Let\u2019s explore how employee experience platforms have evolved in recent years to contribute to stronger employee engagement, improved retention rates, and increased productivity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is an employee experience platform?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Employee experience platforms cover a broad category of software that helps HR leaders, managers, and employees improve employee engagement, workforce development, and alignment between individual goals and overall business objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Employee experience platforms have become increasingly important in recent years not just as a one-stop source of information, Josh Bersin argues<\/a><\/span>, but also because companies found that human capital management (HCM) software and HR information systems (HRIS) weren\u2019t sufficiently delivering the information people needed when they needed it. They were not built to accommodate the evolving needs of a workforce.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms are less about buying one complicated software system that does everything and more about creating a unified employee experience that connects every application they might need. You no longer have to choose a single vendor (or set of vendors) with an HCM or HRIS offering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Instead, your employee experience system should flexibly accommodate different vendors handling onboarding, benefits, payroll, and learning and development (L&D), performance management, employee engagement, and other functions \u2014 all under one portal that offers a user-friendly experience for your employees. If a vendor needs to be changed out, this can be done smoothly and with much less disruption to employees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms are also designed to meet the high expectations that today\u2019s users have. Employees expect HR systems to have the same ease of use as their consumer-focused apps \u2014 and they expect to access these platforms on all devices.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Learn about some of the HR functions that can be included within employee experience platforms while helping employees track their personal information, professional development, and performance against goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms can simplify the onboarding process by moving the \u201cpaperwork\u201d process online and automatically sending it to employees before their first day of work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This extends into the ongoing employee experience, as they can access any benefits and compensation information at any time. Updating their personal information only requires one login, and they can also access resources pertaining to any component of their total rewards package.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, instead of different systems and interfaces for health insurance, commuter benefits, and employee discounts, workers can access all of that through one login.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These platforms can house everything related to performance management, including goal-setting processes, manager-employee conversations, peer feedback, employee recognition, employee surveys, and calibration. You want all information related to short- and long-term goals to be accessible and up to date in one place that managers and employees alike can access it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One benefit of including goal setting within your employee experience platform is providing clarity about what\u2019s expected of employees and what they\u2019re trying to achieve. Documenting that within a central platform holds managers and employees accountable while enabling easy tracking for employees and data insights for HR. These platforms can also help employees see how their goals relate to team and organizational goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n L&D can take place in a variety of locations and formats, including in-person classes, online education, and on-the-job experience. Employee experience platforms can collect all that information in one place to show what an employee is learning and what\u2019s available to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having L&D information in one place also helps managers connect learning opportunities to employee goals and their desired career paths. This creates a uniform framework for managers to guide employees along their learning journey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n HR and finance teams have long relied on technology to track payroll, but these systems don\u2019t always communicate with other key sources of employee information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By having payroll information within a broader, interconnected platform, organizations can better track finance and accounting operations, manage employee agreements, and stay in compliance with laws and regulations across jurisdictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms can help your organization focus on improving employees\u2019 day-to-day work lives, which contributes to continuous growth, higher satisfaction, and better business outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Collaboration between departments is essential for sustained growth, and successful collaboration requires setting and sharing clear expectations and goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms with performance management features allow managers to set short-term and long-term goals for team and company-wide initiatives. Goal-setting ensures each person, regardless of their department, is clear about their responsibilities \u2014 and those of their colleagues, and has transparency into the goals of other teams. This enables everyone to see how their work impacts other departments and strategic business initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee engagement<\/a><\/span> is a measure of how enthusiastic and involved workers are in their daily work and the workplace in general. Recent Gallup research<\/a><\/span> found that only 32% of employees in the U.S. are actively engaged in their work, down from 34% the previous year. And, as of the second quarter of 2022, 18% of employees were actively disengaged<\/span>. The ratio of engaged to disengaged employees is at the worst levels in almost a decade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms contribute to improved engagement by helping employees understand how their work impacts the company and by facilitating and capturing communications between managers and employees that can be used in goal realignment and performance reviews. Those conversations can include coaching, performance observations, recognition of positive performance, and discussions about professional development opportunities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms also give HR leaders and managers an aggregate view of employee engagement through pulse surveys and performance tracking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When people understand how their job role contributes to the organization\u2019s business goals and outcomes, they can bring a greater sense of purpose and drive to their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Business leaders set organizational priorities, empowering managers and department heads to set specific goals and markers for progress for their teams and reports. Managers are then responsible for communicating those goals, motivating employees, encouraging employees to set their own goals in alignment with business objectives, helping them to connect their daily work to strategic objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Employee experience platforms support managers in that responsibility by facilitating more intentional and regular communications, clear goal-setting processes, actionable performance and personal development conversations, and learning and growth opportunities..<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the most immediate sense, employee experience platforms increase productivity by freeing up managers and employees from having to access multiple disparate HR systems. This helps them spend more time on their core duties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Productivity also increases as a result of higher employee engagement and alignment.. According to Gallup<\/a><\/span>, the top 25% of companies with high employee engagement showed decreased absenteeism, higher profitability, and better sales productivity than the least-engaged 25% of companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Companies are focusing on employee retention<\/a><\/span> more than ever. Labor shortages and rising costs mean that hiring new employees is increasingly expensive. According to the Society for Human Resource Management<\/a><\/span>, the average cost per hire in 2022 was nearly $4,700. Gallup<\/a><\/span> research reveals the cost can be up to 2 times the annual salary of an employee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Effective employee retention strategies generally have two characteristics in common \u2014 listening to what employees need and finding ways to meet those needs. Some proven ways to increase employee retention include investing in your employees\u2019 growth, supporting their well-being, and finding opportunities for them to excel.<\/p>\n\n\n\nBenefits and compensation<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Performance Management: Goal setting, conversations, and feedback<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Learning and development<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Payroll<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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<\/figure>\n\n\n\n6 benefits of implementing an employee experience platform<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Smoother cross-functional collaboration<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Continuous insights into employee engagement<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Aligning employees\u2019 efforts to strategic priorities <\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Increased productivity<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Increased retention rates<\/span><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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