Employee engagement has always been a key priority for companies. A key employee metric today, engagement plays a ubiquitous role in ensuring employee productivity and retention in the long run. The shift towards employee-centricity, redesigning employee processes and leveraging newer technologies to improve employee experience has been in major parts to improve employee engagement. 

While such a shift towards creating better engagement was often limited to a good-to-have option, changes like work post the pandemic have led to companies reassessing their engagement initiative across the board. This is especially true for the SME sector. The renewed war for talent in an age of rapid digitalisation means companies are vying for the same talent. The changing skills demand puts pressure on SMEs to pay closer attention to how they are engaging and retaining their talent. 

Nuances of the new world of work

People Matters and Keka’s latest ebook on driving employee engagement in an age of digitalisation provides a helpful guide for SMEs seeking to build impactful ways to engage with their employees in the new world of work. 

The ebook notes some of the critical factors that influence employee engagement today are: 

• Company Culture
• Diversity, Inclusion and Equity standards in the workplace
• Technological infrastructure 
• Compensation and benefits
• Collaboration and Communication
• Career development and skilling opportunities
• Work-life balance

With hybrid work becoming the dominant mode of work, companies have new engagement policies that reflect this growing reality. By ensuring the above factors are considered while driving employee engagement strategies, SMEs can create better connections with their employees. Employees can better connect with the work when their culture is inclusive and prioritises the correct values. SMEs can create better ways to engage by providing employees with the right technologies that make work easier, facilitating cross-functional collaboration, providing strong growth opportunities, and ensuring holistic benefits with a clear focus on well-being. 

Such efforts can be rooted in driving employee experience, and by leveraging the right technologies, SMEs can help transform engagement efforts and make them truly impactful.

Technology as an ally

For SMEs entering the new world of work, embracing the opportunities provided by digital systems and real-time HR tech solutions that provide the right tools and a way to monitor engagement levels is essential. Companies seeking to transform their engagement efforts and get better data on how they perform stand a better chance of success with the right tech tools in place. 

The ebook elaborates on how SMEs can leverage technology solutions to improve their employee's experience and create better engagement. :

• Automated Onboarding for a better experience
• Chatbots/AI to provide a regular communication channel 
• Predictive analytics to understand employee disengagement better
• Error-free payroll processing
• Gamification to create connections and social collaborations
• More relevant recognition and rewards
• Accelerated Learning and personal development
• Mood boards and real-time engagement scores
• Empower employees to work smarter and allow better collaboration
• Actively Listening to your employees

Technology can be a great enabler when building a people-first culture. Supporting tech tools with the right HR interventions can help create stronger connections and recreate the physical touchpoints while establishing newer, better ways to connect. Exploring the potential of the new digital frontier enables SMEs to strengthen their traditional HR services with a gamut of new-age possibilities—from revamping their payroll and compensation systems to enabling better employee-leader interactions—all through easy-to-use platforms that support growth and productivity. 

Get your copy of People Matters and Keka’s exclusive ebook on Employee Engagement in the New Digital Frontier, and hear from top HR leaders on how they are leveraging technology to improve your employee engagement today.