The competitive job market and a variety of external forces (such as a pandemic!) continue to rewrite the rules that govern our workplaces which in turn affect our interpersonal relationships in the office, which are becoming increasingly more relevant and intertwined with the strategies we employ for running our organizations.
Especially today, with a workforce more distributed than ever before, business leaders must reevaluate how talent is acquired, managed, and retained within an organization.
Many companies use a variety of technology consulting services to develop a scalable workplace solution that aligns with their corporate plan to improve employee engagement and efficiency, build resilience, and drive business initiatives. However, emerging technologies have identified new engagement opportunities for increasing employees’ productivity as employee engagement continues to be a significant driver of success, motivation, and efficiency for companies today.
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Let’s look at five ways organizations are using technology to improve employee engagement:
Working Together Despite Location
A variety of digital communication tools enable employees to connect in real-time, such as Slack, Google hangouts, Teams, Whatsapp groups, and Skype. This creates a sense of belonging for those working from another location and enables file sharing and collaboration much like if everyone were sitting around the same table.
Employees today, especially of younger generations, have become so accustomed to the efficiency of communication and collaboration tools, that they now expect this efficiency from their workplaces. Working with technology that increases your productivity and makes your day-to-day tasks more efficient, also improves engagement and reduces employee frustration.
Use of Technology in Sourcing Talent
The market is flooded with outlets for recruiting candidates, which can feel distracting for those looking for a new employment opportunity. Therefore companies need to use the right sourcing tools that can give them in-depth insights into talent trends and to provide an employee-facing experience that makes them stand out from the crowd.
Recruiting processes are more efficient and companies can adapt to recruiting demands faster and more efficiently with agile sourcing solutions that are aligned with talent and business strategies. This also allows HR professionals within the organization to quickly deploy tools that give them an edge in identifying hard-to-find candidates.
The right sourcing development system helps recruiters cut through the noise quickly and introduce the most effective ways of fulfilling the organization’s talent needs. A couple that have stood out in the market include Team Tailor and Greenhouse.
Think of your recruiting process as the beginning stages of employee engagement, even if many of the candidates ultimately do not end up as your employees. Candidates evaluate companies on their ability to use modern technology, providing an efficient employee-friendly process, and their communication during the recruitment phase, and often take these as major indicators of how they will be treated as an employee.
Engage your employees with technology.
Incorporate Incentives
The key to staying engaged in a growing workplace is to feed employees’ need for growth and learning.
Employers need to provide an environment that promotes engaged learning and opportunities for both personal and career growth.
It is the organization’s responsibility to make sure the employee is always equipped with the knowledge to perform to the best of their abilities, providing them with adequate training and the ability to adapt to new technologies implemented in the company.
One way of incorporating learning opportunities is to use a technical platform, such as Docebo or TalentLMS, that provides incentives or essentially gamifies a learning experience. Gamification can be thrilling because it can make sometimes monotonous tasks more fun and therefore more engaging.
For Instance: Employee training in social media skills can be provided a multi-level training system that allows learners to progress through the ranks and get the ultimate title of a social media “Master”.
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Incorporate Virtual and Smartphone Learning
Online and mobile learning is shifting employee standards. The employees of today lead multifaceted and busy lives with a more central focus on balancing work with their personal lives.
Therefore it is important that you provide employees access to learning materials and training at a time and place that is convenient to them. By promoting mobile learning, employees can participate on their own terms which can increase engagement and boost their passion for learning. Employees often recognize the convenience and flexibility of remote training as a positive advantage to working for a specific company.
Social Support and Community Building at Work
Employees are most often not only motivated by a paycheck but are looking to feel inspired, included and committed to a company that aligns with their values.
An essential way to create a sense of inclusivity and support for your employees is by helping them forge relationships with their co-workers. The easiest way to do this is by enabling a sense of community within your organization.
Technologies that promote connectivity and collaboration such as Slack may assist companies in developing and sustaining a more enjoyable and inspiring workforce that feels more rewarding for employees.
Personal interactions and connections at the workplace are often what can make or break a positive work experience. Providing a digital tool where employees can collaborate on work-related projects across departments and even locations can promote productivity and prevent siloing.
Fostering more informal interactions and those “watercooler” moments despite a dispersed workforce, is crucial for new employee integration, maintaining a healthy work/life balance and assuring the overall mental health of your workforce.
We hope this article will help you find ways to incorporate technological tools to improve employee engagement and increase productivity.
[To share your insights with us, please write to sghosh@martechseries.com]