1. Increase IT Productivity by 25% by Actively Focusing on Employee Engagement
Don’t just measure engagement, act on it.

2. Our understanding of the problem
CIOs
Increase the engagement of your employees and address the factors that are leading to employee disengagement.
Measure the engagement levels at your organization.
Interpret and present the findings of employee engagement diagnostics in a meaningful way.
Identify engagement initiatives that will have the highest impact.
Managers, directors, IT leadership
Create action plans for implementing engagement initiatives and measuring them.
Tailor engagement initiatives to their teams using input from their teams.

3. Executive Summary
In IT, high turnover and sub-optimized productivity can have huge impacts on IT’s ability to execute to SLAs, complete projects on time, and maintain operations effectively.
With record low unemployment rates in IT, retaining top employees and keeping them motivated in their jobs has never been more critical.
Engagement is fundamentally about leadership. As the leader of the IT department you need to take accountability for your team’s engagement levels in order to improve IT performance and lower IT costs.
Employee engagement is the tool – not the end goal. Engaging employees has a clear ROI which you can measure in productivity and staffing costs, and through IT innovation. The first step is measuring your engagement. The second is acting on it.
Engagement initiatives are often seen as being HR’s responsibility, however, IT leadership needs to take accountability for the retention and productivity of their employees in order to drive business value.
IT leaders often lack the experience and time to execute IT engagement programs and even when organizations have an engagement survey, leaders don’t know how to turn that data in to actionable results.
Leverage Info-Tech’s Engagement Diagnostic and deliverables to see dramatic improvements in staff engagement, retention, and productivity. This blueprint provides three core customizable deliverables which you can use to start improving engagement today.
Engagement Diagnostic Program: Choose from two customizable engagement diagnostics to measure staff engagement levels and identify key areas for improvement.
Employee Engagement Survey Facilitation Guides: Use our customizable presentation script to understand and validate staff feedback and prioritize your efforts based on the results.
Engagement Program Plan: Use Info-Tech’s customizable Engagement Program Plan to work with staff to identify and build engagement initiatives that suit your organization and teams.

4. Employee Engagement
Engaged employees do what’s best for the organization: they come up with product/service improvements, provide exceptional service to customers, consistently exceed performance expectations, and make efficient use of their time and resources. The result is happy customers, better products/services, and saved costs. 
Three Reasons Why CIOs Need to Care About Engagement:
Engaged employees are 3.4X more productive than disengaged.1
Sub-optimized productivity can have huge impacts on IT’s ability to execute to SLAs, complete projects on time, and maintain operations effectively. 1
65% of IT employees are not engaged.1
Engaged employees are 55% more likely to agree they regularly accomplish more than what’s expected of them, and 500% more likely to agree they are committed to the organization.1 2
66% of CIOs are concerned about losing top IT professionals to other opportunities.2
The cost of losing an employee is estimated to be 150% their annual salary.3 Can you afford to not engage your staff? 3
Sources: 1 - McLean & Company, 2 - Robert Half Technology 3 - Inc.

5. Don’t seek to satisfy your employees
Don’t seek to satisfy your employees. Drive IT success through an engaged and motivated workforce

6. Engaged Employees Report:
Engaged employees report significantly higher commitment to the organization, performance, and willingness to innovate
Engaged Employees Report:
30%
39%
29%
Higher willingness and openness to innovate.
Higher intention to stay at the organization.
Higher performance and increased likelihood to work harder and longer hours.
IT employee engagement has a clear ROI, particularly when you look at costs associated with barriers to innovation, real costs of talent loss, and overall employee performance. Performance, retention, and innovation in turn drive increased revenue, decreased costs, and improved overall IT reputation and value.

7. Engagement is critical for organizations looking to foster innovation
An engaged workforce is a must have if you want to drive innovation.
Engaged employees are significantly more willing to try new things and are more likely to believe that their suggestion will be taken seriously.
On top of that, engaged IT staff are significantly more likely to go above the call of duty to look for opportunities to innovate, driving cost and time savings.
Impact of Engagement on Innovation
McLean & Company; N=1,308 IT Employees

8. Disengaged employees are 40% less likely to agree that they expect to be at the organization a year from now
The cost of turnover is estimated to be 150% of an employee’s annual salary.2
Turnover costs include all costs relating to hiring, recruitment, training, and lost productivity, as well as the impact on SLAs, deadlines, and other staff members.
Lack of growth opportunities and an inability to see a long- term career at the organization are huge retention risks, particularly for Millennials who are extremely career-centric. By Millennials will make up roughly 75% of the workforce.1 Engaging millennials in growth opportunities will be critical for retention and maintaining a productive workforce.
Impact of Engagement on Retention
McLean & Company; N=1,308 IT Employees
Source: 1 – Erica Dhawan, Gen Y Workforce and Workplace Are Out of Sync. 2 – Inc.

9. Engaged employees report not only working longer but also that they feel a higher sense of pride about their work
Engaged employees don’t just work harder, they deliver higher quality service and products.
Engaged employees are significantly more likely to agree that they regularly accomplish more than what’s expected of them, choose to work extra hours to improve results, and take pride in the work they do.
Without this sense of pride and ownership over the quality of service IT provides, IT departments are at serious risk of not being able to deliver quality service, on time, and on budget.
Knowing the engagement levels of your staff and actively looking to improve them is therefore critical for success.
Impact of Engagement on Performance
McLean & Company; N=1,308 IT Employees

10. Engagement is fundamentally about leadership – it’s your responsibility
Many organizations would argue that improving employee engagement is the responsibility of the human resources department. This traditional view of engagement can be beneficial for organization-wide initiatives and it allows for a consistent approach across an enterprise. However, despite human resources’ involvement, IT leadership is ultimately accountable for the engagement of their staff.
Why Should IT Leadership Be Responsible for Their Staff Engagement? 1
Leaders have the single greatest impact on engagement.
The highest impact drivers of engagement for IT are related to leadership, including Employee Empowerment, Culture, Company Potential, Senior Management Relationships, and Departmental Relationships. When CIOs engage their team, all of these engagement drivers are affected. 2
Engagement happens every day, through every interaction.
When engagement is owned by IT leadership, engagement initiatives are incorporated into day-to-day management practice – and managers begin to view every interaction with employees as an opportunity to engage. It is this active, dynamic leadership that inspires ongoing employee engagement. 3
Leaders should tailor engagement to individual team members.
If IT leaders know their team members well, they can engage employees based on their individual characteristics: what motivates them, their likes and dislikes, and their goals. There is nothing more powerful in engagement than personalization.

11. If these symptoms resonate with you, it might be time to invest in improving IT employee engagement
Signs you may need to improve employee engagement…
“Employees rarely offer to stay late to finish work.”
“The rate of turnover is higher than industry average or in previous years.”
“Employee rankings of the IT department on social networking sites (e.g. Glassdoor) are low.”
“Missed deadlines don’t seem to trouble employees.”
“Key employees are regularly oppositional to suggestions or requests.”
“Employees are frequently absent from their jobs.”
“Business partners complain about the lack of effort or care put in by IT employees.”
“Lack of creativity and innovation – staff do not look for new opportunities to improve products or services.”
“Staff meetings are not well attended or there is a lack of participation.”
“Staff members vocally complain about the organization.”
“I struggle to motivate my staff to change.”
“Certain IT staff seem to be putting in time rather than effort.”

12. Info-Tech’s approach to IT employee engagement
IT leaders often lack the experience and time to conduct and execute engagement initiatives. Info-Tech’s engagement program is designed to streamline this process and help you measure and improve IT engagement fast.
Measure the engagement of your employees by using Info-Tech’s Engagement diagnostic. The diagnostic comes complete with customizable reports, presentation scripts for communicating the results of the survey, and survey administration guides.
Take the guesswork out of implementing an employee engagement initiative by using our research and engagement materials, saving you valuable time and reducing costs.
Use our facilitation guide to lead a workshop with your staff, enabling their contribution to the ideation, development, and implementation of initiatives that will aid in increasing their engagement.
Prioritize the engagement drivers that require the most attention (with the highest importance) and build an action plan to address them.
Compare engagement results year over year to measure the impact of your engagement initiative and benchmark yourself against other organizations.
HOW WE
CAN
HELP

13. Start turning around employee engagement today
Go beyond job satisfaction and find out what drives employee productivity. Our Employee Engagement Program built in partnership with Mclean and Company, a division of Info-Tech Research Group is designed to take you through all of the steps required to effectively understand employee feedback, then act on initiatives that will improve engagement at your organization.
From start to finish, Info-Tech’s engagement program includes everything you need. We take a multi-level approach to tackling engagement on an annual or quarterly basis including:
Survey data collection, analysis, and reporting.
Specialized segmentation and customization.
Action planning advice and presentation of results by an analyst.
Access to our engagement research to help you implement change initiatives.
Unlimited one-on-one phone calls with analysts to work through engagement initiatives.
We also have an Engagement Action Planning workshop to help you jumpstart improving engagement. Please contact us for more details.
A Division of Info-Tech Research Group

14. Understand the components of engagement using McLean & Company and Info-Tech’s Engagement Program Methodology
Four Types of Engagement Drivers
Job engagement drivers are levers that influence the engagement of employees in their day-to-day roles.
Organizational engagement drivers are levers that influence an employee’s engagement with the broader organization.
Retention drivers are employment needs. They don’t necessarily drive engagement but must be met for engagement to be possible.
Personal disposition is the lens through which a person views his or her surroundings. All things being equal, some employees have a more positive outlook and are more likely to be engaged.
Five Drivers With the Highest Impact on IT Employee Engagement Include:
Employee Empowerment
Culture
Company Potential
Senior Management Relationships
Departmental Relationships
These drivers highlight a need for IT staff to feel connected and valued within IT and by the organization as a whole.

15. Improve employee engagement in three steps
Present Results to Staff
Analyze Engagement Results and Present to IT Leadership
Review Engagement Results
Select Employee Engagement Initiatives
Execute on Initiatives
Select the Right Employee Engagement Diagnostic
MEASURE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
ANALYZE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT RESULTS
DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES
Prioritize Engagement Drivers Using Survey Results 
Solicit Staff Input and Generate Ideas for Improvement
Launch Employee Engagement Survey
Determine Employee Engagement Priorities
Develop Detailed Initiative Plans
Monitor and Communicate Results

16. Leverage Info-Tech’s customizable deliverables to execute your engagement program
MEASURE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
DEVELOP AND IMPLEMENT ENGAGEMENT INITIATIVES
ANALYZE EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT RESULTS
A: FULL SURVEY
B: PULSE SURVEY
CUSTOMIZABLE DELIVERABLES
Employee Engagement Full and Pulse Surveys
Participant Templates
Invitation Templates
Engagement Report
A: Full Engagement Survey
Customizable Full Engagement Presentation and Communication Guide
Customizable Full Engagement Report Discussion Guide
B: Pulse Engagement Survey
Customizable Pulse Engagement Report Presentation and Facilitation Guide
Customizable Pulse Engagement Report Discussion Guide
IT Employee Engagement Program Plan
Pulse Survey

17. Leverage Info-Tech’s tools and templates to overcome key engagement program implementation challenges
Measuring Employee Engagement
Getting Insight Into Employee Needs & Priorities
Finding the Time to Do the Work
Info-Tech’s Engagement Program is a low-effort, high-impact program that will give you a detailed report on IT’s engagement levels. Use this information to benchmark year over year and create a targeted action plan.
Use Info-Tech’s detailed communication discussion guide to pull out key insights from your organization’s reports, and be ready to present to your IT leadership team in under 30 minutes.
Use Info-Tech’s facilitation guide and scripts to make soliciting feedback from employees easy and generate ideas for improvement. Use our planning guide to help you to implement your IT engagement initiatives.
There is no short-cut here – getting this project done will take time. However, Info-Tech’s streamlined methodology, diagnostics, Guided Implementations, and workshops take the guesswork out of the process, providing the needed materials to get the job done right.
KEY CHALLENGES:
OPPORTUNITIES TO LEVERAGE THIS BLUEPRINT
METRICS
Number of hours to build the engagement survey and report multiplied by the salary of individual.
Cost of unplanned turnover (staff training, recruitment costs, salary changes, etc.) year one compared to year two.
Analyzing and Presenting Engagement Results

18. CASE STUDY Overview Industry Source Publishing Interview SOLUTION
The CIO engaged Info-Tech’s sister organization McLean & Company to conduct an extensive employee engagement survey to understand the level and drivers of employee engagement.
In reviewing the results he realized that less than 20% of his staff classified as engaged and that there was a general lack of connection to the organization’s mission, significant challenges with departmental relationships, and employees lacked a sense of employee empowerment.
SITUATION
A rapidly growing corporate publishing organization was struggling high levels of staff turnover, failures to deliver projects on time and on budget, and an overall poor reputation in the organization. Other members of the C-suite were starting to look outside of IT for solution procurement, and the CIO feared that if changes weren’t made his position could be at risk.
IT staff was constantly in firefighting mode, stress levels were high, and the team lacked a willingness to collaborate or help one another.
The CIO realized that if he wanted to make changes in the organization he would need to seriously look at the organization’s culture and look for opportunities to improve staff engagement.
RESULTS
The CIO developed an Engagement Council, whose focus was on identifying and implementing initiatives targeted at making improvements in those three areas. Improvements included:
Substantial increase in IT employee morale and sense of value.
Reduced shadow IT investment.
Improved service desk satisfaction.
Improved profile in the organization for seeking out new innovative solutions.
Decrease in staff turnover by 20% – an ultimate savings of $150,000 annually.

19. Use these icons to help direct you as you navigate this research
Use these icons to help guide you through each step of the blueprint and direct you to content related to the recommended activities.
This icon denotes a slide where a supporting Info-Tech tool or template will help you perform the activity or step associated with the slide. Refer to the supporting tool or template to get the best results and proceed to the next step of the project.
This icon denotes a slide with an associated activity. The activity can be performed either as part of your project or with the support of Info-Tech team members, who will come onsite to facilitate a workshop for your organization.

20. Info-Tech offers various levels of support to best suit your needs
Guided Implementation
“Our team knows that we need to fix a process, but we need assistance to determine where to focus. Some check-ins along the way would help keep us on track.”
DIY Toolkit
“Our team has already made this critical project a priority, and we have the time and capability, but some guidance along the way would be helpful.”
Workshop
“We need to hit the ground running and get this project kicked off immediately. Our team has the ability to take this over once we get a framework and strategy in place.”
Consulting
“Our team does not have the time or the knowledge to take this project on. We need assistance through the entirety of this project.”
Diagnostics and consistent frameworks used throughout all four options

21. Employee Engagement – project overview
1. Measure Engagement
2. Analyze Engagement
3. Improve Engagement
Best-Practice Toolkit
1.1 Identify which engagement survey is right for your organization
1.2 Launch your engagement program
1.3 Analyze engagement results
2.1 Prepare to present results to management
2.2 Prioritize engagement drivers
2.3 Communicate results to IT staff
3.1 Identify employee engagement initiatives
3.2 Create an action plan to implement initiatives
3.3 Communicate engagement initiative process and impacts
Guided Implementations
Understand diagnostic options.
Prepare to launch your engagement survey.
Review results with an Info-Tech advisor.
Prepare a script to present results to IT leadership.
Discuss prioritized engagement drivers.
Customize the Engagement Focus Group Facilitation Guide.
Develop and refine action plans.
Review ongoing communication strategy.
Onsite Workshop
Module 1:
Understand Engagement Current and Target State
Module 2:
Understand Engagement Drivers and Prioritize Initiatives
Module 3:
Create an Action Plan and Communicate to Staff
Phase 1 Outcome:
Identified IT staff engagement levels
Phase 2 Outcome:
Prioritized list of engagement drivers and engagement initiatives
Phase 3 Outcome:
Detailed engagement action and communication plan

22. Workshop overview
Contact your account representative or for more information.
Preparation
Workshop Day 1
Workshop Day 2
Workshop Day 3
Workshop Day 4
Activities
Task – Complete Employee Engagement Program
1.1 Identify engagement program
1.2 Launch Engagement Diagnostic
Explore Engagement
2.1 Identify employee engagement goals and obstacles
2.2 Understand your organization’s engagement level by reviewing results
2.3 Finalize focus group agendas
Hold Employee Focus Groups
3.1 Identify priority drivers
3.2 Identify engagement KPIs
3.3 Lunch breakout group
3.4 Afternoon breakout group
Action Planning
4.1 Select engagement initiatives with IT leadership
4.2 Discuss and decide on top five engagement initiatives
4.3 Create initiative project plans
4.4 Build detailed project plans
4.5 Present project plans
Communication and Ongoing Engagement
5.1 Define implementation strategy
5.2 Identify opportunities for ongoing ideation
5.3 Define implementation checkpoints
5.4 Develop communications plan
5.5 Define strategy for ongoing measurement of engagement
Deliverables
Employee Engagement Report
Defined Engagement Goals and Objectives
Summary of Focus Groups Results Presentation
Identified Engagement Initiatives
Engagement Project Plans
Communication Strategy
Ideation Strategy

23. Appendix B Engagement Program Methodology
Engagement Initiative Timeline
Start, Stop, Continue

24. Understand the components of engagement using McLean & Company and Info-Tech’s Engagement Program Methodology
Four Types of Engagement Drivers:
Job engagement drivers are levers that influence the engagement of employees in their day-to-day roles.
Organizational engagement drivers are levers that influence an employee’s engagement with the broader organization.
Retention drivers are employment needs. They don’t necessarily drive engagement, but must be met for engagement to be possible.
Personal disposition is the lens through which a person views his or her surroundings. All things being equal, some employees have a more positive outlook and are more likely to be engaged.
Five Drivers with the Highest Impact on IT Employee Engagement Include:
Employee Empowerment
Culture
Company Potential
Senior Management Relationships
Departmental Relationships
These drivers highlight a need for IT staff to feel connected and valued within IT and by the organization as a whole.

25. Timeline End of Year 1 Conduct Full Engagement Survey Analyze Results
Present Results to Leadership
Implement Initiatives
Develop Initiative Action Plan
Conduct Engagement Survey
Month 1
Conduct Focus Groups
Three-Month Initiatives Update
Month 3
Initiatives Status Update
Launch Second Pulse Survey
Month 6
Present Results & Update
Launch New Initiatives
Review Process Effectiveness
Month 9
Nine-Month Update

26. What should we stop, start, or continue?
What can you stop, start, or continue doing to help you achieve the ideal team?
Start: actions that the team would like to begin.
Stop: actions that the team would like to stop.
Continue: actions that works for the team and should proceed.
What is one action that is outside of the team’s scope that you’d like senior management to stop, start, or continue?
(30 minutes)
Now that we have the ultimate team goal in mind, what can we stop, start, or continue doing to help us achieve the ideal team. Remember, our goal is to develop into a team that we’d want to score tens on the MLI. If you already think that, that’s awesome; let’s make sure we continue doing the things that you appreciate. The key thing is that we identify things that are within our control.
We’ll begin with start. (Write the ideas of what the team would like to begin doing on a flip chart.)
Next, what would we’d like to stop doing that will impact the team positively? What is preventing us now from achieving that ideal team?
And finally, let’s not forget the things that are currently working well. What should we continue doing?
In addition to what’s in the control of our team, is there one action that you’d like to share with senior management? This must be outside of our scope.
While there’s no guarantee that our idea will be implemented, it will be shared with senior management. Pick the thing that would move the needle on the MLI or you think is making a difference now. For example, some folks have found that the opportunity to ask senior leadership questions in the fireside chats to have really helped them to understand the rationale behind some decisions. Understanding this context has made them more comfortable with the direction that their business was taking.
Exercise Requirements:
Flip chart or whiteboard, markers

27. Bibliography
Buckingham, Marcus, and Coffman. “First, Break All the Rules: What the World’s Greatest Managers Do Differently.” Simon & Schuster, 1999.
Cannon-Brookes, Mike. “The Inaugural “ShipIt Day” – Atlassian meets Google’s 20%.” Rebelutionary, <
Clarke, Nita, and David MacLeod. “Engaging for Success: Enhancing performance through employee engagement.” UK Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, 2009.
Dale Carnegie Institute. “Building a Culture of Engagement: The Importance of Senior Leadership.” Web. May <
Dale Carnegie Institute. “What Drives Employee Engagement and Why it Matters.” Web. May <
Gable, A. Shelley, et al. “How Should Organizational Leaders Use Employee Engagement Survey Data?” Performance Improvement, vol. 49, International Society for Performance Improvement; 2010; pg pg. 24;
Gallup. “How to Tackle U.S. Employees’ Stagnating Engagement” Web. May <
Macy, H. William, and Benjamin Schneider. “The Meaning of Employee Engagement.” Industrial and Organizational Psychology; 1 (2008), 3–30; Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.
Smyth, John. “The CEO Chief Engagement Officer.” Gower Publishing Limited, 2007.