Blog

5 November 2021

5 ways to improve employee experience with People First

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People First screen showing recognition on a smartphone

To some, ‘employee experience’ may be a woolly, hard-to-define term but it’s real and directly impacts your business.

Work is no longer largely just a transactional process. It needs to be more than that – employees need to feel engaged. And an engaged employee is a productive employee.

1. It starts at the start

There’s only one opportunity to make a first impression – and it works both ways. From application to their first day, that first impression is significant in shaping the employer-employee relationship.

People First facilitates the automation and streamlining of key tasks in the recruitment journey – freeing up hiring managers and HR to focus on more nuanced elements in the process.

2. Good communication and collaboration is key

Effective communication is a business cornerstone. Poor communication leads to problems. Good communication impacts positively across an organisation and it’s particularly pertinent as we emerge from the pandemic with the shift to hybrid and remote working.

People need to know what’s happening and they need to stay in touch.

People First facilitates positive, effective workplace communication. This includes general companywide information: an interactive organisational chart, company newsfeed, policies and a weekly digest. This means there’s no need for a separate intranet or other communication methods, saving money, resources and time.

The engagement functionality within People First expedites collaboration and teamwork. The social feed, communities, polls and posts are just some of the tools that help employees connect and engage with each other and the wider business.

3. Checking-in

Managers and employees need to have a mechanism to monitor performance, address issues and challenges, and celebrate wins.

Regular check-ins provide the opportunity for ongoing, continuous two-way interaction between managers and team members – helping everyone keep on top of the key issues at hand. Check-ins are simple to organise and manage in People First. They’re an accurate, live record of formal interactions between manager and employee.

Effective talent management is crucial; essentially asset and growth management rolled into one. Match and Gap in People First will help – it’s basically a people skills audit which facilitates succession planning by holding skills, competencies, qualifications and memberships, meaning talent can be matched and potential candidates readily identified.

4. Promote a culture of learning; give recognition

Many organisations proudly declare that their employees are their ‘greatest asset’. But what does that mean and what are they doing about it?

The ability for an employee to largely determine their own developmental direction is practical and empowering. Using People First, employees can identify training that aligns with their goals.

Focused training nurtures skills, supporting growth and career pathways. It also reduces attrition rates. Using People First, learners drive their own professional development.

There are many drivers for why we do what we do at work. Recognition is a key one; People First enables public recognition throughout the organisation.

Helpful, attentive, engaging, collaboration and leadership are some of the attributes and skills employees can be recognised for. They can be displayed as badges on the employee’s People First profile. These recognitions are public and celebrate exceptional performance.

5. Simplify workforce management

People First’s Workforce Management tool aligns business needs with employee objectives. It simplifies inputs, reduces duplication, and drives HR and payroll processes.

Simplifying things further is the People First chatbot which provides fast, 24/7 HR for your people. A single source of information, it’s effectively a personal digital assistant – accessible on smartphones, anytime, anywhere. It’s intuitive and simple to use. Employees can clock-in and out, manage overtime and time off among other administrative tasks.

The importance of employee experience cannot be overlooked. Investing in your workers makes sound business sense.

Simon Wooldridge, Content Writer, MHR

Simon Wooldridge

Simon is a content writer at MHR.

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