Technology's Role in the Employee Experience 

Given the number of white-collar workers now working from home at least some of the time, the employee experience has grown increasingly reliant on technology. The pandemic’s wide-ranging impacts on coworker connections, workplace culture, employee wellbeing, and the ability to train new hires effectively, drives the daily experience of an organization’s employees as competition for talent increases.

Technology can shape the employee experience, allowing leaders to maintain communication and collaboration in hybrid-work environments. Workplace tech has grown in scope and efficacy over the past several years, and organizations have an unprecedented opportunity to promote productivity and deliver an experience their people value and appreciate.

Remove What Doesn't Work

Many are unhappy with their current technology experience at work. According to research from Qualtrics, only 30% of employees say their company’s technology offering exceeds expectations. Hybrid work demands higher quality as technology increasingly defines and affects how we work. For companies to retain their best employees in the long term, it’s imperative to provide tools that are useful, intuitive, and facilitate better interactions. The above-mentioned Qualtrics research also found that employees are 230% more engaged and 85% more likely to stay at an organization for more than three years if they have access to technology that effectively supports them at work.

A starting point for discovery is simply asking employees if they have the tools they need to be at their best in a hybrid environment. This might seem obvious, but 46% of employees say their companies don’t assist with expenses related to remote work, which should be a fundamental pillar in ensuring productivity and performance. Regular employee sentiment surveys can uncover what technology is needed to help leaders better understand the wellbeing of their teams, particularly around issues like preventing burnout or promoting healthy work habits. Companies can also use property technology to gather data on operations and experience to get a complex understanding of how (and if) tools or amenities are being used.

Closing the Gap

To ensure employees feel valued and heard, organizations should close any gaps in their digital workplace experience and be transparent about efforts and goals. Experience platforms offer leaders an integrated solution to retool their culture around the needs of their people by supporting their wellbeing. And given the instability of the Covid era, having more opportunities to hear employee concerns and make ongoing adjustments is crucial. By following through on promises to deliver a better digital workplace experience, organizations set themselves up for better hires and increased productivity.

Tons of insight can be gathered from employees through direct feedback and data analysis coupled with a culture that emphasizes their contentment and daily experience. While technology is one component of a broader employee strategy, its importance can’t be overstated. In an increasingly competitive hiring environment, those who emphasize the wellbeing of employees are the most likely to thrive.