Gone are those days when employees worked for a salary or to make their ends meet. In the current times, the thought process of employees has changed completely. They need to be a part of the organization, not just a person who does what he is told to do.
According to a Gallop Study Poll, only 30% of employees feel connected and engaged to the job. The rest of them said that they were either partially connected or completely disconnected.
Employee engagement is crucial for the success and productivity of an organization. When an employee feels connected and involved in the organization, they are more
productive and organized.
Now the questions that arise are,
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How to make the employees feel connected to the organization?
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What can be done so that they work closely for the mission and vision of the company?
And the answer to these questions is to implement technology for employee engagement.
Employee engagement technology incorporates tools such as social media, AI, team-bonding software, and comfortable devices for an enhanced employee experience. Employee engagement in social media allows the organization to connect with them on a personal level.
Thus we have crafted a list of 5 strategies to implement technology for employee engagement and best interaction.
Strategies to Implement Technology for Employee Engagement
Comfort with Technology
Employers should try to make employees as comfortable as they can with the technology that is being used. Be it the devices or the software, provide ample training to the employees. They should feel comfortable while working on the device. And the software training should be personalized.
When employees feel connected with the technology and the devices that they are assigned, they will automatically be productive. The software that they are utilizing for their work should ease their workload rather than adding to it.
Personalization of training has proved to be a great success with the employees. The understanding of technology is different in each individual, so training them according to their understanding level will reap more benefits.
Work Towards a Common Purpose
Employees need to work towards the purpose of the organization. And to make them work, they need to feel that they have a purpose towards the organization.
Incorporating technology to share every employee's views, personal work, and social experiences will let the organization know the employee better. This means providing a common platform to the employees to come up to work together towards the company’s mission, vision, and values.
There is employee engagement software intended to meet this purpose. Employees can come together and post activities, personal experiences, and ideas on this platform. In addition, a common topic for the day, week, or month can be selected. This helps the employees to know that there is time dedicated for them to work towards the common goal of the company’s growth apart from doing their regular duties.
Try and Make Everything Interactive
Everything from meetings to one-to-one interactions can be interactive. The employee should feel enthusiastic and ready to involve, whenever there is a conference or a presentation. This can be done by incorporating interactive tools such as messages, gifs, reactions, etc.
For example, in a presentation, the employees involved should post their reactions immediately on the points they like or dislike. This helps in keeping them involved in the entire process. Also, live streaming the meetings for remote employees is a great idea. There are digital whiteboards, Google jam board, Writey desks, etc., that can make meetings fun.
Also, the small gestures of interactions such as a hello or an emoji to welcome the employees can create an incredible employee engagement impact.
Provide Regular Rewards, Recognitions, and Training
Thanks to technology, the evaluation of employees’ performances is an easy task. There are several performance tools available to rate the performances of the employees. They can rate themselves and create tasks to meet their deadlines. When an employee shows dedication and performs up to the mark, they earn badges in the tool, and the team comes to know accordingly.
Awarding the employees with regular awards and recognizing their efforts is a great way to show that they matter. Also, the performance tools allow the organization to know if the employees need the training to brush their current skills or upskill themselves.
The technology used for employee engagement in performance management, evaluation, and analytics is a proven success.
Make Way for a Seamless Communication
Seamless and transparent communication is the best way to make an employee feel engaged. Therefore, communicative tools such as Skype, Zoom, Trello, Dropbox should be seamlessly integrated into the system for the best collaboration of the team.
An employee should be able to connect and instantaneously communicate with the team, whether it is working from the office or hybrid working. Also, the team members should be allowed to reach out to the people in the office irrespective of their hierarchy.
When an employee can have a transparent conversation, they indeed feel connected to the company. They feel valued and strive to have a conversation wherein they can put forth their ideas for the success of the companies. Thus, it is crucial to incorporate technology to ensure an effortless conversation.
Employee Engagement Survey
Employee feedback is as important as customer feedback for a company. Implementing regular surveys is a fruitful way to know how individuals are performing on a personal level. In addition, these surveys help a lot in defining the future strategies of the company.
A Linkedln survey stated that 94% of employees were ready to stay in the same organization if the company respected their feedback and invested in their career and growth aspects.
Thus,
tech tools are used to conduct regular surveys and feedback to keep the employee connected with the organization's events. As a result, this can lead to productive, loyal and happy employees.
Revolutionizing Employee Engagement Through Technology
Incorporating technology for employee engagement has been the central focus of organizations in the pandemic. It has revolutionized the workplace as employees feel more connected and valued irrespective of the location they are working from.
There are endless benefits of incorporating technology for employee engagement. Some of them are listed below.
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Accelerate employee engagement by 70%.
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Increase employee productivity by 40%
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Effective employee communications
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High-yielding performances by employees.
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Flexibility and consistency in the work process
Final Words
The gestures like rewards, recognitions, employee engagement surveys, and seamless communication processes can go a long way in employee retention. For example, when an employee feels that he is working with a purpose for the organization, they indeed give their 100 percent.
Incorporating technology for employee engagement leads to a successful organization. We should value employee experience just like we value customer experience.
When an employee works with a common goal towards the organization, both the employee and the organization gain unprecedented success. And this can happen only when the employee feels valued and connected to the organization they are working for.
There is a surge in the importance of employee engagement during the pandemic. And thanks to technology, personal approaches, team building, effortless communication, and seamless teamwork are possible.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are employee engagement tools?
Employee engagement tools are tech tools used to enhance employee experience and convey their value to the organization. An organization can implement these tools to improve communication, increase team collaboration, and conduct regular surveys.
How do you engage employees digitally?
To engage employees digitally, they should be comfortable with the device and software that they are using. Once the necessary training is provided, digital platforms should be utilized to
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Provide real-time feedback and appreciation
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Interact with the teams
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Provide training programs
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Conduct surveys and much more.
What are employee involvement techniques?
There are various techniques to make an employee feel valued and connected to the organization. Some of them are;
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Appreciation
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Rewards, recognition, and training
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Accept and implement positive feedback
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Empower, encourage and motivate the employees
These techniques can be easily implemented through technology for employee engagement.