The Connection between Real Time Feedback Analytics and Employee Engagement
You have employee feedback, now what are you going to do with it? Real time feedback provides the insights to drive success…
Amid the daily hustle and bustle of their work routines, it is not uncommon for workers to start losing sight of an organisation’s overarching business objectives.
Some business leaders view this waning morale and job dissatisfaction as a ‘given’ – resorting to traditional human resources interventions such as team building, performance assessments and workshops, to re-energise and focus workers.
The challenge with these established approaches is that they often occur at the tail-end of lengthy periods of demotivation and decline, additionally the impact of these interventions is often short-lived.
The good news is that this a golden opportunity to put the benefit of real-time data to work, in building enhanced employer-employee relationships.
The Significance of Real Time Feedback
Real time feedback means that employees and managers provide feedback as it occurs, rather than waiting for formalised feedback opportunities that may be less relevant or accurate at a later time.
Traditional annual reviews and team building exercises must be done, and have their advantages, but in isolation have the disadvantage of being a collection of indirect, out-of-context feedback that is historically focused and lacking in context.
In contrast, real-time employee feedback systems aid in the monitoring of work progress and ensure that all team members are aware of current developments and performance expectations.
The Role of Data Analytics in Real Time Feedback
Data analytics technologies and techniques enable businesses to analyse large data sets and gather information about employee preferences and behaviour.
This data can then be mined by software applications, to identify various patterns and relationships. When combined with predictive analytics, it generates models to forecast employee behaviour as well as other future actions, scenarios and trends.
Benefits of Real Time Feedback Mechanisms
The benefit of providing real-time employee feedback is the same across all industries – it addresses immediate employee challenges and contributes to overall organisational cohesiveness. This is usually reflected as follows:
- Deadlines – it keeps workers abreast of changing deadlines and timelines, avoiding the frustration of wasted time.
- Improved problem solving – when data is integrated across various business operations potential workarounds and solutions to workplace challenges are more easily identified and implemented.
- Resource allocation – it allows resources to be allocated where they are needed. It also endows employees with a sense of empowerment, knowing that they can call upon resources to deal with immediate challenges.
Coupled with skilful people management, real-time employee feedback can make a significant impact on individual employees. For instance, a production manager may note via IoT data that a worker is repeatedly making machine operation mistakes. As an initial step, recommendations can be made for corrective action.
The data management system available to the manager allows for the output of this operator to be flagged for ongoing monitoring. Over a period of time, the manager notes that the mistakes are recurring. At the manager’s discretion a one-on-one session can be arranged to discuss the challenge in the light of a wide range of data that is available to both parties. This data can include: the operator’s work experience, training on the use of the specific machine, number of work breaks per shift, overtime frequency and wellness programme utilisation, to name but a few.
Together, they can analyse the problem and constructively decide on interventions to not only improve work performance but potentially also expand the operator’s competencies.
Utilising Data Analytics for Swift Response
Analytics are generally divided into four classes and can be used to adjust approaches to employee related issues in a very short time:
- Descriptive – this provides insight into what happened in the past. Information such as employee turnover and lower production levels are early indicators of potential challenges.
- Diagnostic – this analysis provides answers to questions. It may reveal that staff turnover rates are up because salaries and benefits at the company are no longer comparable to industry standards. Production levels in turn can be lower because production machinery is outdated.
- Predictive – based on machine learning this determines what is likely to happen based on historical data. The frequency of production machinery breakdowns and staff turnover rates can be predicted with great accuracy.
- Prescriptive – this drives decision making and merges data from all the aforementioned approaches to guide and propose decision making
In each instance business leaders can gain important insight into operational challenges and take decisions that signal to employees that their concerns are understood and being addressed.
Agile Employee Engagement Strategies
Agile employee engagement is a management style that places a premium on frequent employee communication and collaboration between employees and managers. It is based on the principles of agility, which emphasise collaboration, iteration, employee-centricity and adaptability.
Cross functional teams representing various business units have gained tremendous influence in the agile employee engagement space. These diverse teams challenge conventional ways of thinking, allowing them to approach and solve problems from various perspectives.
This agile approach reduces the problem-solving cycle time because issues are not passed sequentially between business units. Instead, the cross-functional team works together to solve problems efficiently and effectively, which can have a significant positive impact on employee engagement.
Embracing Change and Evolution
Data analytics are an important way to understand the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation’s employee engagement.
Agile employee engagement makes it easier for leaders and teams to test, learn and adjust to address complex business challenges. As a result, there is a shift towards greater adaptability among employees, which leads to higher levels of resilience throughout an organisation.
At Wyzetalk we are fully geared towards making your agile employee engagement ambitions a reality. Our employee engagement platform allows companies to quickly and easily source data, segment results, and surface trends, as well as provide insights and advice on the managerial actions necessary to drive improvements in business performance.
Key Takeaways
Utilising data resources in a company to provide real-time feedback to employees is becoming a critical differentiator in the employee engagement realm. Smart companies are using the benefits of analytics to respond rapidly to changing business environments while simultaneously being flexible and proactive with their employee engagement strategies.
Data gathered via employee feedback provides companies with the ability to rapidly deploy employee engagement efforts. They can also customise the employee experience in ways that were not previously possible, allowing them to unlock, manage, and sustain new levels of improved employee relationships.
Wyzetalk’s employee engagement solution enables two-way communication, ensuring that employees can provide invaluable feedback necessary for operational success. To find out how your business can benefit from our platform, talk to an expert.