There is an app for it" - More often, than not is the response to a question.
As the workforce continues to evolve and transform, workforce management tactics and processes also need to embrace the coming trends. Mobility was the buzz word few years back, and is now being augmented by a new trend: Employee experience (EX).
EX can be summarized as Self-service with a personalized experience on a mobile device.
Questions that an organization needs to address to be able to create the ultimate EX app:
· How do we empower our employees/managers to be more independent (so that they spend less time managing the business and more time growing it)?
· How can we reduce the time spent on mundane daily tasks?
· How can we help our managers plan better and spend more time with their teams than systems?
Some key tenets of an ultimate EX app:
Source: created by author
"Less is more"!!! it is not about making a great all in one product. In fact, it's about how seamless the transactions are across products.
If an organization can enhance the employee experience, they will be able to create more involved and productive workforce that helps business achieve their goals.
A study from IBM and Globoforce found the connection between optimistic employee experience and more engaged work performance and reduced attrition. Companies with engaged employees outperform those without by 202%; customer retention rates are 18% higher when employees are highly engaged; and organizations that have more than 50% employee engagement retain more than 80% of their customers. Engagement is a key to every company's success and employee detachment amounts to loss of over $500 billion per year in US economy.
How does get one started on the EX journey?
The primary goal of the Employee Experience app is to create supplementary value for the users. Which is why the use cases being rolled out are of utmost importance.
Training is extremely important. While millennials will love to use a "cool" app, the entire workforce should be able to see value in adapting newer tools. Hence the message 'simplification and acceleration of administrative tasks' becomes critical.
The app itself needs to be highly interactive to allow all user transactions seamlessly across systems.
The cherry on top for a successful experience is customization capability of the app which will allow users to define their look and feel.
Source: created by author
Let's look at couple of examples that would help understand this better.
Example 1: Daily punches - no click solution!
Solution: no click punches via mobile app. The tech in the background would leverage Geo fencing + biometrics (voice/face recognition) + employees registered mobile phone number
Detail: Employee walks into the office -> gets a push notification "hey, you have reached office would you like to punch IN" -> employee responds via voice "Yes, please" -> Punch is authenticated and recorded
Flow:
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Example 2: applying time -off - talk to the app!
Solution: voice enabled time off requests. The tech in the background would leverage voice enabled Chatbot
Detail: Employee opens the app and conversation would be as below:
Employee: Please apply Vacation for tomorrow
Bot: Would you like to apply full day or half day vacation?
Employee: Full day
Bot: Please confirm with a yes or no. Applying full day vacation for *insert date*
Employee: Yes
Bot: Vacation request successfully submitted
Flow:
Source: created by author
This is the classic "less is more" example allowing the user to have a seamless transaction while the tech running in the background is a complex combination of algorithms.
In addition to considering the framework/technology, it's also important to think about what is going inside the app. Mobile solution requires a new approach to content. When thinking about the app, remember that it shouldn't be a dumping ground for old webpages.
Personalized Mobility is the future of the workforce, and an app will enable employers to connect to their employees in new and exciting ways.
As a result, they get an engaged and empowered workforce that spend less time managing the business and more time growing it. Thereby increasing customer retention rates by ~18%. Engagement is a key to every company's success and employee detachment amounts to loss of over $500 billion per year in US economy.
"App" IT - now!!!