The definition of success has now changed. A successful business is no longer one that grows off the charts. But the one that offers great employee experience on a consistent basis.
A great employee experience is composed of various nuances. Right from the time an employee joins the company up to the time they exit it, there are various touch points during the journey that need to be analyzed and worked upon to enhance their experience and make it a meaningful one.
This, in turn, helps engage the employees and boost their productivity, which is great for the organization’s vision and mission.
Talking about the employee journey and its various touchpoints that need to be addressed, it is cumbersome as a manual HR job. That’s where employee experience software comes in handy and helpful. In this blog, we are going to talk all about the what, why, and how of employee experience software.
What is employee experience?
Employee experience starts from the day the employee is offered the job and ends when the employee exits, and maybe a little after. It is a combination of various moments in an employee’s journey wherein the employee interacts with the employer and syncs with the company vision.
A positive employee experience is how you utilize all those touchpoints and factors, from culture and relationships to processes and productivity, to ensure that the employee feels heard and valued at all times. The end goal is to reduce the attrition rate and foster a sense of loyalty, at the same time contributing towards employee growth.
That is where employee experience software comes into effect. This software helps automate repetitive procedures such as onboarding, payroll, etc, freeing the bandwidth of HR to focus on strategizing. The employees also find all their documents and query resolutions in one place, with an easy user interface.
With man and machine converging in the form of AI in HR, this software is making their presence known, easing the life of many.
Why is employee experience software important for business?
As per MIT research, businesses with employee experience software reported 25% higher profits and reported two times more innovation as compared to the companies that did not have such software.
Profits are not earned in isolation. It is the combined effort of the employees of the company, dispersed along with the management, which, in turn, is the result of the right hiring and nurturing. An enhanced employee experience is what leads to an engaged and productive employee. The best way to focus on such plans and strategies is by automating the process, which is only possible if you invest in an employee experience software that sits well with the vision and mission of your business.
An employee experience software is important for the business because it automates repetitive and redundant tasks such as the employee onboarding process, document management, etc. It also has conversational AI that can put the new hires and the existing ones at ease by solving their most common issues. There are multiple employee engagement surveys available to gauge the psyche of remote employees as well. Good software stores such data in a confidential manner and uses it to create statistics and analytics that can be further used to improve employee experience and reduce attrition rate. This establishes a great reputation of the company in the hiring market and overall as well.
A company that has happy employees and employees with a positive experience is the one that can truly be considered successful. Happy and loyal employees who grow with the company are a measure of the latter’s success. And that is why investing in employee experience software is important for businesses.
Who uses employee experience software?
Now that we have established the importance of employee experience software, the question remains, who uses it — the HR or the employee? The answer is, both.
Employee experience software maps each point in an employee’s journey and enhances their experience at the respective points, with the help of the data and modules available. It is a dynamic software with a dynamic process, led by HR. All the employees who are employed with the company use the software for various purposes, whether to access company details and generate reports or to use it to complete their onboarding procedure. They also use it to get solutions for their most common queries.
Employee experience software also comes with various reports and analytics that are useful for HR, for they can use that information to take relevant action — whether it is to create development plans to reduce the possibility of stagnant employee growth or it is to understand employee’s pain points that need to be addressed to improve the overall team productivity.
Most of the employee experience software also comes equipped with work from home modules that contain various surveys to understand how the employees are feeling while working remotely. This helps prevent disengagement and subsequent attrition.
Overall, this employee experience tool is for everyone in the company, be it the HR or the employee.
What are the goals of using employee experience software?
Enhancing employee experience is the input that leads to the output of increased employee engagement and employee productivity.
As per a Gallup Report, nearly 51% of the employees are disengaged at a workplace, while 13% of them are actively disengaged.
This is an alarming statistic because the more disengaged an employee becomes the more negative their employee experience is. This, more often than not, leads to a bitter exit from the organization. But not before they manage to spread that disengagement over to fellow employees. It is crucial to tackling this level of disconnect from the organization’s goals. And to tackle this at root, you need time and bandwidth.
If you are a part of a large organization, it becomes impossible for HR to take constant one-on-one meetings and understand the employee issues to conduct a further course of action.
That’s when it is important to have employee experience software. It not only collects the relevant data but uses its various functions to raise an alarm whenever there is cause for worry. Whether there is a disgruntled employee on way to becoming disengaged or a disengaged one going to exit, it becomes easier to find such cases with the help of a good employee experience software and a seasoned manager who knows how to utilize it for the benefit of the company and the employees.
Once tackled, it works towards enhancing employee experience and increasing employee productivity by offering numerous solutions.
What are the benefits of employee experience software?
We have already stated how it helps increase employee engagement and enhance employee experience. The two further work towards increasing employee productivity. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits that an employee experience software has to offer.
Smooth onboarding
Easy-to-use software reduces the time invested in filing documents and completing formalities, especially at the time of onboarding, thus creating a positive employee experience right at the start. It also frees up the time of the HR and they can focus more on the planning part while it takes care of the execution.
Employee wellbeing
Good employee experience software helps improve the mental health of the employees. In today’s world, when remote work has become the norm, an employee experience software can map the timings when the employees are feeling down and disengaged and use the data to conduct virtual activities or something as simple as a coffee break. It also marks the need for therapy sessions, if any.
Enhanced employee engagement
Using software also helps reduce unwanted attrition. It tackles disengagement at its roots and constantly strives to create a positive employee experience in the form of addressing employees’ grievances and engaging them. It helps foster a true sense of loyalty as an employee who acknowledges the efforts a company is making in improving the culture and enhancing employee experience is one to work for and stay at.
Easy document management
It also helps reduce the unnecessary cost of recording and maintaining loads of documents in hard copy as everything is stored on the cloud. Secure system storage also prevents the data from getting lost or stolen, which is a possibility when the data and documents are stored in physical formats.
A good employee experience software thus helps automate and tackle various issues that may otherwise crop up during an employee’s journey. It is a safe and sound investment, impacting various aspects of hiring and sustaining employees and the life of an HR in the organization.
How to choose an employee experience software?
There are a few obvious factors to consider while buying an employee experience software, such as budget, company’s vision, etc. Apart from that, here are some things to keep in mind as you decide to buy one.
- Pick an employee experience software that is in sync with the scale and objective of your organization.
- The software should be easy to use and understand. It should not complicate the life of the employees, it should make it easier.
- An employee experience software should be the one with a collective knowledge of the company and its people. This is possible with the right FAQ automation module, coupled with knowledge management and document management.
- Employee surveys are important. It is equally important for the software to be dynamic enough to set a frequency for the same — not too much to hamper the work and not too less to be futile. From work from home surveys to engagement surveys, they help the HRs understand various aspects of an employee’s professional life, from their mental wellbeing to engagement levels.
- Pick a software that comes with a conversational AI. Bonus points if it is available in multiple languages to deal with today’s global work populace. It puts the employees at ease better, talking in their native language.
There are multiple software available in the market. You have to consider all of the above and more to figure out which one is the best fit for your organization.
An employee experience software makes the impossible possible. It helps HR be available and active 24/7 for their employees, and collect data to make informed decisions. It is a must-have tool to effectively elevate employee experience, make employee service seamless and enhance productivity.
Wondering how employee experience software will move HR metrics at your organization? Talk to our product experts.
