Today’s job market is dictated by its workers. The competition for the brightest and best is so fierce that those making up today’s top talent can name their price and motivational incentives, with various job usually offers on the table. With organizations competing against each other more than ever to attract and retain the most suitable candidates, the importance of the Experience Economy has been highlighted, with employee engagement at its core.
The engagement has been shown to link directly to company performance and productivity. According to Gallup’s employee engagement survey, companies with highly engaged staff experienced a 41 percent reduction in absenteeism and a 17 percent increase in productivity. However, deciphering which digital solutions help underpin this engagement can be tricky to achieve results.
Providing the first-class experience
Providing a first-class recruitment experience, whereby an applicant moves from application to interview, to appointment, and then onboarding is a crucial part of an employee engagement strategy. Supporting processes and technology can make this possible as part of attracting the right candidate and impressing them throughout the process.
Once the right candidate has been brought into the business, it’s up to leaders to ensure engagement and retention with various other tools. For example, this includes rewarding people accurately and timely through payroll. In addition, during the cost of living crisis, employees may find themselves with higher-than-expected bills in the middle of a pay cycle, with the UK government taking action to support people. Organizations can incorporate financial well-being offerings within the payroll system to enable employees to instantly access the percentage of their wages earned in the current cycle.
Additionally, organizations can offer the ability for employees to track earnings in real-time, enabling them to feel more in control of their finances. Access to trusted and impartial financial education can help employees to build money confidence.
Clear updates and easy access to support
With technology and supporting processes, organizations can provide clear and positive updates wherever or however people wish to access them. This can include holiday entitlements, instant queries, support, and flexible/hybrid working approval and tracking. This is particularly crucial as the Riverbed Hybrid Work Global Survey 2021 poll of nearly 1,500 business and IT decision-makers found that 94 percent agreed that hybrid working benefits recruiting talent and competitiveness. People within the business can also be offered training and development opportunities, with the organization taking responsibility for employees learning new skills and pursuing avenues for promotion.
The journey to a next-level employee engagement strategy
The Progression of Economic Value reveals what firms must do to be competitive as customer needs and wants change and helps define the Experience Economy. It breaks down the four incremental stages of Extract, Make, Deliver and Stage, with Stage the ultimate goal in allowing experiences to be provided.
These values can be applied to the cloud journey that businesses will go on when integrating supporting processes and technology. The most important of these is the Optimise stage, where ongoing improvements and enhancements help facilitate change and innovation with the help of Change, Consulting or Managed Services. This will bring new module implementation, application configuration, report creation, and configuration to fruition. This is the ultimate aim for organizations to offer practical and impactful employee experiences.
In the age of the “experience economy,” devising a comprehensive employee engagement strategy is the key to attracting, engaging, and retaining hard-to-find top talent. To bring this to life, organizations must invest in their digital transformation strategies and adopt the right technology solutions to offer best-in-class tools and services.
