How alumni communities can thrive with an emphasis on personal connections and a selection of strategies for creating meaningful interactions.
The widespread adoption of remote work, accelerated by global events, has provided valuable insights that can be applied to corporate alumni programs (CAPs). As organizations grapple with engaging a distributed workforce, these lessons become crucial for maintaining meaningful connections with former employees.
When the pandemic hit and companies were forced to go remote, my colleagues and I started collecting data. We found that the shift to remote work revealed some surprising outcomes. While employee productivity often increased (counter to our expectations), our data showed that overall wellbeing declined. More critically, employees' social capital (defined as the value generated through relationships) declined. Indeed, 43% of leaders say that relationship building is the single greatest challenge in remote work. These important downsides of diminished personal connections in the virtual context offers important lessons for alumni engagement, who share the same lack of physical proximity.
Just as remote work caused a famine in engagement for companies, relying solely on digital platforms for alumni engagement risks creating a disconnected network. A LinkedIn group or job board, while useful, cannot replace the personal touch that fosters true loyalty and engagement. Leaders of alumni programs must recognize that simply digitizing outreach efforts is not enough to achieve desired outcomes.
Drawing from remote work experiences, here are key strategies for maintaining personal connections with alumni:
Virtual Coffee Chats: Implement one-on-one video calls between current leaders and alumni, mirroring the informal office interactions that remote work often lacks.
Mentor Matching: Create a program that pairs current employees with alumni mentors, fostering personal growth and maintaining strong ties. Note here that providing individuals with an organic way to connect mentor/mentees will prove more effective than formal matching.
Small Group Virtual Events: Host intimate online gatherings focused on specific topics or industries, allowing for more meaningful interactions. Perhaps providing themes to online functions like “preparing for your next role” or “navigating work/family challenges.” ERGs could also drive engagement through these meet ups.
Personalized Content: Leverage data to provide tailored communications and opportunities that resonate with individual alumni interests and career paths. The more you are able to segment your alumni base and cater to their particular needs, the more engagement you will garner—depth over breadth is key to engagement.
Alumni Storytelling: Regularly feature in-depth profiles of alumni, highlighting their journey since leaving the company, to create a sense of continued community. Additionally, update alums on important company milestones.
Just as middle managers played a crucial role in maintaining team cohesion during remote work, those leading alumni networks must take an active role in nurturing relationships. This includes:
Personal Outreach: Regular, non-transactional check-ins from leadership to key alumni. These interactions should feel genuine and caring, reinforcing the idea that the company values the individual beyond their potential business contributions.
Authentic Communication: Sharing company updates with transparency and openness, inviting alumni input and feedback. This two-way communication demonstrates that the company still values the alumni's expertise and opinions, fostering a sense of continued belonging.
Recognition Programs: Acknowledging alumni contributions to the company's ongoing success, reinforcing their continued importance to the organization. This can include featuring alumni achievements in company publications or establishing alumni awards for continued industry leadership or community impact.
While digital tools offer efficiency in managing alumni networks, the lessons from remote work underscore the need for a balanced approach. Successful alumni programs will leverage technology to facilitate connections, but not at the expense of personal interaction.
Hybrid Events: When possible, combine virtual accessibility with in-person gatherings to cater to diverse alumni preferences and locations.
Interactive Digital Platforms: Utilize technologies that encourage active participation and dialogue, not just passive consumption of information.
Continuous Feedback Loop: Regularly solicit alumni input on engagement preferences and adjust strategies accordingly.
Just as remote work challenged traditional productivity metrics, alumni engagement success should be measured beyond mere participation numbers. Consider metrics that reflect the depth of engagement:
Quality of Interactions: Assess the meaningfulness of alumni engagements through qualitative feedback. This could involve short post-event surveys that ask about the value of the content, the opportunities for networking, and whether the alumnus felt a renewed connection to the company. Analyze open-ended responses to identify themes and areas for improvement in your engagement strategies.
Alumni Satisfaction: Regularly survey alumni on their sense of connection to the company. Use a mix of quantitative scales (e.g., "On a scale of 1-10, how connected do you feel to [Company Name]?") and qualitative questions (e.g., "What would make you feel more connected to our community?"). Track these satisfaction scores over time to gauge the effectiveness of your alumni program.
Tangible Outcomes: Track concrete benefits such as business referrals, rehires, and mentorship outcomes. Set up systems to attribute new business leads or hires that come through alumni channels. For mentorship programs, measure both the number of relationships formed and their longevity. Also consider tracking the career progression of alumni to showcase the strength of your network.
The shift to remote work has reinforced the irreplaceable value of human connection in professional settings. For corporate alumni programs, this underscores the need to go beyond digital platforms and focus on creating genuine, personalized experiences for former employees. By applying these lessons, organizations can build alumni networks that not only exist on paper but thrive through meaningful, lasting connections. In doing so, they'll create a powerful extended community that continues to add value long after formal employment ends.
Dr. Matt Call is a professor in the Mays School of Business, at Texas A&M University. His award winning research focuses on how companies can best utilize their human capital for competitive advantage.
His scholarly work has been published in academic outlets like Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, the Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Journal of Management. He has also published work in outlets like the Wall Street Journal and the London School of Economics Business Review.
