5 ways data can create impactful employee experiences
In today's market, employee expectations are higher than ever. To keep up with these growing needs, organisations need to understand what they can do to set and continuously improve the employee experience.
Let's explore how data-driven insights can help companies tailor experiences, anticipate needs, and foster a positive culture that drives both engagement and the bottom line.
What do we mean by employee experience?
In the world of reward and benefits, there are three specific areas:
- Using digital products for a joined-up enterprise experience.
- Access to robust and effective employee support services for help with queries.
- The overall workplace environment and total rewards offering.
Data underpins all these factors. These three pillars should work harmoniously to create a workplace culture that fosters engagement, satisfaction and productivity. Additionally, studies have found that highly engaged employee experiences can lead to a 23% increase in bottom-line profitability.
The employee experience depends on what support is there during moments that matter – such as onboarding, performance reviews, benefits enrolment, life events, and personal milestones. Making a good first impression is vital: according to a study, in the first six months, 86% of hires have already decided how long they'll stay with a company – and in today's war for talent, that could be even more unstable. Using the right technology allows companies to use data to help employees succeed.
Here are five ways to harness data to improve employee experiences:
1. Create personalised experiences
Personalisation is a necessity. A Glassdoor study found that 73% of participants would not apply to a company unless it corresponded with their own personal values. Employees expect their workplace experiences, as well as their benefits offering, to be increasingly tailored to their needs. For example, combining employee survey data with the cost of benefits programmes and other KPI metrics can create a personalised employee journey from onboarding to retirement.
You can use these integrated survey tools to ask your employees what they prioritise to understand employee sentiment and identify opportunities for improvement. Research from the ADP Research Institute found that employees with a strong sense of connection are 75 times more likely to be fully engaged at work.
Does your current strategy address your employees' needs, values and preferences? If not, consider how you can integrate more sophisticated data analytics into your employee experience strategy.
2. Monitor your data
By actively monitoring activity across your digital ecosystem, you can gain deeper insights into employee behaviour, click rates, search terms and costs.For instance, a holistic benefits platform provides a clearer picture of exactly what benefits your employees want. If many people search for a particular type of benefit that isn't currently offered, this indicates a gap you can address.
By studying your data in real-time, you can discover employees' priorities and preferences, helping you enhance their experiences more effectively.
3. Prioritise integration and accessibility
According to Gallup's 2023 State of the Workplace report, only 23% of employees feel engaged at work. While digital tools enable employees to be connected to their workplaces, even when working remotely, these tools and HR systems must be accessible and integrated properly.
HR tools that can be seamlessly integrated with your tech ecosystem – including the core human resources information system (HRIS) – ensure ease of access and improve the consistency of data gathered across different touchpoints. This also includes increased personalisation and segmentation to drive personalised messages and content. Benefit engagement tools, like a fully functioning mobile app, can maintain a consistent data collection process and offer employees a unified experience.
4. Embrace Continuous Feedback
How can you identify if your employees are satisfied with the improvements you've made to the employee experience?
Data can provide actionable insights that can be applied to benefits implementation, work-life balance initiatives, and so much more. This can be collected through surveys, feedback apps, and other digital tools.
Consider using more agile technology for real-time adjustments and ongoing data processing.
5. Choose the Right Technology Partner
Investing in a platform and services provider that uses data to enhance employee experiences can actively help manage costs. Research has shown that teams with high levels of employee engagement experience 22% higher profitability than those with lower employee engagement.
If your current processes don't harness data, consider switching to a platform that aligns with your long-term vision.
What's next?
Think about the overall experience you want your employees to have throughout their lifecycle. Consider using data to continuously assess what is working and what is not, with two-way communication with employees across benefits and culture. This will contribute to data-driven strategic decisions that boost the employee experience.
Gain unparalleled insights by watching our recent webinar with IKEA, to understand how IKEA is using data to make strategic and informed decisions that contributed to significant improvement in the employee experience across all sites.
In partnership with Benify
Benify offers the market's leading global benefits and total reward platform.
