Categories
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Belonging

6 ways to build inclusion and belonging in the workplace

When employees experience inclusion and belonging in the workplace, they’re happier, more productive, and they stay longer. This means you save money on the hiring process and get to make more money from the increased productivity.

Your company culture plays a huge role in whether someone feels like they fit in where they work. To encourage this, it’s important that you put effort into the areas listed here. It will show employees that you really do value inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

These practices must be part of daily life at your company. Not just something you put on job descriptions to attract diverse talent. Or worse, because you feel legally or morally obligated.

Read on for six ways to build inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

Onboarding

How you welcome new employees subconsciously shows the type of place they’re walking into (virtually or in-person). 

If you don’t make employees feel welcome, or your onboarding process reflects badly on the organization, they’re more likely to leave. 

On the other hand, a great onboarding experience increases retention by 82%, and productivity by over 70%. This can go a long way toward generating more time and money to spend on other areas of your business. Not to mention the difference it makes to your culture.

Starting their tenure off on the right foot can help ensure employees feel a sense of inclusion and belonging in the workplace from day one.

Employee groups

Employee groups help team members meet colleagues in different departments who have similar experiences to their own. They’re a fantastic way to build employees’ skills, improve their confidence, and help them network.

Offering a thriving community of employee groups makes it easy for your people to find their people. It’s a sustainable, low-cost way to build inclusion and belonging in the workplace across a diverse team.

Make reasonable accommodations

Employers are legally required to make “reasonable accommodations” for employees who are differently abled. It’s up to employees to ask their employer for the accommodations they need. It’s then on you, as their employer, to make them.

However, it’s worth noting that some people may experience problems but not have an official diagnosis. Others may not even realize they’re struggling. 

Someone shouldn’t require a formal diagnosis or a doctor’s letter to qualify for support. 

To truly build inclusion and belonging in the workplace, you need to be willing to make adaptations regardless of someone’s diagnoses. That could mean allowing them to take regular breaks, getting them a sit/stand desk, or communicating in a different way.

Prioritize mental health

How many times has someone you know been told to keep working, or do even more, when they’re already struggling? How many times have you done that to yourself?

Everyone responds to stress differently. Everyone also has a different limit for what they can handle before it starts to impact their mental health. Being aware of this helps you build a workplace where employees don’t feel their health issues are a problem. They also won’t be afraid to share what they’re experiencing.

In fact, their ways of thinking could even be an asset. Someone with generalized anxiety disorder may have greater attention to detail, for example. Their brain wiring helps them consider all the different things that could go wrong. (I knew someone who did this, and she believed it made her a better teacher.) 

Someone who’s neurodivergent could become your secret weapon because of their alternative experience of the world. They can help you find more creative solutions to problems or identify issues you may not have otherwise noticed.

It’s not your job to treat someone’s mental health conditions, but it is your job to look after them. 

The more employees hide their mental health issues, the more stressed they’ll feel. This then means they’ll get less work done, they’re less comfortable at work, and they’re more likely to leave.

When you look after employees’ mental health, they’re much more likely to work hard, speak highly of you, and help you attract higher quality candidates. Over time, you’ll create an even more diverse, welcoming company culture and build real inclusion and belonging in the workplace.

Regular check-ins

Employees often feel like managers don’t listen to them. Regular check-ins show them that you do care about how they feel and what they think about current business events.

These check-ins also allow you to find out what’s happening in employees’ daily lives that may impact their work. This is true whether their concerns are inside or outside of the business.

When these regular check-ins are established, employees will feel more comfortable opening up about what they’re experiencing. This will give you more context on what’s happening with them and help you make more informed decisions.

All hands or all-company meetings are another important way to do this because it puts everyone on even footing. 

Everyone getting company news at the same time helps employees understand the bigger business picture and their role in it. It also creates a sense of mutual respect, ensuring nobody is left out of the loop because of their rank.

Transparency 

When you share with your employees what’s happening—the good, the bad, and the ugly—it shows a level of respect and inclusion you can’t get from anything else.

We share information with people when we’re comfortable with them and when we trust them. It’s the same with businesses. 

When you share with employees how things are going, they get a greater sense of connection to the business. It also helps them visualize the difference their efforts make. Plus, it may even motivate them to help you reach business goals. Your goals will start to feel like goals for them, too.

Conclusion 

Regardless of someone’s role, it’s important that they experience a sense of inclusion and belonging in the workplace. The last thing you want is for them to feel like an outsider looking in.

The more employees feel like they belong at work, the happier they’ll be in their role. And the more productive they’ll be, too. This impacts everything from your hiring costs to your overall profit, and your company culture.

Giving your team a central hub for connecting with all your employee groups, programs, and events just makes sense. If you’re looking to build inclusion and belonging in the workplace, Workrowd can help.

Our tools make it easy to deliver a personalized employee experience no matter where or when team members work. With one-click signups, streamlined communications, automated data collection and analytics, and more, everyone has what they need to thrive.

Drop by our homepage to learn more, or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to chat about ways to ensure everyone at your organization experiences inclusion and belonging in the workplace from day one.

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Categories
Learning & Development

9 underrated tools for increasing productivity in the workplace

The transition to remote and hybrid work created an array of new concerns around employee productivity. Employer responses varied, from installing surveillance software to reimagining incentives, all focused on increasing productivity in the workplace.

How your organization responded says a lot about your company culture and the employee experience you provide. Similarly, the tools you give (or don’t give) employees can make or break that experience and deeply impact productivity.

In this post, I’ve put together a list of 9 tools that will help you provide a better employee experience while increasing productivity in the workplace. It includes both software and hardware, as well as best practices to ensure you can maximize their value.

Some of these tools will be better suited to employees with specific health needs. Most though, can benefit everyone when it comes to increasing productivity in the workplace.

E-Ink tablet

E-Ink tablets are really good for people like me who like to write things such as their to-do list by hand, prefer to draw things, or find they come up with better ideas when they’re writing by hand. 

If employees are conscious of wasting paper, or things getting lost, this is the perfect solution. 

It can sync with phones or laptops, meaning it’s easy to switch between devices, send files to colleagues, and jot down ideas on the go. 

Plus, there are a lot of templates out there for things like to-do lists, general notebooks, budget planners, and more.

Dictation software

RSI is a common injury among those of us who work at a desk all day. Dictation software allows employees to keep working without worrying about doing further damage to their muscles or joints.

Dictation software can be used to write documents, navigate devices, send emails, browse the internet, or complete other tasks they may need to do as part of their role. 

Ultimately, it’s great for increasing employee productivity in the workplace at little additional cost. As an added bonus, it also reduces sick days from RSI.

Task and project trackers

Tools like Kanban boards, or other ways of tracking tasks can be incredibly useful both on an individual and a team basis. 

If you’re not already using one of these tools, I’d highly recommend them. They allow you to visualize exactly what’s happening and when. 

You can also set priorities and everyone on the team can see everything at a glance. This makes it easier for people to keep track of what they have to do and by what date.

You could track progress on a Trello board, TickTick, or even a physical tracker on a flip chart or whiteboard.

Video call software

Whether you’re a Mac or PC user, the right video call software is essential for a remote or hybrid team. 

For remote teams, this will be one of the main ways they communicate. Obviously then, you want something that’s easy for people to use and that is compatible with their devices. 

Ergonomic mouse and keyboard

In a previous role, I got RSI in my right wrist a lot. When I switched the type of mouse I used, the pain vanished. 

It’s all about how your wrist is comfortable sitting and what you’re most comfortable using. 

There are lots of different solutions available. For instance, keyboards that are flat to the desk, padded wrist supports, or keyboards split in two to mimic how our hands should naturally sit.

Sit/stand desk

We’ve all heard the stats about how sitting at a desk all day is bad for us. But how many of us do it anyway? 

A sit/stand desk gives us the option to adjust how we sit or stand when we’re at work. 

Standing when we’re working helps with blood flow around the body. This means we can be more creative, come up with better ideas during meetings, and be more engaged with what we’re doing.

That doesn’t even include the physical benefits of standing for a little while, like improved posture and better cardiovascular health. Of course, better overall health is also great for increasing productivity in the workplace.

Timer

It’s all too easy for meetings to run over, or for us to forget to take breaks because we’re really getting into what we’re doing. 

However, ensuring meetings stay on time, and taking breaks regularly, is good for physical and mental health. 

Having a timer—whether it’s built into a phone or laptop, or a separate one—ensures everyone stays on track. It may even be a novelty cooking timer if you want to make people smile! It helps prevent meetings from running into things like lunch breaks or the end of the day. 

Workrowd

Workrowd helps your team stay on task by organizing your employees’ extracurriculars separate from their work notifications. That way, they can focus on their projects, and engage with all your great employee groups, programs, and events when it makes sense for them. 

No one wants to rush to check a chat message from a colleague only to discover it’s a reminder about a free company yoga class. Or sort through a tangle of work emails to see when the next leadership development session is being held.

Instead, they can simply visit their Workrowd dashboard to learn about upcoming events and opportunities. It’s sort of like stepping into a digital break room and checking out the bulletin board.

Plus, they get to meet their colleagues from different departments, learn new skills, and take part in activities that may be unrelated to their day job but that form the basis of a great employee experience.

Connecting with different employee groups can make them feel like they belong in their role. They also may find or learn a new skill or rediscover an old one. 

Workrowd is one easy tool that equips you with multiple ways of increasing productivity in the workplace.

Training on how to make the most of things

It’s all very well and good providing these tools, but employees also need to know how to use them and get the most out of them. 

Sometimes, if we have to figure things out ourselves, we may only learn the basics. It’s hard to find time to really learn how to do everything.

Investing in an hour’s training that shows users how to get the most out of their new tool can make a huge difference. It can take someone from a basic user who doesn’t really feel like they understand the tool, to a power user who is excited to use it.

When employees feel empowered to make the most of every tool in their toolkit, it can go a long way towards increasing productivity in the workplace.

Conclusion

Simple tools can make a huge difference to employee productivity, wellness, and engagement.

They don’t have to be super expensive. They just have to improve employees’ quality of life at work, allowing them to do things faster and easier in a way that makes sense for them and fits their role.

If you’re interested in exploring more opportunities for increasing productivity in the workplace, give us a visit or send a note to hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to chat about how our customizable tool suite can help with increasing productivity in the workplace without resorting to spyware or surveillance.

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Categories
Employee Retention

5 HR analytics examples that can unlock new workforce insights

Analytics make the business world go ‘round. Even if we dislike them, there’s no denying they help us make more informed decisions. From sales to marketing to finance, every department needs them. People teams are no exception; tapping into the right HR analytics can lead to happier employees, faster business growth, and increased revenue.

What should you be tracking, though?

Which metrics can give you new insights into your workforce? What will improve employees’ lives and the life of your business, too?

We highlight five HR analytics examples you should be paying attention to below.

Engagement rate for employee programming

Employee groups, programs, and events improve many aspects of your business, such as diversity and inclusion, retention, and employee wellbeing. 

If employees aren’t participating in your programming, or you’re not sure what’s driving results, it’s time to expand your HR analytics.

Without real-time data on each of your employee experience initiatives, you won’t know how to maximize your impact. Is your programming reaching every team member? Are you offering the right types of groups, programs, and events? Is there anything missing?

Measuring the outcomes of your programming via once or twice yearly engagement surveys isn’t enough in today’s tough talent market. You need ongoing, real-time data to make the most of your employee experience investments.

Tools can help. Workrowd automatically collects engagement data for your programs and delivers it to you in easy-to-read dashboards. That way, you always know what’s working and where you can make improvements.

Retention/churn rate

Do you have a high churn rate? Or do employees stay and progress in your business?

This can be a tough stat to look at, especially if it’s high. Regardless, it’s an important metric to track as part of your HR analytics.

Some jobs and industries have a naturally higher employee turnover rate, such as sales or customer service. But if it’s a problem throughout the business, it may be a sign of a deeper, culture-based problem.

If there’s no room for employees to grow, or your workplace is toxic, this can increase your churn rate.

On the other hand, if employees feel comfortable and supported in their roles and like they’re making a real difference, they’re more likely to stay long-term.

If the issues you spot are department-specific, it’s worth considering…

Manager ratings

Sometimes, someone can be really great at one part of their job and terrible at another. Management roles are a great example. A lot of people can handle the paperwork part of management, but are terrible at the people management side. 

I’ve worked for people who fall into this category, and it doesn’t make for a nice working environment. In fact, the stress of this management style is part of why I have chronic health issues now. So, the way your manager behaves really does matter.

Asking employees to fill in feedback forms then pass them to their line manager is a bonkers practice. Unfortunately, it’s one I’ve seen all too often. If someone is being bullied, belittled or micromanaged by their boss, are they really going to feel comfortable passing on said feedback to that person?

Employee feedback should be honest, and they shouldn’t feel afraid or intimidated by their manager into providing nicer feedback. How can you analyze results that don’t tell you the full story?

If someone—regardless of rank—raises issues about their manager, they should be taken seriously. A position of power shouldn’t make someone immune to consequences of bad behavior.

If you struggle to hire for your managerial roles, and that’s why you’ve settled for someone who can do half the role, consider what your compensation package looks like. Is the pay too low? Are you combining two completely different skill sets that don’t work in one role? Are you hoping for a unicorn but settling for a donkey?

Managers need to be able to manage people as well as handle paperwork. It shouldn’t be an either/or situation. Use your HR analytics to spot managerial issues before they cost you.

Sick days

How content are your employees, really? Do they enjoy their jobs, or are they doing it just to pay the bills?

If you notice a pattern where a lot of employees are out with conditions such as chronic back pain or stress, it’s time to look at your workplace and culture.

Are employees sitting in uncomfortable chairs, or at bad desks, that are damaging their backs? 

Are they feeling pressured in their role, which is pushing their stress to unmanageable levels?

If you spot any patterns of recurring causes of illness—or an excessive amount of illnesses—talk to the employees who are experiencing these issues in a friendly, non-judgmental way. They’ll be more likely to open up to you if you speak to them like this. What they have to say may help you to unlock new insights that you hadn’t considered before.

Once you have this data, you can make changes to improve your workplace. You may need to make desk spaces more ergonomic, offer counseling to help employees manage stress, or look for ways to reduce their workload so that they don’t need to take so much time off.

Tracking sick time as part of your HR analytics approach ensures you can recognize issues with burnout and illness early enough to address them.

Down time

Do employees use their vacation days? When they take time off, do they feel guilty? 

How about responding to emails outside of working hours? Do they feel unable to take time off because they have too much to do?

I once worked with someone who was so busy that by the end of the year, she had almost 20 vacation days left to use.

But it was Christmastime—she couldn’t take the time off then, either. It was her department’s busiest time of year.

Employees should never feel so overworked that they don’t believe they can take a break. 

Breaks are an important part of us being able to work to the best of our capabilities. Without them, we’re less able to perform at our optimal physical or mental level, affecting our work and personal lives.

Tracking whether or not employees are taking PTO is an important piece of an effective HR analytics strategy.

Conclusion 

These are often overlooked areas that will help you unlock new insights into your workforce. They’ll give you information on how employees really feel in their roles, and what your workplace culture is actually like.

The deeper you go into the data as part of your HR analytics, the more you’ll reveal and the more improvements you can make.

Are you interested in automating data tracking and HR analytics for your employee programming? If so, we’d love to chat.

Drop us a line at hello@workrowd.com or vist our site to learn how our one-stop tool suite can help you to streamline processes, boost engagement, empower employee leaders, and automate data tracking and HR analytics.

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Categories
Company Culture

Employee groups to take your company culture to the next level

Whether your team is remote, hybrid, or office-based, employee groups can do a lot for your company culture.

Employee groups enable employees to get to know their colleagues beyond day-to-day work activities. This improves their social connections and benefits their mental health, making them happier in their roles.

Employee groups aren’t just good for employees, though. Businesses with solid employee groups save money on hiring. Their employees are more likely to stay, because they feel appreciated, valued, and accepted.

Since employees are happier, they’re also more productive, meaning that businesses can make more money and grow faster.

Phew, that’s a lot of benefits!

But which groups should you start with and why? Let’s take a look:

Location-based groups

No one knows somewhere like the locals. Bonding over a shared location can make close friends out of colleagues who are otherwise quite different.

Location-based employee groups can help employees expand their local network, discover new coworking places, find pet sitters, and even get restaurant recommendations.

They’re also great for team members traveling between offices who are looking for things to do or places to visit.

Book club

What someone reads can tell you a lot about them, but not always in ways you think.

For instance, horror fans tend to be some of the most laid-back people I know! Why? Because horror is great for facing fears. Facing fears in a safe environment, and channeling anxiety and adrenaline in this way, is a healthy outlet that can be good for our mental health.

Chatting about books is also a great way to connect with someone.

Sometimes, people want to read but don’t know where to get recommendations.

There are so many books published every year – around eight million! It can be scary knowing where to even start, especially if you’re not from a community where reading is a regular pastime. 

This was definitely me. I grew up in a town where most people didn’t read, so I had nobody to suggest books I might enjoy. Most of the books I read as a child and teenager were recommendations from my mom’s work colleagues who had children of a similar age.

Since things like remote working, busy lives, and just general life can make it harder for us to find people with similar interests or get recommendations, a book club can help employees find a new book, series, or author to teach them something new or help them escape for a little while.

TV and film 

TV shows and movies are another effective way for people to connect with a low barrier to entry. Think of this as a virtual form of water cooler chat.

Group leaders could even schedule virtual (or in-person) watch parties. That way, everyone can chat about what they’re watching in real time.

Mental health 

Our mental health can have a dramatic impact on our working lives, and vice versa. Enabling employees to discuss mental health in a safe space can really help them feel supported and understood. 

You could have a general mental health group, where you or other members share hacks to improve mental health and talk about some of the challenges. You could also have employee groups for different conditions like depression, anxiety, etc.

Physical health

Suffering from chronic physical health problems can be incredibly isolating.

Having a group dedicated to improving physical health, or maybe even groups for different conditions like chronic pain, menopause, or diabetes, gives team members who are dealing with these issues somewhere to discuss them with people who understand and may be able to offer advice. 

Even if someone can’t get advice, they’ll be able to share how they’re feeling. This will help to reduce those feelings of isolation and maybe even reduce their pain because they’re not suppressing it.

Mindfulness & meditation

To me, mindfulness is underappreciated and overhyped. No one ever really explains or explores the true benefits. They just say that meditation and mindfulness are good for you. But why?

Let’s take meditation as an example. It can lower stress levels, reduce chronic pain levels by up to 40%, make it easier to deal with difficult situations or emotions, improve our heart health, and help us concentrate. It may also help with things like ADHD, anger management, anxiety, and depression.

That’s not even all of the benefits. It’s no wonder people talk about it sometimes like it’s a wonder drug.

All that being said, it can be hard to know where to start if you’re new to mindfulness. A mindfulness/meditation group allows people to dip their toe in with a side of moral support and discussions on different types and techniques.

Public speaking 

Public speaking can be a necessary part of life, but not everyone is comfortable doing it. 

Having a public speaking group that’s led by a confident speaker, or someone working toward becoming one, can be a powerful way to show employees that it’s okay if they struggle. You’ve got a community-led way to support them.

Let’s not forget how much better it can make meetings when employees have the confidence to speak up, too. The more people who speak up during meetings, the more ideas you’ll get and the more problems you can solve.

LGBTQ+

One way to show your diversity and inclusion policy is more than just lip service is by having an LGBTQ+ group (or even individual ones if your company is that large). 

This helps LGBTQ+ employees connect with other people who understand them, can relate to them, and who can offer advice if needed.

People of color

A group—or groups—for people of color is another way to show you really care about diversity and inclusion. 

It allows BIPOC from different departments to get to know each other and support each other when they’re at work. This gives them more of a voice and helps attract more diverse candidates.

Conclusion 

These are just some of the foundational employee groups that will show your team members you really do care about their wellbeing. Engaging in supportive employee groups will also encourage them to stick around long-term.

In large companies, you could split some of these into subgroups or chapters. Or, you could create even more groups on everything from hobbies to charitable causes.

The options of what you can create employee groups around are only limited by the types of employees you want working for you.

Are you interested in getting some employee groups up and running quickly and easily? Or do you want to take your current employee groups to the next level?

Workrowd’s tools for launching, managing, and measuring employee groups have you covered. Our user-friendly platform has everything you need to connect your team with a thriving community of employee groups.

Want to learn more? Drop us a line at hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to connect!

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Categories
Employee Engagement Employee Retention

Employee engagement and retention – benefits of the right tools

When it comes to employee engagement and retention, having the right tools is crucial. In today’s rapidly changing world of work, you have to cater to a wide range of team member needs. At the same time, you still have to cover all the standard bases as well.

To achieve all this without the help of digital tools would take more hours than there are in a day. But what should you be looking for to fill out your toolbox?

Workrowd is dedicated to helping organizations improve their employee experience and create real, lasting connections across their workforces. Our tool suite drives employee engagement and retention while helping you keep all the balls in the air.

As you determine which employee engagement and retention tools to use at your organization, consider the benefits you’re looking to achieve. For example, here are just some of the ways Workrowd helps companies and their teams:

Simplified onboarding

Onboarding a new employee can be stressful. There’s so much you have to introduce them to, it’s easy to miss things related to culture and engagement. 

Workrowd makes it easy to immerse new team members in your company culture from day one. Whether they’re remote, hybrid, or on-site, everyone gets equal access. 

All you have to do is add them to the platform when you add them to your other systems. Then, they can scroll through all your organization’s employee groups, programs, and events in one place, at their own speed. They won’t have to dig through chat channels, trawl your intranet, or hope to hear about things from colleagues.

Making sure team members feel welcome and included from day one is key to employee engagement and retention.

Deeper work relationships

When someone has friends at work, they’re more than twice as likely to be engaged. Employee engagement impacts everything from employee happiness, to experience, to productivity, to retention.

So, while it may seem like a small thing, ensuring team members feel like they belong where they work could actually be one of the biggest contributors to your business’s ability to retain employees and make a profit.

Using Workrowd, team members can connect with colleagues and take full advantage of all your employee programming. With one-click signups, personalized experiences, and more, it couldn’t be easier to get involved.

Workrowd empowers team members to engage with anything from mindfulness sessions to Toastmasters clubs to employee resource groups and everything in between. Relationships built in these spaces help ensure deep bonds between colleagues that drive employee engagement and retention.

Lower churn rate

How many times have you heard someone say they stayed somewhere because of the people? It’s a common refrain, and for good reason. Even if we don’t always love what we’re doing, if the people are great, it can make it worth it.

We spend more time with our work colleagues than the people we live with. So, is the importance of employees’ relationships with each other really that surprising?

If an employee is more engaged and connected, they’re more likely to stick around. Their job will feel less like something they do just to pay the bills. It will become an important part of their community, life, and identity.

Increased satisfaction

Net Promoter Scores (NPS) are a great way to find out about employees’ satisfaction. Workrowd automatically tracks the NPS for each of your employee events, groups, and programs. This way, you always know where you stand.

Armed with this information, you can spend your time where it matters most – improving programs with low scores, and championing those that are doing well. This way, you can take a data-driven approach to increasing employee engagement and retention.

Employees are in control, too. They can join whatever initiatives they like, mute notifications, check in at certain times of day, etc.; it’s totally flexible based on what they need.

This ability to personalize the employee experience can greatly increase your NPS. By equipping team members to self-serve, each individual can build a work life they love from day one.

Reduced admin work

Some people enjoy admin tasks, but nobody can deny that they’re a huge time sink. 

When you factor in multiple topics and sources of data, it can be a real headache to manage everything for employee engagement, talent management, DEI, and company culture.

By centralizing everything, and automating tasks like data collection and analysis, Workrowd reduces how much time you spend on admin tasks.

The platform collects data through activity tracking, post-initiative surveys, and ongoing pulse surveys, then pulls it into customizable dashboards.

You can view KPIs, progress towards those KPIs, employee demographics, program budgets, and more. It all depends on what’s relevant for your organization.

Workrowd also frees you from having to manage membership lists manually, share materials in multiple places, juggle calendars, etc. The platform handles it all.

With Workrowd, you can set it, forget it, and move on with the work that really matters, while staff are just a click away from a richer employee experience.

Personalized experiences

Nowadays, personalization is so important. Employees are used to personalization from consumer brands, so they expect it at work, too.

Luckily, with Workrowd, it’s not just admins who get personalized dashboards—employees do, too.

They just click to register for all the programs, groups, and topics that interest them. This all gets added to their personalized dashboard so they have an all-in-one view of everything they have coming up.

Especially with people working across so many times and locations, having this collective touchpoint can go a long way towards increasing employee engagement and retention.

One-stop shopping

Workrowd centralizes all your employee initiatives, so that every team member can take full advantage of everything you have to offer. 

No more employees slipping through the cracks or missing out on important opportunities. Give them a one-stop shop for culture and engagement.

All your talent initiatives get equal billing, from social impact, to diversity and inclusion, to learning and development, health and wellness, innovation, recreation, and more. 

Workrowd’s flexible structure makes it highly adaptable to your company’s specific culture. You can effectively establish a town square for all team members that’s accessible from anywhere.

Automated insights

Modular analytics and automated surveys allow you to see, at a glance, which programs are driving impact and which ones need more support, empowering you to optimize your strategy and spending.

When exploring tools to improve employee engagement and retention, data tracking and analytics should be a key consideration.

Easy localization

The option to organize Workrowd by region or office means it’s easy to ensure employees’ portals only show them the groups, programs, and events available to them, including company-wide initiatives. Perfect for a global or hybrid organization.

Evolving community knowledgebase

When someone leaves, their knowledge leaves with them. This can create real challenges as you have to train someone new in their role. What’s often overlooked though, is that you also have to find new people to take over the other roles that person may have held in terms of culture, group leadership, etc.

Workrowd allows you to create a knowledgebase so that when someone who’s in charge of a group or activity does leave, their successor can get up to speed much faster. This way, that group or program doesn’t collapse, or experience major setbacks.

Increased productivity and collaboration

Is it any surprise, when people work together on extracurriculars, they’re more likely to collaborate better on work projects, too? 

A greater sense of community throughout the business helps with interdepartmental relationships, giving everyone and everything a boost.

Workrowd also increases participation in and effectiveness of employee groups, programs, and events, driving employee engagement and retention throughout your business.

Conclusion

These are just some of the benefits you can gain from tapping into the right tools to increase employee engagement and retention.

Workrowd’s user-friendly platform is designed to help your people find their people, no matter where or when they work. Our suite of tools ensures you can maximize the impact of your employee groups, programs, and events, making the most of your investment.

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Take it from one of our customers: “Workrowd has been an incredible asset allowing us to be more connected as a team. Implementation was seamless and the value of the tool continues to grow every day with real time input from our employees and management team.”

If you’d like to learn more about how you can partner with Workrowd to increase employee engagement and retention, send us a note to hello@workrowd.com.

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Categories
Employee Engagement

Employee clubs should be HR’s favorite tool – 8 reasons why

We all like to feel we’re a part of something. Employee clubs are a great way to build this experience of belonging for every team member at your organization.

Community is incredibly powerful. Studies have proven human connection is one of the key ingredients to a longer, happier life. On the flip side, loneliness can shorten one’s lifespan and exacerbate chronic illnesses.

There’s no reason why someone’s job can’t give them a sense of belonging or contribute to their sense of community. This sadly isn’t always the case, though. 

Many businesses don’t feel the need to set up or encourage any sort of employee clubs or groups. They also don’t encourage employee socialization or connection. 

This may be because of financial reasons, not understanding the benefits, or not feeling it contributes enough to the bottom line to be worth the extra effort.

But employee clubs can be an easy way to encourage colleagues to connect with one another, leading to many benefits. 

Here are some of the reasons why employee clubs should be one of HR’s favorite tools:

Improved retention

When someone feels like they belong at work, they’re more likely to stay long-term. 

Employee clubs are a great way for people to connect with colleagues who share their interests or backgrounds and whom they may not have met otherwise, especially in a larger organization.

The slower your employee turnover, the more money you’ll save on the often lengthy and expensive hiring process. That gives you more money to spend on other areas of HR and the rest of the business.

Better employee mental health

Community and belonging play huge roles in someone’s mental health. This is true both in terms of helping them if they’re feeling isolated, lonely, or anxious, and when it comes to protecting their mental wellbeing.

An employee may not always feel like they can talk to their teammates, or their teammates may not understand their situation. If there are employee clubs where people can share experiences, it can connect them with someone who gets what they’re going through and can listen and offer advice if desired.

Fewer sick days

As I mentioned in the introduction, community is good for both our physical and mental health. 

Community can be a motivational tool which encourages us to get up and moving. This prevents our joints from seizing up and causing issues like back pain. Back pain is actually one of the biggest reasons for sick leave in the US.

As physical and emotional pain are processed in the same part of the brain, the amygdala, the suppression of emotions can lead to chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia or migraines. This is also why one of the symptoms of depression is random aches and pains.

When someone has people who understand them and are willing to listen, they’re less likely to bottle up their issues. As a result, it’s less likely to manifest in their body as chronic pain.

Develop the right mindset

Connecting with people to whom you relate, but who may be at a more advanced stage of their career, can really help someone to grow their mindset. 

Mindsets are contagious. If you’re hanging around pessimists all the time, chances are you’re going to adopt a more negative outlook, too. 

The same is true if you hang around people who are uplifting, optimistic, and hardworking. 

If someone is a chronic complainer, connecting them to a mindfulness club, or someone who’s got a brighter outlook, could be all they need to see the world from a different angle.

Grow their skills

Every employee has a unique set of skills just waiting to be shared with other people within your business. Employee clubs allow them to show off their skills.

If someone is feeling bored in their role, employee clubs could help them develop new skills. These could then allow them to move into another department. That way you don’t lose their existing business knowledge. Plus, you won’t need to hire someone new, train them in the role, and teach them about your business, a process which can take several months at a minimum.

Better interdepartmental connections

Some departments traditionally have fractured or non-existent relationships, like accounting and marketing. 

When employees connect with others who are outside of their department, it can lead to better interdepartmental connections and collaborations. It can abolish any previous tensions that may have existed between the two teams. 

This benefits everything from problem solving to product launches, leading to better teamwork and a greater sense of community within your business as a whole, as well as in the individual employee clubs.

More attractive to candidates

While money is always a big factor when someone is job hunting, it’s no longer the biggest one. Senses of purpose and belonging matter just as much, if not more.

Sharing details of the employee clubs that exist can be a real selling point to people who are looking not just for a place to work, but for a place to create connections and develop their skills.

You could do this on social media, in the job description, or even in marketing emails. 

It helps if any social media content is shared by employees from their account, rather than from a branded page. Employees have a much larger reach and are seen as more trustworthy than what is often a faceless brand.

Greater productivity

Who doesn’t love productive employees?

When someone feels a greater sense of belonging, they’re happier in their role, and they’re therefore more productive, too. 

This reflects well on all areas of the business, and of course, generates more income. 

You can therefore grow faster thanks to the additional revenue from having more productive employees and a lower churn rate.

Conclusion 

Employee clubs can benefit every area of a business, from attraction to retention to employee productivity and experience. Setting them up and keeping them running doesn’t have to be a complicated process, either. 

Workrowd’s lightweight platform makes it easy to market, manage, and measure all your employee clubs. From professional development to social impact, and from recreation to diversity and inclusion, our suite of tools empowers you to meet a wide range of employee needs.

If you’re curious to learn more and see if Workrowd is a fit for your organization, send a note to hello@workrowd.com. We’d love to learn more about your goals and discuss ways to increase engagement, retention, and belonging with employee clubs.

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Categories
Employee Engagement

Improving employee engagement – the tools to use hour by hour

There are a lot of HR tech products out there. Many of them promise increased engagement, greater connection, and a wealth of other benefits. But what does improving employee engagement actually look like during a typical workday?

Meet Mia. She’s a hard-working mom of two intent on doing it all. She’s been working from home these past couple of years thanks to the pandemic, and she’s just now starting to go into the office a couple of days per week.

Mia’s’s always been pretty social, despite her introverted tendencies, and the transition to remote hit her harder than she expected. Luckily, her company was ready with tools to keep her connected, engaged, and thriving.

Let’s see how Workrowd makes improving employee engagement easy for Mia’s employer, as we follow her on a typical day in the life.

A day in the life with Workrowd

8:15am

The kids are off to school, the laundry’s already in the dryer, and Mia’s feeling good about the day ahead. She grabs a cup of coffee and settles in at her desk. 

Before she starts work, it’s time for her moment of mindfulness, thanks to the company’s meditation group. 

Mia pulls up Workrowd in her browser and checks out the mindfulness prompt for today. She starts to practice the breathing exercises she learned recently to quiet her mind. 

She’s up to fifteen minutes of meditation per day now, from five. The benefits to her concentration and mental health are really starting to come through. All the techniques she’s learned have also proven helpful when the kids are testing her patience!

If she hadn’t had the chance to check out the group on Workrowd first, without having to commit to anything, she never would’ve gotten into mindfulness. Now, she’s not sure how she could function without it. 

9:30am

Now that her email inbox is (somewhat) under control and she’s put out a couple of fires, it’s time for her first meeting of the day. It’s to discuss a new cross-departmental project, which can be tricky when you’re working with new colleagues. 

Luckily, she already knows a couple of the people involved thanks to the company Toastmasters group. Having bonded over their fear of public speaking, collaboration is going to be a lot easier. 

Mia had wanted to try Toastmasters for years. So, when she saw the company group on Workrowd the day she started, she clicked the ‘Join’ button immediately. (Even though she was already anxious just thinking about her first speech!) Her confidence and speaking skills have improved quite a bit, and she’s enjoying the challenge. Presenting in meetings is much less stressful now, too!

11:00am

They changed the time of the All Hands this week, but Workrowd sent her a notification, meaning there was no confusion over when it was actually happening. 

Because of the new time, Mia has to leave the All Hands early to join a previously scheduled call. Workrowd has her covered, though. The recording will be posted and easy to find, along with the slides and any comments from the team. She’s going to check it all out tomorrow morning when she has a few spare minutes.

12:30pm

As the sponsor of the Managers-in-Training program, Mia’s put together a lunch and learn.

Workrowd enabled her to notify and share readings with all the participants in advance. She used to have to manually update the program’s mailing list to keep everyone in the loop, but now the platform takes care of membership.

Plus, everyone knew where to find the materials alongside the event information, so they were all prepared when they arrived. It’s a big help to have so much of the admin work off of her plate. Now she can focus her energy on running a great program that delivers results.

Workrowd doesn’t just help employers with improving employee engagement; it also empowers employee leaders to drive culture and engagement from the ground up. Today’s lunch and learn discussion yielded some great insights.

1:30pm

As the lunch and learn discussion wraps up, Mia remembers that she needs to update her group’s budget and download a reimbursement form for some supplies she purchased for a recent training session. 

Having everything in one place on Workrowd is super convenient. 

She updates her budget with the new information so leadership can easily see how much she spent and compare it against their key performance indicators. Mia is proud that the Managers-in-Training program is operating under budget while exceeding their goals. 

After she grabs the reimbursement form from the Tools section of the leaders’ group, she signs and submits it. Job done!

2:00-4:00pm

Time for some deep, focused work. 

Because Workrowd organizes all of Mia’s notifications about the company’s employee groups, programs, and events in one place, she’s not getting random pings about fitness classes or happy hours while she’s trying to concentrate. 

That doesn’t mean she’s going to miss out, though. She can catch up on what’s happening on her own time, instead of getting interrupted every time something is posted.

4:00pm

After some deep work, Mia opens Workrowd to change her response for this evening’s company volunteer shift. Originally, she’d RSVPed for three people since it was just going to be her and the kids. Luckily though, her partner’s business dinner was cancelled, so now there will be four of them. 

Thanks to the comprehensive event details on Workrowd, she knew it was okay to add an additional person this close to the start time.

7:00pm

The whole family had a great time at the volunteer event, and really felt like they were able to make a difference. Now, everyone’s hungry but they can’t decide where to grab a bite. 

Mia remembers that there was a discussion thread about family-friendly restaurants in the Resources section of the caregivers’ ERG. She quickly pulls up Workrowd to check out what her colleagues recommended. 

They find a great place and while they’re driving there, Mia takes two minutes to fill out the five-question feedback survey about the volunteer event. 

She knows the group leader and the HR team will really love hearing about how much fun the family had. The automated analytics make it much easier for them to see how groups, programs, and events are impacting her and her colleagues in real time. 

Mia greatly prefers this bite-size version to the flood of requests to complete those endless employee engagement surveys once or twice a year.

10:00pm

Time to start winding down. Mia climbs into bed and dives back into the current book for the company book club. It’s a real page-turner! 

It’s so good that she drops a note in the book club chat on Workrowd, sharing how much she’s enjoying the story. Hopefully it’ll encourage anyone considering skipping this month to give it a chance. She’s so glad she has such a great work community.

Conclusion 

Mia’s story isn’t uncommon. Companies everywhere are enjoying the benefits of improving employee engagement with Workrowd.

The wide array of employee experience tools out there can be overwhelming. If you’re currently exploring options for improving employee engagement, let’s talk.

We’d love to learn more about any challenges you’re facing with your current approach to improving employee engagement, and discuss some ways our one-stop suite of tools can help.

Improving employee engagement doesn’t have to be hard. With Workrowd’s customizable, user-friendly platform, you can automate processes, reduce admin time, and keep every team member engaged and thriving.

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Categories
Hybrid/Remote

Engaging remote employees – 10 dos and don’ts

Engaging remote employees requires a different mindset than engaging office-based employees. 

When someone is fully remote by choice, they may want different things from their working life than people who were forced into remote work by the pandemic.

It’s therefore important that businesses find helpful, creative, and effective ways of engaging remote employees, to ensure that they can do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Do trust them

For any remote employee to work successfully, they need to feel trusted. If they feel like you’re constantly haranguing them, or you’re trying to micromanage their workload, it’s going to cause them to disconnect and become less productive and communicative. It will have the opposite effect that you’d hoped for.

If someone isn’t working as effectively as you’d like, or you’ve noticed a change in them, ask them what’s wrong. It may be that they’re having personal issues that are impacting their ability to work, but they don’t feel able to talk about it.

Don’t treat them like they’re in an office

Working remotely isn’t even close to being the same as working in an office. It changes everything from someone’s daily routine, to the noises around them, to their concentration levels. You therefore can’t take the same approach when engaging remote employees.

For instance, if you’re organizing a meeting, you need to be aware of video call fatigue. It’s a lot harder to stay engaged for hours when you’re staring at a camera and have nothing else to look at. Compare this to being in a meeting room where there are people, a whiteboard, a window, door, table, laptop, etc. This inevitably changes the experience of the meeting. 

You want to keep sessions short and avoid too many unnecessary tangents. This is especially true for employees who have to attend a lot of meetings.

Do communicate

If someone walked up to your desk in person, you wouldn’t listen to what they had to say then go back to work without responding. Make sure you don’t do that in a remote environment, either. If someone messages you with a question, it’s always best to respond when you can, especially if they need your help with something.

Communication is a key part of having a trusting workplace. Employees need to know what’s going on in the business, just as much as they would in an office-based role. 

Make sure you listen to remote employees’ views, even if it doesn’t change the outcome. Taking the time to do this will make them feel valued. It may even win their buy-in without you having to do anything extra.

Do offer communication options

There are more ways to communicate than ever, but it’s important to remember that how you communicate can and does make a difference to someone’s ability to do their job. Some people prefer voice calls over messages, others like to read things, some are fine with video. 

As well as personal preference, some people process information better or differently depending on how it’s delivered. For example, in most cases, I prefer to read information over digesting it in video format. When reading, I can process it at my own pace, not based around how fast someone speaks.

Don’t micromanage

I mentioned this in the first point, but I want to circle back to it because it’s one of the worst things you can do. By all means, track what employees are doing in a Kanban board, to-do list, or other tracking method that works for you. Set deadlines and encourage employees to stick to them.

But don’t dictate how they spend every working moment. It’s not up to you to prioritize someone’s tasks. Micromanaging is almost never your best bet, but it’s especially problematic when it comes to engaging remote employees.

Don’t exclude them from events

Just because someone works remotely, that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t still enjoy some face-time occasionally. 

This may not be for everyone, but there are plenty of ways to adapt things like the holiday party to suit everyone. Whether that’s by having parties across several locations if you’re a global company, or hosting online events like quizzes, a magician, or games, there are lots of ways of engaging remote employees.

Do give them the right equipment

For someone to work efficiently, they need the right equipment. There’s no point expecting someone to program if they have a laptop from 2005. They need the latest tech that enables them to do things more efficiently.

Other things, like monitors, desks, and chairs can make a huge difference to someone’s ability to do their job, too. Are they sitting too close to their monitor? Can their feet touch the ground in their chair? Is their keyboard or mouse hurting them when they use it? These are small things that can dramatically influence everything from someone’s concentration to their pain levels.

When it comes to software, sometimes free or open source products are all you need to do a job effectively. And sometimes, trying to save a few dollars overcomplicates the job and means it takes twice as long. Be mindful of this and listen to employees’ frustrations if they’re struggling with something.

Don’t expect them to come into the office last minute

If you still have an office and expect employees to visit on occasion, make sure this is clear in the job description before they start. Hybrid working and remote working are very different things and require different working styles for success.

Also remember that if you want remote employees to visit last minute, they may need time to arrange things like child or pet care. 

Always respect their time and give them plenty of notice before asking them to come into the office. Respect is fundamental to engaging remote employees, or any employees, for that matter.

Do make support paths clear

Tech is a huge part of a remote role, but sometimes things go wrong. Employees need to know who they can contact for IT issues since they don’t have an onsite IT team like they would when working in an office.

Don’t expect them to communicate if you don’t

Like it or not, employees will follow your example. So, if you’re not communicating with them, it’s unlikely that they’re going to communicate with you. 

Communication is a two-way street that requires effort and commitment from all parties involved.

Conclusion 

Engaging remote workers is a new thing for many businesses to have to do. That doesn’t mean it has to be complicated or challenging, though. Sometimes it’s really about common sense and considering how you’d like to be treated, what would make your life easier, and remembering that everyone requires different things. Being able to meet this diversity of needs is one of the strengths of remote working.

Another way of meeting diverse needs and engaging remote employees is by bringing all of your employee groups, programs, and events together in one place on Workrowd. Remote, hybrid, and in-office employees alike will be able to quickly see all of the great employee experience initiatives you offer and get involved, no matter where or when they work.

What’s more, you’ll be able to easily track how your programming is impacting employee engagement. Drop us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more, or visit our site. We’d love to explore ways to support you in engaging remote employees.

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Categories
Wellness

6 best practices to keep your team from getting burnt out at work

Feeling burnt out at work is becoming all too common. Many of us who’ve experienced it have even gone through it more than once.

When you look into who’s most likely to get burnt out at work, it’s actually not surprising.

When someone is happy to work 9-5, or whatever their hours may be, they can finish their shift or close their laptop and be done for the day, disconnecting to spend time on other projects or hobbies.

Those of us who love what we do are more likely to wind up burnt out at work. That’s because we’re more likely to work longer hours and struggle to leave work at the end of the day. This means we work harder and push ourselves harder, forgetting to pace ourselves and factor in time for self-care.

People are also more likely to get burnt out at work when we’re neurodivergent or part of another underrepresented group. We have to constantly try to adapt to how the world works—which is usually not in our favor.

Masking, or covering, where someone tries to hide or tone down one or more of their identities, is also incredibly draining. It’s something a lot of people feel they have to do to be successful. Masking and covering take a lot of mental energy to sustain, too.

So, what can you, as an employer, do to prevent employees from feeling burnt out at work?

Here are a few starting points:

Set realistic deadlines

If an employee tells you something will take a month to do, don’t give them two weeks. 

This creates additional pressure, especially if they’re a people pleaser. That additional pressure is subconsciously (or maybe consciously) draining. They’ll end up with less energy to work on the project because they’re so busy worrying.

Sure, they may meet the unrealistic deadline, but is the damage to their physical and/or mental health really worth it?

Offer flexible working

You know something that really didn’t help when I was becoming burnt out at work? Forcing myself to get up early.

I’m just not a morning person. When I do get up early, I like to take things slowly.

Businesses that don’t offer flexible working are increasingly missing out on talent, as it’s now one of the deciding factors for many people when they’re looking for a new job.

Flexible working has many benefits, from allowing employees to work while caring for children, to helping them better manage their health conditions.

If someone is getting burnt out at work, allowing them that extra hour in bed instead of commuting into work can make a bigger difference than you may think. While sleep won’t solve everything, it will restore their energy. Spending time on crowded public transport or waiting in traffic will have the opposite effect.

Encourage hobbies outside of work

Part of enjoying what you do can mean studying it outside of work hours. For instance, staying up on the latest trends, learning a new programming language or social media app, etc.

However, it’s important that we all disconnect from work sometimes. Having hobbies unrelated to work can help with this.

You could encourage these by asking what people like to do and setting up channels or krowds for popular hobbies, like gardening, cooking, or even watching TV.

Set clear boundaries

Boundaries are really important when it comes to preventing people from becoming burnt out at work. Being unable to disconnect is part of the problem. If someone feels like they have to reply to that email or chat message from their boss, or they might lose their job, it doesn’t set healthy boundaries or show them respect.

I get needing to jot an idea down so that you don’t forget it. It’s something I do all the time. But instead of messaging outside of work hours, could you write it on a note-taking app? Or schedule the email to go out during work hours, so that you’re not disturbing someone’s disconnection time?

It’s rare that things are ever as urgent as we convince ourselves that they are. Most things can wait until morning.

Offer support

Can you offer discounted therapy through your employee perks program? Or a meditation app? Maybe another wellness-focused app?

There are lots of small ways that you can offer support. These include app partnerships and discounts or sharing your own story so those experiencing something similar feel less alone.

It’s also important that managers are open to listening. They need to understand how important mental health is and pay attention when their team members tell them they’re struggling, their workload is unattainable, or maybe something is happening in their personal life that’s making things particularly challenging for them.

Be patient

Burnout—and the period as someone is creeping up the hill, unaware they’re about to fall off a cliff—can happen without us noticing. It also changes how someone thinks, feels, and works.

So, if you notice a change in how someone works, rather than feeling annoyed with them, be patient with them.

Instead of jumping to conclusions, ask what’s wrong. They may not have noticed that what’s happening in their personal life is affecting their work life.

Conclusion 

Burnout is a serious health problem, and it’s on employers to prevent it from happening to their employees. Setting unrealistic deadlines, disrespecting—or not setting—boundaries, and expecting work to be someone’s life are all negative things employers can do that put their employees one step closer to getting burnt out at work.

It’s up to employers to set an example. You don’t have to make grand gestures. Simply drawing clear boundaries, being realistic with deadlines, and paying attention to what could be impacting employees’ wellness can all help to prevent employees from falling off the burnout cliff.

Another opportunity to protect your team against becoming burnt out at work is to ensure they have strong connections with colleagues. Workrowd can help by making it easy for people to tap into all your employee groups, programs, and events from day one. Supportive relationships can go a long way towards keeping employees engaged, well, and happy in their roles. Send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

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Categories
Employee Experience

7 strategies to create a great employee journey at every step

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.

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