3 tech tips HR can use to maximize employee value

Getting the most value out of your employees takes time. Although it’d be much simpler if the recruiting stage is where the efforts of acquiring top talent ends––it’s not.

Hiring a skilled candidate is just one piece of the puzzle when it comes to a return on investment. In order to truly maximize employee value, there needs to be a constant, ongoing process put into place to build existing employees into even better ones.

Here are three great tips for how technology can assist HR leaders in guiding employees to reach their full potential, which will in turn benefit their business’ bottom line.

Teach & track new skills

Through technology, not only can employees acquire new skills, but managers can keep track of them ensuring that they’re utilized.

For many organizations, mobile learning is transforming the way they train their workforce. HR leaders across the board have noticed how locked in people are to their smartphones, so much so, that they’ve brought employee education tools right to them.

An extension of online learning, mobile learning has proven successful as it empowers employees to be in greater control of their learning and professional development.

Making learning material accessible via mobile devices grants employees the flexibility they are often seeking to access information anytime, anywhere and perform their training at a rate that best suits them.

Plus, with most workforce management technologies, HR leaders can monitor and track employee training and certification requirements as needed so they always know when an employee has acquired new skills or training that makes them eligible for additional working jobs or promotions.

Such training leads to employee retention, and a highly skilled workforce that results in a positive impact of overall productivity. This technology helps the HR department to never miss a beat by auto-assigning employees to classes and running certification reports, allowing employees to sign up for upcoming training classes, and tracking acquisition of new skills with reporting tools.

Developing technologies are playing a promising role in pushing employee education into the future, and can make all the difference when it comes to maximizing employee value.

Apply People Analytics

People analytics is used to analyze collective data on employee processes, operations, obstacles and the possibility for individual improvement. The purpose of people analytics is to form employee performance and organizational goals backed by reliable data to achieve long-standing business success.

People analytics provides HR leaders with concrete data that helps to create a visual aid for future decision-making. Having a better understanding of whether current processes have negative or positive effects can draw a clear path of what way to best move forward in.

Whether an employee needs to pick up the slack or is ready to be promoted from within, workforce analytics supply detailed reports on employee performance.

Having an overview of your staff’s strengths and weaknesses enables you to identify areas that need improvement, better fill talent gaps, play up your strongest skillsets, and overall maximize employee value.

Evaluate Employee Experience

Employee engagement has been on HR leaders’ radar for quite some time. With high employee engagement levels being what most businesses strive for, reaching such high levels means employee experience must be taken into consideration––so much so, that the importance of employee experience in the workplace is superseding employee engagement efforts.

Employee experience (EX) is one of the top trends that are changing the way companies retain talent, according to LinkedIn’s Global Talent Trends Report.

Different from employee engagement, LinkedIn defines employee experience (EX) as “everything an employee observes, feels, and interacts with as a part of their company. While engagement is the end goal – engaged employees are more committed and productive – EX is a means to get there. Improving your EX can improve engagement, which can help employees feel more committed and be more productive.”

Gartner analysis shows that 16% of employers are using technologies more frequently to monitor their employees — while some companies track productivity, others monitor employee engagement and well-being to better understand employee experience.

Your best chance at maximizing employee value is through their experience while on the job. Employees who truly enjoy their work environment are typically more dedicated to their professional development.

Positive employee experience often translates into higher employee engagement. Being able to gauge employee experience is a crucial part of employee and business success.

Technology can provide key insights for improving employee experience by identifying how and why people are engaged with what they do, how that translates into the business metrics and what companies can do to not only retain them, but maximize their value.

With employees being the largest investment of any business, there are many reasons to place emphasis on developing the skillsets of your staff.

By doing so, you’ll increase the value of your company’s intellectual assets, build an impressive internal talent pool for promoting from within, and help develop strong leaders to carry your organization to future successes. Technology can play a critical role in helping to maximize employee value — don’t overlook it.