Poor Employee Experience? Check Your Workflow Efficiency

Businesses are increasingly recognizing that employee experience has as significant a bottom-line impact as customer experience. Historically, businesses prioritized customer satisfaction, often overlooking the needs and experiences of their employees. However, this is changing, and it’s about time!

For example, according to Gallup’s 2024 State of the Global Workforce report, only 23% of employees worldwide are engaged at work. This statistic is not only alarming but also financially devastating. Gallup estimates that low employee engagement costs the global economy a staggering $8.9 trillion.

In the U.S. and Canada alone, the report revealed that 51% of workers are not engaged and 16% are actively disengaged.

It’s an urgent call to action for organizations to focus on improving employee experience to enhance overall productivity and job satisfaction.

How Does Your Employee Experience Stack Up?

Employee experience encompasses all aspects of an employee’s work life and interaction with their employer, including the physical workspace, company culture and the technology they use every day. A positive employee experience that inspires people to do great work is crucial for bolstering engagement and productivity.

However, today’s workforce demands more than just perks like free snacks. They’re accustomed to seamless digital experiences and modern, intuitive technology that enhances their work experience and enables them to work from anywhere at any time.

When employees are saddled with outdated or clunky software, frustration can quickly set in, leading to decreased productivity and morale. This, in turn, can result in high turnover rates, which are costly.

Are They Leaving Because of Tech Friction?

Don’t underestimate the influence of workflow inefficiency on your people’s mental health.

To address employee disengagement, many companies are turning to user experience management software to gain visibility into the everyday employee experience. These tools utilize advanced technologies, such as AI and machine learning, to provide real-time performance analytics and insights into how employees interact with enterprise applications.

Key features of modern user experience management tools include:

• Intuitive dashboards that allow for customizable, detailed reporting
• Seamless integration with other enterprise systems, ensuring a cohesive user experience, and
• Enhanced security and privacy features to protect sensitive employee data.

These tools enable proactive identification and resolution of issues hindering productivity, automate routine tasks, provide contextual assistance, as well as incorporate user feedback to continuously improve employee satisfaction and engagement.

Once you understand the specific tech struggles that your workers experience every day, you can decide the most appropriate ways to address them.

What Needs to Be Fixed?

The first step in improving employee experience is to identify inefficiencies within workflows. Organizations can achieve this by:

• Gathering feedback from employees about their experiences with current processes. Surveys, focus groups and one-on-one interviews can provide valuable insights into pain points.
• Analyzing workflows to identify bottlenecks (including outdated applications) and areas for improvement. This may involve mapping out processes to visualize where delays or frustrations occur.
• Implementing targeted training to address specific challenges identified by employees. Tailored training programs can help employees become more proficient with the tools and processes they use daily.

This data will help you understand the technological updates that are the most important to implement – and the order in which you should execute them. The most important issues to correct are those that impede your employees’ ability to perform their jobs effectively. These include convoluted business processes and technical difficulties that cause significant business impact.

Later, after changes have been made, you should then evaluate:

• Which modifications were the most successful?
• Which had the most immediate impact?
• What worked across the entire company?

Metrics such as task completion speed, error rates and employee satisfaction scores can provide a clear picture of how well new processes are working.

Continuous Improvement

Improving employee experience is not a one-time fix. It requires a holistic and continuous approach — monitoring employee engagement, productivity and satisfaction, and regularly revisiting processes and tech, to create an environment that sustains success.

In addition, encouraging a culture of open communication can help the company stay attuned to employee needs. Encouraging feedback and actively listening to employee concerns can lead to meaningful improvements in the workplace.

In short, treat your employees the same way you treat your customers, and you can’t go wrong.