Digital HR platforms are the key to boosting employee engagement
Just 21% of employees globally feel engaged with their work, a rise of 1% since 2020, according to a new report by Gallup, the global analytics and consultancy firm.
In its recently published State of the Global Workplace report for 2022, which surveyed 1,000 people in more than 160 countries, Gallup blamed the Covid-19 pandemic for the lack of significant improvement. Gallup also found that the US and Canada showed the highest level of employee engagement (33%) while Europe, surprisingly, had the worst (14%).
The overall figure was a 9% rise compared with 2009, while 33% of employees were said to be thriving in their overall wellbeing. While 21% of engaged employees globally is low, how important is it for employers?
High employee engagement helps retain talent, increase productivity, and creates good company ambassadors. Company profitability goes up when employee engagement is high. Gallup claims employees that are more engaged make a company 21% more profitable.
Employee work tasks should fulfil each individual’s needs and goals and a company, equally, should acknowledge when an employee has gone the extra mile.
Changes in workplace culture
Workplace culture has undergone fundamental change due to the pandemic and this has seen the rise of hybrid and remote work. In some ways, this has led questions about whether a company can have a workplace culture when its workforce is fully remote.
Accountancy consultant Deloitte claims that 94% of executives and 88% of employees say that workplace culture is important to business success, but what exactly is workplace culture, and what makes one more efficient or better than the next?
Company cultures are all different. What works for Google might not work for Volvo, for example. What is important is that a company should define its core beliefs, which are then communicated and reinforced.
A good workplace culture can only be as good as the communication within it. If communicated with in the right way, employees feel better working for an employer with a good company culture and therefore will enjoy their work more. This, in turn, should address the issue of hybrid / remote work, now the norm for many.
If a good workplace culture is created out of good communication, employees should still feel connected even if they don’t find themselves at their company’s headquarters or one of their offices.
According to Built In, the online community for startups and tech companies, 65% of employees feel they are more productive at home. So, employers really need to think about hybrid/remote work as part of their workplace culture.
What wins: employee engagement or workplace culture?
The quick answer: neither. The two are unequivocally interwoven together and neither can work without the other. A strong workplace culture can drive employee engagement through efficient and well-planned communication, but employee engagement relies on job satisfaction, recognition, and working on initiative as well as in a team.
The key to building both employee engagement and workplace culture is through digital HR platforms that work both on desktop and mobile devices.
Through a modern HR platform, an employer can communicate its workplace culture easily and efficiently, no matter where employees might find themselves. When it comes to employee engagement through an HR platform, the same can be said about efficient communication. Employees should be able to complete surveys about how they feel and if their engagement is low, managers can act to resolve it.
Communications about company events, benefits (eg gym memberships, wellbeing discounts), and recognitions (eg in-house programmes or bonus schemes) through a digital HR platform boosts employee engagement when they know what their total rewards are.
Companies should be concerned about the 21% statistic, but it all comes down to good communication that starts at the top of the company and works it way down to all employees – on-site, hybrid, remote or otherwise. And the best way to do this is to invest in HR tech.
View the original article: Which is more important? Employee engagement or Workplace culture.
In partnership with Benify
Benify offers the market's leading global benefits and total reward platform.
