Technology has pushed workforce opitimisation forward through the years, and it’s impressive how far businesses have come. What some organisations don’t realise is that optimising business processes and manpower allocation isn’t enough; ensuring that employee morale and engagement is as important, if not more so. That’s why it is important to know how to improve employee experience.
Excellent customer service has always been the main objective of every business, and it’s vital that you know and understand the link between employee experience and customer experience.
A study by Frost & Sullivan found that 89% of surveyed companies believed that an improvement in contact center engagement will lead to a significant increase in the overall quality of customer experience. In the current gig economy, employee attrition is a major concern because unhappy and unsatisfied employees are prepared to simply find that happiness elsewhere.
If employees come in and out, it makes it challenging for management and HR to stabilise business processes and transfer knowledge effectively across the organisation. If employees are not properly equipped to do their jobs, this could lead to a deterioration of employee morale that could transfer inadvertently to your customers. Providing employees the proper training and tools is a wise investment that will serve both the business and its customers in the long run.
Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.
Richard Branson.
What is Workforce Engagement Management (WEM)?
Because of the repetitive nature of their jobs, customer-facing employees often find it challenging to maintain an upbeat and positive attitude throughout the day. Fortunately, technology has also stepped in to help address this through Workforce Engagement Management (WEM).
WEM is a suite of products focused on helping companies manage and improve employee engagement. These products encompass all stages of employment, from recruitment and onboarding to management and performance. They also work to supplement an already established set of tools that fall under the Workforce Optimisation (WFO) category.
Compared to WEM products, the focus of WFO products is on the overall efficiency of business operations. They will inevitably overlap in their practical application, but they are fundamentally different.
How to improve employee experience and why is it important?
If you consider the overall financial and manpower cost of recruitment, it’s easy to see how expensive it is to replace employees. The good thing, though, is that employee attrition can be minimised significantly by focusing on engaging employees and keeping them happy.
After all, employees don’t leave because they found a better opportunity elsewhere; they leave because that opportunity isn’t provided in their current employment.
The importance of keeping employees engaged is evident in the fact that there are companies that exist solely to to make sure you know how to improve digital employee experience and, of course, promote it. LinkedIn is one of the best examples of a company focused on the employee experience because it helps companies promote it within their organisation and also does the same with their own employees.
Glassdoor is also becoming a trusted resource when it comes to employee engagement because it goes beyond providing insight into how it is to work for certain companies and plays a major role in the whole recruitment process.
Below are a few tips to help you enhance employee engagement in your company through online reviews.
Monitor employee feedback on online review sites and respond accordingly.
If you aren’t keeping track of employee review sites, now is the best time to start. This should be a major part of your employee engagement program because most of your potential and past employees are now online. Companies now even have a strategy when it comes to managing employer profiles on employee review sites—and you should have one, too. Monitor what your employees are saying about your company and your brand and address issues and answer questions if necessary.
Encourage employee reviews.
Getting feedback is important if you want to constantly improve your business processes and employee engagement programs. Encourage employees to provide company reviews, especially new hires because they have fresh insight and are enthusiastic to start on their new journey. Ideally, the best times to look for reviews are during the employee onboarding process, when you roll out new benefits or incentives, before a major hiring push, and during the exit interview.
Promote your company reviews online.
The reason behind the success of online review sites like Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and Indeed is that they focus on user-generated content. Positive reviews on these sites are proof of excellent employee experience straight from the mouths of the employees themselves. Many job seekers rely on these reviews because they are relatable—speaking in the voice of a specific company’s workforce. Put these reviews front and center by posting a link to them on your company social media accounts, on your job postings, and on your careers page.
You could also add the link to your candidate outreach emails to help candidates get a feel for your company and make the decision to accept your offer or look elsewhere.
Employee engagement goes beyond the duration of employment; it begins once an employee or candidate first engages with your company and continues through the entire employee lifecycle. Although online reviews can help in the management of employee engagement, the involvement of the business or its stakeholders will ensure that both employees and candidates get a comprehensive, balanced view of how their future looks with your company.
