The COVID-19 pandemic has upended businesses, making it difficult to transition to remote employment. However, with the help of technology and advanced collaborative tools, companies managed their remote work. The post-pandemic work, 2022, is likely to be a hybrid model - incorporating both virtual and in-office work environments.
Now, businesses are looking for strategies to bring their dispersed workforce together and retain their best employees. For this, organizations need to be well-versed with employee engagement trends. Here are the top employee engagement trends organizations can use to keep their dispersed employees engaged.
1. Rise In Use of Technological Tools
Technology has played a vital role in bridging the gap between employers and employees in remote settings at the beginning of the pandemic. In 2022, technology will continue to influence the workplace. According to the PwC survey, 32 percent of companies use AI to restructure organizations for workforce management.
There will be an increase in the usage of collaborative cloud suites to create a seamless working environment for employees to meet, collaborate, and work. Companies will use AI-assisted tools like intelligent dashboards, chatbots, and analytics to help their workforce find solutions faster.
In 2022, machine learning & artificial intelligence (AI) will enhance employee engagement. HR teams will be able to make more data-driven decisions.
2. Switch To Employee-First Culture
The Great Resignation became a trend in 2021, with a record number of workers quitting their jobs. To stop the mass exodus, companies had to reevaluate their company culture and put their employees first or risk losing talent. In 2022, employee engagement will no longer be a concept but a business goal. For this, organizations need to redefine their business culture, humanize human resources, and acknowledge their employees.
A company can only thrive if every individual feels cared for and appreciated. Due to the remote work, employees miss out on spontaneous acknowledgment, which further impacts the employee engagement levels. Companies need to have organizational culture transformation strategies and enhance employee engagement.
Employee engagement improves employee work performance. It captures company value, which is primarily related to employee recognition.
In 2022 companies will adopt more technology-driven employee recognition ideas to reward and motivate employees. More firms will embrace employee recognition platforms to deliver digital prizes and incentives to their employees.
3. Centralized Communication
With the advent of hybrid workplaces, the necessity for centralized communication within a company has grown. Businesses require centralized communication to keep their distributed employees connected. To this end, emails and other traditional communication technologies no longer serve the objective of connecting.
Robust collaborative tools such as Skype, Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, and others have changed employee collaboration by allowing employees to engage with their colleagues in real-time. These collaboration platforms include group chats and video conferencing features that make it easy to share documents and ideas.
Seventy-nine percent of users think collaboration platforms are critical to their work. Owing to the effectiveness in communication and other factors, in 2022, collaboration platforms will play an increasingly important role in business communications.
4. Enhancing Employee Experience With Modern Service Desk
Employees seek personalized attention from the management. In 2022, high compensation and promotions alone will no longer motivate employees to work as the employees' fundamental needs have changed. Implementing a modern service desk is one of the most effective ways to improve the employee experience.
Modern service desk provides seamless communication for employees. It will drive workflow, encourage effective data-driven decision making, empower users and create better employee experiences.
Built on AI and machine learning technologies, the HR service desk can help companies understand employee issues and implement solutions to solve the concerns. In 2022, companies will deploy AI chatbots and virtual assistance to provide real-time solutions for employees.
5. Improving Employee Engagement With Virtual Team-Building Activities
Due to remote working, the onboarding process, which once was a shared experience, has become a lonely experience. In 2022, the workplace will place a greater emphasis on redefining onboarding processes by prioritizing employee engagement. HR managers will think beyond welcome kits to engage their employees. They will create spaces that allow peer-peer communication.
Virtual lunches, digital water-coolers, and online team-building activities are great ways to incorporate the social aspects in the onboarding process.
HR managers can have virtual team-building activities in onboarding processes, live meetings, and L & D training sessions. The team-building activities can build a sense of community, lower employee work stress, increase employee productivity, spur creativity, reduce conflicts, increase motivation and ease remote working.
Hermis has meeting kickoffs, activity-based, communication-based, skills-based, personality-based, and problem-solving virtual activities designed to fit the structure of remote teams and the mood of remote employees. Organizations can use shared activities on Funtivity By Hermis to bring their distributed workforce together for any occasion - from employee onboarding to team building to daily meetings to learning and development. They can create team bonding and employ employee engagement on video conferencing apps like Zoom and Webex.
The Final Word
The trends in employee engagement are rapidly shifting. Companies can keep their employees engaged and retain their best talent by harnessing technology and assuring the holistic well-being of employees, implementing engaging team-building activities, and developing a meaningful business culture.
