In an effort to adjust to the new normal the pandemic has created, HR departments across the country have come up with new initiatives to help make the transition easier for employees, but their efforts seem to be falling short.
Sixty-five percent of employees say they haven't changed behaviors or opinions based on an HR initiative over the past year, according to a survey from employee engagement platform Enboarder.
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"The way HR has communicated with employees and attempted to drive engagement with its programs has historically been a challenge,” Brent Pearson, CEO of Enboarder, said in a release. “Now, with employees more overwhelmed than ever before and hybrid environments leading to increasingly disconnected workplaces, HR is at risk of failure if it doesn't change its approach.”
More than a third of employees say they haven't made the most of the learning and development programs that are available through their organizations, because of poor communication, low engagement and a lack of human connection, the research found.
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The shift to remote and hybrid work has eroded employees’ sense of connection, and while getting employees engaged has become a buzzword, employers can turn this gimmick into an effective tool.
“Simply put, deep and meaningful employee engagement is only achieved when your programs and messaging are meaningful and properly personalized and your employee can understand the greater mission of why your program is important to them and the company,” the Enboarder report says.
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To make that happen, Enboarder has created the four pillars of people activation: ease, connection, engagement and nudge, in order to boost participation in company offerings.
Ease encourages HR to rethink programs that may appear simple, but require more effort than employees are willing to make. One recommendation is to provide simple one-click options to join or engage with programs. Enboarder’s second pillar, connection, is about figuring out ways — even in a remote world — to help employees come together and collaborate in an effective way. Nudge involves rethinking how HR encourages employees to interact with their offerings. Instead of long emails or PDFs, employers can provide bite-size communications with only the more important and relevant information.
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Put together, these tools can trigger an employee into completing an action they would have otherwise put off.
"HR departments that redesign their programs and initiatives to incorporate the four pillars of people activation will see higher employee engagement and measurable results,” Pearson said. “This ultimately leads to happier employees and a more successful organization."
