5 Ways to Build a Better Culture With HR Technology

Outstanding company culture tops the list of things millennials look for in a job, and their Baby Boomer and Gen X counterparts aren’t far behind. As part of that culture, today's workers value quality managers and management styles, opportunities to learn and grow, and interesting work.

Building a culture that engages and retains your best employees starts with clear vision and values, and it requires advocacy from company leadership. But what about the grass roots implementation? How do you move from envisioning your ideal culture to creating an environment that promotes those values and ideals?

One vital piece of the puzzle is putting the right technology in place to support your goals, and that starts with your HRIS. Let’s take a look at five ways you can use HR technology to build a culture of engagement:

Onboarding

Onboarding should communicate your cultural values to new employees starting on Day One. It's an opportunity to do much more than simply sign paperwork and set up a new employee login. This is your chance to promote long-term engagement by connecting new hires with peers, demonstrating how much you value them, and making them glad they joined your team. Today's HR software platforms make reaching those goals easier than ever with tools like these:

• Employee Portal - Use a branded online experience to communicate company values with color, images, and your unique voice. 
  
  
• Task Completion Alerts – Keep tabs on how your new hires are progressing through onboarding checklists with task completion reminders and alerts. You can gamify the onboarding process too, by setting completion goals and using leaderboards or progress bars to keep tabs on their headway.
  
  
• Social Tools – Social platforms and communities help new employees connect with colleagues and mentors. For example, create a new employee group where managers answer questions and provide mentorship opportunities.
  
  

Professional Development

Professional development is high on the list of things people value at work, with 92% of employees rating it important or very important in a recent survey. The study also found that people are 15% more engaged and 34% more likely to stay at their job when their employer offers professional development.

Opportunities to learn and grow can take many different forms, from tuition reimbursement programs to in-house training classes. But online learning is an essential element for most professional development programs, and that’s where your HR platform can help:

• Training library – Some HR vendors offer extensive training libraries as part of the platform, making it easy to expand employee knowledge on a wide variety of topics.
  
  
• Online learning – Online learning from external sources can also be a valuable resource for your team. Free resources (like LinkedIn Learning) and paid content (like the courses available from online learning platform Coursera) can both be useful additions to your professional development strategy.
  
  
• Customizable courses – You may also want to provide customized courses that are unique to your organization. Many HR platforms allow you to upload courses into the system so employees can access them and track progress easily.
  
  
• LMS Systems – LMS systems give you an added level of depth and flexibility for formal learning opportunities as compared with free resources or even the widely available open online learning platforms. Cloud-based systems give employees the flexibility to access training resources remotely, and you can tailor the learning environment to the unique needs of your company.

Performance Management

Performance management has undergone a seismic shift over the past decade. No longer are annual reviews the go-to method for measuring employee performance and growth. Frequent, coaching-style check-ins have proven to be more effective in shaping employee behavior than old-school performance assessments, and HR technology has risen to the occasion with tools to help you make the most of every interaction: 

• Peer reviews– Use peer review rating systems and unstructured feedback to boost motivation as team members recognize the contributions of their colleagues.
  
  
• Goal setting– Goal setting software helps employees create actionable targets and monitor progress toward those goals over time.
  
  
• Mobile access
  Mobile access gives employees easy access to their task lists, goals, and personal information. Employees can receive alerts and provide feedback quickly and conveniently from a mobile device rather than being tied to a desk.
  
  

Engagement

Consistent, positive employee experiences are essential for strong engagement, and technology can help you create those experiences by reducing frustration and fostering connection. As part of a values-based culture, tech tools like these can help you promote stronger engagement:

• Communication– Social platforms, internal communications, and project management tools help employees communicate quickly and efficiently with managers and team members.
  
  
• Analytics– Highlighting team progress and successes using data can provide the motivation employees need to stay on target. Productivity metrics and dashboards help individual employees as well as teams and their managers keep a close eye on progress over time.
  
  
• Gamification– Gamification elements such as team competitions, badges, and leaderboards also make good use of data for your engagement strategy. Many HR platforms have these elements built in so that you can integrate them with team management processes.
  
  
• Recognition– According to employee engagement expert Dr. Jack Wiley, recognition is one of the 7 most important factors required for building a strong engagement strategy and is second in motivational impact only to compensation. Recognition tools like internal message boards, social shares, performance tracking, and even a formal recognition platform for rewards and in-the-moment acknowledgements can help you build a culture of value for every employee.
  
  

Flexible Work

Millennials and younger workers often value flexibility in work hours and locations even more than a big paycheck. But how do you effectively track hours and keep tabs on productivity when workers are away from the office?

• Cloud-based HR portal– Cloud-based portals give employees access to their information from anywhere, whether they work from home, in the field, or in the office. Cloud-based systems are standard for most HR vendors, but it still pays to be sure your preferred platform has the functionalities you need.

• Mobile time tracking– A mobile time tracking app such as this one from American Time and Labor Company helps you reduce inaccurate punches, document travel time and rest breaks, and ensure compliance.

• Geofencing– Geofencing capabilities allow you to set coordinates to designate specific locations for clocking in and out, and some will automatically clock employees in when they enter the area.
  
  
• Remote learning– Professional development doesn’t have to be restricted to your on-site employees only. Remote online learning resources give remote employees the same opportunities as in-office workers and keep everyone moving in the same direction.

Of course, we've only scratched the surface of possibilities for integrating technology with culture and engagement. Culture is a multi-faceted endeavor that starts with the question: Why would someone want to work here?

Technology helps you answer that question with seamless, supportive employee experiences, starting with the job application process and extending all the way through the exit interview. By putting the right technology tools in place, you can support cross-organizational efforts to build a culture that positions your company as an employer of choice.

 

Ready to find an HRIS that supports your technology and culture goals? Start with our simple survey! 

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