Human Resources Overview as it pertains to Employee Engagement and Culture

The Virtual Employee with Engagement and Culture: 

An H.R. Leader’s Program Overview 

TABLE OF CONTENTS 

A. Employees feel that they are doing meaningful work that makes an important difference 

B. Satisfying the employee’s developmental needs, and personal life and job/career aspirations 

C. Helping the department to achieve its business objectives 

D. Helping the company to achieve its strategic vision and plan 

E. Summary 

THERE ARE MANY different definitions of employee engagement. However, at its most fundamental yet essential 

level, it can be defined as: 

Having employees feel that they are doing meaningful work that makes an important difference while also 

satisfying their personal life and job/career aspirations AND, simultaneously, helping the department to achieve 

its business objectives and the company to achieve its strategic vision and plan. As defined by Jack Bucalo. 

For more information contact 

Info@EmployeeTalk.us

The short definition I use most often is: 

A collaboration that meets the expected needs of the employees as well as the business’s objectives through 

the 4c’s: collaboration, communication, contribution, and commitment. 

Successful employee engagement requires the use of a fully integrated and comprehensive set of programs, 

methods, techniques, and tools. The analytics from each are designed to measure, collaborate and produce 

improvement which will likely occur over a period of weeks, months and even years. In the end, achieving such 

improvement is a lot like a company achieving improvement in product quality, customer service, innovation, 

and so on – Certain programs take years to develop such a reputation; though it can be lost in only a few days. 

Therefore, engagement should be considered a top management initiative in the team and not just an HR 

program. If the HR Leader has limited resources, he or she MUST convince the CEO to provide the additional 

resources to implement such a program or systematically prioritize and implement particular programs year 

after year until all are functioning together. Functioning together means there is a good ©System Intelligence 

between department and people, driven from System Thinking as described in this book posted on LinkedIn Eric 

Bruggeman. 

To fully understand the integration of all these programs, we will examine each one within the context of the 

appropriate part of the above table of contents and definition to ensure the success of your program. 

A. Employees feel that they are doing meaningful work that makes an important difference 

1. Corporate Culture – almost everything in a company’s corporate culture statement evolves from the 

CEO and line executive’s actions (not words) regarding management style, interpersonal behaviors (not 

attitudes) and business values (items the company wants to be known for that directly support the 

business). If the actions of the executives are inconsistent or counter to the words used in the 

statement, you are better off without it. This is your opportunity to share and inform on expectations. 

You can get input from other companies and outside sources, but the input from your executives is 

critical to having an actionable document. For every item in the statement, you should be able to cite 

two or three practical examples of how the item was utilized in actual management actions. The final 

document should be published throughout the company by any and all means. A release and sign off of 

the processes and procedural information in the statement can be accomplished through EmployeeTalk 

online technology so accountability, assurance, and understanding can be confirmed. Here are some 

typical items to consider. 



2. On Boarding – HR Leaders must work with the hiring managers to identify the key new hires and/or 

positions that will require special attention throughout the process. Emphasizing that the company’s 

goal is to provide every employee with meaningful work is critically important, but demonstrating 

just how that is achieved is equally important. 

The first step, and by far THE most important step in On-Boarding, is to ensure that the right person has been 

hired in the first place. A thorough and exhaustive recruitment and interviewing process is needed so that the 

person selected is technically capable of performing the key duties of the job, along with exhibiting most of the 

management skills, interpersonal behaviors and business values outlined in the corporate culture. Hiring the 

RIGHT person is the goal so using a diverse but relevant group of interviewers from the inside and outside 

the department who know the job best is needed. The inclusion of team members as a think tank in the 

interview process is important because it ensures from an engagement 

perspective that staff feels part of the decision process. 

Overcoming a poor selection is far worse than leaving the job open for 

another two months or so. The second step should be to 

emphasize and explain in detail the fringe benefits that are 

most important to the new hire. The third step should be to 

emphasize the major aspects of the Corporate Culture that directly relate to the 

meaningful work in the job itself. The fourth step is to agree with the hiring manager on the key duties of the 

position as outlined in the Job Description. Here the hiring manager can elaborate in writing on the key work 

projects that the employee will undertake during the first 180 days or so and the training that was promised 

during the interviewing process. These key work projects will then serve as the basis for a 30, 60, 120 or 180-day 

review with the new hire which should be conducted by the HR and hiring manager together. In these reviews, 

the new hire should be allowed to discuss any obstacles or drawbacks that he or she might have observed that 

could affect the work itself, outcome or the promised training. The fifth step should be to outline several logical 

job/career paths that can be followed over the next few years so that the new hire can easily visualize a path 

forward in his/her skills development and job/career growth. The 30, 60, 120 or 180-day review discussion 

enables a vision match to take place from the one on one review where ownership to expectations increase 

motivation and enrichment. Since continual improvement and innovation are key to and organization’s 

competitive success a collaborative dialogue works best and may look like this: 



Start up: 

 

 

What needs to happen to make this meeting highly motivating for you? 

Can you summarize how you did at meeting your performance objectives? 

Your greatest strengths? 

Your biggest challenges? 

Specifics: 

 

 

 

What is your greatest motivator to meet this objective, and what is your greatest obstacle? 

What problems, suggestions for changes or improvements do you have in this area? 

What have I done to help or hinder your performance? 

What more can I do to help you improve? 

What do you want most from your job? 

Is your ultimate career objective the same or has it changed since our last discussion? 

What would you like your next position to be? 

How do you think you can best work toward that goal? 

Wrap up: 

Can you summarize the greatest strengths and what you should keep doing? Similarly, the issues you 

need to work on? 

Follow-up: 

 

 

Would you agree that this is a skill you could improve on? 

How can I best support you? What can I do more of, the same amount of, or less of for you? 

Here are some suggested actions, exercises, and readings for you to apply to your action plan. 

Setting up your Policy and procedure with knowledge checks and for self-assessment in EmployeeTalk sets you 

up to pulse engage and cultivate development on what is critical now. This approach confirms: 

• The appropriate amount of information sharing during onboarding to support development and growth. 

• The ability to coach and guide your team with more accountability to actual results from anywhere. 

• The building of confidence by confirming team understands role in all the policies and procedures. 

• With the same, you can pulse engage and challenge your team for deeper dives and development 

needs. This makes your face time with your team valuable and inspiring. 

3. One-on-One Manager/Key Employee Interaction Meetings – for each key employee and/or key 

position, there should be regularly-scheduled manager/employee meetings (at least quarterly) to 

review the meaningful work being performed by the employee in each of the position’s key duties. 

The employee should review the specific details of the work that has been completed and identify 

any obstacles or assistance that the manager can provide to ensure that the work is completed in an 



exemplary manner on schedule. This meeting gives the manager an opportunity to reiterate the 

meaningful aspect of the employee’s work and recognize its business value to the department and 

company. 

4. Employee Engagement Survey – in the age of social media where employees can publicly vent their 

problems and concerns about their jobs and company to the entire world, it is more important than 

ever these days to understand and respond to any major employee relations matters in a timely and 

constructive way. Utilizing an anonymous survey offers the best means to do just that. 

There are several surveys available within a wide range in price that are supported by validated research. Some 

surveys are even supported by organizations with a six-figure management approach program when really much 

of what needs to be done can be done yourself through self-administration. The EmployeeTalk communication 

technology supports more than just surveys but rather your full communications program approach. What 

matters in the survey results most is what is happening inside your organization. Even using the same question 

in the same industry, a benchmark means very little when variables are unknown. Focus on measurement within 

your own performance objectives and do this over time. Real-time surveys in EmployeeTalk are advantageous 

for the purpose of engaging anytime. Surveys implemented every six months followed by face-to-face meetings 

with your best employees on certain important survey findings is a recommended approach. It is critical that the 

survey document is particularized to meet a company’s specific needs by including key questions that can be 

repeated in every upcoming survey which can serve as a statistical benchmark to determine future progress or 

regress. It is critically important that there are questions for determining if the employee feels that he or she is: 

a) doing meaningful work, b) feeling that their work has the opportunity of making a difference in the 

department, c) receiving appropriate skills and job training for the current job and d) sees a legitimate 

job/career path with the company. Also, giving employees the opportunity to tell management anything they 

feel is important in a subjective and unencumbered fashion and being able to differentiate between supervisor, 

department and/or company problems or concerns is very important. 

Lastly, and perhaps most critical, it is extremely important that the quantitative and narrative results of the 

survey be communicated back to the employees, opportunity and all. In addition, major employee concerns and 

issues should be included in this major communications effort that stipulates the corrective management 

actions that are underway, as well as any face-to-face management/employee meetings to study a particularly 

detailed concern or issue in greater depth so that recommendations can be made to management to effectively 

deal with it. EmployeeTalk provides a huge competitive advantage in the ability to push back for employee 

contribution towards solving their own challenges. The capability to task out action to results from reports with 



communication that creates a consistent organizational dialog is industry unique with EmployeeTalk. The 

ongoing dialog in surveys to support many objectives, confirm many expectations and measure many outcomes 

can be done monthly. However, the detailed feedback provided on the survey results done every six months 

enable management’s actions to correct any major concern or problem to the employees, and at intervening 

intervals if appropriate, is vital to the ongoing success of the program. Finally, though, if a company’s top 

management is not willing to publish the survey results and/or take the necessary corrective action to address 

the employee’s major concerns or issues, do not implement the survey at all. 

B. Satisfying the employee’s developmental needs, and personal life and job/career aspirations 

1. Training and Development Planning section in the Performance Review document – A good way to 

look at this is – an employee gives the company about 2,000 hours of work every year so why 

shouldn’t company give back to the employee around 20 hours (only 1%) that deals with his/her 

development? Here, the employee should be evaluated on the performance results achieved versus 

the objectives and key responsibilities of the position, additional individual and team 

accomplishments, along with the interpersonal behaviors and business values listed in the corporate 

culture statement. If the employee is new to the position, the manager and the employee should 

concentrate on providing training to help improve current performance. This guide from 

EmployeeTalk highlights some opportunity. If the employee is performing well, they should 

concentrate on establishing training that relates to the next most logical job move. In either case, 

the manager and employee should complete this portion of the document together. 

2. Work/Life Balance – wherever possible, the company should institute flexible-time, work at home, 

compensatory time off and any other reasonable policy that helps to meet the personal life needs of 

the majority of their key employees. Also, each benefit in the fringe benefits package should have a 

specific cost/price attached to it based on its cost to the company. Then, a specific total dollar 

amount of all benefits could be established for each employee and he or she would be allowed to 

choose the particular benefits that are important to their personal life situation, up to the specific 

total dollar amount. 

3. Mentoring – certain key technical, professional and management people desire the opportunity to 

learn from more experienced professionals and managers in the company who have been successful 



in their jobs. Each key employee should be assigned a mentor that he/she can contact for advice 

regarding any job or career-related matter. In addition to identifying any specific job-related 

training, both parties can explore various job/career paths within the company that represents a 

logical upward job/career path move for the employee. Such a mentor will coordinate his or her 

efforts directly with employee’s supervisor at all times. 

Any mentoring program should be thoroughly outlined in writing to provide proper guidance to the employees, 

mentors, and supervisors. Separately, an appropriate HR leader can conduct Stay Interviews of selected key 

professional and managerial employees as-needed when it is determined that a key employee is dissatisfied 

with any aspect of his/her employment. EmployeeTalk provides 10 turnover questions to capture data over time 

and offer an outlet for employees to be candid in their feedback while identifying risk as soft issues for example. 

C. Helping the department to achieve its business objectives 

1. Performance Results section in the Performance Review document – since the employee typically 

desires to perform meaningful work, it is the responsibility of his/her manager to select appropriate 

important work projects and assignments within each key job duty that can easily be identified as 

being meaningful and important to the entire department, and provide necessary assistance to 

ensure that the work is completed within quality, cost and time parameters. The establishment of 

specific business objectives for each key employee whose work is critical to the success of the 

department is vital. Clearly, the fair evaluation of the performance results achieved by the 

employee, along with the interpersonal behaviors and business values utilized to achieve those 

results is critical because it provides the sound basis for any future upward promotional 

advancement. 

Also, the manager should seek out the advice of certain key employees regarding their thoughts on various 

departmental work objectives, problems, and issues. Asking the questions “What do you think about …?” or 

“What would you recommend regarding …?” are very useful tools to facilitate such discussions. Using 

EmployeeTalk to engage in a number of different users can provide feedback to overcome specific obstacles 

preventing execution from taking place. 



2. Rewards, Recognition and Celebration – for individual, team or department work performance, 

there should be sufficient financial rewards (merit increase add-ons, spot and annual bonuses, and 

stock awards) and non-financial rewards (departmental parties, promotions, award ceremonies and 

team results celebrations) for management to use appropriately. It is very important to visibly 

demonstrate to all company employees that improved individual and department performance is 

recognized and appreciated by management. 

3. Innovation Workshops – to help foster improved engagement within the department, these 

workshops allow employees the opportunity to express their ideas for departmental work 

improvement in a constructive and collaborative manner while working together as a team. 

D. Helping the company to achieve its strategic vision and plan 

1. Company Strategic Vision and Plan – almost all employees want to be proud of their company. To 

facilitate that pride and fully engage them in their job-related work efforts to help the company 

succeed, it is imperative that all employees be aware of its strategic vision which should be stated in 

writing and published for all employees to see. At times, such statements can be very esoteric and 

nebulous in nature to the point where its meaning is unclear. Rather, such a vision statement 

should succinctly stipulate the company’s existing and future products and/or services that are or 

will be sold into an existing and/or future market in response to verifiable market needs. The 

statement should emphasize that the company’s Board of Directors and CEO have fully approved 

and endorsed it. 

In support of the vision, the CEO and top management will typically develop the company’s strategic plan that 

will outline various financial and operating objectives and plans which are designed to accomplish the vision. 

Since the key members of top management will actively participate in the development of the plan, it will be 

one that they believe in and are committed to for its successful execution. Though many parts of the strategic 

plan are likely to be considered confidential, just the disclosure of its existence and the publication of as much 

of it as possible will greatly facilitate employee engagement, recognizing that any disclosure will be at the CEO’s 

discretion. 



2. Succession Planning and High Potential Programs – the development, retention, and advancement 

(in both promotional progress and compensation) of the executives included in these programs is 

vitally important to short and long term company success and growth. At least annually, the HR 

leader should update the data in each program, meet with each executive to reassess their 

job/career aspirations, meet with the executive’s superior to develop a personalized development 

plan for the upcoming year, ensure that the superior reviews the plan with the executive, track all 

agreed-upon development and work with the superior to ensure that it occurs on schedule, help 

ensure that they compensated well above the average and, most importantly, work with their 

superiors throughout the year when appropriate promotional and compensation opportunities 

present themselves. 

E. SUMMARY 

With the potentially very harmful effect of negative employee viewpoints about their jobs, departments and the 

company being aired inside the company and on social media in today’s highly competitive and fast-changing 

healthcare and business worlds, the need for a fully integrated and comprehensive employee engagement 

program that directly addresses these viewpoints has never been greater. Communicating dialog in many 

methods, forms and tools are needed for the best engagement program. Having a platform/s flexible enough 

and affordable is a challenge. Fortunately, EmployeeTalk is an affordable and flexible technology. A simple fact is 

that it is difficult to meet with everyone in our workforce daily so using technology to extend a leader’s 

communication imprint is critical. EmployeeTalk supports this by providing a variety of communication uses in a 

single platform to overcome the biggest of obstacles. For example: 

1. Lack of information 

• Online Blog 

• Cost Analysis tool 

• Solution Drive tool 

• Virtual Meeting tool 

• Public Relations tool 

• Newsletter Engagement 

• Survey Engagement tool 

• Change Management tool 

• Proactive Management tool 

• Employee Handbook sign off 

• Nurse communication and collaboration 



2. Needed Development and Training 

• 360 Program tool 

• Training Effectiveness tool 

• Electronic Recognition tool 

• Yearly Performance Review 

• Recognition Tracking system 

• Employee of the Month tool 

3. Ineffective Process and Procedure 

• Checklist tool 

• Survey Engagement tool 

• Electronic Scorecard tool 

• Delegation-Tracking tool 

• Change Management tool 

• Engagement Trending tool 

• Electronic Recognition tool 

• Employee Collaboration tool 

• Policy–Procedure/sign off tool w/knowledge check 

4. People 

• Virtual Coaching 

• Anonymity Link 

• Online Contribution 

• Online Transparency 

• Self-recognition tracking 

• Peer recognition tracking 

• Advisory team delegation 

• Accountability to action 

• Consistent communication 

Implementing such a far-reaching program and effectively dealing with all employee viewpoints on an on-going 

basis is likely to take a sustained effort on the part top management for a period of years which recognizes and 

reinforces the fact that this is a top management and company issue, and not just an HR program. 



Appendix 

Contributor - Jack Bucalo, JACK has led the Global HR function for a Fortune 500 and 1000 international company 

and several other large international companies. With four years of line experience complementing his HR 

experience, he believes that CHRO should play a more direct role in helping the CEO to achieve the company's 

business objectives and strategic goals, while effectively implementing its administrative responsibilities. In doing 

so successfully, the CHRO can become an equal business partner with his/her line management peers while 

becoming more directly involved in the company's operational mainstream, rather than being just as an 

administrative afterthought. Also, he has published over ten manuscripts in various professional journals and has 

served as a Seminar Leader on several HR topics for various professional organizations. 

Contributer- Eric Bruggeman founder of EmployeeTalk communcation technology. We provide an inexpensive 

online platform for engaging expectation enabling the understanding of strengths and obstacles to execution. 

In one platform leaders proactively collaborate from an UNDERCOVER BOSS in a box approach and other 

methods, techniques and, tools. Face to face recognition and reinforcement take place within anonymity 

where employees can choose to reveal themselves for their contribution. Our purpose is to enable leaders to 

administer dialog, measure it, and take action. The result is demonstrated when the input is tasked and 

delegated into results. 

EmployeeTalk is supported by expertise that helps drive better business. Time management, HCAHPS Quality 

i.e. Video perception-do and don’ts, Emotional Intelligence, 360° and one on one reviews and sessions, Change 

management, Lean management six sigma, Content proficiency - Data and feedback expertise.

Human Resources Overview as it pertains to Employee Engagement and Culture

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