The Glue Factor: Measure employee engagement based on text analytics

We are validating a method in which we measure employee engagement based on text analysis of internal texts (e.g. email traffic) and predict it in the long term. For example, HR and communications managers can map employee engagement within their organization, even if they regularly work remotely.

Research Theme: Mensgericht ontwerpen met AI

Field of interest: Communication, Media and Design

Duration: 1/09/2021 - 31/08/2023

Financing: PWO

Ask a few random business leaders what's giving them headaches in the work-from-home era, and they'll sigh collectively.

It is not a statement from us, but from Vonk, the network for internal communication. It aptly shows how great the need is for organizations and companies to gain even more insight into how they can keep their employees involved in the organization and the company.

Healthy balance between working at home and at the office

Due to the specific context of the corona crisis, the importance of this question has only increased for many companies. Especially now that it is becoming clear that teleworking and home working will have to be given a place in the 'new normal' at the workplace after the corona crisis. It is often a difficult dilemma for the business manager and HR manager:

On the one hand, many employees do not want to return to the office full-time after the corona crisis because they have discovered various advantages of teleworking and working from home.
On the other hand, there is the observation that the mandatory teleworking during this corona crisis has shown that many employees miss the social interaction in the workplace.

Dutch research shows that this applies not only to extroverted, but also to introverted employees. A good balance between home and office will therefore become very important.

Objectives research project

This research:

First of all, it provides a clear overview of how HR managers and those responsible internal communication in practice deal with involvement between the organization and the employees;
operationalizes the concept involvement further into a workable definition so that we can also measure it more clearly afterwards;
explores an innovative method to measure engagement in organizations and companies. We are thinking here of text and sentiment analysis based on natural language processing (NLP) of internal texts (e.g. mail traffic, but also posts on internal social media) in the form of a case study within an organization from Flanders with more than 250 employees. Naturally, this will be done in accordance with all applicable GDPR guidelines with respect for the privacy of the organization and each individual employee involved.