Top 10 Hidden Costs of not Digitizing Employee Engagement
The one error that 47% of businesses make that costs them billions of dollars each year is failing to have a digital internal communications plan. A digital workplace may transform an organization, save money, and increase a company’s competitiveness. A digital workplace benefits productivity, engagement, and experience, and the success and savings spread across the organization, all the way to the consumer.
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The vast majority of the world’s workforce is on the front lines, unattached to a desk or corporate communications, but they are the ones that need engagement boosts the most. Companies need a corporate communication tool that is particularly intended for a mobile workforce to reach those people. According to Kristine Dery, a research scientist at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research, organizations that use a digital workplace outperform their competitors due to a more engaged and productive staff. Companies with higher levels of employee engagement beat competitors by 20%. Employers, on the other hand, spend just 1% of their corporate IT budgets on this critical group, costing them billions of dollars.
Here are some of the unintended consequences of failing to embrace digital in order to engage employees:
1. Low Retention Due to Unreliable Technology
The Straits Times claims that businesses with poor technology for two-way corporate interactions with a human touch have low retention rates. When a firm is behind the times technologically, employees are 450% more likely to leave their positions.
2. Slower Productivity in the Absence of a Digital Workplace
Paper pushing stifles productivity in the absence of a digital workplace. Management and staff devote more time to completing tasks. According to some estimations, a digital office speeds up work by 5x.
3. The Great Divide Between Management and Employees
Employees that are the most engaged are the most knowledgeable about their firm and have the most direct relationship with management, which is an advantage of a digital workplace. However, data suggest that these employees are in the minority. Almost half of the employees think they don’t know where their firm is going. 84% say they do not receive enough data from management. And 75% felt left out of the loop when it comes to policy changes. Employees are more likely to leave if there is a significant mismatch in corporate communications.
4. Disconnected Frontline Workforces Shows Lowest Level of Engagement
The world’s frontline employees number 2.7 billion. However, just 13% of them are engaged at work. This is more than 20 percentage points lower than the national average. Frontline workers are likewise underinvested in digital workplace technologies and are frequently excluded from corporate interactions. By connecting these employees to a corporate communication app, you are engaging and empowering them with information. Every employee wants to be kept up to date on business developments.
5. The High Cost of a Workforce That Doesn’t Have a Digital Workplace
Low productivity is the outcome of low engagement. However, there is a concrete figure associated with this loss. Every year, organizations lose $450 billion due to a lack of engagement. The cost-benefit analysis of a digital workplace demonstrates that a simple strategic adjustment in internal communications may avoid these unnecessary economic losses.
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6. Miscommunication Comes at a High Cost
Miscommunication costs businesses $37 billion each year. A corporate communication app can simplify the delivery of clear information to specific end customers. In addition, with a digital workplace platform, a confirmation campaign might ensure that the receiver has received the message, reducing the possibility of misinterpretation.
7. High Frontline Turnover Costs Time and Productivity Losses
The highest turnover rates are in deskless industries. Workflows are disrupted by employee departures, and it takes longer and longer to replace a vacancy. Lack of employees reduces productivity and decreases income. Many workers quit their jobs because they have no emotional attachment to the business. A digital workplace creates a bridge to that hard-to-reach workforce and plugs the communication gaps.
8. Employee Replacement and Retraining Costs
The typical cost of replacing an hourly worker is 16% to 20% of their yearly salary. Frontline employees have the highest turnover and hence the highest staff replacement and training costs. 1 Hotel in New York needed to discover a strategy to retain its workforce committed, engaged, and enthusiastic about the brand. When they implemented a digital workplace App, their turnover rate fell by 39%.
9. Calendar Month Lost to Poor Internal Communications
The technological pendulum might swing too far the other way in certain businesses. Companies use an excessive number of applications in an effort to improve internal communications, inundating workers with messages and portals that need various sign-in methods. As a result, 32 days a year are lost due to app overload. An organization may combine several corporate communication tools into one hub by using a single digital workspace. There was a 90% decrease in emails after one grocery chain adopted a digital workplace app, simplifying communications through a single employee login.
10. The Cost of the Customer Experience
Most businesses compete solely on the basis of the customer experience, which is defined by their engagement with a company’s frontline employees. Using a corporate communication tool to educate, inform, and communicate with that team may help increase client loyalty. You risk losing business if you don’t have it. Every year, organizations squander billions of dollars, lose customers, and employees as a result of poor internal communications strategies.
Closing Thought
Encouraging early innovation may help your firm become more competitive and open up new prospects.
After all, the benefits of a digital workplace include increased productivity, employee engagement, and a better overall experience. And the success and savings from these advantages will spread across a business, all the way to the consumer.
Yet, this is only achievable if the organizational mindset changes. And the organization becomes eager to implement innovative solutions so that this potential can become a reality.
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