Originally posted August 02, 2019 on SnapComms.com
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If employee engagement is critical to organizational success, why are so many workplaces struggling to achieve it?
A third of employees globally aren’t engaged, and across the world many workplaces are seeing employee engagement flatline. That’s a worry for employers – and a big opportunity missed.
But stronger engagement is only a tap away. Employee communication apps marry digital capabilities with personalized experiences. The result is a communications hub which boosts staff satisfaction, workplace culture and business performance.
Employee communication apps work because they harness the power of your people to increase employee engagement – and here’s why.
1. Feeding the app-etite
Workers today expect a lot more from their corporate communications. They’ve been brought up on a digital diet of short-burst, highly-visual, socially-oriented content. However, when being communicated to by employers they often receive long emails that are quite the opposite.
Throughout their personal lives, apps answer questions and address needs. How often do we hear the phrase “There’s an app for that”?
The ubiquity of apps has fostered an expectation among consumers which extends to their jobs. Research shows more than 70% of employees want the company they work for to provide them the same level of technology they use in their personal lives.
An employee communication app is one of the most effective ways to reflect the messaging and tech preferences of today’s workforce. The increasing proportion of tech-savvy younger workers mean less resistance to downloading and using your app, provided it demonstrates value and feeds their app-etite.
2. Your company in your pocket
Apps provide constant accessibility. They’re an always-on link between employer and employee. Not that it means being on-call for email duty 24/7. It’s about facilitating stronger connections and better engagement – wherever your employees work, in whatever role they perform.
The opportunity is there for businesses to seize. Nearly two-thirds of European employees use a work-provided device, whether smartphone, laptop or tablet. Adding a communication app to these devices streamlines staff keeping up with organizational news and engaging with content, which helps them connect with the company.
It’s particularly valuable in today’s working world where staff are often remotely-based and geographically-dispersed. It’s estimated that by 2020, three quarters of the US workforce will be mobile workers. That’s a lot of employees who won’t benefit from office-based culture initiatives. If your organization doesn’t use an employee app, how will you reach them?
Communicating via a app strengthens associations between employees everywhere and enables easier engagement – whether you’re in Toronto or Timbuktoo.
3. This time it’s personal
Relevance equals readership. It’s a universal truth every communicator knows. The more relevant the message, the more likely it is to be read, understood and acted upon.
Apps offer a more personalized experience that enriches communications. Employees receive messages that matter to them, in a format which attracts their interest. That’s crucial for goals like fostering positive workplace culture.
By communicating relevant messages and inviting participation, an employee engagement app can improve employee engagement levels above 75%. By adding a multi-device approach you’re able to reach and engage with your full employee base.
From integrating company branding throughout app design, to wider customization of content and display, employee experience is lifted through greater personalization.
4. The best tool for the job
When did you last drive around in a horse and carriage? Or phone friends on a chunky Motorola DynaTAC 8000X? You don’t, because traditional tools don’t meet modern needs.
It’s the same for internal communications. Using corporate emails isn’t likely to improve employee engagement, especially when email open rates languish at only a bit over 20%. Staff aren’t engaging with what they don’t see or aren’t interested in reading.
The highest-performing employees are those equipped with the tools, technology and processes to exceed at their jobs. The biggest driver of employee engagement for North American workers is enabling infrastructure. For modern businesses, employee communication apps fulfill an essential part of this infrastructure.
5. Breaking down barriers
Sometimes engagement isn’t just about encouraging involvement – it’s also about breaking down the barriers in the way. It may be the less sexy side of the equation, but enterprise apps that streamline process directly improve business advantage and drive engagement.
In a 2016 study, 53% of respondents felt that the primary benefit of enterprise apps were improved business processes and increased employee productivity. Clearly the value of employee apps extend far beyond immediate message impact.
Search features mimic consumer app experiences, making communications on a specific subject easy to locate. This enhanced content accessibility means messages may be engaged with long after they’re first received.
Employee engagement is the fuel that powers workplace success. Employee communication apps fulfill a core role in improving culture, staff satisfaction and business performance. Forward-looking businesses will increasingly feature an employee app as part of their business communication tools.
Written by Michael Hartland, Internal Communications Specialist at SnapComms
Join SnapComms at the 4th Annual Digital Workplace Summit, March. 31 – April 2 in Las Vegas