Design a positive employee experience by harnessing smart technology

In deploying the right technology tools, businesses have an exciting opportunity to understand what drives their employees as well as finding out their values – both at work and at home.

Building a Positive Employee Experience

While processes are important when it comes to adopting new technology, business leaders must consider their employees’ needs  to  help achieve a positive employee experience.

Efficient technology encourages employees to bring their best selves to work. According to a 2020 Gallup report, only a third of employees globally strongly agree they have the tools and equipment they need to do their work efficiently every day.

Successfully combining transaction and interaction

Whether organisations are designing a solution to eliminate paper-based tasks or improve workforce management, the employee needs to see the value in using the new interface.

Jason Averbook, CEO and co-founder of global HR consultancy firm Leapgen believes that the digitisation of work must be at a granular level, a combination of technology and people; the right balance of transaction and interaction.

As the keynote speaker at the recent 2021 Future of Work Summit, Averbook said, “Processes generate data but journeys generate feeling. And what employees remember when they think of employee experience is how they feel, not what they did”

Technology can no longer simply be efficient. It needs to be people-centric, which will support positive employee experiences.

“Transaction alone is not an experience, it’s a task. An experience could take that transaction and adds content to it, adds knowledge to it, adds value to it, adds feeling to it,” said Averbook.

The Whole Person Approach

Gallup emphasised that an employee experience is powerful when companies can support staff members holistically.

Advocating the Whole Person Approach, Averbook encourages leaders and managers to understand what drives an employee through five important elements:

• Physical – Where is their actual work performed?

• Emotional – How does their work make them feel?

• Spiritual – Do they share the same company values?

• Intellectual – Can they grow in their role?

• Social - Is there a sense of team camaraderie?

The Whole Person Approach allows businesses to design and create processes that will work and suit the different and varying personas of a workplace.

Technology for the individual

When it comes to digital transformation, Averbook urges organisations to pay close attention to the audience, the individual worker. With different roles across businesses, a generic solution will not fulfil all employee requirements.

”Understanding those personas and understanding what matters most to those people will allow you to design in a way that hits them in their flow or stream or work,” states Averbook.

Humanforce: Supporting a Positive Employee Experience

Focusing on the employee’s journey, using the latest tools on the  Humanforce Cloud platform can drive motivation and productivity while supporting a positive daily working experience, regardless of role, shift or location.

“Automate to humanate”

Humanforce’s Employee Engagement Tools help teams to connect better and improve team morale and work quality. Employees can stay in touch with colleagues to monitor and resolve issues. By automating repetitive and low value tasks and processes, managers can spend more time mentoring and leading their teams and driving better outcomes for the business.

Leadership Focus

Providing the right quantity and the right schedule of shifts is the most important aspect of employee engagement for shift-based workers.  Humanforce’s Rosters and Scheduling software builds smart rosters, reducing scheduling errors and delivers managers schedules that their teams will love.

Drive Communication and Support

Strong one on one and teamwide connections create happier teams. Humanforce’s Rate My Shift feature captures feedback and data at the end of an employee’s shift. Workforce management analytics also allow managers to quickly gauge trends and immediately resolve any outstanding issues.

Streamline administration processes

Cutting out administration paperwork means more time available for meaningful tasks. Humanforce’s Time and Attendance tools provide overall visibility of an organisation. Managers can proactively monitor and manage staff and operations while automating timesheet approvals and certain levels of authorisation.

Enable Autonomy

Giving employees control of their schedules is possible with Humanforce’s Employee Self Service features. Team members can let managers know their availability and even bid for additional shifts through a centralised system. Autonomy and flexibility are key elements for work-life balance and an enriched employee experience.

The key to delivering a successful digital transformation is to design positive workforce experiences who in turn, will fuel change.

Great challenges, Greater Business Success

Adopting new technology has great challenges. Nonetheless, the benefits from positive employee experience can boost work productivity, reduce turnover and most importantly, increase business profitability.