The workplace is changing faster than any of us could’ve imagined just two or three years ago. The dizzying rate of transformation has made it more important than ever to keep your employees engaged, inspired and empowered. Retaining top talent and fostering the right culture can literally save your business. But let’s face it: it isn’t easy. Luckily, there are innovative software solutions available to help employers transform the employee experience. But what is the best employee experience tool for your business? Here, we explore the different types of solutions available and explore the key considerations for judging what’s right for your organization.
Choosing the right employee experience tool is critical
Let that sink in. Only thirteen percent are satisfied. Or, if you want to go all “glass half-empty”, Eighty seven percent are not satisfied. Ouch.
Sorry leaders, but this little project is going to involve some homework.
Top employee experience tools can transform your organization, but you need to be clear about what you’re looking to achieve, what your current strengths and weaknesses are regarding employee engagement and experience, and what you want the solutions to deliver.
To power your selection process and ensure it’s thorough, you should have a clearly-defined set of requirements and objectives, plus realistic expectations of cost, budget and outcomes. What is the best employee experience tool? Break out the virtual magic markers and the whiteboard, get with your leadership team and nail down your needs.
Exploring the different types of employee experience tools available
There are many shapes and sizes when it comes to employee experience tools, so let’s look at some of the different solutions types and their purpose.
Survey and feedback tools
Annual surveys won’t cut it these days. It’s no longer enough to check in once a year and put the data on the shelf. The workplace is changing far too fast. Gaining regular, insightful feedback from employees is crucial for HR teams to get a temperature check of staff satisfaction. These employee experience tools can offer both qualitative and quantitative data about how employees feel about the company, its environment and culture, and management and leadership. And it needs to be continuous.
This helps you identify key engagement drivers, issues and areas to improve or develop. You can also use insights to promote employee wellness, assuring staff that you’re prioritizing well-being, building a healthy working environment and identifying ways to reduce stress.
Good survey tools enable employers to tailor questions to specific teams, for more personalized and intricate feedback, and support and hold managers to account, to create a more 360-degree experience.
Performance management, development and recognition
Attraction and retention is the name of the game. But it’s a two-way street. Giving employees scope for progression and development encourages them to stay. Tools that offer manageable training and development opportunities work, and visible progression makes employees feel valued, whilst performance recognition solutions help employers to reinforce values and culture.
In terms of performance management, let’s face it: traditional review structures are dead. The review process should be meaningful and fluid. Various studies have revealed recognition as a leading motivator for employees. You may have annual and quarterly goals to achieve, but being able to set other individual or team milestones, track and recognize progress, have regular check-ins and embrace development opportunities breeds a culture of continuous listening and improvement. It’s also a lot more exciting.
Rewards and incentives
Who doesn’t like rewards and incentives? Rewards-based employee experience tools are great for showing tangible appreciation for staff. They also drive performance. Incentivizing employees to engage with the organisation (and with colleagues) or reach their goals feeds into associated objectives, like improving culture, and modern solutions offer a wide range of rewards, discounts on products or services and company benefits.
Communications
Today’s digital-hungry, always connected generation of employees expects more than just a weekly email blast or monthly performance update. While remote and hybrid working, accelerated by the pandemic, have made messaging and video conferencing platforms like Slack, Zoom, Google Hangouts and Teams hugely popular, deep and meaningful connections are formed by building something more holistic.
Inclusive communication humanises the workforce, which is a big plus for today’s workforce. Gartner’s 2021 HR research found that 82% of employees feel it’s important for their organization to see them as a person, not just an employee, with only 45% believing their employer sees them this way.
Communication tools that help businesses craft interesting, relevant content build a culture of inclusion and engage employees, making them feel part of the company’s future. Build and track campaigns to gain learnings and see what resonates most with your staff.
Key considerations around what is the best employee experience tool for your organization
There are a lot of choices available. These factors help you judge the suitability of various solutions to determine what employee experience tool works best:
Customization and scalability
Customization capabilities are key. Whether it’s the ability to customize design, user controls or data dashboards, you don’t want to be restricted by what you can do with your chosen solution.
Scalability is also important. Ensure the software solutions can adapt to your company’s growth. Investigate the costs of scaling, because if you take care of your employees, you will grow!
User-friendliness
How easy is the tool to use? Is it intuitive? How complex are the features? Will training be required? These are all questions you’ll want to answer to be confident that the implementation of your chosen employee experience tool is smooth and to get buy-in from key stakeholders. Demos and free trials are a crucial way to gauge its usability, see features in action and learn how user-friendly it is.
Ease of visualization and management
Good employee experience and engagement tools give employers easy ways to view both qualitative and quantitative data, at a glance and in deep dives. Having a wealth of data is one thing, but being able to use and manage it efficiently and effectively to gain insights, make more informed decisions and implement improvements is another.
Data analysis and reporting capabilities
What level of data analysis is possible with prospective solutions? Can data be segmented? Are you able to export or automate reports, and in what format? Again, gaining an array of insights about your workforce is hugely beneficial, so you need to understand the software’s reporting and analytical capabilities.
Features and functionality
Like with any software, getting a full picture of an employee experience tool’s features and functionality is vital. Are you interested in a particular type of tool, with a specific function, such as survey tools, or are you looking for a combination or even an all-in-one solution? Be clear on which features you deem as must-haves and those that are nice-to-haves.
Pricing, cost-effectiveness and ROI
The pricing model can be an influential factor, depending on your budget, business size and growth ambitions. If there are limits or levels for usage or users, it may impact the long-term cost of the tools. Define your requirements and calculate the projected cost-effectiveness and ROI of different options.
How Tivian can help improve you improve employee engagement
Tivian has employee engagement mastered with a comprehensive toolkit to help you transform the employee experience and keep your workforce engaged, motivated and inspired. We combine cutting-edge data analytics and AI technology with comprehensive internal communication software for planning and delivering compelling campaigns.
Our employee experience solutions enable employers to gain a holistic view and control over the information and levers that drive staff satisfaction and influence talent retention.
Key features and benefits of Tivian’s employee experience tools
Tivian‘s employee experience solution suite includes various employee engagement tools, with a range of features and benefits across two main areas, discovery and communication. Our discovery tools (Discovery XI) enable you to capture and harness experience data to gain deep insights, improve decision-making and create a happier workplace, whilst our communication tools (Communication XI) let you apply a marketing methodology to internal communication to offer employees relevant content to consume and engage with regularly.
The tools are self-service and intuitive for ease of use and inclusivity and the software is powered by AI, enabling extensive customization and segmentation. Here are just some of the benefits you can expect from Tivian’s employee engagement tools:
- Gaining meaningful insights to steer your strategies
- Identifying key areas to improve and develop
- Empowering your staff to grow and thrive
- Improving company culture and working environment
- Boosting employee retention and employer reputation
- A seamless engagement experience through the employee lifecycle
Discovery XI and Communication XI offer lots of great features for the different facets of employee engagement. Combined, they deliver a complete employee engagement experience. Here are the main features at a glance.
Discover XI features:
- Personalized, engaging and insightful surveys
- Extensive reporting, handy dashboards and export options
- Planning, ideation on collaborative capabilities
- Employee journey tracking and measurement
- The freedom to customize the design to get a branded experience
- Real-time updates and holistic data visualization for continuous listening
Communicate XI features:
- User-friendly tools to plan, manage, measure and scale communications
- Create well-crafted, well-timed content, including articles, videos and infographics
- A global view of communications to quickly and easily coordinate activities
- A one-stop-shop to deliver and track messages via a range of channels
- Sophisticated campaigns to engage employees like a marketer
- Data analytics to gain key learnings to refine and optimize communications
Learn more about Communicate XI.
Find out if Tivian is the best employee experience tool for your business
Solutions that help companies to better understand their employees, foster the right culture and build a healthy and progressive working environment are invaluable. Turn the Great Resignation into the Great Attraction.
If you think Tivian has the solutions to transform your employee experience and boost retention, get in touch with our team. We can discuss your goals and challenges, walk you through our solutions and arrange a demo, so you can see if Tivian is the best employee experience tool for your business.
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