Introducing
Social Employee
Engagement:
Shifting from
technology to
people
Social Employee Engagement
Dean Parker, Digital Consultant

Social Employee Engagement
Executive Summary
While social media continue to have a profound
effect on the way we are able to connect and
share with people outside the office, many
organisations have been slow to recognise the
value they can bring to the workplace. This
results in continued inefficiencies as well as
missed opportunities to improve innovation,
productivity and engagement.
Although in recent times we have witnessed
a growing appreciation of the role that social
tools can play in supporting greater collaboration
between employees, many of the early adopters
find they’re not working as well as they had
hoped. A key reason for this is a rush to
implement new technologies rather than take a
more considered approach that puts employees
at the heart of the action. It’s surprising how
many organisations fail to ask some of the most
important questions, such as “How could being
more collaborative help achieve overall business
goals?”, “What do employees need in order to
share and collaborate more effectively?” and
“Why are they going to want to collaborate?”.
Simply giving your employees a shiny new toy
to play with is just not going to work. All of the
following ideas - throwing tools over the fence
and waiting for employees to use them as they
see fit; allowing internal teams to choose their
own and expecting use to grow organically
throughout the organisation; ordering
employees to use them without clearly
demonstrating the benefits; or just supplying
employees with basic instructions on how to
use the tools without making them attractive,
have been largely discredited. While these
approaches can be a useful way of driving initial
adoption, the focus on tools over outcomes
most often results in an alarming drop-off
in use over time.
The emphasis needs to shift away from solely
concentrating on the technology and more
towards creating the right conditions for
collaboration. As much time and effort needs
to be given to driving the adoption and use of
social tools as to developing the business case,
tools and frameworks.
Despite the fact that to become a truly social
enterprise (so it is embedded in everything you
do) requires a fundamental change to working
practices and technologies, your journey towards
this must always be focused on meeting the
ambitions and motivations of your employees.
Only by first considering specific issues related
to individuals, communities and management
- and then by addressing them in a creative,
human-centred way - will you ensure your
employees are continually excited, inspired
and engaged by the possibilities that social
tools and practices afford them.
Ultimately,thepowerofsocialtechnologies
hinges on the full and enthusiastic
participation of employees who are not
afraid to share their thoughts and trust
that their contributions will be respected.
Creating these conditions will be far
more challenging than implementing
the technologies themselves.
The Social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social
technologies. McKinsey Global Institute Report, July 2012
“
“
The term ‘Social Employee Engagement’
is about going back to basics. It’s about moving
away from an approach that is often pre-occupied
with tools and processes (‘Social Business’
or ‘Enterprise 2.0’) towards one with a greater
emphasis on employees themselves. Social
employee engagement puts people at the
centre by focusing on what inspires and
engages them to do their best work.

Social Employee Engagement
1 A real opportunity for positive change
3 The need for a different approach
4 A road map for creating successful
social employee engagement
1. Get senior level buy-in
a. Create a solid business case
b. Set clear objectives
c. Don’t work in isolation
6 2. Put the right frameworks in place
a. Identify key use cases
b. Select and develop appropriate tools
c. Develop a governance framework
7 3. Encourage adoption and engagement
a. Create a launch plan
b. Develop on-going communications
c. Measure, review and adapt
9 Our experts
10 References
11 About SAS
Contents

Social Employee Engagement
1
Given the growing acceptance that many of the
traditional ways of working are inefficient and
ineffective, it is not surprising that many senior
managers are now actively looking to create
more agile and collaborative practices that
empower their employees to do more and
create greater value.
A real opportunity for positive change
Top performing companies are making the shift
to becoming more resilient, agile and innovative
organisations. This presents an exciting
opportunity to rethink the ways employees work
together to generate ideas, improve products
and services, and serve customers.
At the same time, they are often trying to
grapple with the issue of employees that may
already be disengaged. Collaborating with
colleagues and focusing on outcomes rather
than outputs are two proven ways of increasing
levels of engagement and improving productivity.
The subsequent desire for new and better
ways of working from both employers and
employees means the subject of collaboration
is increasingly becoming a board level
conversation and one that is increasingly likely
to be endorsed by the CEO.
88%Of fully engaged
employees believe
they can positively
impact the quality of
their organization’s
products and services.
38%Of disengaged
employees feel the
same way.
Engagement at Risk: Driving
Strong Performance in a
Volatile Global Environment
Global Workforce Study
2012, Towers Watson
52%Of the CEOs
interviewed intend
to make significant
changes to their
organizations to
improve internal
collaboration and they
want to involve the
entire C-suite.
IBM ‘Leading Through
Connections’ Global CEO
Study
CEOs know they’ll have to change the
way their companies function. Nearly
half say improving operational
effectiveness is one of their top three
investment priorities this year.
16th Annual Global CEO Survey, PWC, 2013
“
“
…managers spend between five and
20 hours a week reading and writing
e-mails. On average, each of Atos’s
80,000 employees was receiving more
than 100 e-mails per day, of which
only 15 percent were deemed ‘useful’.
“Atos boss Thierry Breton defends his internal e-mail ban”
BBC, December 6, 2012
“
“
Collaboration is the number one trait
CEOs are seeking in their employees,
with 75% of them calling it critical.
IBM ‘Leading Through Connections’ Global CEO Study.
“ “

Social Employee Engagement
2
So given this
demand, what are
the main challenges
that organisations
face in their quest
to become more
collaborative?

Social Employee Engagement
3
Gartner has predicted that until 2015, 80% of
social collaboration efforts will not achieve
the intended benefits due to inadequate
leadership and a technology driven approach
that fails to address the behavioural elements
of becoming a social business.
At the same time, there is a tendency for
organisations to run before they can walk.
It’s difficult to become a social enterprise,
with all that entails (practising social commerce,
social innovation, social marketing, social
relationship building, gathering insights from
social etc.), before first laying the foundations
that will encourage employees to adopt social
behaviours.
The need for a different approach
Despite the recent proliferation of social tools
being used within organisations, many of these
fail to live up to expectations.
Going forward companies need to foster
a gradual shift away from the siloed mentality
of old towards the more open, informal and
conversational practices demanded by the new
type of knowledge worker. Admittedly this is not
easy. In order to empower employees there
needs to be careful governance and support
from management to ensure they embrace
this new way of working and the ensuing
uncertainties that come with it.
So in short, the main challenges faced by
organisations in their social crusade relate
to questions of strategy, leadership and
governance. In order to overcome them, there
are three approaches that are critical to success:
1
A mixture of skills
and expertise
Only a healthy mix of engagement,
creative and technology expertise
will give you the skills to develop
experiences and content that inspire
employees to participate in new ways
of working. These three elements
will help you adopt an approach
that is rooted in human behaviour
rather than technology and ensure
your social collaboration efforts fit in
seamlessly with any wider employee
engagement strategies.
2
A fresh approach to
adoption and change
Understanding the behaviours
associated with the use of internal
and external social collaboration
tools (rather than just their features)
will allow you to develop appropriate
change and adoption programmes
that are based on the way that
people want to work rather than
out-dated practices of the past.
This means first getting under the
skin of your employees to find their
real motivations and then applying
creative communication techniques
to engage them in change.
3
A technology agnostic
plan of attack
Rounded knowledge of the social
collaboration tools and traditional
platforms (intranets) available will
give you a holistic view of the digital
workplace that no single technology
provider or re-seller can provide.
Only by considering all these
platforms together will you be able
to take an impartial view on the best
way of integrating enterprise and
social networks into your business in
a way that matches the culture and
expectations of your employees.
46%Of the companies
surveyed increased
their social business
investments in 2012
IBM ‘Leading Through
Connections’ Global CEO
Study

Social Employee Engagement
4
A roadmap for
creating successful
social employee
engagement.
There are three
key elements to
the process of
developing and
implementating a
successful enterprise
social network...

Social Employee Engagement
5
Create a solid business case
Although many senior managers
are demanding more collaborative
practices in their organisation, a solid
business case often still needs to be
made to secure the required budget
and involvement of key people. While
the benefits are easy to identify at a
macro level (e.g. it will make the
business/teams more proactive; it will
create more effective collaboration
between employees; it will encourage
employees to share ideas; it will
make decision making quicker and
it will create happier, more engaged
employees), they ultimately need to
be focused on what is appropriate
for your particular type of business
and wherever possible, be linked
to quantifiable business results. An
audit looking at the current levels
of employee engagement within an
organisation is an effective way of
identifying specific areas where social
tools can play a key role in improving
collaboration.
Set clear objectives
You need to establish clear
objectives for your communities
so they understand if and why they
should join in. Identify specific
business opportunities with objectives
that can be clearly linked to the use of
social tools – this is a sure fire way of
gaining adoption. Also, objectives that
are aligned to the overall business
strategy and vision also work well as
they are already embedded within
the culture of the business. Internal
social collaboration initiatives are
destined to fail if objectives are too
vague or ambitious.
1
Examples of objectives related to different
business functions
R&D
• Innovate through partnership
• Develop communities of experts
Sales
• Fully integrate customer/client insights into the
sales process
Human Resources
• Create a more effective recruitment process
• Improve how talent is managed within
the business
Working with HR to identify how social can be
infused into the full employee life cycle
• In the on-boarding process by creating role
specific social spaces that provide a living
source of information across different functions
• Through social spaces where new hires can ask
and reply to questions from other recent starters
• To support Learning and Development
programmes by allowing employees to connect
both before and after courses and therefore
create stronger social support systems
Don’t work in isolation
Although the idea of involving
people from disparate parts of
an organisation can be a daunting
prospect, this approach is more
likely to gain universal approval and
ultimately add greater value to the
business. Just having the leadership
team involved in communicating
how they would like their employees
to participate in internal social
collaboration initiatives, as well as
regular and personal involvement
in the process to keep momentum
going, are some of the most
important triggers for adoption.
Get senior level buy-in
Focus on specific challenges that have direct
benefits which are easy to assess from
organisational, management, community
and individual perspectives.
A. B. C.
Identify specific business opportunities
with objectives that can be clearly linked
to the use of social tools - that is a sure
fire way of gaining adoption.
“
“

Social Employee Engagement
6
Identify key use cases
Although use cases lie at the heart
of any successful internal social
collaboration initiative, they are often
poorly thought through which leads
to a certain amount of vagueness
– the enemy of engagement! Use
cases can relate to many different
aspects of work – from networking
to project management, team-
work, on-boarding, learning, talent
management or team formation.
Yet when we come to think about
collaboration between employees,
we need to develop a more
sophisticated understanding of what
it really means in today’s workplace.
After all there are many different
types of collaboration, and employees
are often involved with a myriad of
different teams and projects at any
given time. It is always a good idea
to start small by developing use
cases that will prove to be useful and
practical to employees in their day-to-
day work and so are likely to generate
quick wins.
Develop a governance framework
Naturally, the type of governance
framework your organisation
needs will depend on its type
and size, the use cases you have
developed and technologies you
have chosen. However, there are
some basic rules that will help you
develop a governance framework
that allows you to take command,
rather than control, of your internal
social collaboration efforts. First
and foremost, policies must be
simple and easy to understand.
Secondly, as governance needs to
cover subjects related to people,
processes, technology and data - you
will need a cross-functional team of
people from various disciplines to
take responsibility for developing
policies and guidelines, co-ordinating
resources, sharing best practice and
promoting them internally. And finally,
the governance process itself should
be open enough to encourage and
empower employees to develop their
own structures and rules, experiment
with them and spread the word across
the business.
Select and develop
appropriate tools
Regrettably, the process of selecting
social tools is the starting point
for many organisations and can
take months to reach a conclusion,
especially within large organisations
with highly complex IT environments.
While the development of clear
objectives and use cases will
undoubtedly help focus the debate
away from technology and more
towards human behaviour, they will
not guarantee engagement and
continued use. Although there is no
doubt that adoption will increase if the
chosen tools are easy and enjoyable
to use, the usability of these platforms
and the processes to support them are
most often treated as an after-thought.
There needs to be a certain degree
of ‘WOW factor’ associated with the
way these tools are presented and
launched in order that employees sit
up and take notice. One of the world’s
leading design companies, IDEO,
created a social platform that achieved
an adoption rate of 96% - mainly
because they dedicated a lot of time
and effort to improving the usability
of the tools. This example highlights
the need to go about the design and
implementation of these tools with
the same vigour as you would for any
external facing digital platform.
2
Put the right frameworks in place
Focus on existing and latent employee needs
or behaviours. Develop tools such a way that
they don’t jar with existing work practices.
A. B. C.

Social Employee Engagement
7
Create a launch plan
You usually find there is a certain
amount of trepidation among large
swathes of employees that ultimately
discourages them from participating
in the early stages of an internal
social collaboration programme.
Some will be naturally shy and won’t
be comfortable sticking their heads
above the parapet. Others, due to
traditional organisational hierarchies,
will find it difficult to engage in
conversation with more senior
colleagues. You therefore need to
develop spaces where engagement
can take place, such as forums or
collaborative spaces (although
physical events may also be useful),
and start with the people that are
most likely to adopt and use the
new technologies and processes.
Identify those that are going to
champion the use of the tools - the
employees in your organisation that
are well connected and therefore play
an important role in changing the
behaviour of others - and get them
involved early on in the process.
Measure, review and adapt
There are a number of simple ways to
measure levels of adoption of social
tools within your organisation:
Performance: Number of active
members, number of ‘readers’
versus ‘contributors’, number of
communities, overall pages views etc.
Practices: Number of comments
by members, amount of content
published by members, level of
sharing of content, types of
community, types of activity within
each community (e.g. discussion,
sharing, networking etc.)
Satisfaction: Quality of experience,
level of interest, perceived benefit to
individuals (e.g. personal branding,
knowledge management, team
building, number of decisions taken
related to a discussion generated
through the platform)
However, there is a danger in using
adoption as the key metric by which to
judge the success of social software.
Develop on-going communications
Relationships take time to develop.
They require understanding,
commitment and nurturing. Initially
your employees will need help in
building and managing communities.
As with any form of internal
communications, what you say and
how you say it is critical to the way
your employees perceive your social
engagement initiatives. You must
strive to communicate in a credible
and memorable manner in order
to motivate them to use the tools -
firstly to improve the way they are
used to working and then to adopt
totally new ways of working (so they
become as natural as using email).
The role of the community manager
is crucial in teaching employees
how to collaborate with others.
They should proactively start polls,
post ideas, ask thought-provoking
questions and start new groups.
3
Encourage adoption and engagement
Focus on using creative adoption strategies
and techniques, both online and offline, that
will inspire employees to use the tools and
change behaviours.
A. B. C.
The role of the community manager is crucial
in teaching employees how to collaborate with
others. They should proactively start polls,
post ideas, ask thought-provoking questions
and start new groups.
“
“

Social Employee Engagement
8
As Susan Etlinger eloquently
describes in her blog article ‘Three
Principles for Measuring the Value
of Enterprise Social Networks’, we
need to recognise that there are
certain vagaries to consider when
thinking about how to measure the
value of social networks inside the
organisation, rather than outside:
• Employees don’t have the same
freedom to interact with an
organisation as a consumer might
• Your identity within an organisation
is well known and rarely changes
so there is nowhere to hide
• As most employees have a
specific focus to their jobs, their
need for collaboration and levels of
engagement may vary considerably
depending on their role
3
Encourage adoption and engagement
Focus on metrics that will keep everyone happy.
Also, as pointed out in a recent report
from Deloitte, the focus should be
on operating metrics as they focus
on something that everyone cares
about. For example, improvements
to operating metrics will provoke
managers to use social tools and
encourage their employees to as
well. Employees will use them more
when they understand how they can
help them improve their performance
(and be recognised and rewarded for
doing so). And finally, as executives
realise the knock-on effect to
financial performance, they will also
be encouraged to adopt and support
the use of social tools within the
organisation.
Motivational alignment across tiers
Managers
Executives
Employees
Motivation
Operating
Metrics
Financial
metrics
Work
Efficiently
Whatever framework you choose,
naturally the most important aspect
of measurement is what you do with
the results and how well you use the
data to evolve your efforts in the most
effective way.
As with any business initiative that
requires cultural change, social
collaboration will not happen
overnight. It needs to be worked at.
It needs to focus on communication.
It needs to have employee
engagement at its heart.
Written by Dean Parker
Digital Consultant, SAS
Deloitte LLP Social software
for business performance
The missing link in social
software: Measurable
business performance
improvements

Social Employee Engagement
9Our experts
Anthony Poncier
Social Business Director,
MSLGROUP EMEA
Anthony has worked for 12 years in the field
of collaboration management. He holds
a PhD and Master’s Degree in strategic
management and competitive intelligence.
His expertise covers Change Management and
Organisational Transformation associated with
social collaboration for large multi-national
corporations. Anthony has published many
articles and books on the subject of enterprise
social networks and collaboration, and is
a regular online columnist and speaker at
Enterprise 2.0 conferences.
Henjo Guitjens
CEO, MSL Netherlands
Henjo works now for more than 25 years in
the field of communications consultancy. He
specialises in the combination of Reputation
Management and Employee Engagement.
Henjo is also an experienced storyteller.
Being an international awarded scriptwriter
for corporate videos and Creative Director for
many years at the MSL Group, he strongly
believes in the power of words and images
to inspire people. Henjo has created projects
for companies including Philips, Rabobank,
Randstad International, GDF-SUEZ, AXA and
AKZO Nobel.
Stanislas Magniant
Head of Digital, MSLGROUP EMEA
A professional with over 10 years of experience
in Europe and the US in the field of online
advocacy strategies for corporate and public
affairs clients. Prior to his current position,
Stanislas supervised the development of a
social media analysis and opinion research
firm in the US. He is an assiduous blogger
and frequent commentator on the impact
of new technologies on social and political
communications. He has led projects for
L’Oréal, AXA, Air Liquide, Sécurité Routière,
Ferrero and Saint Gobain.
Leslie Rogers
Senior Consultant,
Talent Communications, SAS
Leslie is a senior consultant focusing on
Employee Engagement and Employer
Reputation, with specific focus on social
technology and behaviour. She has worked
on internal communications and employee
attraction programmes for over seven years.
In her role, Leslie works with multinational
organisations to generate audiene insights that
inform strategies to attract, retain and engage
talented people. Recent clients include Airbus,
BP, Bupa, Ernst & Young, GSK and Unilever.
Jason Frank
Managing Director, SAS
Jason has worked in marketing communications
for over 14 years. His experience encompasses
research, strategy and implementation with a
particular emphasis on employer branding and
communications. He has been responsible for
evolving SAS’s employer branding offer over
the last seven years to reflect audience and
client requirements. His clients have included
the likes of KPMG, Freshfields, BDO Stoy
Hayward and BT.
Dean Parker
Digital Consultant, SAS
Dean has over 15 years’ communications
industry experience across digital strategy,
interaction design and user experience. He has
advised on and led projects for clients across a
wide range of platforms and technologies. At
SAS his clients have included GlaxoSmithKline,
3i, BP, BBA Aviation, Aviva, Diageo, KPMG
Sainsbury’s, Ernst & Young, Slaughter and
May, World Economic Forum, Strutt & Parker,
Standard Chartered Bank and Land Securities.
Dean leads our expertise in digital strategy
and communications and is passionate about
developing creative solutions that help
organisations solve reputation, behaviour
and revenue focused challenges.

Social Employee Engagement
10References
1. The social Economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies
McKinsey Global Institute Report, July 2012 www.mckinsey.com
2. 16th Annual Global CEO Survey ‘ Leading Through Volatility’, PWC, 2013
www.pwc.com
3. “Atos boss Thierry Breton defends his internal e-mail ban”
BBC, December 6, 2012 www.bbc.com
4. ‘Engagement at Risk: Driving Strong Performance in a Volatile Global Environment’
(Global Workforce Study) 2012, Towers Watson www.towerswatson.com
5. IBM ‘Leading Through Connections’ Global CEO Study www.ibm.com
6. IBM Study November 2012: ‘Investments in Social Technologies Climb, While Middle
Management Struggles with Uptick’ www.ibm.com
7. Deloitte LLP report: ‘Social software for business performance’ 2011
www.deloitte.com

About SAS
SAS helps organisations to solve business critical
communications issues. We never lose sight of the fact
that human beings sit at the heart of every challenge our
clients face – so memorable creativity is just as important
as smart strategy. We’re a team of 90 specialists, helping
clients such as BT, Ernst & Young, GlaxoSmithKline,
Lilly and The Coca-Cola Company to engage their
employees and make the right digital choices. SAS is
part of MSLGROUP, Publicis Groupe’s flagship strategic
communications and engagement network.
For more information contact Louise Barfield or Victoria Sugg on
+44 (0)20 7243 3232 or email lbarfield@saslondon.com
or vsugg@saslondon.com