Learning and development or L&D is increasingly becoming a buzzword for most organizations as they seek to augment their employee development efforts. While learning and development is an integral part of human growth, its focus for the workplace has been a result of the market dynamics and uncertainties in the past few years. Employee training and development is not a new concept as everyday is a new learning experience for all employees who pick up several skills and competencies on the job, without even realizing it. However, in recent years, organizations are formalizing the process with a proper structure and approach to make learning and development more overt, conscious and impact driven. 

Importance of L&D for employee development

As a first step, let’s understand the importance of L&D for employee development and why it makes sense for organizations to make concrete investments in facilitating the same:

1. Employee engagement and retention

We have time and again come across studies indicating the high costs of employee turnover. A major reason for employees to look out for new opportunities is the lack of engagement and growth potential in their existing roles. Continuous learning and development initiatives can help reverse the trend by enabling employees to upskill themselves and stay relevant in their respective fields and beyond. 70% of employees would be somewhat likely to leave their current job to work for an organization known for investing in employee development and learning. Thus, L&D will not only augment the engagement levels, but will also enable organizations to retain the top talent and facilitate growth.

2. Impact on the bottom line

An organization’s bottom line majorly depends on its ability to constantly innovate and gain a competitive edge. The onus for innovation majorly comes from fresh perspectives and skills that employees are exposed to. According to Huffington Post, 24% higher profit margins can be the result of companies who invest in training. With the latest skills as well as knowledge to leverage the best tools, employee productivity will increase, impacting the bottom line in a positive manner. At the same time, with the right skills, employees are also able to understand and serve changing customer needs better.

3. Employer branding

Studies show that 59% of millennials claim development opportunities are extremely important when deciding whether to apply for a position. This clearly illustrates that an organization’s commitment to employee development has a direct impact on how it is perceived by prospective candidates and other stakeholders in the market. The more an organization invests in the development of its employees, the more likely it is to become a preferred employer and brand in the market. 

4. Resilience and adaptability

Finally, living in a VUCA world, it is clear that organizations and professionals need to keep  up with the ongoing trend to stay relevant and not lose out. Organizations and employees fixated on traditional methods and knowledge are likely to fall back with competitive disadvantage. Therefore, constant learning and development is a tool with which organizations can empower their workforce to quickly adapt to the changing circumstances and display resilience. According to LinkedIN, 99% of L&D professionals feel that if critical skills gaps aren’t closed in the coming years, then their organizations would be negatively impacted in a variety of ways.

Creating a learning and development strategy

Organizations seeking to reap maximum benefits from their learning and development interventions must create a robust learning and development strategy. Such a strategy will help provide a structure to the entire process, making it efficient and effective. Here are the four considerations that can help organizations create a comprehensive learning and development strategy:

1. Create a formal strategy

Firstly, to be effective, the learning and development strategy must be formal. This suggests that having a written strategy which has been collaboratively created with inputs from all stakeholders is important. Simply having an understanding in conversation will not be enough. Since the strategy will stay with the organizations for many years to come, having something formal is important. 

2. Identify objectives aligned with business goals

Next, the strategy must illustrate the objectives that the various learning and development initiatives to be carried out, will adhere to. These objectives should create a case of what the L&D initiatives will seek to achieve. It is important for organizations to align these objectives with the larger business goals to ensure that any investments in employee development achieve the dual purpose of business goals and greater engagement. 

3. Identify KPIs or metrics

Once the objectives are set, it is important to identify the right KPIs or metrics to measure the success. While the metrics will be unique to each initiative that is undertaken, it is important to have a cluster of generic indicators to help compare the impact of one initiative against the other. Invariably, these metrics need to be both quantitative and qualitative in nature and should try to put all initiatives at the same level in an unbiased manner. 

4. Keep it flexible and dynamic

Finally, a focus should be on keeping the strategy flexible and dynamic. With the extent of uncertainty and ambiguity, anything cast in stone is likely to be self defeating. Therefore, while the policy must be formal, there should be enough room to innovate the same and adapt it to the changing needs and circumstances of employee development. 

Learning and development process: Steps to promote employee training and development 

A learning and development strategy will act as an outline to guide the learning and development process. To ensure that all initiatives create a long-reaching impact, organizations can follow the below process with 5 primary steps to promote employee training and development. 

1. Gauge gaps and employee expectations

While the first step is to create a strategy, the next one is to gauge and understand what the employees feel. Since one of the purposes of learning and development programs is to create a positive employee experience, it is important to involve them in L&D. On the one hand, the management must do a 360* analysis to understand the gaps that may be retarding the growth and progress. On the other hand, employee opinion on what aspects of learning should the programs focus on must be gauged. 

2. Identify programs and initiatives

Based on the gaps and employee expectations, a list of programs and initiatives should be created. In case a gap exists in soft skills, workshops or sessions on the same can be conducted. Similarly, if there exist some evident biases, an unconscious bias training can be organized. The identified programs and initiatives must also align with the objectives of the L&D strategy and business goals, to ensure impact.

3. Decide mode of implementation and partners

Once the areas for L&D programs have been identified, it is important to decide how the implementation will take place. Firstly, the mode or the format needs to be decided. Any L&D program can be through workshops, talks, classroom sessions, etc. The idea is to identify which format compliments the identified objective to make learning most effective. Secondly, the partners to implement the program must be identified. While some initiatives can be handled in house, others require external experts. Sometimes, the experts can suggest the most effective formats as well.

4. Implement initiatives 

Naturally, the next step of the learning and development process is to implement the initiatives. This requires a communication of the idea across all employees and stakeholders creating a case for attending the same. While some sessions can be compulsory, others can offer special incentives for participation. It is important to ensure that employees are aware about the programs well in advance to help them manage their schedules appropriately.

5. Take feedback and measure impact

Finally, the last step of the process is to gauge the effectiveness of the program. On the one hand, measuring quantitative metrics aligned with the program must be studied. On the other hand, feedback from employees on the quality and efficacy of the program must be gauged. Taken together, these can help organizations understand whether or not the program has been able to achieve the objectives it set out to achieve and, thereby, understand the impact. Based on the impact, organizations can iterate the process as and when the next initiative is on the cards.

Tools for employee training and development

Based on the employee development needs, organizations can identify and leverage different tools to create maximum impact. For a long time, in-person training sessions have been the norm. However, with the transition to a virtual world, various combinations of hybrid learning experiences are being established to facilitate better. Here is a list of a few tools that organizations can explore to facilitate effective employee training and development.

1. Classroom sessions

The most commonly used format or tool for employee training and development has been classroom sessions. These involve a one shot training module where participants are introduced to the identified L&D area over a course of a couple of days, consecutively. All the learning is captured in those few days. These sessions generally touch upon different aspects of the identified area one after the other, to give a classroom like experience with an expert facilitator and a combination of activities to make the session interactive.

2. Webinars

The switch to remote work has seen an exponential surge in the adoption of webinars as a mode of training and development. As opposed to a classroom setup, webinars are bite sized learning modules and their dissemination may occur over a longer period than just a couple of days. While most webinars are conducted live to promote engagement, they are also available on demand to facilitate asynchronous learning. Since the attention span greatly reduces in a virtual setting, webinars are an effective way to promote learning, without overwhelming the learner with too much to absorb. 

3. Networking and meetups

The two tools mentioned above are most ideal for employee development centred around upskilling or formal learning. However, learning and development at the workplace also happens through knowledge sharing and the entire ecosystem. Here, networking with experts, peers and meetups are extremely effective. While they may not directly add to one’s hard skills, they have a great scope to promote holistic development for professionals and accelerate their growth trajectory. 

4. Courses

Finally, organizations are also increasingly focusing on personalized learning for employees to address their individual needs and expectations. Here investing in courses, both online and offline, can be beneficial. This is especially true for employees that are demanding learning and development support in their hard skills. For instance, one might need support in one technology stack, the other might need it for something different. Here, empowering them with different courses available in the market is a wise move to ensure the best skill sets come to the team, while also creating a positive experience for all. 

Examples of learning and development programs for employees

Different organizations are at different levels of the learning and development journey. Here are examples of learning and development programs for employees that some of the most forward looking organizations are conducting and creating new opportunities for growth for their workforce. 

1. Etsy

An e-commerce platform focussed on handmade and vintage offerings, Etsy deserves credit for its continuous learning and development approach for its workforce with Etsy School. It allows Etsy Teams to conduct a series of workshops and projects to help strengthen a Team through improving member shops together and making friends. Run across different themes, these workshops facilitate upskilling, engagement and team bonding. 

2. Amazon

The tech giant, Amazon, has been true to its commitment to learning and development of its workforce by investing $700 million to provide free skills training to employees. It aims to help them further their careers in high-paying, in-demand roles, such as cloud computing. Additionally, initiatives like Career Choice, Amazon Technical Academy, Machine Learning University, Amazon Technical Apprenticeship Program illustrate their focus on employee development. 

3. AT&T

Growing from a telephone to a telecommunications company, AT&T’s focus on learning and development is exemplary. The organization invested about $166 million in direct employee training and professional development programs and delivered 16 million hours of training in 2020. Some of its top initiatives include: AT&T University, with 900 leadership and career courses, leveraging partnerships with learning institutions such as Harvard Business and LinkedIn Learning; Virtual Studios Leader-Led Training, that broadcasts live, leader-led training to employees across the globe, among others. 

It all starts with the employees

Any learning and development program that seeks to create impact must keep the employee at the center. Therefore, gauging employee pulse and feedback is extremely important. Here, organizations can partner with platforms like SuperBeings to conduct pulse surveys and get insights on what their employees feel. At the same time, they can benefit from data-backed action plans to facilitate programs that address these needs. 

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Leadership development has been a said priority for most organizations. However, more often than not, this commitment is just on paper. Let us quickly look at some facts.

According to a study by Brandon Hall, 83% organizations say that it is important to develop leadership at all levels.

However, a mere 5% have actually implemented it at all levels. Even where implemented, there still exist significant challenges. At the same time, the nature of leadership development and the role of a leader in an organization is fast changing. In such a scenario, conventional leadership development practices following a hierarchical model may not be the best solution for organizational success. There is an urgent need to reinvent the wheel and embrace leadership development with behavioral change agents.

What is leadership development?‍

Leadership development refers to formal or informal activities that enhance the skills, abilities, and qualities of leaders. The primary goal of the leadership development process is to produce high-caliber leaders.

It equips leaders with skills that can help them enhance the productivity of their team. It helps potential leaders to take up managerial roles and also boosts the productivity of employees, further translating into profitable business decisions and strategies.

Leadership development programs vary massively in complexit, cost, and style of teaching. Coaching and mentoring are the two most common forms of leadership development often used to guide and develop leaders.

Why is leadership development important?

Leadership development equips leaders with skills that will enable them to enhance the productivity of their team. It helps potential leaders to take up managerial roles and even boosts employee productivity. This can further translate into profitable business decisions and strategies for your organization.

Here’s why leadership development is important for your organization:

1. Boosts Financial Performance

Studies show that companies that rate highly for their investments in human capital deliver stock market returns 5 times higher than those of companies with less emphasis on human capital. Leadership development acts as a total game-changer by increasing the ability to cut expenses, generate new revenue streams, and improve customer satisfaction.

2. Creates skilled and empowered leaders

Updating the way your leaders work to be more in keeping with Industry 4.0 means a shift in leadership’s thinking from siloed or ‘hero’ leadership. Here, only one person makes all the decisions and everyone follows. Here, people from various functions, departments, and roles work collaboratively with a somewhat flattened hierarchy.

3. Increased ability to adapt to change

Just like Stephen Hawking said,” Intelligence is the ability to adapt to change”, it goes without saying that change is integral to improvement, and growth . Probably why it should be an ongoing process. Make sure to incorporate a commitment to change in your organization. Even in an unpredictable business environment, at least 86% of companies with leadership development programs in place are more successful when it comes to rapidly responding to change, compared to 52% of companies with less mature leadership programs.

4. Increases employee loyalty

Leadership development that takes place within an organization inspires employees to be loyal, as it shows that there are growth opportunities available for them. It is also cheaper, and requires less time, than the cumbersome tasks that include finding, hiring, and training leaders from outside.

5. Attract, Develop, and Retain Talent

Leadership development enhances employee engagement, improves the organization's ability to deal with talent pipeline shortfalls, and lowers the problems and costs of turnover. Great leaders are able to attract, hire, and encourage excellent employees. A manager who lacks strong leadership abilities will have a difficult time attracting and retaining high-performing employees.

Furthermore, developing, coaching, and promoting individuals inside is frequently less expensive in the long run than hiring someone externally. This makes leadership development an excellent investment.

Top 5 Leadership Development Goals

Some of us are natural-born leaders, while the rest of us develop these leadership skills over time. In both cases, there’s still room for growth. And one of the simplest ways to make this happen is by setting the right leadership development goals. Always remember that the goals you set should be geared towards improving your weaknesses and enhancing your leadership style.

1. Adaptability to change and growth:

We often tend to go with the assumption that we know it all. But instead of doing this, pause for a moment and get yourself a piece of paper and note down your goals, and make sure one of these goals is to become adaptable and open to learning new things. This puts you in a better position to provide better results. This will highly accelerate your organizational growth.  

2. Increase efficiency:

Time management is extremely important for an individual who is a part of an organization since they frequently manage multiple conflicting duties. Identify areas where you can improve your efficiency, not just in corporate operations, but also in your own obligations, and work toward those objectives. By doing this, you will have more time to improve other abilities and complete other tasks, as you become more efficient.

3. Build Dynamic teams:

The finest companies are mostly inclusive, with a varied range of people. To build a successful, well-rounded team, a smart leader can objectively determine the best individual for the position. It's difficult to build and maintain a high-performing, collaborative, innovative, and dynamic team, but it sure isn't impossible. It's not just about finding the appropriate people; it's about keeping them, empowering them as a team, and assisting them in defining how they'll carry out their responsibilities.

4. Improve your EQ/EI:

Emotional intelligence (EI) is a trait that many successful leaders possess. Self-awareness, self-regulation, social awareness, social regulation, and motivation are the five primary components of EQ. These characteristics aid in decision-making, goal-setting, and stress management, all of which are important aspects of leadership. While some leaders are born with a high EQ, it is something that can be developed.

5. Become a better mentor:

Leaders who are also mentors can bring effective outcome sake effective mentorship a priority when creating goals since your team looks up to you for coaching, counseling, and assistance. Make a growth plan. Try working with your team and think about ways they can achieve their goals. This should be backed up by regular feedback and advice after meetings in order to help them in the long run. Becoming a good mentor is all about showing your team that you care about their personal development by taking the time to listen to them and present them with new opportunities to challenge them.

How to build a successful leadership development strategy

People with followers are leaders. But have you ever wondered what makes a “good leader”? The answer is pretty simple; people with the skills that make others want to follow them are good leaders. When it comes to developing this skill in an organization, all that you would require is proper guidance combined with experience. 

Creating a leadership strategy requires a “systems approach” in order to identify the qualifications and caliber of leaders needed across the organization. 

In case you’re wondering what exactly a “systems approach” means- all you would need to know is that it is a simple approach based on the generalization that everything is interrelated and interdependent. A system is composed of related and dependent elements which when in interaction, forms a unitary whole.

In addition, this strategy will also include a thorough review of the leadership competencies required to support the organization's culture and desired leadership style.

Each organization has its own nuances. However, the following general framework always provides organizations with the best results:

1. Identifying goals and challenges:

You can start by asking yourself a few questions. What would be the biggest challenge your organization would have to overcome in the upcoming years? What are your goals or visions for the organization? What keeps you up at night?

Once you have the answer to these questions, you will be able to accordingly plan out a strategy that works best for you and your organization.

You can try reading annual reports and any business strategy documentation you can get your hands on, to create a solid foundation. Once you have done that, you could then conduct a round of executive interviews. Have conversations with every member in the executive team, either in groups or individually. This is also a really good way to build credibility and relationships, especially if you are a newbie to your organization.

2. Creating a vision and mission:

This step involves creating a vision statement. A vision statement is an aspirational description of what the team would like to achieve or accomplish in the future. The purpose of a vision statement is to serve as a clear guide for choosing current and future courses of action. Organizations tend to normally jump right in without crossing this step from their checklist. This can be disastrous for the plain reason being- having a clear vision can give a team direction and inspiration, without which the team would be lost and have almost no idea as to where they are heading. 

Along with creating a vision statement, you might also want to consider preparing a  mission statement. A mission statement simply describes what you do, for who you do it, and how you plan on doing it. This even helps in putting a boundary around your team's activities , simultaneously guiding their day-to-day direction.

3. Developing measures and action plans:

Organizations often tend to neglect important components of a leadership development strategy , one of them being- creation and tracking of critical metrics. Developing suitable measures and coming up with the right action plan is undoubtedly one of the most important of these components. Keep in mind that this can get a little tricky, but not impossible. 

Coming up with an action plan can help you turn your visions into reality, and increase efficiency and accountability within an organization. An action plan is something that describes the way your organization will meet its objectives through detailed action steps that describe how and when these steps will be taken.

4. Reviewing with stakeholders:

This step is essential in order to make modifications and ask for commitment, involvement, and resources. 

It is very crucial to monitor against your action plan in order to ensure the quality of actions that are taking place; the key is to evaluate the effectiveness of the solutions you wish to implement against the agreed targets and performance indicators. 

For example- absenteeism, reports of interpersonal conflict, and so on. Accordingly, you can always make further decisions about further action or data gathering, if required. 

Benefits of leadership development programs

Leadership development programmes have numerous advantages. The key, though, is to establish a development programme that is tailored to the organization's culture and attempts to close leadership gaps. Organizations today are searching for people who can not only lead, but also foster emerging leaders who can contribute to the organization's objectives. 

Here are a few of the main benefits leadership development programs offer:

• They help in enhancing employee engagement by creating leaders that can effectively lead teams.
• A positive work culture is adopted, encouraging more employees to learn at the job and work towards acquiring leadership roles.
• These programs churn out effective leaders who help businesses develop unique and efficient strategies that can drive organizations to new heights.
• And finally, these programs help to create a positive image of leadership, giving emerging leaders an example to live by.

Leadership development with change agents and behavior nudges 

The main challenge as identified above is that conventional leadership development practices are rudimentary and superficial. For effective leadership development, organizations need to leverage behavioural change agents which can adapt to the personality of upcoming leaders and subtly promote the right behaviour and practices. 

The idea is to switch to solutions which focus on personalized leadership development with behavioural nudges. Put simply, this involves calibrating the best leadership practices to match the professional goals as well as strengths and weaknesses of the individual. Following this personalization, individuals gradually receive soft nudges to alter their behaviour in a way that will promote both their professional development and wellbeing as well as leadership capabilities. 

Such nudges are often found on platforms like SuperBeings and are based on people sciences and analytics. Their focus is not only short term leadership abilities, but rather, long term holistic transformation based on habit building. Invariably, they offer bite sized coaching nudges to enable prospective leaders form productive habits and work smarter, and in the way augment their leadership potential. 

Thus, organizations today need to break out of the conventional practices that are yielding ineffective leaders to adopt new age practices which work on the individual leadership fabric. The approach should not be bombarding the prospective leaders with best industry practices and expect them to absorb them instantly. Rather, give them time and the right tools to transform the way they work, live and lead.

Challenges in leadership development today

To reinvent the wheel, it is important to understand the challenges and gaps in the existing leadership development practices. To begin with, most leadership development practices have a one size approach which seldom takes in the different personality types that potential leaders possess. Invariably, the effectiveness is low because it is not customized to the needs of the learners. Generally, it becomes more of a tick in the box than effective leadership development.

Secondly, most organizations rely upon age-old learning management systems which further dilute leadership development. The entire focus is on theoretical learning and teaching with little or no exposure to practical application and coaching. Subsequently, this results in breeding ineffective leaders who are unable to drive confidence in their teams and command respect and credibility. 

Leadership is said to be an innate characteristic that cannot be learned. However, in order to be a great professional or businessperson, we must be good leaders and work at evoking the underlying leadership traits that we all possess, even if we aren't aware of it. And the only way to solve this is to create a development strategy.

Sufficient investment, the ability to apply learning effectively, the availability of role models, efficient use of technology, and a programme intended for continuous learning are some of the most important factors to success when developing existing and aspiring leaders.

Keep in mind that it is vital to think about your audience and the programme objective from the outset if you want to design leadership programmes that produce optimal results.

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The Impact of Effective Leadership on Employee Engagement

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Employee turnover is one of the most common HR obstacles that businesses confront today. However, have you ever wondered why individuals choose to leave their jobs? According to studies, team leaders or managers are frequently cited as one of the primary reasons why people choose to leave their positions. At least 75% of the reasons why employees quit a firm, according to Gallup's principal scientist for workplace management, James K. Harter, are because of their managers.. Only 12% of professionals, on the other hand, resigned their work to pursue a greater wage elsewhere. Perhaps money isn’t always the problem. 

What is leadership and what makes a great leader?

An individual's or a group's ability to influence and guide followers or other members of an organisation is referred to as leadership.

Making the right, often difficult decisions, communicating a clear vision, defining attainable goals, and providing followers with the knowledge and skills they need to reach those goals are all part of leadership.

From business to politics to region to community-based groups, leaders are found and necessary in almost every sector of life.

Self-confidence, good communication and managerial abilities, creative and inventive thinking, perseverance in the face of failure, readiness to take chances, openness to change, and level headedness and reactiveness in times of crisis are all traits of an effective leader. Individuals with these abilities can advance to executive management or C-level positions in business, such as CEO, CIO, or president.

However, leadership has nothing to do with a person's position or seniority. Just because someone has worked for a long time does not indicate they have developed the attributes and talents necessary to manage a group.

Here are a few qualities that actually make a great leader :

1. The right attitude

Great leaders understand that they cannot have a happy and motivated staff unless they are happy and motivated themselves. This can be accomplished by being positive when things go wrong and fostering a pleasant and cheerful work environment.

If team members are happy and acknowledged, they are more willing to work harder and do overtime when needed. Even in the most difficult situations, such as poor team morale or team members making a major blunder at work, a great leader maintains a positive attitude and finds ways to keep the team motivated to address problems.

2. A continuous desire to learn new things

Great leaders understand that there is always something new to learn from their previous experiences. They are able to connect current issues with previous lessons acquired in order to make quick decisions and actions. 

3. Responsibility

When it comes to their company, workplace, or whatever scenario they're in, great leaders understand that they must take personal responsibility for failure. The best leaders don't make excuses; they accept responsibility and move quickly to resolve the issue. This demonstrates their trustworthiness and integrity.

4. Knowing When to Delegate and How to Delegate

You can't do everything on your own, no matter how much you'd like to. Even if you could, doing so in a group setting would be a bad idea. Good leaders should be able to understand, and do more than just relieve their personal stress.

Delegating to others demonstrates your trust in their talent, which leads to increased workplace morale and employee loyalty, as they wish to be respected and valued.

5. Feedback and Listening

This is significantly more complicated than it appears. A successful leader must have excellent communication skills. You may have a good understanding of your brain's cave of madness, but that doesn't guarantee you can appropriately extract and describe its contents to others.

Effective leaders must be able to communicate effectively with those around them. They must also be able to properly understand the actions of others and not take what they say personally.

6. Confidence is the key

A good leader should be confident about his ideas and actions. However, this must not be mixed up with arrogance or self-satisfaction. People will look to you for guidance on how to behave, especially if things aren't going as planned. Team members are considerably more likely to remain cool and composed if you do. As a result, productivity and morale will remain high, and the problem will be resolved more swiftly than you ever imagined.

How far does leadership affect organizational growth?

Leadership is a critical management role that aids in maximising efficiency and achieving organisational objectives. Employees today desire a workplace that is collaborative, flexible, happy, and inclusive. Because of the rising incidence of voluntary turnover and the increasing complexity of the digital era, it is critical to choose the correct leadership style for employees.

Companies should ensure that personnel in leadership roles are thoroughly familiar with the organization's goals before implementing actions.

Here’s why leadership plays a vital role in the growth and success of your organization:

1. Initialization of the right action

A leader is someone who provides direction and communicates policies and plans effectively.

2. Team Motivator

A leader demonstrates that they are playing a motivating role in the company's operations and inspires their staff through monetary and non-monetary incentives.

3. Providing direction

A leader is responsible for not just supervising but also guiding his or her subordinates. Guidance in this context refers to teaching subordinates how to do their jobs properly and efficiently to achieve the best possible result.

4. Bringing confidence

Confidence is a crucial aspect that may be achieved by conveying work efforts to subordinates, clearly describing their roles, and providing them with directions for achieving the goals. It's also crucial to pay attention to the employees' complaints and difficulties.

5. Setting up Morale

Morale refers to an employee's willingness to cooperate in their task, as well as gaining their confidence and trust. It's important to remember that it's not always about great objectives and unattainable plans, but rather how well your team handles every challenge. It's all about how committed your staff are to attaining the company's goals. In the face of fierce competition, the complicated work environment of the digital age, along with low engagement levels, is certain to pose a number of issues for businesses. Employee engagement is also important for businesses that wish to develop and survive.

What is employee engagement and why is it important?

Employee engagement refers to the level of mental and emotional attachment employees have to their jobs, their teams, and their company. HR is often drawn to employee engagement because of the immediate benefits it provides in terms of employee retention, recruiting, job satisfaction, and happiness. Employee engagement, on the other hand, has far-reaching benefits that go beyond HR. 

Discretionary effort increases when employees are engaged. Employees want to go above and beyond the job's minimum standards. Employee engagement affects a variety of corporate results when leaders and managers channel that energy and effort in the correct direction.

Employee engagement is vital for retaining valued talent and is a critical component of employee happiness; disengaged employees are more likely to leave their positions. According to a study conducted by Forbes, employees who are involved in their work are more likely to be motivated and remain devoted to their employer.

1. Leadership and Employee Engagement

Organizations should ensure that personnel in leadership roles are thoroughly familiar with the organization's goals before implementing digital engagement through leadership. They must be strong role models who can appropriately demonstrate the way while also serving as a buddy and a watchdog.

A good leader can engage employees upto a great extent, here’s how:

2. Build trust

In order to have a strong, effective relationship with team members, leaders need to develop high levels of trust. Remember that having trust is important, as it gives rise to good performance. 

3. Provide coaching

Employee engagement can be boosted through providing long-term assistance, direction, and feedback to employees. This is because employees tend to believe that taking ownership of their job is a key component in how engaged they are at work.

4. Clarification of objectives and goals

By assigning and clarifying the tasks associated with those goals, leaders should be able to make the goals more apparent and attainable. This will make things easier for employees, leading to better levels of productivity and satisfaction.

5. Continuous collaboration and communication

This is important as it paves the way to develop new and productive ways of working and communicating in a group. Because this enhances engagement, every team member should be permitted to express their thoughts and participate in essential tasks. When people's perspectives are valued, they feel more connected and engaged.

6. Encourage creativity and agility

Creative and new approaches to problems should constantly be encouraged. Employees should be given opportunities regardless of their position in the organisation, because excellent ideas can come from anyplace. Leaders must work together to create a shared vision and ensure staff engagement by encouraging and motivating them on the job, thus increasing levels of your team’s engagement.

With that being said, do keep in mind that employees are affected by different leadership styles as well, but it's more an issue of selecting the leadership style that best fits the employees' personalities and needs. Depending on the needs and tasks connected with different departments, it is important to choose the right kind of leadership style that goes in harmony with your employees and organizational interests as well.

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It goes without saying that most organizations are increasingly focusing on improving employee experience. More often than not, the rationale behind this move is to boost employee performance, reduce absenteeism, among others. An often overlooked connection is the one between employee experience and customer experience. On the face of it, organizations dismiss this thought and suggest that employee experience and customer experience are mutually exclusive. However, research shows a direct connection where companies with excellent customer experience have 1.5 times more engaged employees than others. Let us quickly explore the connection that employee experience and customer experience share and how improving employee experience is a road to boosting customer satisfaction.

A Connection you Cannot Ignore

There is an undeniable connection between employee experience and customer experience that organizations cannot afford to overlook. While there are multiple aspects to this relationship, let’s look at the top three:

1. People connect with people

‍While automation and digital transformation is on the rise, customers always desire human connection. This connection they get from your employees. Your employees are touch points for your organizations and the only human interface they interact with. 

2. Employees define your brand‍

An organization not only goes by the quality of its offerings, but also by the attributes of its people. Therefore, it is your employees that have a role to play in defining your brand to your existing and potential customers. By capitalizing on individual employees, organizations can pull together customer interest and boost experience. 

3. Employees are the ambassadors

‍An organization can have six figure marketing budgets, but employee reviews like customer reviews have the potential to make or break a brand. Employees define the public image for an organization. Customers generally prefer to engage with organizations that have a non-controversial public image. 

On a macro level, employees are the face of any organization in the market. Customers sense the authenticity of an organization in the way its employees communicate and project it to the outer world. Thus, good customer experience directly links to a robust employee experience. 

Improving Employee Experience: The Rationale

Let’s now move onto understanding the direct benefits of improving employee experience on customer satisfaction. 

1. Innovation and creativity

‍To begin with, when your employees are engaged robustly, they will make sincere efforts to innovate and create new ways of working which add value to the organization. One of the outcomes could be greater innovation in customer acquisition and satisfaction. When an employee feels engaged at work, he or she will go the extra mile to onboard more customers and add a few new tips and tricks to your customer acquisition playbook. Engagement can also act as a motivator to help the employee come up with newer strategies and techniques to keep the customer satisfied. At the same time, engagement in the form of personal and professional learning and development leads to better customer service. 

2. Building trust and credibility

‍One of the top ways to ensure repeat customer interaction is by building trust and credibility. While the quality of your offerings will have an impact on this, your employee interaction with the customer has an equal footing. Trust and credibility builds and breeds on relationships which are based on human connections. Only when your employees are engaged enough to enthusiastically perform their responsibilities will they make an effort to build that relationship of trust and credibility with the customers. 

For instance, Starbucks has reinvented its employee engagement strategy in a way that links incentives and rewards to customer experience. This gives all employees a reason and motivation to welcome customers with a hearty smile and make their experience pleasant. This invariably leads to greater trust and credibility towards the brand as the customer sees a relationship building. 

3. Customer loyalty with human connect

‍Finally, customer loyalty and the fact that they will not go to a competitor brand entirely rests on the potential of your employees to convince them. It goes without saying that only when employees themselves feel connected and valued with the organization, will they attempt to create a similar experience for the customer. If your employees are themselves on the lookout for the next opportunity, which most disengaged employees are, there is no way they can breed customer loyalty. Put simply, when employees are themselves entrenched in the organization, their ways of servicing the customers ensures success. Thus, engaged and loyal employees would go the extra mile to meet and exceed customer expectations leading to higher loyalty.

For instance, Zappos, an online shoe and clothing retailer, is known for its exemplary customer service and the customer first culture. It is the effort of every employee that their customer first culture has been able to thrive. The reason behind such sustained employee efforts is their deep engagement and appreciation by the organization where they feel valued and connected. 

Improving Employee Experience: An Organizational Imperative

To put it in a nutshell, it is vital for organizations to put in similar efforts in improving employee experience as they do for customer experience. With more and more workforce going remote, customers feel the need for a human connection when they interact with a brand. Only when an organization’s employee experience is through the roof can it expect its employees to leverage the customer need and turn it into customer success. Rather than being two ends of a spectrum, employee experience and customer experience are interdependent. As the former gains momentum, so does the latter. Forward looking organizations that have been able to identify this trend are capitalizing on it to tread the path of success with happy employees and happy customers.

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Employee Experience Platform

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Take your employee experience to new heights with our customizable employee engagement module. Book a free demo today!

Andrew Carnegie once said,

“You must capture and keep the heart of the original and supremely able man before his brain can do its best.”

Although Carnegie wasn’t explicitly talking about employee engagement, this quote perfectly illustrates how vital it is to engage your employees so they will be happier and perform to the best of their abilities.

Employee engagement is influenced by many factors ranging from workplace culture, organizational communication, and managerial styles to trust, respect, and leadership. In combination and individually, HR professionals and managers play important roles in ensuring the success of employee engagement initiatives by cultivating work relationships through proper, clear, and open communication.

8 Reasons Why Employment Engagement Is Important‍

Engaging employees is critical for retaining valuable talent and is an important piece of the employee satisfaction puzzle; as disengaged employees are more likely to leave their jobs. Here are eight such, equally important, reasons why employee engagement is important:

1. Increased Productivity

Reports  show that employees who are invested in their roles are more productive than those who aren’t. Employees who are engaged are more involved and work harder while disengaged employees are likely to only do the bare minimum to get by. This holds true for organizations across multiple industries including healthcare organizations and factories. An employee who is engaged and attached to his/her organization will work to their full potential in order to achieve the collective goals and are more likely to become high performers.

2. Employee Retention

Engaged employees are involved and invested in their roles and are therefore less likely to leave their job. Businesses with the right work culture enjoy employee engagement and retention rates around 30-50% higher than those that don’t. Sometimes your best people aren’t engaged—and you may risk losing them. Keeping them engaged is absolutely essential to keep them at your organization doing their best work.

‍When the best people at your organization leave, the rest of your people will notice, leading to an unwanted domino effect.

Thus, engagement becomes even more important to ensure the best of the workforce stays with you and is not lost to your competitors.

3. Better Customer Experience

People who are passionate about their work are often the best people to interact with customers.

Why?

The customers will notice the zeal and passion of the employees and get even more attracted to your organization.

According to Quartz, the most engaged employees are “more inclined to put in the effort that translates into buzzing productivity levels, a happier sales force, and a more credible product pitch.” Customers will have a better experience when being dealt with dedicated and engaged employees of that organization.

Those who believe in the value of helping customers, and also feel valued by their organization, are far more likely to increase the satisfaction of customers.

4. Developing Company Culture

What is the culture of a company that practices employee engagement?

According to Forbes, it’s "a workplace that's designed, first and foremost, around its company values.”

Creating a harmonious company culture requires “checking in with their employees to ensure that the company mission aligns with the ways that people currently work and the ways that they want to work.” (ownload our free building the the right company culture)

People who are engaged in what they do are, in general, easier to work with. It’s because they exemplify a culture of employee engagement. Thus, engagement ensures there is a holistic and safe space for all employees to be their best selves and work towards collective success.

5. Leads to Innovation

All of the conversations that will spring up within your company because of increased employee engagement have the potential to make your employees more creative. Everyone in the workspace will be motivated and enthusiastic to move ahead.

Disengaged employees rarely produce new solutions or bring innovative ideas to the table; they have little interest in contributing to the bigger picture because they dissociate themselves with the collective objective of the organization. Engaged employees, on the other hand, find creativity to be essential. They thrive on knowing that they can find new ways of completing tasks and projects and are always looking for fresh takes on old ideas

6. Lower Absenteeism

Disengaged employees simply don’t show up for work and make excuses. They are often stressed or overwhelmed, unable to cope with the demands of the job to the point they resort to absenteeism. This is a surprisingly common problem in organizations and leads to low productivity rates, delays in deadlines, discouragement, bitterness, sadness, and poor relations between employees and management.

It is important to create reasons for your employees to arrive at work and this can only be done through improved engagement.  In fact, a Gallup study shows that highly engaged workplaces saw 41% lower absenteeism. Thus, the need for engaged employees to fight the problem of absenteeism becomes even more relevant now.

7. Path to Success 

Ann Latham says, “Engagement is a symptom of success.”

And this doesn’t necessarily mean a business success. Rather, engagement is usually the result of a personal or team success. Any organization that supports and encourages employee engagement is going to do better overall.

In other words, engaged employees are engaged not because they’re productive or easy to work with, but because they feel their work matters and it is being acknowledged by the heads of the team. They feel valued and when their successes are recognized, they will feel like they’ve succeeded in making a meaningful impact at work.

(Read Employee Recognition 101 to learn all about recognizing your employees at the right time)

8. Employer Branding

Employer branding is the process of managing and influencing your reputation as an employer among job seekers, employees, and key stakeholders.  It encompasses everything you do to position your organization as an employer of choice.

95% of candidates identify a company’s reputation as a key consideration when exploring new career opportunities.

Virtually every candidate out there, whether they’re active, passive, or somewhere in the middle — will consider your company’s reputation before applying.

Thus, an engaged workforce shall add on to the brand of you as an employer amongst all these stakeholders.

Therefore, by creating an atmosphere of employee engagement, you can not only boost productivity and profits, but you can also help your employees reach their full potential and look forward to coming to work each day. Your workers will feel more satisfied and content with their careers, and your company will benefit from higher productivity and profits.

To take your employee experience to new heights with our customizable employee engagement module. Book a free demo today!

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At least once in their professional journey, every HR executive does search, “Top ideas for employee engagement”. Ideas like Rangoli making, ethnic dressing, and cake cutting as a means to engage the workforce and boost employee experience are done to death. Invariably, organizations are looking for fresh ideas for employee engagement, different from the traditional practices. It goes without saying that technology has increasingly become one of the top enablers for the same. At the same time, the unforeseen transition to a remote work culture in the face of Covid-19 is further prompting a need for virtual tools and ideas. 

Adding Technology to Employee Engagement

As businesses focus on adapting technological innovations to make their operations and customer experiences more robust, a similar approach to employee engagement has been on the cards for long. Social distancing accompanied by work from home is an opportune time for organizations to  add technology to their ideas for employee engagement:

1. Tools for digital collaboration‍

Lack of collaboration stands as one of the biggest challenges for a remote workforce, which invariably translates to employee disengagement. Therefore, organizations need to leverage digital collaboration tools for different purposes to prompt seamless coordination. For instance, tools like Google drive can be used for file sharing, while platforms like Slack and Microsoft Teams can boost employee interaction and communication.

2. Gamification‍

As humans, we have an inherent desire to compete and win. Gamification can help organizations engage employees more effectively and at the same time boost performance. Employees could play certain games and compete for rewards and points, which are slated to add value to and meet organizational goals and objectives. For instance, an online quiz with a leaderboard on organizational values is an effective way to get employees to engage with what the organization stands for. Here, tools like Kahoot, Mentimeter can come into play here. 

3. Personalized experiences‍

A cookie-cutter approach to employee engagement requires a complete reinvention. Since each person is unique, their needs and preferences from employee engagement is different. Therefore, organizations need to focus on the psychological mindmap of employees and how they perceive successful engagement. For instance, personalization could be in the form of method of delivery through digital means, while some employees might prefer videos, others might prefer podcasts or live sessions. At the same time, using technology can help customizing even the content of the engagement activities. 

4. Customize rewards and incentives‍

It is not only enough to customize the employee engagement activities, but the rewards need to be personalized too. Personalization of perks and incentives with the help of technology is the way to go. At the same time, technology can boost real-time appreciation in the form of peer-to-peer and spot recognition. 

5. Learning and development tools

‍To facilitate better ideas for employee engagement, organizations need to reinvent their approach to learning and development. The conventional group training sessions that require physical presence no longer make sense. Rather, employees seek a blended approach with offline and online sessions. At the same time, digital learning can enable employees to gauge their existing knowledge and train from there on. Those who already have some bit of knowledge, do not have to sit through the basics with everyone else. For instance, in a training session on emotional intelligence, technology platforms can help organizations customize the content based on the level of learning for different employees to ensure maximum effectiveness of the training. 

6. Digital social engagement

‍Social interaction within the workplace is a crucial element of employee engagement and technology can be instrumental in guiding this journey. Simply putting a post about an employee’s achievement can start engagement. Following this, you can keep tagging your employees, recognize and celebrate their milestones and then innovate further. Not only will this be a great push for employee morale, but re-sharing the post will help organizations build an employee friendly brand. 

7. Productivity tools‍

Productivity is generally seen as an outcome of employee engagement. However, if organizations play their technology card right, it can also drive ideas for employee engagement. There are several productivity tools and platforms available today that can help you map productivity in an interactive and engaging manner. For instance, tools like Trello, Monday, etc make it seamless for employees to assign tasks and map progress, facilitating better engagement. Invariably, when employees have greater clarity on what each other is doing and are in the loop seamlessly, their engagement is likely to boost up. 

Ideas for Employee Engagement: Create an Impact

Before we conclude the discussion, let’s quickly glance through the macro impact of incorporating ideas for employee engagement with a technology lens. Firstly, technology led employee engagement can help ensure complete transparency. Secondly, it fosters accountability as digital tools are excellent for record maintenance. This can help organizations record the participation of employees in different activities. On the one hand, this will augment responsiveness among employees to take the activities seriously. On the other hand, it will also help gauge the effectiveness of the activities. Finally, it will increase participation as more and more customization comes to the table and employees connect better to such initiatives. In a nutshell, leveraging technology is the best bet for organizations to reap maximum benefits out of their employee engagement initiatives. With the workforce going remote, organizations need to reinvent their traditional approaches and technology can serve as the tool to guide the same.

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The pandemic forced most companies into a remote working set up, leaving HR managers shaken and disorganized. Managing productivity, work quantity and quality, and employee welfare became chaotic and distressful.

The challenges of remote work includes detachment, disengagement, dissatisfaction, and higher attrition rates among many. Working remotely also reduces personal communication and collaboration between employees, teams, and management, making team development and trust building even more difficult. 

Zoom, Google Meet and other video conferencing and project management tools have eased the pain of remote work to a certain extent but they were not sufficient to overcome all obstacles to successful HR management.

In this article we will discuss 10 most common HR challenges faced by remote organizations and ways to overcome them. 

1. Employee engagement

During the remote working phase, most HR managers found it tedious to keep employees engaged. Measuring employee engagement became even more challenging without physical presence. Lack of work-from-home infrastructure, background disturbances, and feeling of isolation are the primary drivers of drop in engagement. However, with the right materials, leadership support, and technology 78% of remote employees reported higher engagement levels.

SUPER TIP: Learn the best ways to engage your team using this engagement feature.

2. Communication & Collaboration 

Poor communication or one-sided communication is a critical HR challenge that needs immediate attention as it often results in negativity, lack of trust, low morale, and workplace frustrations. Communication issues go far beyond internet connectivity and technical problems. It also includes lack of transparency between management and employees,  lack of clarity about goals and performance, and not receiving feedback on time. Giving space and tools to employees for facilitating collaboration between them can double employee engagement. Try out these 27 team building activities while working virtually to help employees collaborate effectively. 

3. Aligning goals across departments and teams 

Aligning the team towards departmental and organizational goals is one of the challenges faced by remote teams. Companies must set clear goals for growth by defining strategic policies, guidelines, performance measurement systems, KPIs, and procedures to align employees with the company’s goals.

4. Tracking productivity

Due to the chaotic and disoriented remote working scenario tracking employee productivity. Using tracking tools may hurt employee morale. While not monitoring productivity may lead to underutilizing available bandwidth. On the other hand, assigning work incessantly without understanding their workload may lead to employee burnout. 

5. Finding work-life balance

Working from home blurred the line between work and personal life. Most employees tend to overwork compared to their in-office colleagues. Thus, making it more difficult to unplug from work when it’s time which over time reduces productivity and engagement.

6. Building & maintaining company culture

Although remote working tools and software platforms made working virtually possible, most companies struggled to transition their workplace culture. In the absence of distinguishable company culture, employees feel disconnected and low morale. 

7. Employee onboarding

The quality of employee onboarding sets the tone for employee experience. In the absence of physical meetings, new joinees often don’t feel connected with the organization or hesitate to collaborate with colleagues. Weekly all hands, frequent check-ins, clear communication about roles, responsibilities, performance expectations helps in easing out initial isolation.

8. Employee recognition and visibility

Without physical events and office atmosphere, remote working companies and start-ups find it difficult to organize effective employee recognition programs to boost morale and increase engagement. Maintaining a positive and supportive work culture for the remote workforce is one of the key HR challenges during Covid. It can only be achieved by creating recognition programs and unconditional support

9. Manager accessibility

Employee dissatisfaction and attrition rate increase exponentially when employees feel their managers are not accessible and involved. Educate your managers to conduct frequent 1:1s and provide enough time to the employee. It is essential for creating bonding and consistency. Managers can discuss with the employees on their requirements, exhibit empathy and care, respond to the questions and clarifications, and recognize them on time.

10. Micromanagement during remote working.

One of the most prominent challenges of the remote workforce is micromanaging. When uncertainties and productivity-related issues arise, managers tend to micromanage. Though it is essential to keep track of productivity, quantity, and quality of work, checking on the employees at every minute will cause adverse effects. If not eliminated, micromanagement may lead to high attrition rates, employee dissatisfaction, and employee turnover.

11. Human errors 

Another challenge faced by HRM is tackling human errors. When it comes to remote working, not providing the right technological support and tools to get the work done will hinder productivity and growth. Everyone is prone to error, especially when working from a remote place without direct supervision and guidance. Organizations must establish effective means to eliminate common errors and provide adequate support and technologies for the employees to perform better. 

12. Finding the right tools and technology 

When it comes to monitoring workforce productivity, communicating effectively, providing real-time support, and delivering regular learning platforms to engage employees, HR managers need to identify and source the right technology and tools. Implementing the right technology will leverage effective means to enhance the performance of start-ups and fast-growing companies. Zoom, Slack, social media platforms, and other collaboration tools are just some of the basic technologies to get the work done. But if you need a digital version of your existing workplace culture and processes, you must find a customized tool that helps you streamline your business processes even while you work remotely.

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Overcome all the people's management challenges with Superbeings' help, book a demo today!

“So often the problem is in the system, not in the people. If you put good people in bad systems, you get bad results.” — Stephen Covey, Author and keynote speaker

Working in a fast growing organization, you must have seen your top priorities skewed towards world-class product development followed by out-of-the box marketing; which pushes human resource issues at the back seat. However, as you embark on your growth journey, having a high-performing workforce driven by purpose becomes non-negotiable.

While it may sound like a piece of cake, it is not. Building the right culture and people practices in fast growing organizations is fraught with challenges. Today HR challenges in fast growing companies are often driven by millennial workforce expectations, low bandwidth, long working hours, poor work-life balance, and engagement issues coupled with tight budgets. These people-issues if not handled on time could negatively impact your organization’s culture, employee well-being, and eventually hamper business growth. 

In this article we will explore the top 10 HR challenges that you might be facing or are likely to face and ways to overcome them. 

1. Recruitment Challenges 

Problem

If you have been managing the people practices for a fast growing organization for a long time, you would understand the need to recruit high-performing talent during the hyper growth stage to drive high performance and rapid output. Consequently, the first major challenge you are likely to face is identifying roles and determining the candidate’s fitness in the company. Failure to ensure an employee-organization fit often leads to resource wastage due to repeated onboarding, replacing, and recruiting.  

Solution

To circumvent this challenge, you can start by ‍identifying specific human resource requirements for successful hiring. You can seamlessly attract the right job seekers (under a tight budget) by exhibiting the company culture, quality, and growth potential to the candidates and inspire them to join. Stress on USPs like autonomy and flexibility to make your organization an obvious choice for candidates. 

2. Building & maintaining a company culture

Problem

If you have established a market presence and visibility, building a company culture to improve and stabilize your rapid growth is critical. In a dynamic environment with constantly changing priorities, you may find it challenging to build a culture that keeps employees engaged and focused towards the greater company vision.

Solution

‍Start by defining core company values to mitigate this challenge. Then break those values into 3-4 behaviors that people can observe. Reinforce these behaviors again and again until they become the norm. To know more about building a great culture, read this. 

3. Lack of systems for administrative processes

“Most bosses know instinctively that their power depends more on employee’s compliance than on threats or sanctions”, Fernanda Bartolome (Management professor and author)

Problem

‍It may be easy to manage 50 employee data — from contact details to quarterly performance review — on an Excel sheet, but the same is not true when you have 200 employees or more. During high growth, the lack of streamlined administrative processes can be a major challenge, especially as it increases the time required for completion of simple HR processes. 

Solution

‍There’s no better solution for repetitive tasks than automating tasks with technology if you want to effectively deal with administrative challenges. A great HRMS will reduce the administrative burden exponentially, smoothening the HR process and eliminating the majority of the HR challenges. You can leverage a predefined system to streamline the tasks, policies, and procedures for the whole organization. Focus on identifying and implementing an HR Technology that is fool-proof, futuristic, and reliable.

4. Creating fool-proof organizational policies

Problems

You must have come across a low level of importance given to setting up and implementing futuristic policies and strategies in the initial stages of development for your organization. However, as you encounter high growth and enter into the transitional stage of advancement, you are likely to face several operational HR challenges pushing you to find quick fixes instead of a long-term solution.

Solution

The best solution to avoid such challenges is to adopt a policy mindset when your organization is young. ‍This involves implementing organizational policies like timing, breaks, indiscrimination, equality, diversity, non-harassment, gender equality, etc. Focusing on them once you have gained ground, will be difficult and they are likely to add to the HR challenges. Invest time and energy to create  a fool-proof draft and then identify the risk possibilities, eliminate unrealistic points, and train and educate your employees for compliance. 

5. Not having a dedicated HR team

Problem

Fast growing organizations do not often employ a dedicated HR team due to its financial constraints to avoid the additional indirect expenses. While there might be a few resources to support the HR operations, you may not meet the total requirement. However, while scaling up or during the stages of high-growth, you will face the recurring need for hiring new people, onboarding joinees, retention, training, and several other processes along with having a standardized performance management system. The lack of a dedicated HR team might become a big roadblock in effective functioning. .

Solution

You must focus on convincing your executive leadership to have a qualified team of HR professionals to work dedicatedly for the welfare, growth, and development of the company’s talent and culture. It will help you deepen your efforts towards employee engagement and experience and create a happy workforce.

6. Monitoring Productivity

Problem

‍Monitoring productivity is crucial not only for performance evaluation and bonuses, but also for keeping employees engaged and measuring the overall organizational progress. In a fast-growing company, the drive for high-performance often leads to  undue performance pressure and lack of work-life balance without systematic guidelines and workflows. However, here you would face a challenge in achieving the dual goal of tracking and monitoring productivity continuously without affecting employee morale and losing employee trust.

Solution

You must adopt a continuous performance management approach for monitoring productivity. Start with performance tracking by creating transparent performance expectations and standards. Set OKR, use KPIs, and implement continuous feedback systems to understand the performance blockers as your company reaches new heights. This helps stop the negative snowball effect.

7. Retaining and rewarding performing employees

Problem

‍If you want to drive hypergrowth, you need to drive high performance. To drive high performance, you need to recognize and reward your employees for their effort. Also, to retain your high performing employees for the long-haul, as a growing organization, you need to provide them growth and development opportunities. With 25% of millennials looking to switch jobs after the pandemic, retaining key employees is going to be more challenging for fast growing companies.

Solution

‍Quick fixes do not boost employee morale. Neither do financial incentives once a year. To drive continuous performance through regular reward structure, you need to create a structured process to reward the employees on time and motivate them to do better. Use technology to guide your managers to conduct regular 1:1 check ins to encourage them, build a recognition policy, and continuously check employee pulse to understand the sentiment of your workforce is a great way to minimize attrition.

8. Aligning employees to a common goal

Problems

‍One of the biggest HR challenges that you might be facing would revolve around aligning employees towards a common goal, i.e., the company’s vision. In a high growth situation, especially when your team size is growing, it is normal for employees to lose sight of the larger goal.

Solution

One of the top ways you can experiment with to align individual employee strengths, day-to-day tasks, with business goals is to set clear Objectives and Key Resources (OKR). Create an OKR performance framework and set KPIs against their roles. Let the employees set personal goals with the organizational objectives in mind and let the organization relate the company objectives with the personal goals of the employees. Also, mentor them, guide them, and drive them towards success and satisfaction.

9. Employee training & development

Problem

‍In the growth stage, you might lack structured development programs. However, the importance of learning and development programs cannot be understated. They are great for on-the-job learning due to their autonomy, flexibility, and scope of role they provide. When 59% of millennials consider training and development opportunities before applying for a new job, as a scale-up, if you want to attract top talent, you need to provide them not just a job, but a career path.

Solution

To mitigate this challenge, you need to iInvest in employee development. There’s no way around that. Focus on training your managers to offer guidance, mentoring, and assistance to employees. This opportunity to develop and train under competent leadership will help employees align their career and personal goals towards your organization’s growth and success.

10. High employee engagement and maintenance costs

Problem

‍Lastly, as you scale up you cannot afford to lose momentum due to disengaged employees. It not only leads to an unproductive workforce and high turnover costs, but also quick attrition, poor company culture, and dissatisfied customers.

Solution

‍This HR challenge can be solved by leveraging employee pulse and analytics to better understand workplace sentiment and real performance blockers. You can further use the data to implement frequent communication, strength-based goal alignment, leadership support, and building a culture that drives engagement.  

As your organization embarks on the growth journey, your people will be your biggest asset and the best way to facilitate success is to have a a highly efficient HR system. 

This involves investing in your employees and their well-being as you scale. Use people analytics to know your people. Don’t wait for catastrophes to occur to create full-proof organizational policies and HR strategies. Leverage technology to automate as many processes as you can. Build a work culture that attracts the right talent whenever you need it. The bottom line is that you need to preempt HR risks before they surface to create a high performance culture.  

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Book a demo today and see your managers grow in 2022, resulting in organizational and team success.

How to use custom pulse surveys

If you are an HR professional responsible for nurturing a high performance and empowering culture in your organization, you would understand the importance of giving employees a chance to share their experiences and pain points. Invariably, gauging employee pulse plays an instrumental role in building a healthy and positive workplace. 

However,  do you agree that annual surveys are more of a tick in the box and have limited impact when it comes to moving the needle? If your answer is a big firm YES, it’s time to move to employee pulse surveys. 

In this article, we will help you understand all you need to know about employee pulse surveys, their importance and how to make the most out of the results you derive. 

What are employee pulse surveys?

You must have been implementing several surveys across the organization to capture different sentiments and experiences about the employees. However, have you seen a drop in participation or an unwillingness to complete the survey due to its length? 

Well, that’s where employee pulse surveys come in. 

From a macro lens, employee pulse surveys are short surveys that are floated on a recurrent basis, An employee pulse survey can help you get real time insights into your team members. It seeks to enable HR professionals like you to gauge what employees feel about the workplace culture, engagement levels, etc. and address any issues as and when they arise. 

As opposed to traditional annual surveys, employee pulse surveys don’t wait till the end of the year to understand employee concerns and challenges and adopt an agile approach to fostering employee experience.

Pulse surveys perfectly complement the continuous performance management approach that most organizations are moving towards by helping managers understand and resolve performance blockers on an ongoing basis.

Why should you adopt employee pulse surveys?

If you are apprehensive that recurring surveys will be an added burden to your key responsibility areas, it is important that you explore the various advantages they bring along. A quick look will make it evident that in the long run, employee pulse surveys can help you achieve the level of employee engagement, satisfaction, and wellbeing your organization desires. You should consider adopting pulse surveys to:

1. Increase participation

Employee pulse surveys can help you drive greater participation as the number of questions are limited and employees have to devote a shorter duration of time to complete the same. 

SuperBeings helps increase the participation as the survey dissemination can be integrated with your existing communication tools like MS Teams and Slack. This will prevent additional effort or friction for employees to move to another platform which may result in drop outs. Also, SuperBeings follows a one-question-a-day feedback system for pulse surveys. Thus, making it more likely that employees will not see this as another tedious task and participate more.

2. Facilitate a greater completion rate

If you closely track survey completion, you will realize that many employees start the survey but only a few complete it. You can easily circumvent this challenge with employee pulse surveys. Since the questions are limited, the survey doesn’t appear daunting or overwhelming. Additionally, daily pulse surveys covers minimimum question on a given day and collects results over time ensuring that employees don’t feel lost answering questions on all aspects of their experience at once.  

3. Augment continuity and engagement

Since they are shorter, employee pulse surveys are conducted more frequently and, thus, have a sense of continuity. In fact, daily pulse surveys augment engagement as employees get a sense of continuous improvement, which further adds to greater participation. 

4. Promote relevant business objectives

Conducted on a regular basis, you can ensure that your employee pulse surveys are relevant to the short term business objectives and challenges. They can help you gauge employee pulse on what matters most at that time, instead of collecting information on topics of low priority which may dilute the quality and quantity of responses. 

5. Predict and eliminate attrition risks

Have you ever thought that had you known about the challenges or concerns about an employee in real time, you would have been able to address them and prevent a skilled employee from leaving? 

That’s exactly what employee pulse surveys can help you achieve. You can seamlessly gauge the overall employee sentiment about their work, work-life balance, culture, wellbeing, satisfaction, etc. This can help predict any chances of voluntary attrition and address the concerns in real time to ensure a win-win situation for all. 

How to use employee pulse survey results effectively

If you are convinced about the merits and advantages of employee pulse surveys, you should immediately roll out the first one and maintain a cadence to make it a regular process. We suggest doing it daily (with just one-question-a-day) or weekly, rather than conducting it monthly. Because a lot can happen in a month! 

Once you have the results of the survey in the form of employee responses in your hands, the next important phase begins. To use results effectively to drive change and impact, you should: 

1. Thank and communicate

Immediately after the employees complete the survey, make it a point to:

Appreciate participation

Send out a small thank you note or email of gratitude to all employees who participated to add a feeling of being valued. You must make an effort to communicate that their responses matter and are not simply a needle in the haystack. Appreciate their engagement to encourage them to participate again.

Share next steps

You should also provide clarity on what's next. Always ensure that employee pulse surveys should never be out of sight and out of mind. Share a course of action with some projected timelines. 

Cover action areas such as when the results and insights will be shared, what will be the next steps and when the next survey is likely to be conducted (if you are conducting a periodical pulse survey). This will help answer any questions employees may have in the aftermath of the survey and prevent multiple follow ups. 

2. Review and analyze

Once you thank your team members for their participation, jump straight to reviewing and analyzing what they have shared. Focus on a fair balance of qualitative and quantitative responses to get the big picture. 

Gauge sentiment

Your employee pulse survey can be based on a particular theme or trend you wish to address. Start your analysis with getting insights about the same. Gauge the larger sentiment of how your team members have reacted. This is when you check if your hypothesis is correct or not.

The idea is to evaluate favorability or gauge how strongly employees agree or disagree with the theme at hand. For instance, one of your results could be 80% employees believe that the organization supports a positive work-life balance. 

Group results to identify trends

Next, you must dig deeper into the responses to understand trends and responses for different segments. Identify key diverse groups in the organization and evaluate their responses. For instance, the overall trend may be 70% workplace satisfaction, however, for a particular group like the LGBTQ community, it could be 40% which is problematic. 

Therefore, get a comprehensive picture using the employee pulse survey results. Furthermore, rely on quantitative responses to add more color and context to your analysis.

Compare and measure

Finally, you should measure your current employee survey results with the one from past surveys. The idea is to gauge whether or not the needle has moved and in what direction.

While some numbers may not look impressive on their own, a comparison can help tell the whole story. For instance, while an employee satisfaction level of 40% may not be impressive in itself, but, if it has shown an increase since the last time when it was at 20%, it is definitely worth celebrating. 

3. Share and plan

Based on the analysis of the employee pulse survey results, focus on creating a plan of action to facilitate change and impact.

Communicate key findings

While you may derive a large number of insights, share few key findings with your team members at large. Communicate some of the most promising insights and areas where considerable progress has been made. 

Furthermore, share a few identified areas of concern or challenges which need to be worked on. This will help you create a sense of confidence and credibility as employees will feel their feedback is being heard and paid attention to.

Invite ideas 

Once you communicate the key areas of improvement, foster a culture of collective ideation and brainstorming. Invite ideas from diverse employee segments and create small working groups to address different issues. Encourage participation and delve deeper into the results in working group discussions. 

Create a plan

Based on the ideas, create a plan of action. Ensure that the plan of action is modeled on SMART goals with clarity in timelines, roles and responsibilities. Clarify expectations and share the plan with everyone in the organization. As the people manager, the final responsibility to create an effective plan lies with you, based on democratic decision making. 

4. Execute and review

With the plan ready, your next step is to execute it and constantly make efforts to reach the desired impact. 

Implement the plan

Act upon the decided plan and provide the right resources to all those responsible for execution. Constantly communicate with managers and team members to follow up on the progress. Identify any challenges to smooth implementation and address them with the help of organizational leadership. 

Review results and progress

Based on focused group discussions, interactions and conversations, gauge how well the implementation is progressing. Compare progress with a few metrics identified during the creation of the plan and comprehend whether or not the intended results are being achieved.

Communicate changes and impact

Once you have a fair understanding of what changes have been achieved, take a moment to formally communicate to everyone of the impact created so far. Create a structured template to share the intended impact, the steps and practices taken to achieve the same and the final outcomes. Also, translate the outcomes to how it will ultimately contribute to individual and organizational success. 

5. Survey again

Finally, it is time for you to roll out the survey again to see if it has moved the needle and changed the pulse of your team members. The responses you gather now can be an effective point to be compared to the earlier ones to understand where progress has been made and where there is still scope. Now, take the responses of this employee pulse survey as the base and start your process again. 

Using tools like SuperBeings can help accelerate your journey as a one stop solution. It can help you prepare robust survey questions, roll them out using existing tools for maximum participation, help analyze results, identify action items, and facilitate progress tracking and monitoring. By using a pulse survey tool, you can seamlessly adopt employee pulse surveys to leverage all the advantages, without adding any extra work or burden to your schedule. 

In conclusion, if you plan, execute, evaluate, and align your employee pulse survey effectively, you can bring about a change in the organizational culture, making it empowering and people-centric.

Suggested reading:

How to use custom pulse surveys

How to choose the best pulse survey tools

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