Unless your organization has been completely ignoring news and trends over the past few months, they’ve probably heard about a movement known as the Great Resignation. This movement—ostensibly employees leaving certain companies in the dust for better opportunities elsewhere—is a direct response to poor treatment, stagnant wages, lack of growth, and a startling void of employee recognition. The unfortunate truth of the matter is that many organizations don’t recognize their employees and treat them less favorably than they should. This has led to higher attrition and lack of retention across organizations. While it makes sense that employees are going to go to a company that has a solid track record of treating its employees well, there are other factors involved in recognition that make it an important feature to implement at any company—especially if you take a technological approach. Technology is a powerful ally to HR departments around the globe. In this article we’ll explore how technology is helping to drive better employee recognition and satisfaction at organizations today.
Analytics and Data
Analytics and data are the backbone of understanding what works at a company and what doesn’t. The same can be said of managing the human element. Being able to analyze how employees are interacting with each other, what their thoughts and feelings are on their role within the organization, and other factors can be crucial data points for improving your overall business plan. Administering pulse surveys and using different types of software to gauge the mood of your workplace can help you clean valuable, actionable insights that can help the company. Without robust technology in place to assist with this task, it would be almost impossible to truly get a handle on what your employees think of your organization. Leveraging these tools to your advantage can set you up for current and future success.
Open Communication Tools
Studies have recently shown that employee recognition and open communication doesn’t only make employees happier/improve morale but it also actively aids in the recruiting process. This communication standard becomes increasingly important when using recognition effectively. Many businesses operate on the idea that there should be complete and open communication, with no miscommunication throughout the process. The same idea should apply to recognition. Using the communication tools to properly convey recognition across your organization requires some finesse. Communication needs to be specific and targeted to outline how the employee impacted the organization. They’re also needs to be some kind of General reply section where other employees can congratulate and weigh in on how everybody adds value to everyone else’s work. Amazing communication between co-workers, management, and customers is crucial to getting things done—something that open communication tools in a cloud-based recognition software platform can definitely provide. Many employers implement employee resource groups (ERGs) to expand communications among team members with shared interests, identification, and challenges. Using software for ERG management streamlines the process.
Timely Recognitions
Something many workplaces get wrong about employee recognition is timing. In order for employee recognition to be truly effective, it needs to be timely and immediate. Waiting six weeks to tell an employee they did a good job isn’t really going to help them feel valued. It might even have the opposite effect and make them feel as if their happiness is an afterthought to the bottom line. The bottom line here is this: recognizing employees for a job well done should be fast, genuine, and specific to each individual. There are some types of employee recognition software that automatically integrate timely/prompt recognition into the software. These are more or less an open communication platform that enables everyone within the company to provide solid feedback to everyone else. Think of it as a virtual check-in. Where typical check-ins are scheduled and act as a quick, energetic interaction to discuss goals or other work related accomplishments, employee recognition is more of a peer-to-peer feedback process. By using a digital solution for this, it’s easier and more convenient to recognize employees for their accomplishments as fast as they occur. That goes a long way toward improving company culture, increasing morale, and ultimately showing your employees that you truly care about the quality of their work/efforts.
Tech-powered Features
The future is now. At least that’s going to be the case if artificial intelligence and machine learning continue to grow to such prominence in most fields. The beauty of artificial intelligence and machine learning isn’t that it can do things for you or automate certain processes. It’s that it can act as a very useful tool for getting things done more efficiently. When companies are looking into the prospect of improving employee recognition, they need to have some kind of powerful software tool. Simply saying “hi” to each other and texting/emailing one another congratulatory messages isn’t going to work as well as having a powerful employee recognition platform that lets everybody interact digitally with each other. Using the features of such technology, employees can provide direct feedback, recognize each other’s accomplishments, and interact with each other as a team to help the company grow. It adds value to the employee experience while also providing a direct route to cultivating a positive working environment.
Recognizing Milestones Digitally
Recognizing employment milestones like anniversaries, project completion, and even birthdays can really make a difference for employee morale. Recognition doesn’t have to always be work related. It can come in the form of recognizing milestones at work. These might be birthdays or days that hold a special meaning for that particular employee. Sometimes it’s a work anniversary that can come with an award or certificate. Other times, you might recognize the milestones of retirement or marriage. Doing so helps create a company culture that doesn’t distill employees into faceless drones who run the organization. Instead, it increases their engagement and makes them feel more like a family while working at the organization.
