Revamping employees’ experience culture with workplace technology

Employees care about many things in their work life, including how much they get paid. But with the worldwide pandemic, job globalization, economic interconnectedness, and evolving employee-employer relationships, employee satisfaction (and therefore employee retention) isn’t just about the money anymore, if it ever was. And workplace technology can give you happier long-term employees than you might otherwise have.

Why employee experiences matter

In the wake of the pandemic, companies are struggling to attract, hire, and retain valuable staff, particularly given the intense competition in some sectors. While technology has made it possible for HR to automate tasks so companies can focus on improving the employee experience, many are placing more faith in traditional metrics than on developing the potential of their employees, and their own relationship with their workforce.

That’s one of several reasons why HR has developed the reputation of serving the needs of the company above those of the employee. Lower-level employees feel ignored when raising concerns, and HR frequently aligns with the most senior role because of their position within the company. As a result, employees at all levels tend to think HR is not really on their side. That means workers don’t put down roots in their companies, but are compelled to leave their jobs and look for new ones.

In the United States, employees leaving their jobs en masse has been an ongoing trend. According to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover report, at least 46.6 million Americans left their jobs in 2022. (The total will almost certainly be higher, as that figure doesn’t include numbers from December.) Globally, a recent study by PwC estimated 1 in 5 workers was planning to quit in 2022.

So, if one employee leaves, it may have a significant impact on the remaining staff members’ dedication to the business and their roles within it, which might in turn have an impact on their productivity.

Start by innovating employees’ experience for better outcomes

The question is, how do you overcome this situation? How do you create an experience culture where staff invest their belief and want to stay?

The most successful companies in any industry adopt a method known as learning from the competition; this strategy is particularly helpful when identifying a target business culture. There is no harm in adapting the effective strategy of industry competitors or even high-performing businesses in a different field to establish a distinctive atmosphere for your brand’s personnel. In fact, learning what works for the competition is the basis of developing best practice. And what you’re likely to find is that the competition is deploying workplace technology solutions to help retain staff.

Investment in innovative workplace technology is a good place for HR managers and teams to start changing their employee experience culture.

Innovation in the workplace can be measured and rewarded in several ways. Businesses are more likely to have satisfied customers and attract potential employees if they innovate and increase the effectiveness of their internal processes.

Source: Accruent EMS

By using workplace technology to streamline customer interactions, you can deliver a superior employee experience. A workplace management solution for organizing your office’s space and resources is a crucial piece of this technological evolution. Office management software raises the bar for an engaging experience too, with features like meeting room booking, conference management, and integrated video conferencing all making for a smoother experience for staff.

HR also has a significant role to play in the creation of workplace content. The HR department has traditionally had communications in its remit as the creator and distributor of employee communications. But the transition to a digital workplace is upending traditional top-down communication strategies.

That means it’s important to examine all of your communication touchpoints with your client, from the initial contact to the meeting invitation to the billing emails, to establish trust and a regularity of contact. Then consider how to make each step better. You can build customer experiences that encourage loyalty by managing customer connections and utilizing technological solutions, to ensure that important communication gets delivered in ways that are both effective, to the point, and encourage a sense of employee belonging.

It’s no secret that all businesses want to adopt flexible workspaces and agile work environments. Flexible work arrangements can boost productivity, increase employee engagement, and support business growth. But the right technology can help you speed up digital change at your organization, while establishing employees’ sense of the benefits of change, and improving management.

Examples of this include putting in place a digital check-in solution that lets you exploit the advantages of a hybrid workplace model by ensuring accountability and transparency. Other applications of innovation and cutting-edge technology can help develop efficient teamwork and communication over physical distances – a prerequisite for flexible office arrangements.

Finding the right technology for your workforce

If there is one lesson to be learned from the growing emphasis on the employee experience, it is that change is here, and you should adapt to it to gain a competitive advantage. Resistance is famously useless.

There are many platforms which can improve your workplace and produce a rich and modern experience. Accruent’s EMS can help you transform your workplace and your employees’ experience, efficiently and in a way that feels organic.

The workplace management software from Accruent EMS provides robust, all-inclusive options for designing a customized employee experience. It has features like:

• Desk and room booking software to ensure employees always find the best workspace
• Integrating maintenance and HVAC systems to ensure that desks and meeting rooms are always comfortable
• Videoconferencing integrations to enhance collaboration with remote/hybrid workers
• Integrated services (such as catering) for enjoyable occasions
• Processes for health and safety (including easy cleaning scheduling between meetings)

What’s more, EMS Software was named a leader among meeting room booking systems and received the 2021 Top Rated Award from TrustRadius – so it’s a system you can trust to deliver everything you need to build a good employee experience and retain your valued staff.

To find out more about Accruent EMS, click here.