Employee retention is top of mind for employers in all industries. While the Great Resignation lost some momentum in recent months, the number of employees leaving their jobs is still historically high. A recent survey from Robert Half suggests that many employees remain confident about finding employment that better meets their needs, as over 40% of respondents are currently looking or plan to look for a new role in the second half of 2022. The reasons for leaving range from inadequate salary or insufficient benefits to limited advancement and lack of recognition. As a result, organizations are seeking ways for improving the employee experience and find new ways to retain top talent.
However, without a clear direction, organizations could fail to meet the needs of unsatisfied employees. In order to improve the employee experience, employers need a way to measure employee satisfaction. By tracking employee experience data, employers can take a critical first step toward improving the employee experience.
Measuring Employee Data and Improving the Employee Experience
The employee experience is made up of a variety of factors that combine to make working for an organization rewarding. Every step in an employee’s journey from application and onboarding to advancement and departing the company is part of the employee experience.
For employers to work on improving the employee experience in ways that is likely to retain employees, it’s important to track the following types of data.
Overall Employee Engagement
Gallup defines employee engagement as the involvement and enthusiasm of employees in their work and their workplace. Engaged employees are more invested in the organization they work for and produce better business outcomes than other employees.
Data from Workday Peakon Employee Voice shows that an employee’s engagement metrics will typically reveal warning signs nine months before they actually leave an organization. By measuring employee experience and engagement routinely, employers can determine why employees are unsatisfied in their roles and take steps for improving the employee experience.
Diversity and Inclusion
Corporate boards are increasingly asking for diversity data and seeking ways to track the success of their DEI initiatives. However, there are many more important reasons to track diversity and inclusion data. Studies have shown that gender-diverse companies outperform their peers by 25%, and ethnically diverse companies outperform their peers by 36%. Yet, diversity does not ensure a culture of inclusion. By measuring data surrounding inclusion, organizations can develop a culture of belonging that improves employee satisfaction and workplace retention.
Growth Opportunities
A recent survey revealed that 80% of employed U.S. adults consider an employer’s professional development and training offerings as an important consideration when accepting a new job. However, only 39% say their current employer is helping them improve their current skills or gain new skills to do their job better.
More concerningly, 75% of employees say their employers place more focus on attracting new talent rather than investing in current talent. By using data-driven tools to measure potential advancement paths for current employees, employers can improve engagement and boost retention.
Health and Wellness
Over three-fourths of employees rank health insurance as an essential benefit. Recent studies show that more than 50% of employees say they’re expecting more from their employer regarding wellness benefits. Employers are listening, with 87% making the enhancement of medical health benefits one of their top priorities over the next two years.
However, there is a crucial disconnect between employers and employees regarding action. While 82% of employers say their workforce has more access to mental health resources than in previous years, only 50% of workers agree. As employers attempt to expand benefits, they’re failing to provide the compensation most likely to help employees. While 40% would like better mental health benefits, 53% said providing mental health days would be more beneficial, and 47% cited workplace flexibility.
Beyond health insurance-related benefits, employees identified generous paid time off, flexible and remote working options, and paid family leave as the most important wellness benefits. The key takeaway is that one size doesn’t fit all when it comes to health and wellness. Without a way to measure the health and well-being of employees, employers risk investing in benefits employees are unlikely to use.
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Improving Results with Measurable Data
Statistics show that the top factors driving employees to seek a new job are work/life balance, physical and emotional well-being, and improved culture. Yet, this information fails to reveal what your employees want. The employee experience is a highly individual journey that can be enhanced by a variety of benefits in the workplace. Without an open dialogue to determine what benefits will improve the employee experience, organizations are likely to continue seeing accelerated turnover.
Traditionally, the most common way to get an understanding of why rapid turnover occurs is the responses from departure surveys. Such surveys are used to improve the employee experience for the remaining employees. However, by taking a proactive approach before employees resign, employers can develop more effective programs to improve employee engagement and reduce turnover. By measuring vital indicators of employee engagement and satisfaction in real time, you can make changes to prevent turnover and retain loyal employees.
High performing companies recognize that a one-size-fits-all approach to compensation and benefits is increasingly failing to meet the needs of their employees. Still, many companies have difficulty meeting the mark with disjointed benefits programs that fail to address the entire employee experience. Employee engagement platforms like Workday Peakon Employee Voice and Phenom Talent Analytics allow employees to confidentially share crucial information like current concerns and constructive feedback. With real-time insight into how employees are feeling about current organizational efforts as well as what benefits are actively used, employers can get a better understanding of meaningful compensation offerings that increase employee engagement.
These insights can help you develop compensation packages that engage employees and improve retention. Collaborative Solutions partners with Phenom and Workday to provide employers with a seamlessly connected talent platform to propel their business forward.
This post was written by Collaborative Solutions, they are an exhibitor on the HRTech247 Workday Partners floor in the Partners Hall here.
