How to Enhance the Digital Employee Experience for Best Results
Did you know that Google searches for ‘employee experience’ have increased by 130% over the past 5 years? A good employee experience doesn’t just cover workplace wellbeing. It considers the entire journey, from recruitment and onboarding to continual learning and development.
Employee experience is even more focused today. Despite many companies implementing return-to-office policies since the pandemic ended, almost 30% of staff now work remotely full-time. 80% of HR professionals also believe hybrid working levels will increase or stay the same over the next two years.
These figures show that employees are no longer simply working in offices surrounded by their colleagues. They’re part of a larger workforce that requires the right tools and systems to maintain global connections.
That’s why the focus on ‘employee experience’ must now expand to cover the ‘digital employee experience’ (DEX). DEX judges the quality of employees’ daily interactions with digital tools and technology, from onboarding platforms to company intranet and communication systems.
In this article, we’ll explain how your company can expand its focus to create an engaging digital employee experience.
Why Should You Enhance the Digital Employee Experience?
Enhancing the digital employee experience can increase employee engagement and motivation. In turn, this improves performance and long-term retention rates.
Access to better technologies is one of the top reasons employees are willing to leave their current jobs, according to an Employee Engagement survey. 66% of digital workers also feel that greater business outcomes would be achievable if they had access to effective technology.
That’s because, when asked what employees struggle with the most when collaborating with colleagues, the top response was not having enough time to do it. Two other common problem areas regarding workplace technology include:
- Connection to colleagues
- The ability to customise digital tools
A strong digital experience, featuring tailored tools that support collaboration and communication, can resolve these issues. They help to create a smoother daily work experience that’s less likely to cause frustration and encourage staff to stay.
How to Improve Your Digital Employee Journey
Improving the digital journey involves implementing automated tools and platforms that streamline and ease your employees’ daily workload. To achieve this, digital workplace leaders must:
“…step up to lead DEX, and recognise they are an experience leader with a technology toolkit,” the results of a Gartner Digital Workplace survey show.
Optimise the digital employee experience in three key stages:
1. Identify Pain Points
The key to enhancing your digital employee experience? Finding out which areas are stopping it from being great in the first place.
Begin by taking time to understand your team’s current experience of the digital workplace and where they’re encountering problems. For instance:
- 47% of digital workers struggle to find the information needed to effectively perform their jobs.
- Just 27% of respondents to an S&P Global survey said their work tools helped them connect with colleagues.
- HR staff spend up to 57% of their time on administrative tasks due to slow manual processes. This leaves little time to focus on more important HR strategies.
Considering the unique challenges associated with the current processes helps define your goals, which is essential for the next step.
2. Invest in Automated Tools
Next, you’ll need to select the right digital tools for your company based on those pain points.
From online communication and messaging portals to an intranet that provides frequent company updates, these tools foster great communication and collaboration within the workforce. They keep teams engaged and invested in their roles, helping your business meet daily performance and overall business goals more effectively.
One area that’s especially important to the employee experience is onboarding. With 18% of new hires leaving during their probationary period, strong onboarding practices can engage candidates from day one. That’s why employees who have had a great onboarding experience are 69% more likely to stay with a company for three years.
But, unfortunately, just 12% of employees agree their company gets this process right. The solution? Invest in an automated onboarding platform that optimises the employee experience with:
- Advanced Document Assembly: This tool eliminates the manual admin burden and speeds up onboarding by automatically creating compliant contracts and policies. These documents are then automatically sent to the relevant teams for review via e-signature.
- Personalised Portals: All employee onboarding details can be accessed at any time through the platform’s secure portal, including training materials. Existing staff encounter fewer data silos, while new hires enjoy consistent communication from day one.
- Mobile-First Workflows: New hires can sign contracts and complete training from anywhere, at a time that suits them, reducing onboarding delays.
3. Ensure Seamless System Integration
And finally, for the best results, consider how the selected digital platforms will integrate into your existing systems. To be effective, any new tools implemented should make an employee’s daily work experience easier, not harder!
Choose platforms that can be customised with your brand’s colours and logos. They should feel familiar and not intimidating to employees, while also resolving data silo issues, automating workflows, and freeing up their time.
Be sure to communicate any changes before they’re made. Explain the benefits of digital tools and how they’ll improve your team’s day-to-day experience. Select a manager to lead the implementation, ensuring employees have a go-to contact for any problems and are fully trained on how to use new systems.
The implementation manager should also gather feedback to help you continually improve the digital employee experience. Try using your selected tools to monitor key data analytics, like system usage time. Compare them with previous workflows to see how much less time teams spend on manual tasks, and combine with qualitative data from employee surveys.
You can then see whether these digital tools have successfully transformed the employee experience!
Enhance the Digital Onboarding Experience With Onboard Express
Working digitally offers so many benefits for your business, from access to global talent pools to faster, smoother onboarding processes that properly prepare employees for their roles.
But these benefits can only be achieved with the right tools and systems. Onboard Express’s digital onboarding platform is purpose-built to support a seamless employee experience from day one.
Our dedicated software integrates seamlessly with your existing systems through open API, featuring branded onboarding portals and contract creation tools customised to your unique needs.
Every implementation also receives a dedicated project manager to guide you through the entire process, from initial integration to ongoing staff training. This allows you to enjoy the benefits of effective onboarding quickly, all while maintaining compliance.
Contact us today to book your free Onboard Express demo.