Does your organization empower the employee voice? Celebrating your organizational culture and people has never been more important.
With a lack of face-to-face interaction, many HR and internal comms teams are relying on digital channels for employee engagement.
The digital workplace should be vibrant, dynamic, and empower the employee voice. Through news, stories and social channels, you can empower every employee voice.
Even before the pandemic, frontline staff might have felt that their voices weren’t heard. The beauty of an employee app is that everyone can access digital communication and social channels, wherever they work.
In the fifth of six articles, we look at five ways an app can empower the employee voice.
1. Everyday stories that preserve and nurture culture
Stories focused on people do more to nurture organizational culture than traditional corporate internal communications. There have been amazing examples of how employees are helping clients and each other during COVID-19.
An employee app lets anybody publish an update and promotes a more authentic employee voice. Stories don’t have to be formal and polished.
These contributions help to keep organizational culture strong, especially when we can’t get together face-to-face.
2. The power of dialogue
Dialogue, listening, and getting feedback from employees makes a big difference. Research found employee engagement scores of companies who provide a feedback program are significantly higher (59%) than those who don’t (42%). The insights gained from pulse checks on employee sentiment also mean organizations can act to support employee wellbeing.
Dialogue is important for leaders too. Asking employees for direct feedback can give leaders insights into potential issues, and provide invaluable real-time input on ideas.
An employee app is an excellent way to facilitate dialogue. CEOs can ask for comments from all staff, and analytics can help employers understand how their staff are feeling.
3. Feedback from the frontline
In an earlier post, we looked at the power of engaging frontline staff through an employee app. Giving your frontline staff a voice for the first time provides insights into what they are feeling and thinking, and leverages their expertise.
Hearing more from your customer-facing staff has lots of benefits. You will get to know your customers better and gain insights into supporting better customer service. Listening to your manufacturing, engineering and distribution employees will help you to gain insights into driving operational efficiencies.
Using feedback loops and ideation techniques via an employee app opens the door to continual improvement and innovation.
Giving your frontline employees a voice also drives engagement. Gallup research found “employees who strongly agree that their opinions count at work are more likely to feel personally invested in their job”.
4. Supporting diversity and inclusion
These days organizations are strongly committed to Diversity & Inclusion (D&I) due to a wide range of positive benefits impacting culture, talent attraction, performance, and innovation.
Because all employees can post to an employee app, it provides excellent support for D&I by supporting the employee voice. It shines a light on the positive contributions of a diverse workforce and listens to their viewpoints.
An app can reinforce D&I by supporting discussions across Employee Resource Groups, and providing access to awareness campaigns, learning resources, and events.
Multiple languages used across a global business can truly live and breathe on a great app.
5. Flattening the hierarchy
Providing all employees with a voice can have a profound impact on culture and engagement. The combination of equal access to information signal that all employee viewpoints are valued. A commitment to transparency shifts organizational cultures where a hierarchical mindset had previously hindered engagement, innovation, and agility.
When an app lets CEOs and frontline staff have conversations and staff are consulted on their views to define strategy, the benefits start to flow.
Empower the employee voice with LiveTiles Reach
Our employee communications app LiveTiles Reach gives organizations platform where all employees can be heard. Get in touch to arrange a demo.
