Want loyal workers? Invest in simple, efficient technology

With the ongoing war for talent, and in an attempt to retain top performers in an age of high attrition, companies are increasingly focused on the quality of their ‘employee experience’. 

Today, it’s vital that organizations can offer a motivational, engaging experience for their workforce from the moment they begin the recruitment process— or easily risk losing out in the talent stakes to companies that do. 

That’s because today’s employees have the luxury of choice. They want to join companies that genuinely care about their staff— a home away from home where they can thrive and excel— and companies are starting to step up to the plate.

Strong talent retention and loyalty have significant advantages. According to the Harvard Business Review, companies who focus on employee experience are generally four times more profitable than those that do not. This makes sense when you consider that an engaged, content employee is more likely to go that extra mile for their company. 

Elements that affect the employee experience include their physical environment and workplace culture. These are both hugely important but it’s becoming evident that technology also has a key impact on employee experience. 

According to a recent global report, there is a proven and distinct relationship between a positive digital experience and revenue growth. 

So, how exactly does technology affect and influence the employee experience?

Technology can improve communication

Rather than making life more impersonal, technology can connect us. It can improve the flow of communication while allowing for real-time feedback.

Through technology, companies can implement virtual watercoolers— a place for employees to interact and discuss topics that aren’t strictly work-related. Such conversations have been proven to be great for morale, and making workplace friends comes with a whole host of benefits.

Technology can also improve communication between manager and employee. We all know about the importance of timely feedback concerning performance. 

Continuous feedback is now possible through team collaboration tools and performance management software. 

Using this technology, companies can introduce a virtual open-door policy that will ultimately empower employees and encourage them to speak up when they have feedback of their own.

Technology provides clarity

The unfortunate reality is that roughly half of employees don’t know what is expected of them at work. 

This is not only terrible for productivity, but lack of clarity with regards to goals and objectives can do real damage to the employee experience. 

If you’ve hired the right people, you can be confident that they want to do their very best— but this isn’t possible when they are uncertain about their goals or how they feed into organizational objectives.

With cloud-based technology, managers and employees can create and track SMART objectives. Given that modern organizations are agile and dynamic, goals are always subjective to change— and when change is necessary, the right technology should facilitate it. 

Managers can then keep employees in the loop regarding changes to company direction, which will allow for adjustments to short-term goals and expectations.

Technology makes employees more productive

According to a PwC Tech at Work Report, 73 percent of employees know of technology systems that would help them to produce higher quality work. 

To uncover ideas to streamline and facilitate workflow, managers should regularly ask employees for feedback and suggestions on how they can improve the current software and technology provided by the organization. 

Not all proposals need to be implemented, but employees represent a goldmine of ideas that stand to increase your company’s productivity and performance greatly.

Simple technology frees up employee time

Good technology should be simple to use. Incorporating it should be easy and there should be little to no training involved. Even more importantly, the right technology should free up employee time for value-adding assignments. This is a benefit to organizations because employees are less burdened and spend less time on frustrating, mundane work, while managers can rest assured that certain tasks are being taken care of by automation, reducing the odds of human error and allowing employees to focus on the bottom line.

Furthermore, the intuitive nature of technology can free up management time, allowing them to spend more time on quality performance conversations. 

In this way, even though the technology is becoming more deeply ingrained into our work and into our lives, it is allowing us to become more human.

This article was contributed by Stuart Hearn CEO & founder of Clear Review.