Mastering Union Member Engagement: A Toolkit for Managers

Members play an irreplaceable role in your union’s success—they provide dues, vote in your elections, and provide a voice for your policy positions. However, they can only contribute to your success if they’re tuned into your daily activities and overall strategic moves.

In this guide, we’ll review best practices for boosting member engagement so your union can leverage its community to reach its fullest potential. As we review these tips, reflect on whether these strategies would complement your members’ preferences and your team’s strengths.

Union Member Engagement Tip #1: Use Software

If you’re to take one thing away from this guide, it’s this: you need software to engage members and ensure your entire organization is running smoothly. Whether you’re already using a union management software solution or are choosing your first one, ensure your tech stack has the following member engagement features:

• Centralized member information profiles. Keep member demographics, payment history, and contact information data in one place so you can pull important data effortlessly and efficiently.

• Communication tools. Update members on important events and other pertinent information by sending both mass communications and one-on-one messages.

• Self-service portals. Empower members to take charge of their involvement to ensure they have a vested interest in your union’s success. An easy way to do so is by using software with a member-facing membership portal.
• Reporting tools. Data is crucial for assessing your current member engagement and how to improve. Software should be able to track engagement metrics such as event attendance and retention rate.

You can find these features in numerous solutions, but what you can’t find just anywhere is a focus on unions in particular. Software solutions like UnionWare are tailored directly to unions, providing a suite of relevant features that allows your organization to achieve your growth goals.

Union Member Engagement Tip #2: Provide Professional Development

Your union exists to uplift your members’ current situations through advocacy, but have you ever thought about how you can prepare them for the future as well? You can do just that by offering professional development opportunities.

Here are some examples of professional development opportunities that you could offer to boost union member engagement:

• Accreditation or certification courses
• Passes to industry conferences
• Training materials and courses
• Continuing education workshops

Ultimately, investing in your members’ futures through professional development incentivizes them to stay connected to your union for the long haul. Just ensure you properly promote your professional development opportunities and collect feedback from members so you can maximize the return on your investment (ROI).

Union Member Engagement Tip #3: Recognize and Reward Contributions

Picture this: as a member of as union, you give both your time and money (through dues) to help the organization thrive. However, you’re never recognized for your generosity and contributions. Would you want to continue engaging with that union? The answer, for most members, is no.

To ensure members stay engaged with your union, you must give back to the community that makes your work possible. Here are some ideas for how to do so:

• Send members hand-written thank-you notes when they volunteer for an event or contribute to fundraising efforts.
• Create a rewards system that gives members points for various engagement activities, which they can use to win prizes, like branded merchandise or gift cards.
• Start a recognition wall for union members who have been actively engaged for a certain period of time (usually at least a decade).

You know your members better than anyone else, so choose acknowledgement methods that appeal to their interests and your union’s niche. For instance, let’s say you’re representing a nurse’s union—your acknowledgment tactics might be awarding new scrubs to engaged members.

Union Member Engagement Tip #4: Encourage Participation in Union Leadership

As previously mentioned, personally involving members in union operations is more likely to deepen their interest in and commitment to your success. There’s no better way to do this than by establishing leadership opportunities for members. This might look like:

• An elected member committee that advocates for member interests during union leadership meetings
• A member resource group that spreads awareness of member-facing issues, organizes social and networking events, and more
• A mentorship program in which new members are matched with returning ones to provide guidance and support

Whichever opportunities you offer, take them seriously as major contributors to your union—this is a great way to show members that their opinions matter. Union leadership should regularly meet with member groups to ensure their concerns are being addressed and that they feel fulfilled in their roles.

As you cultivate your union member engagement strategies, collect input from the most important stakeholders—members themselves. Host meetings for brainstorming engagement ideas, collect feedback about current approaches, and research leading member engagement tactics in the union world. It might take some time, but soon enough, your union will be more united and empowered than ever before, filled with members who feel excited to support your mission.