With the evolving technology, we are also witnessing the change in human resource management. Advanced employee engagement analytics are here to stay. In this article, Anjan Pathak, co-founder and CTO of Vantage Circle, looks at how engagement analytics is shaping the current work culture and what HR leaders can take from it.
It is an open secret that a superior work culture is one of the key factors that drives employee engagement. Everyone knows that a strong, transparent, fun, and flexible work culture makes a great case for employee engagement and employer brandingOpens a new window . What very few people are aware of is how to make changes that make employee engagement sustainable and give you a good ROI on work culture.
Before going over and looking at how engagement analytics can shape work culture, let us look at the basics first.
What Exactly Do We Mean When We Say Employee Engagement Analytics?
Employee engagement statistics refers to the data acquired from employee engagement surveys. In the present context, employee engagement analytics is the identification of the host of factors that influence the engagement levels of employees and helps quantify employee involvement in the workplace.
The first generation of feedback surveys in the ‘80s and ‘90s focused primarily on the collection on data. It was a simple paper-based annual survey. The process was slow and not very actionable. By the time you got some actionable insights, things had already changed significantly in the workplace. In short, the surveys were a waste of time and not very efficient.
The next phase came with the advent of pulse surveys. People could be surveyed anytime and anywhere. The results were quick, the surveys were short and more actionable than the previous generation of surveys.
The new generation of surveys offer more of a feedback architecture where you can broaden your data set over a while. Also, AI-based engagement tools can look at emails and other official conversations using text analysis and can provide you with an estimate of the mood and possible stress between colleagues.
Learn More: 20 Essential Employee Engagement Survey Questions for Your 2020 QuestionnaireOpens a new window
How Does Deploying Employee Engagement Analytics Affect Your Work Culture?
1. Measure employee turnover rates to identify engagement levels
Employee engagement data is not just limited to, well, employee engagement. The first and most quantifiable area of data is turnover rates. High turnover rates are not only a sign of deteriorating work culture but also workplace productivity. High turnover rates are often linked to decreased productivity in the workplace for the remaining employees. And that is not it. The cost to replace a highly trained employee can exceed 200% of their annual salary.
You can use this turnover data and evaluate whether your organization’s performance is at par with the industry standard. If it is not, then maybe you need to collect even more data as to why this is happening. Identifying your turnover rates is a good starting point, as it gives you an estimate of how much employee engagement data you need to collect, i.e., how frequent and dynamic your surveys need to be.
2. Enable a sense of autonomy and ownership among employees
This is probably the most direct and obvious effect of how surveys and feedback can affect the work culture of an organization. When you involve your employees in a decision-making process by considering the data from the surveys, you transform your employees from doers to owners. When they believe that they have a say and a stake in the functioning of the organization, employees start becoming more accountable for their work and performance.
Structuring your feedback loops in such a way as to promote involvement in decision-making processes, is the easiest way to develop superior work culture.
But simultaneously, it does not mean that you must do away with your organizational hierarchy. It is important to identify the balance between shared and individual ownership. But simply conducting surveys for the sake of promoting a sense of ownership and accountability is not going to do the trick. You need to act upon the data that you have collected for optimized and sustainable growth.
3. Develop authentic policies and procedures
Company policies develop an expectation for both the employer and employee. They generally act as guidelines for an organization and decide the normalcy of various workplace situations.
Yes, there are some non-negotiable policies, but a major chunk of policies of new-age companies are evolving or fluid. For these policies, employee engagement analytics can be a boon for your workforce and help establish a sense of autonomy among your employees.
Regularly conducting surveys to enquire about the efficiency and suitability of a new policy is a good way to judge the effectiveness of the new policy. You might be surprised by the response when employees are encouraged to provide input in various aspects of the organization.
Having a bustling feedback mechanism can help you optimize a new policy or guideline that is going to affect your employees for a long time.
4. Inspire candid interaction
Unapologetic, free, and candid interactions are the cornerstone of establishing and promoting a superior work culture. But that seems to be happening far too less.
Encouraging a candid interaction between employers and employees might seem daunting at first but its benefits outweigh its challenges. Candid interactions are best when done in numbers. You do not necessarily have to consider the inputs from every individual personally. A short or rather pulse survey might display to your employees that you value their suggestions. When the data is asymmetrically skewed towards one side of interaction or advice, you get an idea of what to consider and what not to.
Learn More: 15 Essential Employee Satisfaction Survey Questions for Your 2020 QuestionnaireOpens a new window
5. Set industry benchmarks
When you make it point to run surveys and collect feedback regularly, you facilitate a culture of continuous improvement in the workplace. It helps you keep track of the degree of employee engagement in the organization, scientifically and objectively.
The work culture of a company cannot be stagnant – it should be ever evolving to suit the needs of an evolving workforce. And the only way to keep up with the changes around you is through a continuous feedback system.
The feedback system should cover various drivers of employee engagement such as company culture, the work environment, flow of communication, the rewards and recognition system, the performance appraisal process, and so on. This data collectively can help you set industry-level benchmarks and reveal areas that need improvement. As more and more companies leverage people analytics to improve organizational culture, it will increase competitiveness among companies to uphold their values and endorse a great employee experience.
A company’s work culture cannot be defined or rather redefined in a few days or a short period. It is a long and continuous process of considering valuable and actionable inputs and putting that information to use. And this is where employee engagement analytics can be most valuable.
How do you use employee engagement analytics in your organization? Let us know on LinkedInOpens a new window , TwitterOpens a new window , or FacebookOpens a new window .