Do most companies have a viable employee engagement strategy? According to a the latest Gallup poll, 70% all US employees are either “not engaged” or “actively disengaged” at their workplace. In other words, a sizable number of US workers are either searching for a more suitable job, or having a tough time at their current workplace. The millennial generation, which now makes up one-third of the US workforce, is also the least engaged group in that poll. The good news is that a new market is delivering the tools and knowledge required to make work more rewarding and Mondays less depressing.
They are not just buzz words – employee feedback and engagement are quickly becoming top priority for workplaces of all sizes. This is due to a much larger event in which the world of Human Resources is being optimized, so to say, by tech innovations. On a larger scale, this process is part of a rapidly growing area of business intelligence and big data technology known as People Analytics (For more in-depth understanding of People Analytics, I highly recommend Josh Bersin’s article “The Geeks Arrive In HR: People Analytics Is Here”).
Where do the “people” come in? They are right in the center of this process, but not as resources, but as human beings who want to make a difference, develop their skills, and enjoy work. To piece it all together, “people analytics is a rapidly growing area of business intelligence and big data technology that uses snippets of people-related data to optimize business outcomes and solve business problems” (Wikipedia).
Top Fortune 500 companies have already stepped in this field by ditching the annual performance review and incorporating continuous feedback – a concept that has been somewhat ignored in the world of HR. In the long run, however, the competitive advantages of employee feedback and culture management applications will tip the scales. Some analysts foresee that the number of Fortune 500 companies that get rid of the traditional performance review will double from 10% to 20% next year. Microsoft, Accenture, Adobe, GE, and a handful of other behemoths are already on board.
A recent Harvard Business Review article describes innovative disruption as “a process whereby a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses.” A disruptor targets overlooked segments of the market and provides a more functional product. As they enter a market, or create a new one, disruptors provide not only better functionality, but a more affordable service. Based on this criteria there’s no question that the field of Human Resources is undergoing a serious disruption.
While traditional HR tech companies might find it hard, and very expensive, to adapt to People Analytics, HR disruptors are already carving the market for employee engagement and feedback. I’ve made a list of Modern HR Tools for you to view, so you can find the one that suits you and your organization.
If you are still weighing in the benefits of HR analytics, consider one aspect that is understood by HR enthusiasts and “business people” alike – in addition to being a pain to work with, disengaged employees cost a lot of money. This is especially true today, when job hopping is the rule of the land. The direct and indirect costs of employee turnover are astounding. Therefore, it makes financial sense to develop a true employee engagement strategy, one that moves past superfluous gifts and ambiguous metrics and fully embraces real-time reporting, transparency, and career development.
Central to this approach is the realization that what’s good for both the employee and the manager is more beneficial than what’s good for only the manager. There’s no point in keeping an air of mystery and ambiguity when it comes to employee relations. Robert Jackall says it best in his book Moral Mazes:
What becomes of the social mobility of the corporation – the everyday rules-in-use that people play by – when there is thought to be no fixed or, one might say, objective standard of excellence to explain how winners are separated from also-rans, how and why some people succeed and other fails? What rules do people fashion to interact with one another when they feel that, instead of ability, talent, and dedicated service to an organization, politics, adroit talk, luck, connections, and self-promotion are the real sorters of people into sheep and goats?
The mix of objectivity, interaction, ability, and continuous feedback is what makes the HR disruptor market so vibrant. Common features include all anonymous and partly anonymous pulse surveys, goal tracking, 360 feedback, sleek visualization and reports, and all sorts of app integrations. One can quickly get lost in the sheer variety of services offered in the field. Here are some notable characteristics which differentiate most of these platforms:
- Motivation and philosophy. In addition to being first settlers in an exciting new market, the people behind HR disruption platforms are informed by their own professional experience and the overwhelming research in support of employee engagement. Each platform is generally supplemented by a philosophy which defines its features and focus. For example, a lot of the people behind these companies embrace work-life balance and therefore emphasize the efficiency of their application. As these companies continue to validate their product and incorporate feedback themselves, their services will become more refined and irresistible for new customers.
- Technology. Above all, these are HR tech companies. Usability, functionality, and integration are what sets them apart. Do they have an app? How do they integrate to workflows? What are their key features? What’s the quality of their customer support? The list of Modern HR tools is a good place to start addressing these questions.
- Implementation. As first adopters, HR disruptors are painfully aware of the fact that a tool, by itself, cannot change a work culture. This is why a lot of them are creating engaging content and offering consultation services that go in tandem with their platforms. How can employees make the case for these tools? What should the frequency of use be? How would employee data affect pay differentiation? All of these questions are unique to each company and need to be addressed adequately by HR disruptors.
It’s high time to stop indulging in our primordial fear of performance reviews. Every week, there’s an article declaring the death of annual performance reviews. I say stop beating that dead horse and stop putting lipstick on that pig. Most of the rituals sustaining traditional HR practices are too ridiculous to even consider seriously. Instead, let’s focus on the causes behind our never ending discontent and delve into an exciting new market that is already changing the way we work.