Competency Committee – This cross-agency committee was established in So far, they have hosted an impactful educational series called “Race: The Power of Illusion” and held three focus groups to collect information from staff to advance the internal cultural competency capacity. Participants engaged in hands-on, discussion-based dialogue and contributed to furthering the development of the Agency’s commitment to diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Employee Wellness Committee – Another cross-agency group, this group meets frequently to discuss and plan health and wellness opportunities for staff. Events range from training for a triathlon training to easy bike repairs to supporting employee participation in consumer supported agriculture programs. The Committee works to integrate healthy behavior into the workplace and has created new employee relationships.
Employee Appreciation Events – Every year we host an Employee Appreciation event at an off-site location. This year the event was held at our new minor league ballpark with activity stations, chair massages and drawings for gift certificates from local restaurants paid for by donations from our senior leadership team. We’ve also had employees create videos featuring interviews about what they love about working here. The video has since become a great recruitment piece and is now featured on our website. Watch our employee video!
Habitat 500 Ride – Each year a group of employees participate in the Habitat 500 mile bike ride to raise money for Habitat affiliates across the state. The group has raised more than $10,000 and conducts fundraising events and social activities throughout the year. The team rides 500 total miles throughout one week in sections from miles.
Combined Charities Campaign– Individuals and groups of employees donate themed baskets for a silent auction that benefits the state’s combined charity campaign. About 100 baskets are donated each year with creative themes from all corners and levels of the agency, raising thousands of dollars for charity.

17. Conclusion Replicable Collaborative Data-driven
Foundation for successful recruitment and retention
This engagement feedback loop is a good tool to gauge what’s working and what needs attention. With commitment from leadership and interest from a cross-section of employees, it is easily replicable and has become easier to implement the longer we’ve done it. We now have data from multiple years to show trends, accomplishments and areas of continued improvement. It’s a highly collaborative process - our communications team promotes participation, conducts the survey, analyzes results and works with the Commissioner on themes and trends for follow up. Our Human Resources department is actively involved in all aspects of employee engagement and employees from all parts of the agency serve on committees and help plan engagement events.
The collective impact of these activities has significantly improved agency operations and employee engagement in our mission and daily work. It has laid a foundation that will help us retain and attract employees for years to come.