ABSENCE MAY MAKE THE HEART GROW FONDER, BUT NOT IF VITAL TALENT IS LEFT UNINFORMED AND FEELING ISOLATED. WHAT IS FEASIBLE, WHAT IS SUSTAINABLE, EQUITABLE AND MUTUAL? UNQUESTIONABLY, THE MOST OBVIOUS CHANGE IS THE REDUCTION OF PHYSICAL CONTACT AND SO EX – AS WELL AS A SENSE OF BELONGING ACROSS THE VOID AND CREATING DEEPER CONNECTIONS WITH WORK, COLLEAGUES AND THE ORGANISATION – IS AT THE TOP OF THE PRIORITY LIST. DRIVING EX IS NOT PRESCRIPTIVE OR A FAIT ACCOMPLI, IT IS A COMPLEX TRANSITION TO MESH NEW RULES OF ENGAGEMENT IN A REMOTE, FLEXIBLE AND VIRTUAL SETTING.

There’s no doubt that virtual communication platforms – along with headliners Teams and Zoom – played a major role in enabling hybrid working to flourish. Indeed, many businesses will now be asking, ‘what did we do without them’? As a result of the pandemic, Microsoft announced that Teams was used by 270 million people in 2022, up from 145 million in 2021 and 70 million in 2020. Likewise, Zoom – which was launched in 2013 – only truly entered the workplace consciousness during lockdown.

Unquestionably, Teams and Zoom make communication easier, but they don’t necessarily provide the structure to underpin a consistent employee engagement experience. That’s because driving true engagement is about more than keeping people connected via video calls, which brings us to cloud-based HR technology platforms, such as ServiceNow. These platforms can connect team leaders, HR functions, other crucial business functions and employees and provide great insight into employee experience. They can help overcome some of the challenges they might face when implementing hybrid working models. So, what are the benefits? We know that keeping employees well connected to the organisation is a key factor in driving engagement. Employees should not feel isolated from the teams responsible for their wellbeing and hybrid working has the potential to weaken those links where, for example, an employee is working remotely, hundreds of miles away from their team leader or HR specialist. Clearly, connections need to be strengthened.

An employee can access services, advice, processes and content through a personalised, cloud-based portal or mobile application – and at a location and time that suits them – they are more likely to feel supported. In this scenario, employees are also less likely to be frustrated by delays to simple information requests, which may have an effect on their personal lives – think dealing with a letting agent when they’re house hunting or handling an HMRC issue. Payslips, leave entitlement periods, training information and travel expenses policies, can all be accessed via a single dashboard. It’s the simple things that can make a big difference. Concurrently, machine learning and automated intelligence insights generate content suggestions based on previous searches and this helps to channel employees to the information they need or the right person to support those moments that require human interaction. Additionally, tailored content, targeted at users through desktop-accessible portals, can also keep employees informed and on track with developments in the business.

Cloud technology platforms can enable an omnichannel approach and provide options through which to engage – think chat bots, live chat or mobile applications – while keeping their communications on record, protected and auditable, it works for both employees and the organisation. Taking the hybrid model a step further, picture an employee working in a different country and time zone to their usual base. How might they easily access an HR professional? Is it fair or practical to ask them to wait until 11pm for a call, when they would prefer to be tucked up in bed? A technology platform, which can automatically align their request with an HR function in the same time zone, gives them a route to the support they need, when they need it. A cloud-based platform can support businesses in successfully onboarding remote workers. This can help to bring relevant departments such as HR and IT together and create a workflow building up to the employee’s start date. From the new employee’s point of view, it’s a seamless experience. But perhaps more valuable from an employee’s perspective would be the use of a mobile app, linked to the HR platform, which could provide a map of the onboarding process and a clear structure to follow. From the moment a contract is signed, they can then start accessing onboarding information and be guided through each stage in the journey, from ordering their laptop to completing the induction activities. It’s a cleaner and simpler onboarding process and it can create more positive perceptions of the business from the start.

But a positive employee experience is about more than streamlined admin – take social interactions, for example – the sense of community that is created by employees working shoulder-to-shoulder with each other can be difficult to foster in hybrid working models – despite the best efforts of Zoom quizmasters and Teams lunch organisers. Without it, employees can become detached from their co-workers and their personal ties to a company are weakened. Friendships matter, we are social animals, after all. Making the day-to-day employee experience more positive is just part of the picture though. Automating administrative processes as discussed, cuts down the time spent by business functions on repetitive tasks. This gives specialist teams the opportunity to focus on dealing with more complex enquires.

An effective technology platform can ensure that an employee is connected to the right advisor, first time. This can alleviate the frustration caused by an enquiry being passed from team to team, without a resolution in sight. Data gathered on enquiries can also help HR functions to resource their teams to an appropriate level. For instance, if through a technology platform, HR teams can have greater visibility over enquiries or knowledge requests, they can identify trends and surges in demand. This can trigger a strategic response. A company, for example, may recruit more specialist expertise into its HR teams or upskill existing HR personnel in line with employee requirements. Again, this ensures support of employees to the highest level possible and provides them with the information they need. So an effective cloud-based HR technology platform, embedded into an organisation, can empower both employees and specialist teams and, as for the transition to hybrid models, technology can do far more than provide video call functions and virtual conferencing, it can transform the connections between company and employee and supercharge long-term engagement.

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