The findings from the State of the Digital Workplace Report (see chart below) show collaboration tools, community and social platforms, and unified communication tools are among the most important workplace technologies.
The State of the Digital Workplace Report also shows, as one would anticipate, that most of these technologies at the early stage of implementation, “need work” to be more effective.
Type of Technology | Effect at Early-Stage | Effect at Late-Stage |
Group Chat / Collaboration | 74% Satisfactory | 44.2% Works Well |
Community & Social | 79.5% Satisfactory | 27.5% Works Well |
Unified Communications | 81.5% Satisfactory | 28.9% Works Well |
The question is, what type of work will make the difference? Companies can implement simpler ways to increase effectiveness of these technologies by aligning with financial metrics such as revenue and turnover.
According to the slide below, metrics most frequently tracked to measure digital workforce improvement are employee engagement (40.4%), followed by employee satisfaction (31.5%) and customer satisfaction (30%).
However, if we focus on impacting financial aspects associated with the metrics mentioned above, we can include both employee turnover (financial loss) and revenue (financial gain).
Example: Gallup recently published an article that proves why turnover is important. Findings in this report show turnover in companies is a $ trillion problem. This means that improving turnover by even 10% or more has a significant financial impact.
Example: According to CIO.com, leaders can solve turnover problems by focusing on how they attract and retain talent. Dan Pickett, CEO of Nfrastructure with a 94% employee retention rate, says “Retention starts right from the beginning, from the application process to screening applicants to choosing who to interview … It starts with identifying what aspects of culture and strategy you want to emphasize, and then seeking those out in your candidates.”
Jason Bradshaw, chief customer and marketing officer for Volkswagen Group Australia discovered that solving the customer experience problem directly impacts the employee experience.
Volkswagen Group Australia “had a significant turnover problem,” Bradshaw said. “And when that’s happening, it’s really difficult to get a consistent experience. We’re starting at ground zero experience for customers.”
Volkswagen’s trained frontline managers at dealerships on leadership and communication skills to improve the on-boarding process within a dealership.
They asked employees questions such as, “Are your leaders at the dealership inspiring you or creating an environment for you to do your best?”
“And with those dealerships that invest time and energy into our employee experience program, we can see a direct correlation between the results that they get and the customer experience score and their profit,” Bradshaw said.
There’s a faster way to help leaders and employees make the connection between the between the financial and human aspects of both the employee and customer experience—collaborating as a community.
The best way to move your efforts forward is for you and your team join at the Digital Workplace Experience Conference June 3 – 5, 2020 in Chicago.
Together we can drive adoption and effectiveness for your implementations. Wherever you are at in the Digital Workplace Experience Journey is perfect. If you have an example to share that connects the employee experience and the customer experience, please apply to speak.