Particularly since the pandemic, the impact of technology on education, healthcare, communication, and even the way we operate in our everyday lives is significant. In the business world, it’s already clear that effective use of technology is the path towards accomplishment and success. More and more, though, companies are recognizing that technology can also have a significant impact on employee engagement. Companies that use the latest software and tools to improve employee engagement are seen as progressive and competitive, and by finding innovative ways to improve employees’ work experience you will be able to attract and retain better talent. Here, we offer some actionable insights on how to use technology to promote a higher level of engagement in your organization.
Gamification, which uses game-like processes to accomplish tasks, is quickly gaining traction in the workplace. It can be used for training because, unlike other education technologies, it keeps processes fun and encourages friendly competition. It’s also useful for making job processes seem more like a game than work, and a recent survey found that80 percent of students and corporate employees feel that if their working environment felt more like playing a game, they’d be more productive. People are naturally competitive, so in addition to game-like effects, look for games and activities that challenge employees and give them the opportunity to interact with each other. Online badges and leader boards, with progress posted online in real-time, can build motivation in a way that other types of learning technology can’t. You can use gamification to increase employee engagement during training, and continue to use it to promote customer service, sales, and project management.
Recognition for achievement provides a morale boost and strengthens employee engagement. There are several ways to use technology to offer these kinds of kudos, whether you want to encourage peer-to-peer recognition or are looking for ways to allow management to recognize the efforts of their employees. Messaging tools and software can allow co-workers to connect and share their achievements in a supportive space, where their peers can offer recognition for their accomplishments. Once this becomes the company norm, it becomes easier to create and maintain a culture of collaboration and supportive behavior. Leaders can use employee recognition tools to send virtual cards, high-fives, and kudos, and using a tool that lines up with gamification makes it easy to boost employee engagement. Digital rewards are another option to consider, providing employees with tangible recognition in the form of rewards like gift cards, online subscriptions, and virtual courses.
Communication has always been a vital part of the business world, but today, face-to-face communication is not always the best option. With technology, you can streamline the process of communicating with your employees, along with the tasks of updating information, assessing employee performance, and setting goals. Performance management software allows leaders to spur employee productivity and improve business performance by engaging individual employees and teams with structured goals clearly aligned with the organizational objectives.
In the post-pandemic world, employers are faced with the challenge of engaging remote workers. Collaboration used to mean working together in the same room, but today’s collaboration technology is allowing companies to broaden their ability to collaborate. The use of networking services allows employees to collaborate across locations and departments, as well as affording remote workers the opportunity to remain engaged and aligned with the company’s goals. Using social media and filesharing software lets teams share information and important documents more quickly, and creating technology-based workgroups helps keep employees engaged with each other.
The use of technology in education has expanded exponentially in recent years, with schools from elementary to institutes of higher education embracing learning technologies to engage students. There are many ways to promote learning in technology based ways, from online classes to employee training that’s available on mobile devices. Using online and mobile learning, employees are able to gain the knowledge they need on their own time, which makes it easier for them to maintain the work/life balance so important in maintaining employee engagement.
When the company offers technological devices, it is empowering the employees to succeed. However, limiting the types of devices used to work with too much specificity may prove restrictive to the optimal performance of the employees. Because of this, many companies are now offering BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) options, allowing employees to choose the type of devices they want to use for their work tasks. This gives employees the freedom to use devices with which they are comfortable, allowing them to feel more competent, and enhancing employee engagement.
If you’re ready to use technology to improve employee engagement, talk to Marketing Innovators, where we believe that connecting to people on a human level is the best way to build a great business. That’s why for over 40 years our family-owned, employee driven company has been working to build and strengthen that connection between businesses and their employees, customers, and partners. We work hard to help our clients motivate, incentivize, and reward their workforce. Our commitment to our core values of integrity, trust, collaboration, empowerment, and the kind of results-oriented attitude that promotes customer success has made us a leader in the engagement marketplace. To learn more about how we can help solve your business challenges, call800-453-7373 or contact us through our website.
