How To Choose The Best Employee Experience Platform?

As globally work-life resumes normalcy and organizations are preparing for a back-to-office process to be rolled out in phases, HRs are considering employees’ opinions. As per the guidance given by the HR managers, the magnitude of employees looking to work remotely has risen. More people would like to work in a hybrid workplace to balance work-life better.

Employees opting for exclusive remote work or on-site work are less than hybrid models. This can be attributed to the fact that even social interaction with colleagues is as important for career growth as working remotely to manage the homefront.

A hybrid model can be designed as per the requirements of an organization and individual teams. A good employee experience platform and other smart devices can help organizations engage with their employees and understand their needs. A strategic plan has to be devised, to divide the number of days when employees will work remotely and how often they will come into a regular office. Such days can be decided based on synchronous and asynchronous work days; on the days when synchronous work has to be done, teams can report to the office, and on the rest of the days, they can work from a remote location. 

Hybrid work may not be suitable for every employee. Remote working may not be a viable option for a few employees. Human resource managers should make plans to support them by devising alternative solutions. Consider two employees, A and B, who have an equal caliber and work in a team. Employee A lives at a distance from his workplace and spends a lot of time commuting to work, his kids go to school during the daytime and he feels he is productive if he can save on the commute time. Whereas, employee B lives within a short distance from work but is surrounded by other roommates. He feels distracted working from home and prefers working on-site. The HR manager should accommodate employees like B to be able to work on-site on all days and A can work in hybrid mode.

As organizations are giving due importance to engaging their teams and providing them with a good employee experience in the workplace, they should also understand the power of technology. 

Employee experience is inclusive but not limited to perks like bringing your dog to the workplace, free breakfast days, and family days. All employees may have similar patterns but not the same requirements. There are a few who are working to keep themselves occupied and there are the rest who are working to ace their career growth. An insight into such trivia is important for organizations as good employee experience impacts business growth directly. 

Technology is used by employees to solve complex problems related to the workflow process. Notably, the benefits of AI are still at a nascent stage. However, employers are not using the same tools to understand their employees as much as they are using these mediums to understand consumers’ needs or market-related data. Employee engagement is at a very low level consequently leading to poor employee experience. Employers who want to attract and retain talent and value human capital should start using employee experience platforms. These AI-driven tools give real-time insights into employee behavior patterns. Hr managers can use this data-driven approach to engage their teams and reduce attrition related to stress. 

Few insights that can be gauged using an employee experience or an EX platform that help in organizational learning, development, and leadership areas are:-

Employee opinion

An organization has to be cognizant of its employees’ opinions and give them a platform to voice their opinions. Periodical surveys and impromptu tête-à-têtes can reveal their point of view about the work culture, different policies related to work, and areas for improvement. By asking the right questions that are both subjective and objective, this data becomes valuable information that can be resourceful in structuring a conducive work environment that attracts the best available talent. 

Using AI-driven technology the new Gen-Z EX platforms display analytics that helps leadership focus on the best engaging and employee practices. These tools also help benchmark the employee satisfaction levels and take decisions to improve or maintain the results.

Easy demarcations

Understandably, not all employees have the same set of problems, issues, or opinions. So there is no one-size-fits-all assessment technique to gauge the employee satisfaction level. The set of survey questions posed for top management will differ for middle and entry-level employees. If the right technique is not employed then the results will not make any logical sense. 

An EX platform allows the human resources to streamline their surveys as per the target audience to deliver coherent information that is resourceful. Different factors like job level, qualification, skills, age, location, and behavioral patterns can be used to base questions and analyze a diverse spectrum of the workforce across the organization’s hierarchy.

Read between lines

AI uses natural language processing, it reports the survey results into readable infographics and also helps in deciphering the inherent meaning underlying the text. For example, if an employee is looking for more opportunities to explore the learning curve, there can be related issues like less exposure to desired projects or the inability of the employee to seek opportunities. This read-through semantics and machine learning without the employee explicitly stating that anywhere. These advanced features help the leadership listen and not hear their employee’s opinions and take constructive corrective measures to improve the work culture of their entity. 

Conclusion

The organizational roles and issues will not change by just offering the benefits of remote work to employees. To make hybrid workplaces a successful model companies have to focus on technology-driven tools like employee experience platforms. A good EX unlocks the value of a good work environment and retains the best of the talent. Employees who get reassurance that their concerns are heard feel connected to their work environment and are available to take on new challenges. The best features of an EX are that they are customizable, secure, and able to optimize the data to maximum use.