Your employees are the cogs within your business and if you’re not looking after those cogs, they’ll start to wear down and become less effective. They may reach a breaking point and ultimately become unusable. With less attention to your employees, they too may reach that same breaking point.
Employee experience is something that should be a focus in business. As a HR manager or team member the practices you put in place will help provide that positive, employee experience that most people are after when it comes to their job.
According to recent studies, 49% of employees feel that the organization they work for isn’t delivering on the experience they were promised. While not all of these employees may end up leaving the organization, it may do damage in other ways like a lack of productivity or not meeting deadlines.
Table of contents:
- The role of HR in employee experience management
- Smart HR innovations that improve employee experiences
- Improve communications and flexibility with an employee scheduling app
- Review employee performance and set goals with HR analytics software
- Use applicant tracking systems for enjoyable recruitment processes
- Use collaborative platforms for workplace productivity and project success
- Provide attractive perks and benefits with employee work packages
The role of HR in employee experience management
When it comes to employee experience management, it’s the role of HR to oversee and take part in it where possible. Managers and supervisors may be responsible for the employee experience of the peers they manage, but those managers also need looking after too.
The employee experience is a key component of any modern workplace. From their first day on the job to their exit interview, every experience within the workplace will determine their overall thoughts and feelings about the job and the company.
HR is responsible for recruiting, hiring, and ensuring the quality of onboarding new employees. They’re also part of the process when any disputes occur, making sure to keep the work environment safe and assist with annual performance reviews for all staff.
Without a proactive effort made by HR, employee experience management will cease to exist. Human Resources does more than most employees think it does and is integral to shaping and managing the employee experience as a whole.
Smart HR innovations that improve employee experiences
What smart HR innovations should a manager or department be using to improve employee experiences? A study found that 83% of HR managers struggle with the challenge of retaining employees versus hiring them.
As a department, Human Resources should prioritize the employee experience and find ways in which to improve that experience across the board. Here are some of the smart HR innovations current businesses are using to better that employee experience this year.
Improve communications and flexibility with an employee scheduling app
Communication is often an issue within businesses in general but when it comes to an employee’s work schedule, it’s one that is often mishandled.
With the post-pandemic work environment having more flexibility in working hours, it’s important for HR professionals to be mindful of what hours employees are contracted to work. HR departments may have to navigate employees who are on a variety of contracts from flexible working to remote and hybrid.
Therefore, having a platform to manage all of this comes in handy, which is why you should explore the benefits of implementing one. An employee scheduling app is designed to make it easier to create employee schedules, as well as track hours, and communicate with workers in the workplace.
It’s useful to check who should be in, when extra hours may need to be worked, and ensure staff aren’t working too many hours for the sake of health and safety.
Review employee performance and set goals with HR analytics software
As part of the employee experience, HR professionals are responsible for ensuring performance reviews are conducted once a year. Not every business does this however and it continues to be a problem that impacts employee experience across many industries.
According to one statistic, less than 30% of employees don’t actually receive any form of feedback or performance review in their workplace. Although that’s not the majority, that is an alarmingly high percentage.
To ensure performance reviews don’t get missed, it is important to invest in HR analytics software so that everyone is reminded to conduct such reviews. The managers and supervisors responsible for conducting them with their staff members will be pulled up on their proactiveness when HR are able to track the progress more effectively.
With HR analytics, HR professionals are able to get a much better in-depth analysis of how well workers are performing and what needs employees have. Not only that but this software is helpful to automate processes too, freeing up valuable HR time.
Use applicant tracking systems for enjoyable recruitment processes
When it comes to employee experiences, part of that experience comes from applicant tracking systems. A modern ATS is essential to finding the best talent for the business and hopefully who will stick around for years to come.
There are a lot of benefits to using applicant tracking systems and ensuring new employees are starting off on the right foot when experiencing the business for the first time. A lot of recruitment nowadays relies on data and with the right integrated ATS solutions you’re able to do the following:
- Candidate screening for faster and bias-free decision-making
- Analytics to help track recruitment KPIs and assess performance
- Management of the interview process
- Automated communications to keep potential candidates engaged and up-to-date
There are several ATS solutions out there to try as an HR professional. One example worth trying is ICIMS. This platform is one of the first to hire with AI technology. Many users love it for hiring quality talent through its seamless engagement with candidates to its ability to move candidates through the workflow of recruitment.
Many of the world’s recruitment teams use platforms like ICIMS to make recruitment and onboarding easier and more successful. From the new employee’s perspective, it gives them the best interaction and experience to start with when joining the business.
Use collaborative platforms for workplace productivity and project success
With the flexible work environment that many of us find ourselves in, collaborative platforms are essential to have. They help keep everyone connected, regardless of whether they’re in the office, at home, in a cafe, or halfway across the world.
In order to keep the morale high and the workforce productive, collaborative platforms are worth investing in. Platforms like Slack are perfect for HR staff to keep up with communications between peers and those who are responsible for looking after staff members.
Within HR, you’ll need to adapt to the shifts and changes made within the business and that includes this new hybrid way of working that many are embracing. It’s important that communication doesn’t falter as a result.
Slack helps to keep everyone in the loop, particularly when it comes to navigating various projects or tasks that require attention. Productivity levels are likely to improve when having such platforms like this one in place. You also have the benefit of platforms like Slack being online, meaning there’s no need to download any software to the employee’s device.
As a result, this platform is a flexible option for businesses when employees are located in multiple places.
Provide attractive perks and benefits with employee work packages
Finally, and possibly one of the most important elements of the employee experience is what you offer beyond just their monthly pay packet.
Employee work packages are important to tailor and develop over time. If the budget allows for it, there should be levels to your employee packages so that those who’ve worked there longer or have more seniority in their role, receive more benefits.
Again, there are platforms and apps that make managing all this so much easier. HR professionals are able to utilize platforms like PerkBox are great to create and tailor your own workplace packages that align with the business.
From monthly team member bonuses to gift vouchers and discounts, there’s a lot available that you might want to give to your employees. Hard work should always be rewarded where possible, even if it’s just a note of recognition in front of the rest of the team or company. Your employee’s experience relies on these benefits and perks to keep them engaged and motivated.
Innovate your HR practices to improve your employee experiences
Human Resources are key players within the business and the responsibility of employee experience lands firmly on their shoulders. With that being said, make sure you’re doing everything possible as a department to keep employees satisfied and happy within their roles.
Don’t forget to conduct performance reviews, stay connected, and provide value to your workers with rewards and benefits. If you care deeply for your employees, they’ll have a strong loyalty to the business that will be hard to break.
Natalie is a freelance writer with five years of experience in copywriting for businesses, spanning many industries.
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