Your digital employee experience program is key to attracting new talent, as well as retaining your existing talent.
It shows everyone, internally and externally, that you’re a forward-thinking business. It’s also a sign that you embrace flexible work and want to make your employees’ lives as easy as possible.
After all, if it’s easier for them to do their jobs, they’ll be more productive. And of course, that means that your business will make more money.
6 benefits of an effective digital employee experience program
Here are some of the benefits of an effective digital employee experience program:
More streamlined onboarding
Your onboarding process is your new hires’ first impression of your business. It has such a big impact that up to a fifth of new hires leave in the first 45 days. What’s more, up to a third leave within three months.
If your digital employee experience program incorporates tools that streamline processes and help new hires hit the ground running—alongside people and tools that make them feel like welcome additions to the team—they’re more likely to be engaged and want to stay.
Higher employee engagement
Just 23% of the global workforce is engaged, according to Gallup. Given the impact employee engagement can have on just about everything within an organization, this number is concerning.
If your employees aren’t engaged, they won’t be as happy in their roles. They also won’t be as productive, and won’t provide as good customer service.
It’ll have a ripple effect throughout the organization, too. New employees will feel less welcome because everyone who already works there feels so blah.
Moods and attitudes within communities are contagious, whether that’s between family members, friends, or colleagues.
Invest in your people by way of your digital employee experience program, and they’ll invest in you.
Increased productivity
Engaged employees are productive employees. Meaning they produce more and make you more competitive as an employer and a business.
And, of course, more profitable, too.
Better customer service
We’ve all decided not to buy from somewhere after seeing how bad the reviews are, right?
We worry that if we have an issue, the company won’t deal with it effectively, if at all. So we take our money elsewhere.
Good customer service is integral to a positive brand. It’s what brings people back again and again, and pulls in new business.
It can even improve your employer brand, attracting more employees who value good customer service and want to help you continue that trend.
But disengaged employees are far less likely to go above and beyond to please your customers. They simply won’t care enough about their role or the business to do so, since they won’t feel like you care about them as people.
On the flip side, when you invest in your employees and give them the tools to do their jobs effectively through your digital employee experience program, they’re happier. As a result, they’ll be more likely to want to support your clients and customers.
Increased retention
An effective digital employee experience program helps you retain your workforce. Why? Because it makes it easier for them to do their jobs.
If you’re still making them use outdated processes to connect with colleagues, everything slows down and increases workplace stress.
As a result, employees are far more likely to leave and take their skills and industry knowledge elsewhere.
Higher profits
MIT research found that companies with a strong employee experience are 25% more profitable than those with a weak one. They also have double the NPS score and innovation levels.
All this means your business can grow faster while retaining its top talent and attracting more clients. If you continuously work on your digital employee experience program, that is.
How to build a better digital employee experience program
Now that we understand why building a positive digital employee experience program matters, let’s take a look at how to do it:
Use the right tools
The key to your digital employee experience program is in the tools you use. They need to fit how your business operates and be able to scale as your business grows.
Otherwise, your employees will settle into using a tool only for you to change it in a few years’ time. This can lead to disruption and disgruntled employees if they dislike adapting to change or don’t like the new tools.
That’s why it’s so important to use tools that integrate with each other or that do as much of what you need as possible. And to pick tools that are user-friendly.
Workrowd helps you keep all your employee experience initiatives in one place. You can create employee groups to help people connect, organize events, and share announcements to multiple places at once so that no one misses out. Plus, real-time analytics ensure you always know what’s working and what’s not.
Teach your people how to use the tools
It’s all very well and good providing employees with tools that can help them do their jobs. Without teaching them how to use them though, you’ll never get the most out of the tools—or your employees.
Just because something seems obvious to you, that doesn’t mean it is to everyone.
A one-day training session, a series of videos, or a knowledge base anyone can access ensures that everyone can learn in a way that works for them, at a time that works for them.
Creating a knowledgebase is also an important part of a top-notch digital employee experience program. Having somewhere people can refresh their memories means that they don’t get stuck going in circles when they can’t remember how to do something.
Lead by example
To get your employees to use a tool, you need to lead by example. Employees will follow the lead of others within your organization, and that starts at the top.
If you’re implementing a new tool as part of your digital employee experience program, get your leaders to show examples of what the tool can do. This will encourage employees to engage, get the conversation going, and increase the likelihood of employees logging in to use the tool.
Collect employee feedback
To know and understand how your employees feel about your digital employee experience program, it’s important to ask them. The tools they use should feel like a seamless part of their working day. You can’t fix what you don’t know is broken.
Sending feedback surveys to find out how they really feel will help you discern what’s working and what’s not, how well your tools really integrate, and if they’re actually making your employees’ lives easier.
Conclusion
Your digital employee experience program is key to your overall employee experience and employer brand. It can help you attract digitally native employees who are future-oriented, improving your hiring efforts and innovation within your business.
If you want to create a truly great digital employee experience program, check out Workrowd. You can use it to manage your employee experience initiatives, share updates with one click, and keep everything easily organized in one place. You can even automate employee surveys and analytics.
It’s the user-friendly engagement platform that encourages connection for everyone across your organization. Get in touch today to book your free demo.
