Category: Employee Experience

When you mention ‘flexible work’, different workplace flexibility ideas come to mind for different people. One thing is clear, though; no matter how it looks, it’s growing more and more important to today’s talent.

Almost 40% of candidates rank workplace flexibility as one of the top three factors they consider when job hunting.

96% of employees, meanwhile, feel that they need flexibility at work. But only 47% believe they have access to the sort of work flexibility that they need. That’s a massive 49% gap!

This gap is even more pronounced for women—only 34% have the type of flexible working arrangement they want.

Of the employees who did report having some flexibility at work, only 19% said they had access to structured workplace flexibility programs.

If diversity and inclusion can make such a huge difference to a business’s bottom line, how is there such a big gap between the percentage of employees who want to make use of workplace flexibility ideas, and the percentage who actually get to?

Why does workplace flexibility matter?

Implementing workplace flexibility ideas ensures you can attract—and retain—a wider range of employees. Every employee and candidate has a different set of needs. The more you can cater to, the more you’ll benefit from a happier, more diverse, and more productive workforce.

Creating a flexible workplace means embracing changes that make employees’ work schedules work for them.

Over time, these changes compound to improve your employee satisfaction and employer brand. And make you more money.

Offering the option of a flexible work schedule is a low-cost way to add to your compensation package. Plus, it reduces your employee turnover and helps you tap into a wider talent pool.

It also shows employees that you value work/life balance—something that’s grown increasingly important since the pandemic.

And it’s something that can easily be adapted for remote work, hybrid work, or office-based work.

So, let’s take a look at some workplace flexibility ideas that serve both people and profit:

Flexible working hours

The most obvious group of people who can benefit from flexible hours are parents. When they don’t have to be superglued to their desks from 9am every day, they get to drop off, and pick up, their children from school. This saves them money on childcare and gives them more time with their children.

A flexible schedule doesn’t just benefit working parents, though. Some people just don’t fit with the traditional 9-5 model.

Leaning into employees’ natural working patterns helps them excel in their roles. It also embraces neurodiversity and creative thinking, and benefits your business as a result.

Compressed workweek

A recent UK study found that a four-day work week—without pay cut—resulted in no reduction in employee productivity. In fact, in some instances, it made employees more productive.

I’ve spoken to a couple of friends who work full time recently, and they’ve both told me that they feel they could do just as good of a job if they worked one day fewer per week.

Having to work five days means they’re often finding ways to fill the time or pretending to be busy.

This isn’t how a healthy company culture should operate. What should matter is the quality of work someone produces, not how many hours they spend sitting at a desk.

Reduced hours or part-time work

If you’ve got a fantastic employee whose situation has changed—for instance, they’ve just become a parent or been diagnosed with a chronic health condition—rather than lose them, why not reduce their hours instead?

This is a great way to retain their company knowledge. And, as we’ve seen above, it doesn’t always mean a reduction in productivity. Offering some workplace flexibility ideas when an employee is struggling is a great way to show you value them.

Annualized hours

Rather than have someone work a set number of hours per week, annualized hours average out over time.

This flexible work arrangement ensures that tasks get done, but nobody’s sitting at a desk twiddling their thumbs when they’ve completed all their tasks for the day/week.

This improves employee wellbeing and means they have more time to spend during launches or other busy periods without wasting time when things are quieter.

Job sharing

Job sharing is when two or more employees split the equivalent of a full-time role between them.

This flexible working arrangement helps you attract working parents. Or just people who want to work but can’t or don’t want to work full-time.

As a result, you get to benefit from the alternative perspectives that come with increased workplace diversity. In today’s tight hiring market, incorporating some of these workplace flexibility ideas can help you tap into new talent pools.

Flexible paid time off

The average US worker takes just 20.3 days off per year. In the UK, employees get at least 28 days including bank holidays. Any less than this would put most Brits off applying for a role. Extra PTO makes the job more attractive and says a lot about the workplace culture.

Flexible PTO allows employees to take as much vacation time as they like without it impacting their role or the attitudes of their colleagues toward them.

To introduce this, you could set an example by taking time off yourself. This shows employees you really do value breaks from the desk and workplace wellbeing.

Sabbaticals

Sabbaticals are a great way for employees to explore the world, learn about themselves, and recover from mental/physical health issues.

Knowing that there’s a job at the end to return to reduces some of the stress of their time away. This can further help them to relax and recover.

Phased retirement

Going from full-time work to full-time retirement can be a huge shock to someone’s mind and body. If they don’t have hobbies it can lead to boredom, loneliness, and unhealthy habits. 

Phased retirement allows them to adjust to retired life while still connecting with others and getting some mental stimulation.

They could use this time to train someone to replace them, meaning that you don’t miss out on talented employees’ industry or company knowledge—they can pass it on to the next person before they leave.

Conclusion 

Workplace flexibility is a cornerstone of a diverse and inclusive workplace. It starts with a flexible mindset that values work/life balance.

It embraces everyone’s working patterns and ways of life, helping them perform at their best. And means you get the most out of every employee.

When the work environment is adapted to suit employees’ needs, instead of them needing to adapt themselves to suit their workplace’s needs, they’re more engaged and more productive. 

Implementing workplace flexibility ideas improves your company culture, employee retention, and job satisfaction. It also makes you a more attractive employer to prospective candidates.

If you’d like to get more rapid feedback on your existing workplace flexibility ideas, or simply ensure employees are aware of everything they can tap into, Workrowd can help.

Our all-in-one platform automates surveys and engagement analytics to give you more insight into what’s making a difference for employees. Plus, by bringing everything employees need under one roof, there’s no question about where to find important info.

Sound useful? It is! Send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more, or drop by our site to schedule a time to chat.

There are currently two job openings for every unemployed person in the US. With so much competition in the labor market, businesses need to do more than ever to stand out. This includes delivering a top-notch candidate experience.

Providing the best possible candidate experience makes it not only more likely that you’ll attract the best talent, but that your chosen candidate will accept the role at the end of the hiring process.

Any unsuccessful candidates will also be more likely to come away with a good feeling about your business. This could lead to them leaving a positive review about the process online. They may even reapply in the future when they could be a better fit for your organization.

So, how do you deliver the best possible candidate experience? Here are four tips:

Be open about your company culture

Your company culture can be one of your biggest selling points. But it can also put people off. In fact, 75% of people wouldn’t take a job with a company that has a bad reputation. This is true even if they’re unemployed.

How your company comes across influences the types of people who apply for roles. You therefore want to make sure that what they see is accurate. The way the rest of the world sees your company should be what it’s actually like to work there.

While we don’t like to believe that people will judge a book by its cover, they definitely do.

As the author of 20 books, and an active member of the publishing community, I should know. It’s hard to overstate the difference a book cover can make to sales.

I’ve seen so many authors experience an increase in sales just because they redesigned their covers. Branding is just as important for businesses as it is for authors.

So, the question is: does your business culture need a cover redesign?

Or does it need a complete rework internally, too?

This is obviously a much more challenging process, but it can pay dividends. Particularly if you improve it for the better, prioritizing employee mental health and wellbeing over a high-stress, high-pressure environment.

Reflect your culture on social media

Social media is one of the best ways to show exactly what your company is like to work for.

The majority of candidates research companies online before applying for a role. So if your content is a ghost town, or your reviews are negative, it’s likely to deter them.

Only 30% of people are actively job-seeking at any one time. This means if you’re not creating content to show off your company culture, passive job seekers are less likely to discover how great working for you could be. That’s a lot of people you risk missing out on.

Some of the things you can share to reflect your culture include:

• Videos where employees talk about your culture
• Posts sharing employee knowledge or skills
• Photos of events employees have attended or organized
• Employee testimonials

If employees leave testimonials or LinkedIn recommendations for CEOs and HR managers, it says a lot about the type of culture your business has. Assuming they’re positive, this further helps your ability to attract the right types of people.

Ensuring easy access to resources like these can do wonders for your candidate experience.

Communicate clearly and often

It can’t just be me who’s experienced this: you apply for a role, then don’t get an email confirming that the company received your application.

As a result, you forget that you’ve applied. Then, three weeks later, you’re surprised when they invite you to the next stage of the process.

Sure, I should’ve written something down to say what I applied for and when, but it certainly doesn’t hurt your candidate experience to send an automated email confirming you’ve received their application.

Sending email updates to confirm receipt, with details of an upcoming interview, or telling candidates when they’re likely to hear back from you, makes a massive difference to your candidate experience. And it’s one of the simplest things you can do.

It demonstrates that you value communication, which, for some candidates, can be a make-or-break trait.

It’s also a positive reflection of your company culture. It shows that you really do value the candidate experience, and more importantly, them as an applicant.

Train your interviewers

Some interviewers may not be all that comfortable interviewing other people. For them, it may be akin to public speaking, which an estimated 75% are afraid of.

Training them in interview techniques ensures they feel confident and comfortable. It helps you provide the best possible interviews as part of your candidate experience.

A positive interview experience should put candidates at ease, make them feel welcome, and take into account that traditional formats aren’t for everyone.

I’ve definitely seen more of the latter lately. More companies are sending questions in advance and giving candidates a choice between video or phone interviews for remote roles.

Simple things like arriving on time, and leaving time at the end of the interview for candidates to ask their own questions, further improves the candidate experience and helps with your employer brand.

Conclusion 

A great candidate experience is a positive reflection of your business.

The more you develop your candidate experience, the more positive reviews you’ll get across the internet. That way, the greater the impact it will have on your employer brand.

Over time, this will help you attract higher quality candidates, have happier employees who want to stay longer, and therefore make more money.

If you’d like to ensure a great onboarding process, give your interviewers a place to share resources that can improve their interview skills, and even develop a talent pool and/or alumni network, check out Workrowd.

Our all-in-one platform makes it easy to ensure everyone has both the information and the connections they need to thrive. Send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

The average worker spends 51% of every workday on low to no-value tasks. If this isn’t a strong case for better time management at work, I don’t know what is.

It’s really no surprise based on this that 39% of employee stress comes from their workloads. Or, that only 20% of employees feel their work is under control every day.

But spending just 10-12 minutes planning their day could save them up to two hours of their time.

So, what can HR teams do to support better time management at work and improve employees’ stress levels as a result?

Create a system

I’ve recently been reading Atomic Habits by James Clear. In it, he talks at length about systems. Goals are great, but you need to break down how to achieve them—and when you’re going to do them.

He explains that an effective habit has four elements: cue, craving, response, and reward.

For example, say an employee wanted to check their emails less so that it didn’t disrupt their work as much. They could pick a specific time of day to open their inbox and reply to people. 

The cue would be the time of day, the craving is to answer emails (like many of us have), the response is replying to them, and the reward can be whatever they like. Maybe it’s just the satisfaction of having written everyone who needs a response, inbox zero, or making a coffee.

This set time when someone checks their emails then means they have more mental energy for other tasks. They’re not constantly being interrupted by emails they don’t need to immediately reply to or that otherwise interrupt their concentration.

Implement the right tools

The right—or wrong—tool for time management at work can make or break our productivity. 

If someone doesn’t understand how to use a tool, they’re never going to make the most of it. Plus, they’re going to lose a lot of time just trying to figure out how it works. 

Offering training, or at least pointing employees in the direction of where to find the help they need, decreases their mental load and helps them understand it quicker.

Seemingly unrelated tools like applicant tracking software or employee engagement platforms can also create efficiencies. These tools give you more opportunities to create a great candidate experience and employee experience.

Streamline processes/minimize steps

So many businesses have old or clunky processes that don’t need to take as long as they do. 

It’s therefore worth periodically reflecting to see if there’s a new software you could benefit from, if you’re better off outsourcing tasks to a freelancer, or if there’s just another way of doing something that would lead to better time management at work.

Make important information easily accessible

Sometimes documentation, advice, or guides, can be hard to find. Especially if they’re old or taken for granted. 

You want to make everything an employee needs to know easy to find and easy to understand.

The more mental load someone has to exert to find and understand something, the more energy it takes up. This then increases their stress levels and makes them more likely to lose time in their day just finding what they need.

When it comes to sharing key information with employees, it can also help to provide it in multiple formats.

This ensures that regardless of how someone learns or best retains information, they can get the answers they need.

One way you can make this easier for yourself is to record a video demoing how to use a software. Then, extract that audio to turn it into a clip, and use a dictation software (or even just Microsoft Word’s dictation feature) to turn it into a written guide.

Catering to different learning styles is a frequently overlooked way to improve time management at work.

Minimize distractions

When we’re interrupted in the middle of a task it can take up to 20 minutes to get focused again. That’s a whole lot of time wasted and a whole lot of work that gets delayed.

It’s surprising how tiny things can add up to disrupt us and distract from what we’re trying to do. 

Sometimes it’s nice to take a moment to stare out of the window or play with a pet, but unexpected disruptions can and do make a difference to someone’s concentration and mental health.

Consider ways you can minimize the distractions employees experience to improve time management at work.

If they’re in an office, could you put up barriers to separate people’s desks? That way, they can’t see their colleagues and get distracted by what they’re doing.

Or, if your office has particularly bright lights and you know that you have neurodivergent employees, is there a way that you can reduce the harsh lights so that it doesn’t impact their sensory issues?

For employees who work from home, could you get them noise-cancelling headphones? How about a new desk setup? 

If their home environment is particularly distracting, what about a budget to work in a coffee shop or coworking space?

Give them somewhere to share ideas

Some people absolutely love exploring productivity, mindset, and time management at work.

Creating somewhere they can share things they’ve learned, or ask for advice from other people, is a really great way to show your employees that you do care and you want them to perform at their best. 

One of the ways you can do this is through employee groups, programs, and events.

Employees can learn new things through these initiatives, then share them with their other colleagues. This means more people can benefit from the time management at work tips even if they’re not actively participating themselves.

Conclusion 

These are just some of the ways that HR teams can support better time management at work. 

The more effectively you can help employees perform their jobs, the more productive and happier they’ll be in their roles. 

This means they’re more likely to feel valued and stick around for longer. 

All this reduces your hiring costs, and how long you spend training new employees. Perhaps more importantly, it also creates a happier working environment for every team member.

If you’re looking for tools to support your efforts to improve time management at work, you’ve come to the right place. Workrowd makes it easy for everyone to quickly find what they’re looking for, saving them time and energy.

Our user-friendly tools reduce admin work by automating tedious processes, and real-time analytics ensure you always know what’s driving results. Want to learn more and optimize your employee experience? Visit us online or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com.

Your digital candidate experience is a window into what it’s like to work at your company. It plays a huge role in the type of person who finishes the application process. Obviously, this then determines which individuals you get the opportunity to interview. 

Old-fashioned technology, a clunky user experience, or complicated application forms can be really off-putting when someone applies for a role.

If you provide a poor digital candidate experience, the highest quality job seekers will take their time and skills elsewhere. 

The best candidates are off the market within 10 days. The better your digital candidate experience is, the more likely your business is to be the one that hires them.

Despite this, the hiring process takes an average of 36 days. The longer your hiring process is, the lower your chances are of getting those top-quality candidates that bring you greater ROI. 

It’s not just that, though. Bad hires can cost you up to $15,000!

The best way to mitigate that? Invest in your candidate experience—it improves the quality of your new hires by as much as 70%!

So where should you start? What should you consider when evaluating your digital candidate experience?

Start with your website

If your website is ugly or hard to navigate, it will make your business look old-fashioned, too. It’ll put off younger or more technologically savvy candidates because user experience matters to them. They’ll probably switch off before they’ve even started the application process. This shrinks your candidate pool and loses you those great-quality hires you need.

Your website should be easy to navigate. You should also make sure it’s easy for anyone interested in working with you to find the careers section. 

If they can’t find that, unless they really want to work with you, they’re not going to dig for it. 

Instead, they’ll take their skills and perspectives that you could have benefited from to one of your competitors.

Shorten your application process

68% of recruiters believe investing in new technology is the best way to improve hiring performance. Which backs up the statistic we saw at the start, about how investing in your candidate experience improves the quality of your hires by up to 70%.

It starts with simple things. For instance, if you’re asking someone to upload a resume and a cover letter, you don’t need to ask them to manually fill in their job history in an application form too. 

Yet there are still some businesses that do this. It’s repetitive, annoying, and pointless.

If your job application process is overcomplicated, applicants will wonder what other systems you have that are pointless or repetitive.

If you want to ask questions during the initial application process, focus on things that won’t be on their resume or cover letter. For instance, why they want to work for your business, examples of their work, or when they used a skill that’s key to success in the role.

Be accessible

What can you use to make your digital candidate experience more accessible? 

Maybe you can make sure that any step in your application process is optimized for screen readers. 

If applicants need to read something, is it easy for them to adjust the font size of your website? How does this impact the design?

If they need to complete tasks as part of the application process, do you offer both written and spoken instructions? This ensures it’s easy to understand no matter how someone learns.

These may seem like minor things, but they add up. They’ll improve your digital candidate experience and make your business more inclusive from the very start.

Keep applicants in the loop

There’s nothing worse than applying for a role, then not knowing if anyone has even received your application. Or never hearing back from them. 

Most systems now allow you to send a confirmation email, so that candidates know you’ve received their application. This is a common courtesy that helps reduce some of the anxiety that comes from the job application process.

81% of job seekers feel that employers who send status updates improve the candidate experience.

You could even allow candidates to track what stage in the application process they’re at through your applicant tracking software. Having a progress bar on the candidate side means they can visualize how far into the process they are. 

You could also show them what’s coming next. For instance, if they’re shortlisted, they’ll have a phone interview, then an in-person interview or a task, etc. The more transparent you make things, the less stressful it is for candidates and the better they can prepare.

If a candidate hasn’t heard from you, but they can see in the portal you haven’t reviewed their application yet (for example, because the deadline hasn’t passed), this further reduces some of the nerves they may feel about applying for the role. It also saves you time because anyone who wants to chase you won’t have to.

Conclusion 

Your digital candidate experience is a reflection of your business. Having an amazing website but a poor candidate experience makes it look like your business focuses solely on appearances.

If you truly care about the people who make your business the best it can be day in, and day out, the digital candidate experience has to reflect that. It’ll bring in more awesome people who can help you get the sales your brand deserves.

One way to ensure you have an amazing culture to showcase as part of your candidate experience is to rally everyone around a central hub. With one place for all your employee groups, programs, and events, it’s easy to highlight what makes working for your organization so great.

If you’re ready to elevate your employee experience and streamline the transition from candidate experience to team member, see if Workrowd could be a fit. Drop us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

Digital employee experience management is key to helping your employees work effectively, connect with colleagues, and enjoy their jobs. 

Poor digital employee experience management leads to frustration, slow processes, and increased churn rate.

Despite this, only 13% of employees are fully satisfied with their employer’s digital employee experience. This shows a huge disconnect between what employees need and what their employers are providing.

Here are some best practices to help you level up your digital employee experience management efforts.

Establish a baseline

What’s the minimum your employees need to succeed? Is it a laptop? Home office equipment? Tools like a CRM for salespeople or accounting software for finance?

Providing these must-haves as soon as your new employees start streamlines employee onboarding and offers a better experience to your new hires.

Many businesses give employees an office budget, allowing them to customize their setup to suit their needs. This helps them feel more comfortable in their surroundings and more able to do their jobs.

Designing a form where employees can request new equipment means they can easily choose what they want based on their individual needs. 

Pay attention to employee feedback

That really great tool you think will change everything? Your employees might hate it.

What you want to provide, and what they need, aren’t always the same thing. 

Paying attention through employee surveys or regular chats helps you look for patterns. It means you can spot the challenges people are facing and then find software they might even enjoy using. This is much better than purchasing something you think will work, but that you can’t guarantee will succeed.

Review your policies

If your business didn’t start out as a remote or hybrid employer, you’ll need to review and update your policies as part of your digital employee experience management process. 

The rules for remote and hybrid workers are different from those who are office-based. You want to make sure they’re clearly communicated in any employee guides or handbooks and that you aren’t still sharing information from 2005.

Do you still expect employees to work 9-5? What time zone? How will these rules be enforced? What are the consequences of breaking them?

The more clearly you explain things, the better it will be for you and your employees. Clarity is one of the cornerstones of effective digital employee experience management

Prioritize employee experience alongside customer experience

Focusing on providing a great customer experience is a given in any business. But how many value their employee experience just as much?

You want your customers to say great things about you and have a seamless experience. Why should it be any different for your employees?

After all, they’re the ones in your business day in, and day out. They’re the ones keeping things running smoothly for your customers. 

If things are difficult for them because they have the wrong setup, they’ll feel more stressed. That will impact their productivity, their quality of work, and how they deal with your customers.

On the flip side, if the tools they use enable them to do their job better, and they’re happy in their roles, they’re going to provide a better customer experience. This will then bring in more return customers and spread more positive word of mouth.

Document processes

Organizing a process starts by writing down as much as possible. 

While this can sound like a chore at first, the more you document processes—how to do things, what’s expected of people, where things are—the easier your employees’ jobs will be. Which also makes them more efficient in the short- and long-term.

Thinking strategically is key to other areas of your business, like marketing and sales. Why should digital employee experience management be any different?

Start by making a list of things you might need to document. Ask your employees what they’d like to know, too. 

Then, you can assign the guide-writing to the employees best suited to each topic. Make sure they’re reviewed by someone else before publication to ensure they’re clear and easy to understand.

Offer training for new and old tools

Providing training on tools—whether they’re new or old—is key to getting employees to use them. Otherwise, they’ll only use them when they really have to, if at all.

Learning portals where employees can study at their own pace, and refer to information when they need it, is one way to do this.

Training days, particularly on a more complicated tool, can be useful to provide time for focusing on the benefits of the new tool and how to use it. 

For some employees, this may be too much time to concentrate on one thing or impact their ability to do their job. 

That’s why offering different learning methods is an important part of digital employee experience management (and your new tool’s adoption rate).

Start with your candidate experience

Digital employee experience management doesn’t start once someone joins your organization. It starts when they’re considering applying. 

How easy is it for someone to navigate your website? How easy is it for them to understand what you expect of your employees? What about the application process?

The more laborious this is, the more likely you are to lose great candidates. It’s not just the bad candidates who get put off by this clunky process—the great ones do, too. They know their time is precious, so they’d rather spend it applying for roles at businesses that make a better first impression.

Make collaboration easy

Successful collaboration helps businesses be more creative, solve problems faster, and achieve their goals. 

When teams work remotely or hybrid you need to find ways to make collaboration as easy as possible. 

This includes choosing communication apps that are efficient and user-friendly, conferencing tools that enable effective meetings, and creative tools like whiteboards and mind maps. 

These tools allow your employees to visualize what’s happening, provide feedback, and work together on projects.

Conclusion 

Digital employee experience management affects how people see your organization. It has a dramatic impact on your employees’ abilities to do their jobs. The wrong equipment can lead to miscommunication, stress, and tasks taking longer than they should.

Providing employees with the right equipment makes them happier and better at their roles.

If you’re looking for ways to make digital employee experience management easier, consolidating tools can make a big difference. Giving employees a one-stop shop for important information, programs, events, and more, means they always know where to find what they need.

Workrowd’s platform reduces admin time and gets everyone on the same page from day one. If you’d like to learn more, drop by our site, or send a note to hello@workrowd.com.

As both the workforce and the workplace continue to change, many organizations find themselves wondering whether they need an employee experience manager.

The employee experience is more complex than ever before, with people working remotely, based in the office, or taking a hybrid approach. You can have employees located anywhere in the world. Plus, you can also have freelancers or consultants filling out your workforce when you need it. 

All of this is a lot for HR teams to juggle and consider. Each situation has different needs and requires different management approaches. 

You also have to factor in employees’ individual needs based on their personal situation. This could include their health, location, neurodiversity, disability, household type, and even their personal preferences. 

The more of these things you factor in, the more likely you are to retain employees. 

However, it all adds up to a lot to manage on top of someone’s existing responsibilities. That’s why it helps to have a dedicated employee experience manager whose sole responsibility is to focus on these things.

77% of job seekers say that employee experience is a deciding factor when considering where to apply. So not investing in yours means you might miss out on the best candidate for a role. This then risks harming your business’s long-term growth.

Let’s take a deeper look at the benefits of having an employee experience manager in the new world of work:

Better customer experience

When it comes to existing employees, 85% of people agree that an improved employee experience, and higher employee engagement, means a better customer experience and higher customer satisfaction. 

When employees are happier and more engaged at work, they’re much more likely to provide a great customer experience. This is true for both new and old customers. It reflects well on your brand, meaning you’re more likely to get high reviews and repeat customers who spread the word about you and your business.

As a result, you get to earn more money, attract more customers, charge more, and grow faster.

Greater sense of belonging

25% of American employees feel they lack a sense of belonging in the workplace. And 40% of employees now feel isolated at work. 

When employees feel this way, their performance suffers and they’re more likely to leave. 

A lot more likely to leave: the turnover risk for someone who feels unhappy at work or like they don’t belong is 50%. How many of your employees can you risk feeling that way?

An employee experience manager prevents this high turnover risk. It’s their job to help employees feel like they do belong. 

They can organize things like employee groups, networking events, individual accomodations, whatever someone needs to feel appreciated.

And they can manage your feedback surveys to spot any problems before they evolve into bigger issues.

Reduced churn rate

As mentioned above, the risk of someone leaving if they’re unhappy at work is 50%.

Every time an employee who doesn’t feel like they belong leaves, it costs you money. You have to hire and train someone new to fill the gap they left behind. 

And if you haven’t fixed the issues the original employee faced, their replacement may not stay all that long either. This same cycle could end up repeating itself just a few months later.

More tailored approach to employees’ individual needs

HR teams are busier than ever before. That means they simply don’t have the time or the head space to take an individualized approach to someone’s needs. 

Having an employee experience manager whose job it is to focus on ensuring everyone can build a work-life they love means it doesn’t add to the stress of other HR team members. It complements the efforts of the larger people team and boosts employee satisfaction.

The more we learn about people and their different ways of working, the more important it is for us to tailor our approaches and our office environment to employees’ individual needs.

Some employees might work better in a busy, open-plan office environment, while others will thrive in silence. 

Not all employees are comfortable asking for what they need. Or, HR managers dealing with certain situations may not know what help is available. Having an employee experience manager who’s knowledgeable about these things is vital to helping workers achieve—and exceed—their potential.

There are so many different needs out there that understanding them all is a full-time job. An employee experience manager can monitor and manage employees’ needs without it distracting from other HR tasks.

Stay competitive

Innovation is moving faster than ever before. You need a highly engaged workforce and a low turnover rate to remain competitive. 

Otherwise, you risk spending too much money on the hiring process and on trying to retain your employees. These are resources you could be spending on growing and staying competitive.

Exceed employees’ expectations

As the world of work continues to change, employees’ expectations of their employers are growing. 

Many employees aren’t just going to accept the status quo anymore. They’re demanding better because they know they deserve it. 

An employee experience manager shows the outside world, and your employees, that you’re dedicated to helping your team achieve their potential and ensuring they’re happy and fulfilled in their roles. 

It also shows you’re a part of the modern world of work and not stuck in the Dark Ages like some businesses still are. 

And it differentiates you from your competitors—particularly if they don’t prioritize their employee experience. 

It could even be the difference between someone choosing to work for your business or going to your competitor.

Conclusion

An employee experience manager helps both you and your employees feel happy, fulfilled, and successful. 

They take the burden off of HR teams who may already be feeling overwhelmed with everything they have to juggle in the ever-changing world of work. 

And they ensure that employees are more productive by providing a better employee experience. This then allows your business to grow and stay competitive. 

Whether you’re considering hiring an employee experience manager or trying to succeed without one, having the right tools is key. With a one-stop shop for all your employee programs, events, announcements, files, calendars, and more, everyone can tap into the best your company has to offer from day one.

Plus, with automated surveys, data tracking, and analytics, you’ll have the power to optimize your employee experience in real-time. Don’t fall behind the pack and lose out on top talent. Visit us online today to learn more, or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com.

HR software tools can be a huge asset to overworked people teams. Or, they can take up more time than they save you.

The HR software market was valued at more than $15 billion in 2020 and is expected to exceed $33 billion by 2028. There’s a tool for virtually every use case, from tracking employees’ details to payroll to perks.

And it’s no longer just about everyday employee management tools. For every $1 you spend on employee wellness, you get $1.50 in return. The bigger your workforce, the more this adds up.

So, let’s check out some of the HR software tools that can help you drive more value in 2023:

Core HR (personnel tracking)

Life is so much easier when all the information you need is in one place. 

Personnel tracking software enables you to store employees’ names, contact details, and other vital information together. 

Employees can update it when they need to, such as if they change addresses. 

If there’s something you need to change for a group of employees, such as when you move offices, it can be done with a few clicks instead of manually typing everything into a spreadsheet.

Time and attendance

If you need to track how long projects take for billable hours, or how long employees spend working for you, time tracking software can make things a lot easier.

Employees click a button to start and stop, then it works out how long projects take or how long they’re clocked in for. This helps you make more informed decisions about time frames and pricing for future projects.

Payroll

Payroll can be hugely complicated and time-consuming to manage. 

You can use payroll software to automate payments, benefits, taxes, and more. This enables you to focus on other areas of your business, safe in the knowledge your finances are handled efficiently.

Employee self-service/knowledge hub 

A new employee can have lots of questions. Even long-term employees can have questions if you’ve got a complicated product or have implemented something new. 

Having a one-stop shop where they can find everything they need to know about your products or services, how to do stuff, and why things happen a certain way, can ensure they get the answers they need when they need them. 

It’s much quicker than asking in a group chat thread or reaching out to a colleague directly. And it avoids anyone feeling awkward for asking basic questions.

Benefits administration

From healthcare to discounts, benefits can play a huge part in your employee experience, as well as in talent attraction and retention. 

Using HR software tools to manage employee benefits automates the process, making it easier to enroll people in programs and allowing them to see what they have access to.

Recognition and rewards

A little recognition goes a long way. It could be anything from a virtual high-five to more substantial rewards like brand discounts or goodies. Keeping them all in one place using HR software tools means employees won’t miss out because they didn’t know you offered certain perks.

Performance review

Using HR software tools to track performance reviews gives you somewhere to store what everyone has said in the past, and holds people accountable to their performance goals. It also gives them a place to track how well they’re doing in relation to their goals.

This makes future reviews easier because everything from previous reviews is documented in one place.

Applicant tracking

Some jobs can get hundreds, or even thousands, of applicants. Using applicant tracking software keeps everyone’s details in one place. 

Certain systems can also vet applicants’ resumes for you before a hiring manager looks at them. This reduces the admin burden, although keep in mind it can introduce another layer of bias.

Learning management

94% of the 3 to 4.5 million Americans who leave their jobs every month would stay if their employer offered them more long-term learning opportunities. 

Learning management software is a low-cost way to help employees grow skills that are relevant to their role and industry, allowing them to learn what they need at their own pace.

Coaching

As mentioned above, the ability to learn and grow is a huge part of why someone stays or leaves a company. 

Coaching software allows your coaches to track what they’ve worked on with their students, schedule appointments, share resources, and more.

Employee experience management

Only 16% of businesses use technology to track the progress and engagement of their employees. But knowing how your employees really feel is key to retention. Engaged employees are happier employees, after all.

Employee experience management software enables you to send out pulse surveys, gauging how employees feel in the moment. You can then act on the results to improve situations or fix any problems before they interfere with your business or cause you to lose employees.

No-code customized tool builders

Not everyone knows—or wants to know—how to write code. 

No-code customized tool builders enable employees to design what they want without needing to learn how to write code first. They can simply drag and drop elements where they want them to go. This saves countless hours and can reduce development costs, too.

Onboarding

Research by the Brandon Hall Group found that a great employee onboarding process might increase retention by as much as 82%. 

And a more organized onboarding process results in a 60% increase in yearly revenue.

HR software tools focused on onboarding help you lay out everything an employee needs to know when they join your company. You can then pace it so that they don’t feel bored or overwhelmed.

AI assistants to answer employee questions

AI is particularly useful for onboarding employees and can save other team members a lot of time when it comes to FAQs. 

To keep it personal, you can offer people the option to discuss things further with a colleague if the answers they get need more explanation.

Productivity

Effective task management can play a huge role in how productive employees are, whatever size your team is.

You can create Kanban boards, calendars, Gantt charts, or another form of tracking in most productivity tools. 

They’re often fully customizable to you and your needs. That means you can break down the tasks involved in a project, assign them to different people, and check whether they’re done or need to be worked on.

Internal talent/skills marketplace

Being able to connect people with relevant skills to another person or team within your business that needs them means you can solve problems sooner. It also streamlines the process of finding out who can help with something.

Conclusion 

There are so many forms of HR software tools out there that can help you manage your business better. This list should give you a solid place to start, but you’ll need to identify what your organization truly needs.

For instance, you may need a better way of keeping everyone connected and ensuring your employee programs and events are delivering results. In that case, a central hub with all your offerings, complete with real-time analytics, can help.

If you’d like to learn more about these types of HR software tools, we here at Workrowd would be happy to chat. Our platform makes it easy for every employee to tap into the things that can drive real value for them. Drop us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.

The employee experience survey has become a pretty standard tool for people teams in recent years. Many companies now send a giant, all-encompassing engagement survey once or twice per year. 

However, this strategy isn’t effective anymore, and for a lot of organizations, it never was. To stay competitive, you need to switch up your approach.

If you’re not convinced, just consider the facts. There’s a huge disparity between how employees view these surveys and what managers think.

48% of senior managers find surveys highly valuable, yet 45% of employees feel they have little to no value. 

52% of senior managers think surveys provide a very accurate assessment, while 48% of employees say they don’t. 

Which explains why 29% of employees think they’re pointless and only 1/5 of them believe their manager would act on concerns raised in an employee experience survey. They’re probably right; managers estimate they only spend 2-5 days per year on activities relating to their annual engagement survey.

Which kind of makes you wonder: what’s the point?

And is there a better alternative?

Here are some ways to get more value out of your employee experience survey.

Minimize admin work 

A quarter of managers see employee experience surveys as a box-checking exercise. 

This is why minimizing how much admin work they have to do is key. If they don’t view your employee experience survey as useful, they’re never going to take the responses seriously.

This means nothing will change, which brings us back to the question above. What’s the point if there’s no difference between before and after your employee experience survey?

Embrace automated data collection and analysis

When you have an automated process to distribute your employee experience survey and analyze the data coming in, everything becomes easier. Being able to ‘set it and forget it’ frees up more time to review the results. 

Not only that, but it becomes easier to make changes in response to the data. Team members can see everything they need to know at a glance, so there’s no question about where to focus.

And doesn’t everyone want to spend more of their time making a difference rather than staring at spreadsheets?

Track the impact of your employee groups, programs, and events

Investing time and money into employee initiatives is a waste if you can’t measure the impact they have. That’s why it’s so important to monitor their results. Unfortunately, many organizations gloss over or completely skip this topic in their employee experience survey.

When you have up-to-date data measuring how your groups, programs, and events are performing, you can make the most of your energy and budget. What’s more, using this data to optimize your employee experience can help you make big strides on retention and engagement.

Shorten the time between surveying and changes happening

When managers have lots of answers to read, then analyze, it can take a really long time. It’s no wonder 27% of managers never go through them at all – it takes too long!

By automating the analysis piece, managers can skip right to acting on the results. This then becomes a self-reinforcing cycle. Because changes were made in response to their input, employees will be more likely to complete future surveys.

No one wants to wait a year to see whether their voice was heard. Shortening the timeline reduces frustrations, and helps everyone feel more valued and engaged.

Make it easier and quicker to fill in

Think about the last time a brand you love sent you a customer feedback survey. Wanting to help out, you clicked it, only to find it was really long. By the end, you’d stopped typing the in-depth answers they were looking for, if you finished it at all.

The abandonment rate for surveys that take more than 7-8 minutes to fill in is 20%. And only 30% of employees actually fill in surveys. Which isn’t great if you want to get a complete picture of what’s happening in your workforce.

It makes sense, though. Our attention spans are short, and we don’t have that much time. Our working days are filled with, well, work. It’s much easier to find time to complete a short, well-designed survey, than a long, hard to follow one.

For example, Workrowd’s automated feedback questionnaires typically take 2-3 minutes to complete and ask just 5-10 questions.

Sending them out automatically after events and program sessions means data gets collected regularly, while brief pulse surveys help complete the picture. Speaking of which…

Spread out your opportunities to collect data

Things can change quickly when you’re in business, especially in the digital age. 

So, if you’re only collecting data once in a blue moon (which is about every 2-3 years), you’re not going to get accurate insight into how your employees feel. Especially when some employees won’t stick around that long, partially because their input isn’t valued.

Employees want to feel respected. Regularly collecting information on their experience at work is one way you can show them that you really are listening, not treating surveys as a box-checking exercise.

You don’t want to be bothering people every week, obviously, but the shorter the surveys, and the easier they are to fill in, the more often you can send them without employees feeling annoyed or interrupted. 

And you’ll get more relevant, timely data as a result. This also prevents problems from lingering, as you’re more likely to notice them as they appear.

Combining data from a short employee experience survey with feedback from recent events and activities can give you the insight you need to succeed in today’s tight talent market.

Use it to inspire new ideas

It’s all very well and good sending an employee experience survey, but if you’re not doing anything with the feedback, it can easily backfire. As mentioned above, you’ll see low participation, and people may even leave if their input is repeatedly ignored.

Even if what people come back with is uncomfortable to hear, it’s important to listen. You can use the feedback to improve systems that aren’t working, look for ways you can embrace and encourage deeper inclusion, and highlight good things happening within your business.

Conclusion 

Revamping your employee experience survey strategy can help you identify ways to improve. It can also show you where you should be celebrating how great your staff and business are.

If reimagining your relationship with your employee experience survey is of interest to you this year, send us a note at hello@workrowd.com. Our lightweight tools automate the process of collecting employee experience data, then lay the results out for you in readable, real-time dashboards.

Don’t waste your time creating and promoting another long survey this year, only to have to slog through overwhelming piles of data. Do yourself a favor and take advantage of Workrowd’s tool suite to make your life easier and delight employees across your organization.

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.

The employee experience plays a huge role in talent attraction and retention. As a result, many organizations are now looking to improve employee experience outcomes for their teams.

Unfortunately, many aspects of the employee experience are often forgotten or neglected. Even worse, in some companies, it looks one way from the outside when it’s actually something totally different on the inside.

Luckily, there are things you can do to improve employee experience outcomes for your team. Let’s take a look at them:

Be consistent

We all hate it when a person is nice to someone’s face, then horrible behind their back.

If you have a culture that looks positive to the outside world, but doesn’t look after its employees on the inside, you’re doing the business equivalent of that.

Your employee experience—and how you present it—should be consistent. And transparent.

If you have a fast-paced environment, that’s fine. But don’t lie to people and say that it’s all about playing foosball and drinking beers.

Many candidates are now savvy to this and will avoid businesses that hype up all their benefits. In reality, they know they’re just using them to hide their negative culture and attitudes. So not only will you lose current employees, but it’ll also cause you to lose future ones, too.

Saying one thing while you do another will quickly sink any efforts to improve employee experience outcomes.

Have a strong culture

Know what you stand for and build your culture around that. 

Are you all about failing fast? Do you like to keep things agile? Are you inclusive—actually inclusive, not “inclusive” to check a box?

All these things will reflect your culture internally and externally.

Make employees feel listened to

Sometimes people know that they don’t have the solution, or that their opinion won’t change anything. Ultimately, they just want to feel heard. 

It’s really important to allow employees to air their grievances even if you disagree with them. 

Don’t interrupt. Wait patiently. Let them get it out of their system, particularly if they’re annoyed or angry. Allow there to be silences. 

The employee in question may end up realizing their perspective is wrong. Or, more than likely, they’ll just vent and will end up feeling much calmer for doing so.

They’ll also think more highly of you for allowing them to be honest about how your company’s situation makes them feel without ignoring or interrupting them. This can greatly improve employee experience outcomes across the organization.

Value your team’s opinions

Too many executives make huge decisions without considering how it’ll affect people further down the hierarchy. These are the people who are dealing with your customers and handling much of the day-to-day running of your business. It’s important to recognize that they may well know more than you. 

And even if they don’t, they’re going to have a different—equally valuable—perspective. 

The more opinions and perspectives you consider, the more likely you are to come up with new solutions to problems. These crowd-sourced solutions will also help more people and be much more inclusive.

Communicate clearly

Employees are much more likely to respect you if you’re clear with them. Tell them what you expect and when. Don’t tiptoe around it. Just be upfront. There’s nothing worse than lying or deceiving someone, especially in the workplace.

If you don’t know what’s happening yet, or things are up in the air, be honest about that, too.

Despite what many of us may think, it’s okay not to have all the answers. It doesn’t make you a bad leader or a bad person; it makes you human, which makes you more relatable.

Let go of the need for shiny objects

This one is harder if you’re remote anyway, but too many companies, for too long, used shiny objects like ping pong tables and expensive laptops to attract new hires like bees to a flower.

You don’t need the shiniest objects or the latest tech to get people in. You need a strong culture and decent pay.

If you can’t afford the best MacBook Pro for someone to do their job, look for a cheaper equivalent. There are plenty of alternatives that won’t upset your accountant but still have the power a developer or a designer needs.

Many employees won’t even need something that fancy, particularly if most of what they do is email and text-based. That will then free up more budget to spend on the departments that do need extra processing power.

Gadgets are fun, but they can’t compete with more authentic efforts to improve employee experience outcomes.

Have a strong onboarding process

An onboarding process can make or break your new hire’s opinion of your business. If it’s weak or nonexistent, they’re going to grow frustrated. Some may even leave.

In fact, 30% of employees leave during their first six months in a role. One of the main reasons they do so is a poor or non-existent onboarding process.

If your onboarding is clear and structured, taking into account their role and respecting their time, they’re much more likely to stick around and speak highly of you to their network. 

And you never know how many new hires that could lead to. Referrals are one of the best ways to find high-quality talent, after all.

Be careful how you treat people

Have you heard the saying that you can tell a lot about a person based on how they treat a server at a restaurant?

The same is true for how they treat the cleaning staff, the interns, and anyone else at the bottom of the business hierarchy.

If you treat people differently because they’re in a “less important” role, you have the foundations for a negative employee experience that’s going to drive people away.

It doesn’t matter what someone does, where they grew up, where they live now, or anything else. They’re providing their time and energy in exchange for money, and that’s a privilege that should be treated as such. Your business couldn’t run without them. That’s why you grew, outsourced, and delegated, right?

Treat everyone with compassion and kindness, and they’ll return the favor to you and everyone else within your business. Cultivating respect at every level of the business is an incredibly effective way to improve employee experience results.

Conclusion 

Building a world-class employee experience isn’t about having the shiniest, most expensive toys. It’s about how you make your employees feel.

Do they feel valued? Are they listened to? Are they made to feel less than because they’re on the cleaning staff, and not a manager?

It’s a combination of small things that will create your employee experience. Never underestimate something as simple as a “hello” on someone’s first day, or a “thank you” on their last.

Culture starts at the top. Employees mimic what their team leaders do, and team leaders copy what they see executives do. How you approach everything from a sensitive conversation to a fun one will reflect you as a person and influence the culture of your business.

The more positively you approach your employees and the experience you want to create, the greater the advantage you’ll have over your competition.

Another great way to improve employee experience outcomes is to get all of the events, groups, and programs you offer team members under one roof. With everything in one place, it’s easy for everyone to take advantage of the full array of your employee experience efforts.

Plus, you’ll get automated, real-time analytics so you can be strategic about your work to improve employee experience results. Sound interesting? Visit us at workrowd.com or send us a note at hello@workrowd.com to learn more.