Author: Kristina Proffitt

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Employee Engagement

5 ways to get more value out of employee communities

Communities are powerful. Whether they’re in school, in a city or town, or they’re employee communities, they can make a big impact.

Not only do they provide social opportunities, but they can also benefit our physical and mental health, helping us fight off everything from depression to chronic pain.

There’s no reason a work-related community can’t have just as big of an impact as social circles in our personal lives. In fact, work is often a place where people form long-term friendships.

Employee communities can help you nurture these relationships and can benefit your business, too.

What are employee communities?

Employee communities empower employees to connect with colleagues, regardless of company size.

For distributed or large companies, this can make a huge difference, resulting in a 39% increase in job satisfaction. No wonder 90% of Fortune 500s now have employee communities.

In the last five years, there’s been a 29% increase in employee engagement through employee communities. What’s more, they can enable a 14% increase in retention rates.

So if engagement and retention are areas you want to improve in your business, it might be time to look into how you can get more from employee communities.

How to get more out of employee communities

Let’s explore how you can maximize the results you get from employee communities.

Welcome new members

Have you ever walked into a room full of strangers only to have every pair of eyes turn to look at you…but nobody comes over to say hi?

Or worse, no one acknowledges that you’re even there?

For employee communities to be a success, every member should be made to feel like they’re welcome, regardless of how long they’ve been there.

If things start to get cliquey, it’s immediately off-putting and could harm your retention and engagement rather than boosting it.

Welcomes don’t have to be anything major, just a simple hello is enough. Something to acknowledge their presence and encourage other members of the group to welcome them, too.

Using the right tools to organize your employee communities can even highlight who’s new to a group. That way, fellow members know who could use a welcome. A little hello can go a long way.

Get leaders involved

Leaders set the tone for an organization. If they see employee communities as something they can set and forget, they’re unlikely to ever take off with employees.

If leaders are actively involved, regularly promote them, and make your employee communities seem important, employees will be more likely to want to use them, too.

But first, leaders have to explain the benefits. Otherwise, people will wonder what the point of it all is.

This could come in the form of a company-wide email, a LinkedIn post, an internal social media post, a poster in the office, or all of the above.

The more you do to get the word out—and regularly remind people employee communities exist—the better.

Have a shared purpose

One of the strongest ways to build connection is by sharing a purpose. It puts us all on even footing regardless of other criteria.

Having a strong purpose can also benefit our mental health as it gives us something to keep us focused.

Whether that shared purpose is improved diversity in the workplace, mentoring those earlier on in their careers, contributing to the environment, or something else, a shared purpose connects employees like nothing else. It gives them a reason to check in, stay on track, and take part in activities.

This common purpose then helps everyone organize activities and agree on goals.

It makes it clear to new hires who the group is for and therefore automatically qualifies people before they join.

Depending on employee communities’ success and engagement levels, they could also work to improve your employer brand.

It shows the outside world what matters to your employees and that the business contributes to something beyond just profit. Which further helps you attract more people with the same mission.

Collect feedback

Collecting feedback is important for every part of a business. It’s the only way to learn and grow. Employee communities are no exception.

Group leaders and HR should regularly check in with employees. It’s important to see what they want or need from the group, and what could be improved on.

Or even what employee communities they want to see, how people are managing them, and if you need a better tool to organize them.

You could collect the answers anonymously, which helps make employees feel more comfortable being honest. This is especially true if they’re from a background that’s underrepresented within the workforce.

Anonymity can also change how others respond to the feedback, making it a useful tool for driving change in the workplace.

Conclusion 

Employee communities enable colleagues who have similar interests or purposes to connect around a shared cause or topic. This helps reduce loneliness, which negatively impacts productivity, performance, mental health, and physical health. It could be the difference between a workplace of engaged employees who want to work or disengaged employees who are quiet quitting.

When organized in the right way, communities give your employees a greater sense of connection to their workplace and their colleagues. They help them stay focused while also feeling like they’re contributing to a larger purpose.

Use Workrowd to manage your employee communities

Workrowd can help you manage your employee communities so they’re easier to organize and employees want to join them.

You can put all the documents you need in one place, send automated feedback surveys, and create a greater sense of belonging in your business. Not to mention, you’ll gain access to analytics dashboards that ensure you always know how your communities are advancing your business.

If you’d like to connect your employees with easy to manage employee communities, get in touch today to discuss how we can support you and book your free demo.

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Categories
Learning & Development

5 leadership activities for employees to build skills at any level

It’s no secret that strong leadership skills can benefit people of all levels. So it follows that offering leadership activities for employees can boost both your employee experience and your bottom line.

When I was in high school, my teachers nominated me for an extracurricular activity called “Learning to Lead.”

It was exactly what it sounded like: a program where we learned to lead.

In one of the first sessions, they emphasized that there are different kinds of leaders. Some people lead a team, others lead by example. It was why some people seemed/felt like odd choices for the program.

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to witness the different kinds of leaders in society. There are those who run businesses or teams, who are great at people management.

Those who consciously choose to be influential within society, a culture, an industry, or a business. They choose to become trendsetters and thought leaders within their circle through sharing their knowledge on social media, internal comms, or elsewhere.

Then there are those who lead by example, but not necessarily consciously. They show their colleagues the way to do things perhaps without ever saying it. They set the tone, atmosphere, and attitude for everything that’s going on around them.

To be successful, businesses need multiple kinds of leaders. And they need to support and encourage different kinds of leadership.

Unfortunately, 69% of millennials feel they haven’t had enough leadership development, and only 5% of businesses have implemented leadership development programs at every level.

So what sorts of leadership activities for employees can you implement to grow your team’s skills?

Employee groups

Employee groups are an effective way for team members to share their knowledge and meet like-minded people.

They allow employees with similar backgrounds to share their experiences and learnings, meaning their colleagues can (hopefully) avoid the same mistakes and pitfalls.

They also provide employees with some moral support when things get challenging. Plus, they can be a great venue for offering leadership activities for employees.

Of course, for employee groups to work, they first need to be effective. And unfortunately, many of them could be run better.

That’s where we come in.

Workrowd helps you manage your employee groups so that you, and your employees, can get the most from them. We make it easier than ever for your employees to network, so they can share their knowledge and develop their skills. Including through a slate of leadership activities for employees.

Get in touch today to book your free demo.

Coaching

Coaching is a powerful tool that enables employees to discuss their situations, goals, and challenges with someone unbiased.

Working with an external coach comes with the benefit that they’re detached from the company and situation, meaning they can offer objective feedback to a problem.

Coaches can also help leaders design a path toward their goals and hold them accountable to navigating it. They can even recommend some leadership activities for employees based on what they hear from team members.

Mentoring

Mentors can set examples for employees, particularly for those from underrepresented backgrounds. They show the employee that someone else from that background has done it before, and so they can, too.

They’ll inevitably have shared experiences that are different from those who don’t come from that background.

For example, an employee with an invisible illness will experience a workplace differently from someone who doesn’t have an invisible illness. This affects how they approach the workday in ways that their colleagues may not understand unless they’ve been there.

An employee with a shared experience can offer moral support and guidance, making obstacles feel less insurmountable and boosting the employee’s confidence. Supporting mentoring pairs with programming is also a great way to offer leadership activities for employees.

Reading 

Never underestimate the power of a good book, whether it’s a physical book, audiobook, or e-book.

There are lots of great books out there on leadership. Some are classics that people still talk about years after publication. That would only be the case if they had something interesting/useful to say and leaders continued to learn from them.

Some examples include:

  • Radical Candor – Kim Scott
  • Start With Why – Simon Sinek
  • Leadership Mindset 2.0 – R. Michael Anderson

Reading allows employees to learn at their own pace, take notes, and share their findings with their colleagues.

Books on psychology are also useful when it comes to management, as they teach leaders how to empathize with people from different backgrounds and understand the alternative ways that people can think.

This is something that’s key for someone to be a great leader, whatever their role. They can’t lead effectively if they can’t empathize with the people around them.

You could even create a leadership-focused book club where people can share their favorite reads and key takeaways! It’s a great, low-effort way to offer leadership activities for employees.

Training

Training workshops enable employees to disconnect from everyday duties and focus on learning new skills and strategies. 

While these can be intense so aren’t suitable for everyone, the focused atmosphere and diverse participants (and hopefully diverse speakers if you host a longer event or do them regularly) allow employees to shake up their thinking patterns, learn new skills, and understand more about themselves and other people.

Training should be a core focus of your leadership activities for employees.

Team-building activities

I know, these can be cringeworthy. But hear me out before you judge.

When working with other people, employees naturally fall into roles and hierarchies, often without intending to.

Team building activities allow you to find who your natural leaders are. So then you don’t just get the folks who put themselves forward, you get the ones who naturally take charge and set examples, which aren’t always the same people.

These sorts of leadership activities for employees are also a way for people to hone their skills in a more practical environment. As opposed to the other options on this list which are more theoretical.

Alternatively, you could allocate roles to people, choosing who’s in charge, so that different employees get to try different roles. You can then find your natural leaders who may not volunteer to be in charge, but suit the position all the same.

Conclusion

Whatever someone’s current or future role is, the right leadership activities for employees can help them grow their technical and personal skills so that they can be more effective leaders.

Regardless of how long someone has been a leader for, there’s always something new to learn. That could be a new tool to try, a new psychological theory to get employees working better together, or a new activity that hones their skills.

The more leadership activities for employees you offer, the more future leaders you can support and the more diverse your leaders will be.

Ready to elevate your leadership activities for employees and boost participation organization-wide? You need Workrowd’s comprehensive tool suite.

With centralized access to all your leadership activities for employees, personalized dashboards, automated analytics, and more, you can cultivate leaders at every level.

Ready to learn more? Visit us online or reach out to us directly at hello@workrowd.com.

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Categories
Employee Engagement

4 ways to leverage personalization for more engaged employees

It’s no secret that having engaged employees can make a big difference for your company culture and your bottom line.

For every disengaged employee, it costs businesses an additional 1/3 of their paycheck. Unfortunately, 85% of employees are disengaged at work, meaning that businesses are paying a lot more than they should be for their workforce and getting a lower ROI per employee.

How do you fix that?

One way is by leveraging personalization in your employee experience. This can help you tap into employees’ internal motivations, improving engagement and productivity.

Let’s look at some ways you can use personalization to help you on the path to more engaged employees:

Use several communication methods

During the pandemic, only half of businesses offered personalized internal communication options. Which means that a lot of the internal messaging happening would’ve come via word-of-mouth or may not have reached people at all.

We all digest information in different ways, and internal communications are no different.

Most businesses have their preferred ways of communicating. Technology makes it easier than ever to combine options to suit both organizations and employees.

For instance, meeting tools now have auto-transcripts. These closed captions aren’t perfect—and are far better with some accents than others, as my English accent knows all too well—but they make it easier for employees with auditory processing issues, or who are hard of hearing, to understand what’s happening and not feel left out.

Tools like these can also create agendas or notes at the end of meetings, meaning everyone can see what the key topics and takeaways are.

Video tools, meanwhile, now have auto-transcripts or allow time-poor employees to increase the speed to get through them faster.

There are so many options now that you don’t need to stick to one form of communication and risk leaving employees out. You want everyone to feel in the loop when you’re aiming for more engaged employees.

Support different ways of learning

77% of L&D professionals believe learning is imperative to employee engagement.

But everyone learns in different ways.

Some people might favor an intensive, all-day workshop, while others may prefer something that’s self-paced.

One of the fascinating things about being human is how differently we all learn.

But just like with school, businesses can prioritize one type of learning over others, meaning that some get to excel while others fall behind purely because their brain works in a different way from what’s treated as “normal.”

When you offer employees different ways to learn skills or process information, it shows you see them as individuals. That you’re not going to hold their short attention spans, desire to tackle one task at a time, or fact that they learn in a different way from their colleagues, against them.

It also means any training you offer comes with a higher ROI because employees will stay, and therefore use, more of what they’ve learned. So your business benefits so much more.

Regardless of how an employee learns, they—and your business—still get all the benefits that come from learning. The only difference is that there are several paths they can take to learning that new skill. And you get more out of them, and more engaged employees, as a result.

Provide multiple career development options

Just like everyone learns differently, not every employee will take the same path to promotion, either. Some people might want to be managers in the future, while others would rather be your subject matter experts instead. That doesn’t make those employees who don’t want to manage people less beneficial to your business.

Some employees may feel that their only path to a promotion or a pay raise is to go into a people management role when it isn’t the right fit for them.

This can cause stress and disengagement among your managers and employees, with poor management being one of the main reasons employees leave their roles.

So what can you do instead?

The more options you give your team members, the more supported they’ll feel. And the more likely you’ll be to have engaged employees.

Some options include:

  • Changing departments, like going from marketing to sales
  • Moving to working on commission or increasing commission rates
  • Taking on a people management role
  • Becoming a knowledge leader, like a principal engineer

These are all different paths to career development, taking a more personal approach than the typical assumption that the only way to grow in a career is to stop honing technical skills and move into honing people skills.

Some people just aren’t cut out for traditional management, or don’t want to do it. That doesn’t mean they’re not great employees. Or that they’re not engaged employess. Embracing different types of workers and career growth will help with employee engagement, internal knowledge, and retention.

Don’t assume all benefits appeal to everyone

Different benefits appeal to different employees. A child-free person isn’t going to find subsidized childcare appealing, for example, but for a parent—especially in a country where childcare is expensive—this could be a key selling point.

Likewise, a healthcare plan is less appealing in a country that has free or subsidized healthcare.

For a long time, businesses have taken a one-size-fits-all approach to benefits. This treats every employee the same, rather than considering individuals’ life experiences and needs.

Rather than making assumptions or following trends, why not ask your employees what benefits they want?

You can send your employees a survey to find out what benefits appeal to them. This shows them that their opinions matter to you, and that you’re listening. If you want more engaged employees, listening to them, and acting on what they say, is key.

Conclusion

With the rise of technology and AI, there are fewer excuses than ever not to offer your employees more personalized experiences.

Technology can help you repurpose information in multiple ways, collect employee sentiment, and analyze the results.

If you want to personalize your employee experience in pursuit of more engaged employees, Workrowd has the tools you need.

From personalizable dashboards so every team member can quickly access the information that’s most important to them, to automated feedback surveys so you always know how to improve, it’s all just a click away.

Ready to see how we can help you create more engaged employees without the stress? Visit us online today, or send us a note directly at hello@workrowd.com.

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Categories
Employee Retention

How to increase employee retention on a budget in 2024

Roughly 4 million Americans quit their jobs every month, with almost a third quitting within the first six months. So it should come as no surprise that many organizations are looking for solutions around how to increase employee retention.

Globally, more than half of organizations find retaining their most valuable employee groups hard. Replacing highly trained employees can cost over 200% of the person’s annual salary.

Improving employee retention can reduce these huge costs. Plus, it helps retain internal knowledge that can take new hires months to learn, risking slowing down productivity and output. Of course, this learning curve is inevitable when you hire new employees.

What isn’t inevitable is losing a third of new hires within six months.

So, let’s look at some ideas for how to increase employee retention and save yourself thousands per team member.

Offer remote/flexible working

Remote and flexible working options are a must-have for many employees. This is true despite the mass return to office push that’s been happening since last year. 

Plus, this office-based work obsession doesn’t consider how exclusionary such a policy is. 

You can’t have a diverse business without offering remote work. 

Remote work supports employees with disabilities, working parents, and those from less privileged backgrounds. It also saves employees money on their daily commutes. For many employees, these things are make-or-break.

Eliminating remote work means you risk losing 2/3 of your workforce. 64% of employees would consider leaving if their employer took their ability to work remotely away.

Is it really worth forcing employees back into the office when you factor in the cost of re-hiring that much of your workforce? Especially when that will likely also include a significant portion of your recruitment team?

It’s a lot of work and a lot of stress when remote work is good for employees.

If you really want people back in the office, why not try a hybrid work model ? That way, you and your employees get the best of both worlds, and you can worry less about how to increase employee retention.

Provide more opportunities for development

Employees want to grow. It helps them future-proof their careers, keeps their roles fresh, makes them more productive, and gives them a mood boost.

Employees want to grow so badly that 86% would change jobs if another company offered them more professional development opportunities. A big red flag when thinking about how to increase employee retention.

There are lots of ways to offer training and advancement for team members. They don’t have to be super expensive. Options include:

  • Books (or even a book club)
  • Webinars
  • Mentoring
  • Coaching
  • Online courses
  • ERGs (more on those below)

Pay employees what they deserve

The cost of everything is in flux right now. Generally, employee pay hasn’t kept up with the cost of anything, leaving people with less disposable income than they had 15 years ago.

Paying employees what they deserve ensures they’re financially comfortable, helping reduce their stress levels and improving their performance at work.

Pay is one of the top reasons employees look for new roles right now. And over half of employees feel confident they could find a better-paying position. 

So, if you’re not paying employees what they’re worth, you risk losing your top performers to competitors. Fair pay is a key element of how to increase employee retention.

Monitor burnout levels—and do something to prevent it

Burnout is harmful to your business and your employees (and to you). It comes with long- and short-term consequences for everyone.

Unfortunately, 59% of US employees experience at least moderate levels of burnout. It’s on businesses to change this and protect their employees from its detrimental effects. Especially if they’re looking for ideas for how to increase employee retention.

So, what are you doing to protect your employees?

You could:

  • Offer coaching to help them identify the signs and deal with workplace stress
  • Look at employees’ workloads to ensure they’re not doing the jobs of several people
  • Encourage employees not to check in, or do work, outside of working hours
  • Implement workplace wellness initiatives, like gym memberships or office yoga

Keep employees engaged

Employee engagement has never been more important. 

Employees who are highly engaged are 40% less likely to look for a job than those who are actively disengaged. That doesn’t even consider the difference engagement vs disengagement can make on productivity and morale. Nor its effects on how to increase employee retention.

Collect managerial feedback

Managers make a huge difference on the atmosphere in an office and across a team. So much so that half of employees have left their jobs for a change in management. That says a lot about the effectiveness of some managers. And about how to increase employee retention.

However, with so many managers not getting any feedback when they’re promoted, it should come as no surprise. 

Providing managers with training or coaching to help them in their roles—regardless of how long they’ve been a manager—ensures that they can support their employees in the best way possible, continue their own professional development, and stay informed on the latest industry and managerial trends and techniques.

The only way for people to grow is through feedback. Employee surveys are a great way to find out how employees feel about management, what’s working, and what could be improved.

With Workrowd’s help, you can send and analyze employee surveys automatically. Contact us today to find out more.

Connect employees

While employees want the opportunity to work remotely, there’s a fine line. If employees experience low human connection at work, they’re 39% more likely to quit.

So what’s the solution?

Asking employees what working situation works for them. 

For many, it’s likely to be hybrid work. This allows for the connection that comes with face-to-face contact and the flexibility that comes from working remotely.

Setting up employee groups also helps people connect with each other and ward off loneliness. They can network with other employees who have similar interests but may not be on the same team. These communities can be a key tool when considering how to increase employee retention.

Workrowd can help you manage your employee groups to get the most out of them. Contact us today to book your free demo.

Conclusion

Employee retention is more important than ever. The keys are to make your employees feel supported and like they belong in the workplace.

How to increase employee retention needs to start with providing training opportunities and listening to what people need from HR and managers.

The more you listen, the more you’ll get from your employees.

If you’re ready to step up your game around how to increase employee retention, Workrowd has the tools you need. WIth employee group management tools, automated feedback surveys, and real-time analytics dashboards, you always know where to focus your efforts.

Ready to learn more? Email us at hello@workrowd.com, or drop by our site for more info.

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Categories
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

Why cultural competence is essential for today’s global workforce

The most culturally diverse companies perform 36% better than the least diverse companies, according to McKinsey research. But diverse teams can only reach their peak if cultural competence is a priority.

Cultural diversity at work leads to teams making better decisions 87% of the time. That’s a huge difference in a company’s decision-making abilities. Plus, it has the potential for ripple effects throughout the business and into the outside world.

Culturally diverse companies also have better collaboration, innovation, and operations. All things that are key to getting ahead of your competitors, whatever industry you’re in.

So let’s take a deeper look at cultural competence: what it is, what the benefits are, and how you can improve cultural competence in your business.

What is cultural competence?

Cultural competence refers to a person or business’s ability to understand different cultures and their needs.

Key elements include empathy and understanding for people of different backgrounds and experiences.

Why does cultural competence matter for the global workforce?

Here are just some of the benefits of cultural competence for businesses:

Recruitment 

Diversity is more important than ever to jobseekers. 76% now see it as important when picking an employer. 32% wouldn’t apply at all to a company that lacks diversity.

A lack of diversity within a business can make employees worry that they won’t be heard. 

The less diverse a company is, the more likely it is to fall into the trap of groupthink. This makes it harder for employees to speak up, even if companies put diversity statements on their job applications. (Which, let’s face it, many just do because it’s a legal requirement in some countries).

If your organization lacks cultural competence, you won’t be able to attract the underrepresented talent your business needs to thrive.

Employee satisfaction

When employees are satisfied with their employer’s DEI efforts, they’re happier at work. 

And when they’re happier at work, they can perform better and earn more money for your business.

Higher employee satisfaction, of course, also improves your retention rates. If employees are happy, why would they want to leave?

Despite this, 57% of employees feel their organizations could do more to increase diversity and cultural competence.

Innovation

One of the best ways to solve a challenging problem is to see it from a new point of view. 

New hires offer a great way to get a fresh perspective on your business. But don’t underestimate the power of diversity within your existing team, either.

The way someone from the UK approaches a problem will be different from how someone from the US approaches the same challenge.

Every aspect of someone’s background can impact how they solve a particular problem. And that’s a good thing.

The more diverse perspectives you have, the more they can combine to make your business more innovative and forward-thinking, helping to future proof it in the age of AI.

How to improve cultural competence in your business

So, what can you do to improve cultural competence in the workplace?

Training 

Training is one of the best ways to introduce new initiatives and educate employees. It can help them develop new ways of working and looking at the world. Which can go a long way towards helping them develop cultural competence.

It could be through a formal workshop, or it could come from things like written content, books, webinars, or podcasts.

The more options you offer for training, the more learning styles you can appeal to. This helps both with retention and attraction and shows that you really are committed to your DEI efforts.

Employee listening

The results of employee feedback surveys can be difficult to swallow. But they’re a vital way for you to spot problems before they become gaping chasms that seem monumental to fix.

Sending automated feedback surveys asking employees what they feel you could be doing better allows for an open dialogue about how your business operates and how you can create a strong company culture with high cultural competence.

If you’d like help sending your feedback surveys, why not get in touch? We can help you automate your employee feedback surveys and analyze the results so that you can collect more data and have more time to take action that supports your employees.

Get feedback

Employee listening is a crucial part of your feedback strategy. But so is managers actively asking for and collecting it from their employees. It’s important to not get complacent with things like diversity initiatives, as that’s when bias can creep back in.

If you really want to create a business with strong cultural competence, be sure to train your managers and employees on how to give and receive feedback. 

Too often, there’s an assumption that people know how to do this. Giving feedback is all about clearly communicating positives and negatives. It’s not as easy to do effectively as it sounds.

Embody it

Understanding what cultural competence means is one thing. For it to truly happen in the workplace though, everyone within the business needs to live it. 

This starts with managers setting an example, being aware of the differences between employees, and supporting their varying needs.

It’s also about taking action when employees provide feedback. You can’t just nod along and say you know there’s a problem but it’s too challenging to fix. This puts employees at risk of becoming disengaged because they feel like their problems don’t matter.

Conclusion

Cultural competence impacts every area of your business, from profits to recruitment and retention. It leads to better decision-making in almost every situation. And, it helps you attract better quality candidates who can further support your initiatives.

To make it work, you need to listen to employees and act on what they want and need from you. 

You also need to ensure that all managers are trained in cultural competence—and don’t take it for granted. 

Employees will be able to see when managers don’t have cultural competence, and when they’re not open to feedback. Ensuring everyone within a business knows how to give and receive feedback puts everyone on even footing. It helps create a workplace where everyone feels included, regardless of their background.

Ready to boost cultural competence in your organization? Workrowd has the tools you need. From automated feedback surveys to ERG management tools to real-time analytics dashboards, everything you need is just a click away.

Want to learn more? Visit us online or reach out directly at hello@workrowd.com.

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Categories
Company Culture

7 things companies with strong cultures prioritize that others don’t

85% of organizations find that companies with strong cultures have a competitive advantage. What’s more, 72% feel that culture helps change initiatives succeed.

Despite this, only 28% of executives understand their company’s culture. And if they don’t understand it, how can they channel it when doing their role? Let alone while interacting with employees or hiring new ones?

As for employees, just 22% feel connected to their company culture. Which is really sad, both in terms of the difference a strong company culture makes to employee morale, and the fact that companies with strong cultures see a 4x growth in revenue. That’s a lot of money potentially being left on the table.

So, how do you experience results that powerful? Here are some key areas to prioritize to join the ranks of companies with strong cultures:

Psychological safety

Psychological safety is the cornerstone of companies with strong cultures. 

If employees don’t feel safe, accepted, and listened to, they won’t perform their best at work. They’re far more likely to quiet quit or become prone to absenteeism. 

Employees may even become sick more often with exacerbated physical and/or mental health challenges.

On the other hand, when employees do feel psychologically safe at work, they’re happy. And happy people are more productive whatever their role within your business.

Shared mission

We all want to feel like we’re a part of something – like we’re making a difference in the world. (And I like to think we all want to leave the world a better place, even if some of us have different ways of going about it.)

When employees and their employer work toward a shared goal, it acts as a north star, keeping everyone focused on moving in the same direction. It also provides a lens for how the company operates, enabling more effective, efficient decision making.

Ownership

Toto Wolff, the team principal of the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One team, believes it’s his job to have shoulders that can carry some of the adversity that hits the Mercedes team.

He also tries his best not to let anyone on the team down. This isn’t just something he actively does; it’s part of who he is.

Wolff takes ownership of what happens within the team, and when it’s time to celebrate, he won’t take the full credit—he knows that success is a team effort, and he tries to spotlight it. This approach is common across companies with strong cultures.

Employee listening

A key practice at companies with strong cultures is listening to employees. What do they like about work? What do they dislike? Is there anything they need to perform better in their roles?

Whether you use your employee groups or an employee survey tool to find out what they need from you, employee listening is key to getting the most out of every team member.

One thing you could do to ensure you have the feedback you need is to roll out automated feedback surveys. This allows you to monitor positive and negative trends within your organization. 

You can then double down on the positives and even use them as part of your employer brand to attract new hires. 

For any negatives, you can take action so that your employees feel more listened to and supported.

Want help with your surveys? Get in touch to discover how Workrowd can help you automate your survey sending and analysis.

Quality of life

Never underestimate the impact someone’s personal life can have on their ability to perform in their role.

For example, Timpsons CEO James Timpson regularly checks in with all employees, even the ones who work in different parts of the UK. He’s based in London but has stores across the country. This can sometimes mean a whole day of travel just to get from London to Newcastle.

The travel doesn’t deter him. He visits stores then asks employees—regardless of rank—how he can improve their quality of life. 

He has a £1 million budget per year which often goes specifically towards things like new teeth for employees.

The National Health Service’s dentistry is impossibly stretched right now, meaning it’s harder than ever to get affordable dental care. 

Timpson knows the difference teeth can make not just on someone’s confidence, but on their quality of life, too. 

After all, if your teeth hurt, you’re less likely to be able to eat well and look after yourself. Which means you can’t perform your best at work. If they’re really bad, they may even hurt when you’re not eating.

While dentistry may sound trivial and unrelated to work, it builds employee loyalty and happiness. It’s a pretty genius move on the part of companies with strong cultures if you ask me.

Upskilling and reskilling

Many of our jobs risk becoming obsolete or changing completely thanks to the rise of AI and shifting business landscape. One way to protect and support your employees through the new industrial revolution is by offering them upskilling and reskilling opportunities.

This could mean learning skills related to what they already do, or exploring topics in a completely different department. It all depends on what’s happening with their role and where they want to go with their career.

The more options you provide employees, and the more you listen to their suggestions, the safer and more secure they’ll feel working for your business.

And the more internal knowledge you get to retain, even if someone’s original job becomes obsolete. Retaining that internal knowledge alone could save you a lot of money, as it does for other companies with strong cultures.

Work-life balance

Do you expect employees to respond to messages outside of working hours? Or do you actively discourage them from doing so?

For many of us, we now default to responding to messages as soon as they arrive, even if it’s outside of working hours and we’re hanging out with loved ones or trying to disconnect for the weekend. We don’t question if there’s another way to do things.

But there is. 

And it starts with leaders setting an example: encouraging employees to use their lunch breaks to get away from their desks, to use their weekends to recharge, and to spend time doing things that make them happy. Work-life balance is often a core component at companies with strong cultures.

Conclusion

Companies with strong cultures revolve around supporting employees to be their best selves, at work and outside of it. 

When employees feel comfortable in their minds and bodies—and have an employer who can help them navigate the ever-changing world of work—they can perform their best, creating a stronger company culture and enabling you to make more money.

Want to ensure your organization is included when companies with strong cultures come to mind? Workrowd has the tools you need to succeed.

With a central hub for connection, culture, and career progression, you can give every team member more of what they want, without the stress. Visit us online to see how we can support you in achieving your company culture goals, or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to schedule some time to chat.

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Employee Experience

Designing an employee value proposition that gets real results

Does your employee value proposition matter?

Well, how would you like to see:

  • 20% more applicants for your open roles
  • 29% higher new hire commitment
  • 69% lower employee turnover?

With a well-crafted employee value proposition, your business could experience all these benefits and more.

It’s a valuable part of your recruitment and retention toolkits, helping attract the right people and encouraging them to stay.

What is an employee value proposition?

Your employee value proposition is what makes you attractive as an employer to current and prospective employees.

What value you do offer them if they choose to give you their time and energy? What’s unique about your business?

Money is a part of it, of course. But what about the company culture? Training opportunities? Healthcare? Community?

It’s about so much more than ping pong tables and fancy coffee makers. Those things can’t plaster over a company culture that diminishes employees’ self-confidence or where managers take credit for their ideas. And we all know that happens far too often.

What’s the difference between employee value proposition and employer brand?

Your employee value proposition explains to team members what they can expect from you as an employer.

On the other hand, your employer brand is your external reputation.

So your employer brand is the wrapping around your employee value proposition, if you will. It’s what people see, while your employee value proposition is what employees experience.

Which means, if you’re not careful, there can be a disconnect between the two.

That’s why understanding what matters to your employees, tapping into that, and communicating it consistently both internally and externally, is so important.

How to design your employee value proposition

So, how do you design your employee value proposition to drive success for your team and your business? Let’s take a look:

Ask employees what they want

The only way you’ll find out what employees really want is to ask them. What matters to them? What’s the least important?

Maybe they want more flexible working options, better training opportunities, or closer links between departments.

Regularly sending employee feedback surveys can help you collect this data so that you stay on top of employees’ wants and needs.

And with Workrowd’s help, you can even automate the survey sending and analysis so you can just focus on the results.

Not only will surveys go out without you having to lift a finger, but employee feedback will be automatically processed and visualized in your easy-to-read dashboards.

Which makes it easier and quicker than ever to digest the results and drive impact through your business’s employee value proposition.

Provide development opportunities

People want to learn. It’s the main reason employees leave their roles.

And with the rise of AI, offering your employees upskilling and reskilling opportunities provides them with the peace of mind that even if their job does become obsolete, they don’t become obsolete.

It also shows that you value them as an employee.

So, what development opportunities can you offer?

Is it changing roles, if they’re better suited to a different department—or want a change of pace?

Is it further training, such as to expand their technical knowledge? 

A way to explore a peripheral skill, such as a software engineer studying copywriting?

There are endless ways to support employees’ growth, and by association, their mental and physical health when development is part of your employee value proposition.

Create community

Connection is a huge part of what makes us human. As we get older, it can be harder to find it. Work is often one of the places where we can make new friends as adults. As a result, it can play a key role in our mental health.

Enabling employees to feel like they belong in the workplace, that they’re appreciated, and can be their authentic selves makes a huge difference in how employees feel about their working lives.

The workplace goes from being somewhere they go to pay the bills to somewhere they want to spend their time.

Provided they can actually be authentic, not “authentic.” Too often, businesses claim to want a diverse workforce, but when underrepresented talent joins, they find they’re not as supported as they could be. So then how can they be their authentic selves?

Authenticity has been an overused term in HR and marketing for years, but its true value seems to have been drowned out.

One way to avoid this issue and foster a real sense of community and belonging in your workplace is with employee groups.

These employee-led initiatives enable team members to meet like-minded employees, and offer everything from networking opportunities, to learning and development initiatives, to new friendships.

If you want to get more from your employee groups, book your free Workrowd demo today. Setting these communities up to thrive can do wonders for your employee value proposition.

Give employees meaning and purpose at work

Never underestimate the power of working toward shared goals. The University of Toronto found that employees will accept lower salaries if they find what they do meaningful.

When we do something that’s tied to our values, we work harder because we feel like we’re making a difference. We’re doing something that’s important to us.

This collective meaning can also be a driver of customer sales.

For example, Rare Beauty’s goal isn’t just to sell beauty products. It also aims to raise $100 million for the Rare Impact Fund, which supports global access to mental health services and education.

This differentiates it from the hundreds of other celebrity-owned beauty brands out there.

It’s also a core pillar of their employee value proposition. As an employer, it helps them attract candidates who are interested in both beauty and mental health.

Conclusion

Your employee value proposition is unique to your business. It can drive recruitment and retention in either a positive or negative direction.

Listening to employees and making them feel like they’re a part of something is key to ensuring the effect is positive. 

By following these tips, you can build a world-class employee value proposition and make employees happy to work for you—meaning they’ll be their most productive selves and you’ll get the most out of them in the short- and long-term.

Ready to elevate your employee value proposition to get the results you want for your business? Workrowd’s tools can set you up for success.

With a one-stop shop for marketing, managing, and measuring all your employee programs, groups, and events, you can maximize your ROI. Employees get everything they need in one place, and you get automated analytics tracking the impact of your efforts across the organization.

Want to learn more? Visit us online or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to discuss ways we could partner to optimize your employee value proposition.

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

6 best practices for measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion

As the saying goes: what gets measured, gets managed. So if you want your programs to make a real impact, measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion is key.

How often do you assess internal attitudes around DEI? Should you regularly check in with your employees about your initiatives?

Well…

Companies that think they’ve solved all their DEI problems are the most likely to actually have DEI problems.

Why?

Complacency.

Complacency has consequences in every area of a business. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are no different.

DEI requires conscious effort from everyone in an organization to be a success. 

Things like your recruitment process, how managers communicate with their employees, and what employees say when they think their managers aren’t listening need monitoring so that standards remain high—and inclusive.

Unfortunately, almost a quarter of companies don’t bother measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion progress.

And only a fifth of global organizations measure the business impact of their DEI initiatives. Despite how much data is already out there about the benefits of diversity in almost every area, from company finances to employee mental health.

So, how do you go about measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion in your organization?

Check in as a business regularly

How diverse are your departments? How many women, people of color, or people with disabilities are managers? Where can you improve?

While there can be backlash around quotas, they do work. They help combat the desire to hire people like ourselves that leads to groupthink.

Instead, we’re challenged to see things differently and embrace people from all walks of life.

In one study, when quotas were instituted to hire more women, it helped exclude incompetent men.

Everything has pros and cons. Quotas aren’t perfect, but they can be a good starting point when you want to improve how you’re measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Look at your hiring and retention rates

How long do new hires stay? Do candidates drop off during the hiring process?

Over 75% of candidates value a diverse workplace. So could your lack of diversity be turning candidates off as they’re applying and interviewing?

Your hiring and retention rates can tell you a lot about your business—and how candidates, employees, and even customers perceive you.

If employees don’t stick around for very long, or some departments have higher turnover than others, it’s a sign that something is wrong and needs to be addressed right away.

Measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion at every point within your hiring process can help expose areas that need more attention.

Send surveys—and collect anonymous data

It’s the comments employees make when they think management isn’t listening that really tell you what they think.

There’s no real way to monitor those—they can turn into a he said/she said/they said if someone reports it—but anonymized surveys can help.

You can ask employees how they feel and what they’ve heard/witnessed/experienced. Even if they don’t want to officially report things that have happened, this is still important information to have.

Allowing employees to respond anonymously gives them a feeling of safety and removes the fear of reprisals. It can then open the door to more honest conversations between HR teams about what’s really happening internally and how to improve it.

Workrowd can help you send employee surveys and examine the results so that you can take action sooner. Our tools are especially useful when it comes to measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion.

Look at the setup of your ERGs

What ERGs do you have? Who runs them?

Your ERGs will tell you what types of employees work within your business and potentially highlight gaps.

For example, do you have an LGBTQ+ or Pride group? Does the lack of one suggest that you don’t have many LGBTQ+ employees, or that they don’t feel comfortable being themselves at work?

What about one for women of color in the workplace? Employees with invisible illnesses?

The more diverse your ERGs are, the more it reflects an open, honest, welcoming company culture. And the more their data can support your efforts around measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion.

But don’t get complacent! 

These groups need to be active, too. 

If they rarely or never hold events or conversations, it still requires some investigating to find out what isn’t working.

Perhaps you need a new tool, like Workrowd, to help you manage your ERGs. It can help with everything from daily updates, to document sharing, to networking.

Want to find out more? Book your free demo today.

Track workshop attendees

How many people attend your DEI workshops? And how many attendees actually engage with the material?

In a previous role, I went to a diversity workshop and many of the participants made sarcastic or stereotypical comments.

It was pretty obvious they were there as a box-ticking exercise and didn’t understand why diversity matters. I couldn’t help but feel like they didn’t actually learn anything from it, and they were going to laugh about it after. There was little sense of empathy or understanding.

It wasn’t a bad workshop, but employees need to engage with the materials for them to make a difference in the workplace. And if they don’t, you need to work out where the root of the problem is.

There are lots of reasons people don’t engage with diversity practices, despite the many benefits it brings to businesses. The sooner you spot these issues, the sooner you can tackle them.

And the sooner you can start seeing better outcomes across your work on measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion

Consider the qualitative stuff, too

Measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion is about so much more than putting numbers on it.

It’s about your employees’ attitudes, internally and externally.

Do they collaborate well with each other? Within teams and interdepartmentally?

Do they make negative comments when someone who’s neurodivergent doesn’t understand a task? When someone who’s LGBTQ+ walks by?

The small things that are often hard to measure are your real indicators of DEI success.

They tell you about the inner workings of your employees’ minds and if they’re really on board with your DEI initiatives.

You’ll never achieve true diversity, equity, and inclusion success until they are.

Conclusion

Measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion is about so much more than numbers on a spreadsheet. It’s about the things you can’t measure, too: the stories employees tell themselves and each other. That’s where you’ll find the real information on your DEI efforts and whether they’re working.

If you’re ready to level up on measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion, Workrowd has the tools you need. With ERG management features, automated feedback surveys, and real-time analytics dashboards, you’ll always know exactly how your DEI efforts are performing.

Want to see how our all-in-one platform can make measuring diversity, equity, and inclusion a breeze? Write us at hello@workrowd.com to set up some time to chat.

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Employee Retention

Boomerang employees: what are they and why you want them

Four out of ten employees who left their jobs during the pandemic regret leaving. Almost 20% of those individuals have since returned to their previous employers as boomerang employees.

Something made those employees want to leave, but something also made them come back—like a boomerang.

Many employees who return get an increase in pay and responsibility. Which suggests that businesses value them enough to attract them back and retain them. 

Or that employees left in the first place because they weren’t being given the responsibilities or remuneration that they deserved.

In fact, the average pay raise for boomerang employees is 25% more than their salary before they left. Those who stay get an average pay increase of just 4% over the same time period.

As well as the huge difference in income, 40% of returning employees become managers.

Offering these things is a way to lure that internal knowledge back into the fold. It also means you spend less time and money on training and onboarding because boomerang employees already know so much about your business.

What are boomerang employees?

Think of a boomerang: you throw it, it comes back. If you throw it right, anyway.

Boomerang employees get their name from this concept: they leave, then they come back weeks, months, or even years later.

Boomerang employees could be seasonal workers who return each year or apply for a full-time role after their seasonal stint.

They could also be employees who left voluntarily or because their contracts ended.

What makes an employee leave and come back?

Sometimes, when an employee leaves for a new role, they may find the grass isn’t so green after all. The benefits package, pay, progression opportunities, culture, or commute may not be what they’d hoped for.

If they left voluntarily, it could have been because of caregiving responsibilities or health issues. It could be that they were unable to work for you, or they found an opportunity elsewhere.

Most boomerang employees return within 13 months of leaving, with three quarters returning by 16 months. This suggests that after the one-year mark is a common time for employees to return.

What are the benefits of boomerang employees?

Rehiring previous employees comes with risks. For example, there’s the chance they may be researching how you do things for a competitor.

It’s unlikely this is the reason for their return. However, it is worth discussing with them why they want to come back so that they’re more likely to stay the second time around.

There are lots of positives businesses that rehire previous employees can enjoy. So let’s take a look at the benefits of boomerang employees:

Save money on training and onboarding

Boomerang employees already know about your organization, so you don’t have to spend as much time and money teaching them about your product or service and how your business works.

You still need to make sure they’re caught up with everything that changed while they were away, though.

And make sure to support them with their training needs. Lack of training opportunities is one of the main reasons employees leave. So if you want to keep them longer this time, training (or even re-skilling) is key to retention.

New ideas

A change of scenery, no matter how short, can be a good way to change how we see the world. It can help generate new ideas that can benefit your business.

If an employee worked for a different industry or competitor while they were away, they’ll bring back a different approach to problem solving and can help you spot gaps in your strategies.

New connections

Connections are key, particularly in departments like sales. Boomerang employees can bring new opportunities and potential customers along with them when they return.

Just be sure to keep that employee happy. You don’t want your new customers leaving because they’re more loyal to the employee than to you!

How to support boomerang employees

Now that you’ve got your employees back, you want to retain them. So how do you do that?

Regular check-ins

The only way to know what an employee really thinks and feels is to ask them. This should come in multiple forms, including one-on-one meetings and written feedback, such as employee surveys.

With one-on-ones, you can have frank, qualitative conversations with employees about their roles and what works and doesn’t work for them.

Employee surveys can fill in any gaps. They also allow employees the chance to provide feedback anonymously, which can make team members who have issues with colleagues or managers feel more comfortable.

Something it’s also important to address is why they left. Otherwise, if things truly haven’t changed, they may only stay for a short time. For instance, to tide them over until a better-paid opportunity comes along.

Act on feedback

There’s no point asking for feedback if nothing changes. So ensure that once you’ve collected all that information, you look into what can be done differently and how best you can support your employees. 

This could be in the form of changing an employee’s working hours, conflict resolution if colleagues don’t get along, further training, workplace adjustments, or something else.

Conclusion

Boomerang employees can have many benefits in the workplace.

To ensure they’re truly happy and stick around, be sure to have open conversations about why they left and address any issues that they have/had.

If you’re ready to attract more boomerang employees and keep them around for the long-term, you need the right tools. Workrowd empowers you to deliver a delightful, personalized experience to every employee.

With a central hub for everything employee engagement, and real-time data collection and analytics for you, you can give your boomerang employees more of what they want without the stress.

Ready to learn more? Visit us online or write us at hello@workrowd.com to schedule a call.

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Employee Engagement

7 tactics to supercharge your workplace engagement activities

Globally, fewer than a quarter of employees are actively engaged. And I can’t help but feel that number could get worse as employees worry about their jobs due to the rise of AI and automation. Workplace engagement activities offer a way to counter the forces of disengagement.

Almost two-thirds of employees today opt to quiet quit and do the bare minimum. Businesses need to consider how to reengage these employees before they lose them and spend thousands per role replacing valuable internal knowledge.

In a recent interview, James Timpson, CEO of British company Timpson Group, explained the importance of valuing and supporting employees.

In his first role, he found that “bosses were the sales prevention team,” and that “so many people work really really hard and no one ever says thank you to them.”

How do you ensure you’re not the type of boss who’s on the sales prevention team? And show some gratitude to your hard-working employees so that they want to show up to work?

These simple things improve employee engagement and make people more likely to perform at their best. Helping you make more money through better customer service and higher retention.

So, let’s explore some tactics to ensure your workplace engagement activities make a real difference for your team.

Be Values-Driven

All too often, employees believe that the higher-ups don’t care about them.

There can also be the belief from leaders that employees at the bottom of the ladder are the most easily replaceable.

But even employees who get paid the least have valuable skills and company knowledge that’s expensive—and time-consuming—to replace.

Every role requires different skills. Supporting all employees, regardless of their rank, speaks volumes about your company values and how you operate your business.

For example, Timpson has a budget of £1 million per year to spend on things that improve employees’ quality of life. One of the most common things that money gets spent on? New teeth.

It sounds like a small thing, but it’s a huge expense that many employees can’t afford. Even though it can make a huge difference to their confidence.

This kind of support builds loyalty to a business and shows that you notice—and care about—the little things for everyone. Adhering strongly to your values will ensure your workplace engagement activities can drive maximum results.

Send a survey

Surveys are a great way to get insights into your workforce and what they need from you.

When you send them regularly, using a tool like Workrowd that can automate the process, it shows your employees that you’re serious about listening to, and implementing, their feedback.

You can get real-time insights into how your workplace engagement activities are impacting your workforce. That way, you always know what’s working, and where you can improve.

Celebrate

How often do you celebrate employee achievements and milestones?

It doesn’t have to be a massive celebration. Sometimes a simple “thank you” can go a long way.

Other times, you may want to treat everyone to lunch (virtually or in person), give them an extra day off for their birthday, or reward them for having worked for you for so long.

Whatever you do, just remember that there’s no downside to showing gratitude and recognizing employees. Workplace engagement activities that focus on celebrating achievements can help reinforce your company culture.

Create ERGs

Employee groups are a great way for team members to meet like-minded colleagues.

They can reduce the isolation that comes from remote work and connect a global workforce. What’s more, they can be key drivers of workplace engagement activities for your organization.

Meeting people with similar interests or goals helps employees feel like they belong in the workplace, something which is increasingly important in our digitally-focused world.

Want more from your ERGs? Get in touch to find out how we can help you supercharge your employee groups.

Be inclusive

Inclusion is one of those words that always seems trendy but is so rarely understood, a bit like “authenticity.”

You can give the illusion of these things—particularly in job descriptions—but that doesn’t mean that when someone joins your business they actually feel included.

Being truly inclusive means holding ongoing DEI training and ensuring everyone actively works to support others in being their authentic selves. 

They can only be authentic when they feel psychologically safe in the workplace, and that starts with management.

Managers must set examples by being open—and maybe even vulnerable—so that employees know it’s okay to be that way, too.

When your organization is truly inclusive, you’ll find that your workplace engagement activities can deliver real impact.

Be transparent

When someone is transparent with us, we’re more likely to trust them.

If we know they’ve lied in the past, that trust may never recover. Ask any politician.

Transparent businesses have employees who are more open and honest, too. Employees know where they’re at and what they’re working toward.

This trust builds loyalty and means employees will want to stick around because they’ll feel invested in the business, and like the business is invested in them.

It can make your workplace engagement activities feel more genuine and less forced, and ensure people want to participate in them.

Offer training

93% of millennials and Gen Z employees expect businesses to offer training opportunities. Almost half of employees would change jobs because of the training opportunities provided.

As technology changes, reskilling will become imperative for millions of people to stay in work.

Just because someone’s job becomes obsolete, that doesn’t mean their internal knowledge isn’t still valuable. 

If you have a particularly complicated product or service, retaining that internal knowledge is more important than ever because training new hires costs so much and takes so long.

Training doesn’t just have to be about adapting to the changing workplace, though. 

Some people just love to learn (I’m one of them), so having regular lunch and learns or scheduled study time helps stimulate new connections in their brains and can make them more creative.

Did you know some of the most successful scientists also write poetry?

Ada Lovelace, widely thought of as the world’s first computer programmer, was the daughter of poet Lord Byron—and a poet in her own right. (She and her father are also buried in my hometown!)

As Ada put it, “There is no great invention without a great imagination.” She was right 200 years ago, and she’s still right now.

Most people assume arts and science are on opposite ends of the spectrum, but the most powerful creative and scientific work stems from an understanding of both.

So why not encourage those connections in your workplace? Leveraging your workplace engagement activities to help employees build new skills is key to attracting and retaining top talent.

Conclusion

Creating more engaged employees starts by making them feel supported in the workplace. And that starts by listening to them. 

What do they need from you?

And what can you do better? 

Once you know, you can then design workplace engagement activities that cater directly to your team’s wants and needs.

Want to maximize your ROI when it comes to workplace engagement activities? Workrowd’s platform is your all-in-one solution.

With tools to help you market, manage, and measure your workplace engagement activities, you can delight every employee without the stress.

Ready to learn more? Visit us online or reach out directly at hello@workrowd.com.

Tips to set your internal communications strategy up for success
5 questions to help resolve a big employee experience challenge
6 areas where HR process automation and AI can save you time