Whether your organization is office-based, remote, or hybrid, the employee journey is everything.
A positive employee journey will drive retention, boost productivity, and mean you make more money. Your workplace will also attract better quality candidates and be a more uplifting place to work. Who doesn’t want that?
However, when it comes to building a world-class employee journey, some businesses feel stuck. Can you really build an employee journey that delivers for all team members, no matter where or when they work?
Yes you can. The cornerstone of any effective employee journey is communication. With or without technology, that can happen in a range of ways, it doesn’t just have to be face-to-face.
In fact, let’s not forget that for some people, face-to-face communication is challenging. Digital may be more comfortable, or even aid in how they process the information.
With that in mind, let’s explore some tips to build a great employee journey both in-person and digitally:
Encourage connection
Regardless of how big your company is, or where it’s based, connection is pivotal to people feeling like they belong. Of course, it’s also pivotal to the business running smoothly. There’s nothing worse than one department saying one thing, and another department saying another to a client or contractor.
Connection is key to successful communication. When teams value what other departments do, they’re more likely to discuss things with them and value their input.
If it’s a competitive environment, this is much less likely to happen. That’s also where you end up with situations where the left side doesn’t know what the right side is doing. This leads to poor collaboration among teams and potentially even with customers.
In a situation where an employee already feels isolated, like remote working, a competitive or unhealthy environment can worsen it. People need to feel like they can talk to and connect with someone. Even if it’s just about what they watched on TV last night. Never underestimate the impact of those types of connections when it comes to someone’s mental and physical health.
Check-in regularly
Regular check-ins, whether they’re individual, in a group, written, or on a call, show employees that you really care about their wellbeing.
You could also encourage employees to check in with each other, especially if someone has been quiet or acting out of character.
The extent to which a simple “how are you?” can lead to someone opening up and feeling better may surprise you. It’s one of the simplest ways to improve the employee journey.
Keep chats engaged
Tools like Slack, Teams, and Workrowd are really important for a top-notch employee journey. They make people feel like a part of the team. So long as they’re not a ghost town.
When these spaces are quiet, people may feel uncomfortable asking questions or getting involved in them. Try to post something regularly, even if it’s just a business update or asking a question in the general section.
Ask for feedback
You don’t know if what you’re doing is working until you ask someone. Your employees can give you crucial insights into what you’re doing and whether it’s the right thing for them and their colleagues.
They may also have suggestions for how you can improve the employee journey.
Make space for both digital and in-person interactions
Some people are uncomfortable on camera, writing feedback, or discussing something over Slack. They’d prefer to do these things in an office, sitting next to someone.
It’s time to get over that self-consciousness and treat digital interactions like you would when you’re talking to someone in the office. This will make you, and the person you’re talking to, feel more comfortable.
Many of these things get easier over time and with practice.
You can improve giving written feedback by researching editing techniques. This is something that many people don’t realize they can and should do anyway. Giving feedback is an art and a science, just like many other things in life. Doing it well is also a key part of a great employee journey.
Support different departments and ranks
Even if someone is further down the career ladder, their messages shouldn’t be ignored or treated differently.
In previous roles, I’ve had my messages ignored, even when they were urgent. I’m not sure if that was because of my rank or department, but it made it a lot harder to do my job.
It also makes the person on the receiving end feel pretty terrible. If their colleagues are ignoring them, does that mean people don’t value them within the business? Are they bad at their job? Do their coworkers dislike them?
You really don’t want to be running a company where people feel that way. Not only does it come with wellbeing risks for the employee, but it will also lead to a higher churn rate for your business.
Have time to disconnect
Disconnection from work is just as important as building connections between colleagues.
Not having to respond to emails or messages immediately can help employees get into a state of deep work. This can then make them more productive and mean what they produce is of a higher quality.
You could have a set time for everyone to disconnect, or allow people to choose their own time. What matters is that you know the importance of taking time away from the constant barrage of work notifications.
Conclusion
A world-class employee journey is really about one thing: connection. The more connected someone feels to the rest of their team and others within the business, the happier they’re likely to be and the more work they’ll get done.
Technology now makes it easier for us to connect than ever. This means you have a wider pool of talent to choose from, can hire a more diverse workforce, and can reap all the benefits that those things provide.
The more you embrace taking steps to improve the employee journey, the more employees will follow your lead and do the same. They may even introduce you to new strategies, tools, and techniques you hadn’t considered before, but that would be the perfect fit for your business.
One tool that can support you in improving the employee journey is Workrowd. By connecting staff to the full array of your employee groups, programs, and events from day one, our user-friendly platform makes it easy for everyone to build a personalized employee journey they love.
Plus, with automated analytics, you always know where you stand and how you can make the employee journey even better. Drop us a line at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.
