Many Higher Education institutions around the globe are facing the aftermath of faculty and student disengagement as the threat of Covid-19 lessens and more institutions head back to hybrid and in-person models of teaching and learning.
It’s important to view this moment as a crossroads for employees, and a research-based employee communications strategy is key for continuously engaging, or in some cases re-engaging, employees. Engagement supports retention, thereby influencing group morale, performance, economics of replacing employees and eventually recruitment of future employees (Richards, 2021).
A few great strategies for addressing employee communication strategies are:
- Are your institution’s employee communications, regardless of medium, two-way conversations?
- What input and listening mechanisms exist or need to be implemented, and what will leadership do with that information? (Richards, 2021).
User feedback is important to EesySoft. In each message, creators have the ability to add feedback in the form of a thumbs-up or thumbs down rating, in addition to users providing specific comments related to the message. This feedback can then be used to help create effective messaging. More information on how to use feedback to make more effective messages can be found in the blog post “How to Make Messages more Effective” by Dr. Annelise Ewing Goodman.
- What are the major shared experiences at your institution that are important to employees?
- How engaged are employees with the existing resources that support health, wellness, diversity and inclusion, professional development, and other people-first priorities?
Ready-to-use campaigns can be found in the EesySoft Universe. In this area, you can find many resources provided by both EesySofters and Institutions alike. Return to Campus -- Faculty Resources is a great example of a campaign that can be found in the Universe that helps expand on these major shared experiences such as Covid-19. This campaign, created by our own EesySofter, Dr. Annelise Ewing Goodman, lets faculty know what resources they have access to, to ensure physical and mental health.
- What do your institutional data suggest are the most engaging media and formats for employee communications -- executive emails, printed letters, email newsletters, print newsletters, in-person forums, virtual forums, videos, podcasts, web stories, etc.?
- How will your institution measure successful employee engagement? (Richards, 2021).
EesySoft’s data-driven tools can help your institution achieve faculty
engagement goals by providing a robust suite of messaging, analytic monitoring, and support centre options. Through campaigns, users can set monitors within their LMS to track use. Once monitors are created, users can simply add events to track the success of their messaging, whether it be done by e-mail, print, or Eesy Messaging. Having this data allows users to adapt their messaging efforts to ensure successful employee engagement.
Not sure how to start engaging your faculty? Campaigns supporting faculty engagement have been created and are ready to launch! Many institutions will be hosting professional development opportunities during the summer months to help faculty members feel more engaged with their institutional community. EesySoft can help with everything from the professional development registration process to session feedback - and everything in-between!
Campaign: Promoting Faculty Support Centers And Online Teaching Resources
Campaign To Promote Faculty Professional Development Program
If your institution would like to improve faculty engagement, please reach out to your CSM to devise an engagement campaign that fits the needs of your University!
References:
Richards, M. (2021, May 18). Our people are not ok. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/call-action-marketing-and-communications-higher-education/our-people-are-not-ok.