In the modern workplace, the quality of your technology solutions can make or break employee experience.
Employees’ experience at work can be easily overlooked, as business leaders can often only focus on raw productivity, hitting KPIs, and profitability. Given that employees spend nearly one-third of their lives working, the employee experience and its direct correlation between performance, engagement, and satisfaction, should instead be a key focus.
According to Forbes, the problem of employee disengagement has 'dramatically amplified' in the last 18 months. Further, Gallup's "State of the Global Workplace: 2021 Report" reveals that employee engagement dropped by 2% in 2020 alone, costing the global economy a whopping $8.1 trillion in terms of lost productivity.
So, what exactly is the employee experience?
Digital Workplace Solution provider, Powell Software, notes that 'the employee experience encompasses the entire employee journey, from onboarding to off-boarding and every touchpoint in between. It’s holistic, focusing on all aspects of employees’ day-to-day, from helping get work done to ensure physical and mental wellbeing. Experience is a ‘company-wide initiative’ meaning the task shouldn’t fall to one person or department, everyone has a part to play.'
In a previous blog, we looked at how technology can help retain your employees. Today, we look at how technology, and in particular, employee experience platforms, can improve their overall experience.
1. Productivity
Productivity is hindered when people have to spend time switching between systems, searching for information, or completing repetitive tasks that could be automated. Employees switch between apps countless times a day, so it is easy to see how productivity can decrease and frustrations can grow if access to information and task completion is clunky.
An employee experience platform easily solves this problem by grouping the tools employees need into one platform.
2. Engagement
Highly engaged employees are less likely to leave, make fewer mistakes, foster better team culture, and can become effective brand ambassadors. A recent Gartner survey suggests that with 90% of companies continuing to allow employees to work remotely (even after they are vaccinated against COVID-19), engaging a team in multiple locations is unchartered territory for many. Engagement comes from feeling connected to a company, and that connection is built through interactions, open communication, collaboration, and culture.
An employee experience platform can help boost employee engagement through social interaction, chat boards and a range of features that bring people together digitally.
3. Culture
At the beginning of the pandemic, when entire businesses were sent home, maintaining a unified culture seemed to be a daunting task. However, software platforms such as Microsoft Teams, SharePoint and Powell Software have provided the opportunity to build connections, maintain communication and build an inclusive culture like never before.
Giving employees a common virtual workspace such as an employee experience platform ensures that culture can be maintained, or even reimagined.
4. Wellbeing
On average, employees spend around 40 hours per week working. On top of long working weeks, the pandemic has added unprecedented levels of burnout and stress, with many employees struggling to maintain a healthy work-life balance. An employee experience platform offers a holistic approach to supporting employee needs, with a focus on mental and digital wellbeing.
For example, taking a virtual coffee with colleagues offers a break from work, social interaction, and a chance to talk and share.
5. Retention
With employee expectations of technology in the workplace rapidly increasing, employees who have positive experiences at work are three times less likely to consider leaving their role. Many industries have been impacted by the pandemic and are now faced with the challenge of attracting and retaining top talent in their organisations, with unusually high turnover rates.
Ensuring your technology aligns with your business goals and supports your employees through every stage of the employee lifecycle will ensure that your employees remain productive, satisfied and enjoy their overall employee experience.
About Powell Software
Ensuring your employee experience platform succeeds relies on having the right software provider who understands your employee's needs.
Next-generation employee experience platform, Powell Software is a digital workplace that incorporates a communication space, Powell Intranet, and a collaboration tool, Powell Teams. Both are bridged with one accessible from the other, to combine engagement, wellbeing, and productivity features in a space that’s accessible, unified, and simple.
How Diamond IT can support your Employee Experience
Diamond IT are a proud partner of Powell Software. Our Business Technology Managers (BTMs) and Business Technology Consulting team are here to guide you through making the best decisions around technology to support your modern workforce, including how to implement holistic employee experience platforms.
Our team is here to help. Contact us today on 1300 307 907.
