Event Marketer Spring 2023 - 24

IDEAS
At Power Home Remodeling's annual Quest retreat for
employees, there's a little something for everyone, from
morning jogs to intimate concerts to art installations.
to-earth and they really do care about our
employees. "
ONE SIZE DOESN'T FIT ALL
A one-size-fits-all approach to internal
engagement is a dead end. Employees
come from different backgrounds, work in
different locations and have differing personal
preferences and priorities. No single
strategy will satisfy the needs of everyone,
and no one wants to be seen as a number.
" You would be hard pressed to find
an h.r. director, vp or chro who's not really
examining what are the ways that we
can offer unique experiences that really
resonate with our workforce, " Doliveira
says. " So it really means listening to your
employees because one size doesn't fit all. "
Customizing employee experiences is
something Southwest is passionate about
for a number of reasons, but particularly
because it gives the staff an opportunity to
hone and own its brand culture.
" We make sure that our employees
know the culture's up to you, " says
Eichinger. " It's not something that's provided
for you; it's something that you feed
and nurture. And let's tailor it to either
your work group or your location so we
can make sure that it's not just one-sizefits-all. "
And
at Power Home Remodeling's latest
retreat, with plenty of cocktails flowing
throughout the weekend, the brand made
a concerted effort to build safe spaces
into the event for attendees who were
abstaining from alcohol or exploring the
sober-curious movement.
" We created a program called SWAY.
24
EVENT MARKETER SPRING 2023
It stands for Sober Ways to Advance Yourself, "
says Sullivan. " So there were designated
areas and activities that were set
aside from areas where there were a lot
of bars around for people to always feel
included and comfortable in all different
types of settings. " (Turn to pg. 6 for more
on the sober-curious movement.)
INTERNAL AMBASSADORS
If you're going to personalize employee
engagement, you have to know who your
people really are. And for some organizations,
that entails enlisting someone
who's in the trenches with staffers to monitor
what's working and where their needs
could be better met. At Southwest, one or
more dedicated cultural ambassadors in
each of the brand's locations are tasked
with maintaining morale, organizing
engaging internal activities and generally
taking care of the staff.
" These culture ambassador roles are
great. There are term limits, and they're
not in a leadership position, " Eichinger
says. " We ask that the leaders choose
someone who's not a manager so it brings
up some more of those interesting ideas,
gives that employee a sense of ownership
and maybe a path to growth. "
From Sullivan's perspective, investing
in an internal events department is
essential to building effective employee
experiences. " My team and I work
alongside the employees every day so we
can better gauge what they like, what
they don't like, what they want to see
next. And it's an investment that can help
to elevate and personalize that employee
experience. We're staying on top of trends
within the industry, attending different
kinds of events for ourselves and trying to
think of bigger ways to provide that oneof-a-kind
experience. "
GATHERING FEEDBACK
Southwest, Power Home Remodeling and
Sheetz all conduct post-event employee
surveys, but they also regularly check
in with staffers on all manner of topics,
including what they'd like to get from
internal experiences. And each of the
brands is dedicated to not only making
changes based on that feedback, but also
letting employees be part of the solution.
" It's not creating an event based upon
what the executives of the company think
it should be, says Doliveira. " If employees
can see that you listened and incorporated
something that's important to them
into the event, it drives engagement even
further. "
Or, as Sullivan put it, " We get a ton of
feedback from employees, and it's all really
positive. The important thing is seeing
how happy employees are. It's not a direct
ROI that we can provide. It's kind of like
hugging your mom-it just feels right. "
Catch a full session on
designing impactful employee
events at the Experiential
Marketing Summit, May 9-11.
Learn more at emsummit.com.
eventmarketer.com
IMAGE CREDIT: POWER HOME REMODELING
https://www.emsummit.com http://www.eventmarketer.com
Event Marketer Spring 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Event Marketer Spring 2023
