Imagine dealing with an undertrained coffee shop barista.
It will be frustrating at best. The undertrained employee at the shop might forget the drink order, mess up the name, forget a specific ingredient the customer asked for, and many other mishaps can happen. And while the customer is not going to be a happy camper about this, the undertrained employee is not going to have a fun time either.
Or we can imagine an employee at a grocery store that doesn’t have a barcode scanner. How troublesome it would be for that employee to calculate the total price of all the items a customer has bought before the line of customers builds up, ready to check out with their own items.
Both scenarios here deal with two things, the customer experience, and the employee experience. While the frustrated coffee shop customer and grocery store customer are not going to be happy about the whole subpar service, the employees in these scenarios, the barista, and employees at the check out are also not happy about the work situation, therefore fail to dispense quality services to the customer.
Employee Experience, The Direct Influencer of CX
While a lot of businesses out there spend hours strategizing and implementing digital services to create a top-notch customer experience, very few are focusing on their employees and the kind of work experience they are having. Those that are working on improving EX are those who are well aware of the fact that it is directly related to the CX of it all.
And that’s why companies need to amp up the EX game, and HR departments need to focus on finding newer and better solutions that not only improve the work-life of the employees but make it easier for the company to handle the overall employee experience at the organization so that they can increase the CX quality as well.
Digitalization: a One-way Street to Improve the Employee Experience
Digital transformation is the go-to method for every industry today in order to improve the customer experience. But it also happens to be the perfect way to improve the employee experience. In a world where technology is advancing at a rapid pace, having the employees work with age-old technologies will only slow down the process and mess up the customer experience quality.
There are many ways digital solutions can improve the EX, and therefore improve the customer experience further. Here is a list of ways digital solutions are going to help the HR teams and companies to help the staff work better.
1. Digital Solutions Help Prepare HR Teams for Better Onboarding
Employee onboarding is the start of a person’s journey with the workplace. And needless to say, a rocky beginning is not going to make for a smooth journey, and that’s why organizations need to focus on enabling the HR teams with better digital solutions for employee onboarding.
A digital platform that not only answers all employee questions about the workplace, and how it functions but also doubles as a communication channel between them and the HR, is the need of the hour. The process is all about employees trying to understand how they can fit in and start working. A digital solution is going to be necessary for this step.
It is also important for the HR teams to be able to provide proper onboarding to their employees. It helps to empower the employees by providing better knowledge about the system and the functional part of the organization, improving future performance.
2. Employee Data Management Becomes Easy
One of the many tasks an HR needs to deal with is employee data administration. For businesses with fewer numbers of employees, it might be easy. But for companies that have more than a hundred employees, this task can get a little out of hand.
Without a functioning DMS, it is quite impossible to maintain even the most rudimentary of business data, let alone the employee data of the organization. And that’s why HR teams need a functional digital data platform that not only helps them to keep a track of employee data but also helps them to make necessary edits to those data.
Digital data solution is part of every industry right now. And its application in employee data management is going to help the HRs to improve EX. After all, the organizations can only provide proper advantages to employees when they really know the staff members.
3. Integration of Solutions Help in Upskilling the Employees
Employees, especially in the IT industry, can not keep on working with basic knowledge all their life. They need to master the new and updated information in the industry. And if an organization is really keen on enhancing the employee experience, then solutions such as developing a custom LMS solution that solely focuses on the employee upskilling is necessary.
Just like a digital database that helps the HR teams to keep track of employee data, this platform can help the employees to train in industry-based courses and improve skill-set. The platform can double as an onboarding solution for the HR as well, letting them create a crash course on company 101 and helping the trainees to learn the ropes during their first few days.
4. Communication Matters
Communication at a workplace is like that oil that helps all the cogs function smoothly. And right now, as half the workforce is stuck at home, communication is even more crucial to keep the normal work process going. And in such a case, arming the HR teams with digital communication solutions will be the best way to handle the crisis.
Right now organizations need to focus on building better communication channels than basic email communication. Various instant messaging options such as Skype, Zoom, and Discord are already available that helps the employees to stay connected and stay on top of their tasks on the go. But, judging the requirements, if the business owners feel that they need their own custom solution for in-house communication, then they can easily invest in that too.
However, despite the presence of communication channels, it is the HR team that needs to encourage the employees to communicate better with each other as well as the management team on any problems and issues they might be having. As the age-old saying goes, one can lead the horse to the water, but the horse needs to drink the water itself. Encouraging employees to communicate better with each other should be one of the main priorities in any pandemic stricken industry right now.
5. Flexible Working With Mobility Support
Work from home is going to be part of the new norm in the future. So how can any organization improve staff experience when all of them are stuck at home?
First and foremost comes the matter of elevating their working process. Rather than having to trudge through legacy systems, employees should be offered better workflow processes and digital platforms for managing their performance. Be it a time tracking tool that’s easy to use or an electronic document management system that helps them to handle all papers digitally, collaborate on projects, and share them seamlessly. Digital platform for data management, workflow improvement is going to improve the employee’s experience while working, as well as help to improve on the work-life balance, strengthening the overall quality of life.
Digital Transformation for EX: What Can HRs Do?
It is needless to emphasize the importance of the HR management teams in enhancing the quality of life the employee base leads when working for any organization. And in such a scenario, where the work-life balance has gone to bust, and when employees are struggling to adjust in this new normal, it is the HR teams that can guide them to perform to their fullest. To assist the HR teams, organizations need to do a complete overhaul of the system that focuses on the enhancements of the customer experience as well as the EX.