It’s 2022, you can’t afford to not care about people

Borderless talent has changed the way people look for jobs. But it has also made it harder for organizations to get to know their employees. In the past, HR teams could gauge employee sentiment by walking around the office. But now we hardly know what employees are feeling—and that’s a problem.  

Here’s where things get interesting. Traditional CHROs have continued with the status quo. New-age CHROs on the other hand aren’t afraid to look beyond the obvious when it comes to measuring employee sentiment and acting on it.  

The CHRO of a leading fashion e-commerce platform for instance speaks about social well-being which is the most hit post-pandemic. It takes someone who is willing to listen carefully to employees to go to this level of detail. And I think this is the single most important thing that can help enterprises become people-centric: their willingness to build a culture of continuous listening. 

Personalized conversations are non-negotiable

Today, right from the content we consume to the shoes we wear, everything is tailored to our tastes. And there’s no reason to think it should be otherwise when it comes to the workplace. Extensive annual surveys - notorious for inaction are not going to cut it any longer with today’s workforce. Employees are the new customers. CHROs need to look for ways to personalize their conversations, make meaningful connections with employees, and get actionable insights that can be baked into their people-first strategies. 

For example, organizations are using Conversational AI to talk to their employees at scale and personalize conversations based on the employee’s journey. Someone who has been in the organization for 90 days needs a different conversation than someone who has been there for a year and gone through manager changes. Such personalization can help managers predict who is at risk of quitting and take corrective action in real time. In fact, in many cases, they’ve also been able to prevent employee disengagement by overcoming trivial challenges early on. 

Listening to your employees 

We analyzed data from 50,000 employees between 2019 and 2021 and here’s what we found. There was a 112% increase in at-risk employees even before the Great Resignation buzzword surfaced in May 2021. This data by itself is a conclusive indicator to suggest that trends like Great Resignation and Quiet Quitting have been in the making for some time now.  

A people-centric culture helps CHROs understand what employees really want out of their careers. We can't leave employees to find solutions on their own. Employees need to have a safe space to voice themselves freely. And organizations need to listen meaningfully in order for the listening to have any positive impact. 

Real-time action on feedback 

Employee sentiment is changing rapidly. Things that were relevant a few months ago are not relevant anymore. For example, our analysis of 110,000 employee conversations suggests that employees prioritize a sense of belonging, career growth, performance management processes, and benefits and policies a company has to offer more, over a raise. This is proof that leaders need to focus more on employee sentiments in real-time, rather than relying on dated benchmarks. 

Personalized conversations combined with predictive AI can reveal powerful insights into what is happening with each employee. Not only will you be able to identify which employees are burnt out or unhappy but you’ll also be able to have 1-1 conversations with at-risk employees and double down on your people-first initiatives. 

Employee experience and the future of workplaces 

Data from 100+ companies suggest that the attrition rate is projected at 19% by the end of 2022 as compared to 12.1% in 2021. Today, organizations are faced with an uphill battle of finding, retaining, and engaging top talent. Winning this battle is crucial for business success. 

Employee experience directly impacts the way everyone feels about your organization. A lousy employee experience will affect your bottom line negatively. 

It is a tall order, yes! But if you can nail employee experience then people will want to stick around and help the business thrive. And to achieve this outcome, organizations will have to rewire their DNA at its very core, requiring them to put their people first, not merely in words, but in actions too.

Tanmaya Jain

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Tanmaya Jain is the Founder and chief executive officer of inFeedo.