Digital Tools to Transform the Employee Experience

Every successful company invests in customer experiences, but far fewer are making the kind of investments in employee experiences that truly matter. As companies add more and more applications to support their business and customers, employee experiences can be neglected — even though now the need has never been greater. Digital platforms and tools are an essential component of an effective business to employee (B2E) strategy.

An employee experience is the sum of interactions and exchanges an employee has within their company — both personally and organizationally. How an employee perceives his or her journey through all the touchpoints within the organization matters. A lot. Why? Because employees are the true drivers of your business and the better the employee experience, ultimately, the better the customer experience. A Gallup study found “that companies with highly engaged employees outperform their competitors by 147% in earnings per share,” and that highly engaged employees are energized through an exceptional digital workplace.

Businesses are also seeing a cultural shift with new norms and expectations from employees. Add to that the recent pandemic, which has accelerated the use of digital tools and driven the need for companies to invest in digital platforms like never before. As employee demands and outside pressures continually grow, companies can’t afford to ignore these expectations if they want to attract and retain talented employees and teams.

Employee portals are key to improving the overall employee experience. Whether it’s an employee searching for IT support documentation or taking an eLearning class online, these B2E portals offer the opportunity for businesses to radically improve the employee experience.

You first need to understand why your employees would be using intranet portals. Are portals used to collaborate with other employees, search for answers to common questions or just necessary for getting work done? Gaining insight from employee interactions creates a currency, based on the data collected, to improve outcomes for the employee and the business. Employee experiences should be treated with as much care and analysis as customer experiences, since your employee is just as important.

Then, you should decide what will deliver the most value for your employees and business. As an example, eLearning might be a high priority if you are introducing a new product line. Or, you may have an urgent need to introduce employee self-service portals to optimize resources, reduce wait times and increase productivity. Sometimes with existing systems applications and data, needed by many employees, can only be accessed by certain departments, hampering access and causing frustration. Regardless of the need, companies should focus on solving business problems while at the same time driving increased employee efficiencies and collaboration.

Remember, that improving the employee experience should also include personalization, when it adds specific value. You could enable a customizable employee homepage to surface crucial information that can be tailored to make it easier for employees to get their job done. You could also customize content by role, or position within the company, to ensure information is only accessible and relevant to that role’s daily tasks. Personalized training for employees can be added based on their specific role and set up to track their personal development journey. In a Forbes research study, 86% of employees said they would change jobs if it resulted in more opportunities for personal development. Investing in a more personalized approach increases employee satisfaction and could potentially improve employee retention for your top talent. Today, thanks to advanced DXP tools, personalization can easily be applied to all your employees for an enriched experience.

Ultimately the employee experience, good or bad, will continue to impact your customers and your business success. Harnessing the power of your DXP may be your single-most important tool to drive the improvements needed in today’s business environment. This added intelligence can help you construct a truly integrated platform that transforms the employee experience. The employee intranet and associated portals are the best way to drive more engagement, innovation and productivity.

Find out more about how HCL Digital Experience should be your intranet portal of choice.