Success, Satisfaction and Scrutiny:
the Resident Engagement Toolkit
Aim for a representative
sample of views
Offer financial incentives
There are pros and cons to offering financial
incentives. On the one hand they can encourage
some residents to participate who might not
otherwise do so; a persuasive argument where
engaging traditionally hard-to-reach groups
is a common aim. On the other hand, as the
National Tenants Organisations have pointed
out, paying residents doesn’t sit comfortably
with the fact they are volunteering their time.
Formal engagement structures can offer
a wealth of insights, but they can also be
ineffective in attracting traditionally hard-to-reach
groups. Much of it is down to an emphasis
on meetings. Groups including single parents,
younger residents or those with irregular working
hours may be underrepresented, undermining
your ability to tailor services to residents’
needs. To safeguard against this we suggest:
zz Providing a range of opportunities. Our
Resident Governance Structure is just one
element of an offer which also comprises
surveys and other ‘armchair’ forms of
engagement
zz Making engagement an objective of all
community events including fun days,
roadshows and estate action days
zz Setting targets. Our aim is for the
demographic profile of informally involved
residents (i.e. all those apart from the ones
on our Resident Governance Structure) to
fall within five percent of that of our resident
population. That’s factoring in diversity
characteristics including age, gender and
ethnicity
zz Identifying and plugging gaps. We’ve set
up dedicated informal groups (e.g. a youth
forum) and targeted events at groups we’ve
found to be underrepresented
zz Appointing rather than electing members.
Recruiting from an already narrow
demographic profile perpetuates a lack of
diversity, whereas appointment can allow
areas of deficit to be addressed
zz Reimbursing reasonable travel costs or
providing transport for vulnerable residents
and when meetings finish after dark
zz Providing refreshments for evening meetings
zz Covering carer and childcare costs.
Our suggestion is to use financial incentives
sparingly. Besides paying board members,
we offer shopping vouchers to help
recruitment to some consultations and to
reward mystery shopping. As above, it’s
with the aim of ensuring a broad range of
opinions is being taken into account.
Case study seven:
AmicusHorizon’s plans
for a points-based
rewards system
In April 2016 we’ll introduce a new Resident
Governance Rewards Policy. It’ll reward
governance members with points for
participating in different activities (e.g. helping
to recruit staff and delivering training), and for
making suggestions which change the way
we work. The aim is to make the incentives
contribution- rather than attendancebased. Residents will be able to exchange
points for external training, which doesn’t
necessarily need to be housing-related
and can be with any training provide r.
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