3 Tips for Measuring Employee Sentiment: How to Achieve a Higher eNPS
The eNPS has been a highly sought after metric since its inception in 2003. In recent years, it has evolved into its own identity, integrated into onboarding programs, yearly surveys, and more. But what exactly is it and why should we strive for a higher score?
Choosing the Right Software for You
Tip The 3 questions to consider when choosing engagement, performance, and talent management software are: What problem are you trying to solve? What ongoing support with be accessible to you? Price Software Buyer’s Guide Choosing the right engagement, performance, and talent management software boils down to finding the platform that solves your current organizational challenges, future desires, and fuels the employee experience. It is about finding your Goldilocks: not too big, not too small, but just right. In an endless sea of Google searches for the “best” software solution, how do you efficiently sift through the digital haystack to find the needle? How to Choose the Right Performance Management Software Below are questions to consider throughout your search along with corresponding WorkDove best practices. 1. Functionality: What problem(s) are you trying to solve? While it may be tempting to get swept away by software platforms that offer a plethora of solutions, it’s important to focus on the ones that are tailored to your specific performance and talent management challenges. After all, a solution that doesn’t address your needs won’t provide the two major things you are looking for: an ROI (return on investment) and an ROE (return on expectations). That’s why it’s crucial to gather input from all stakeholders and identify your organization’s key challenges before diving into the search process. When you have a clear idea of what you need, it’s easier to find a solution that meets your expectations and delivers measurable results. Common challenges that engagement, performance, and talent management platforms can help address include tracking performance reviews and scores in one central location, monitoring goal progress across the organization, documenting coaching conversations and peer feedback, and keeping a pulse on employee satisfaction and sentiment. Clients regularly migrate from competing software platforms to WorkDove. Often they tell us that other systems were not only too expensive but too complex and didn’t align with their needs. We take pride at WorkDove to assess our client’s needs and align the solution. A software solution may seem perfect for your organization, but if it’s not user-friendly, too complex, or includes more features/functions than you need, employees will shy away from using it. At WorkDove, we understand that people gravitate towards the technology path of least resistance, which is why our platform offers a simple, single source of truth for employees, managers, and admins. Plus, our Support team is always available to help users throughout their journey, ensuring a seamless experience. 2. What ongoing support will be accessible to you? The reality is that you are not simply looking for a performance management software solution but rather a partner in engagement, performance, and talent management. These organizational needs are ever-evolving and it makes a marked difference when you are aligned with a tech company that provides ongoing account management relationships, resources, and best practices to fuel your experience. When you are exploring software, ask about ongoing support. As noted, we often welcome our competitors’ clients with open arms. When we ask what drove them from their existing platform, it usually is driven by a poor customer experience. For example, many software vendors sign you to a contract, share some videos, and wish you good luck. That just does not set people up for success. WorkDove is more than just a software solution; it’s a partner in your organization’s performance and talent management journey. From the moment you sign up, your dedicated Onboarding Consultant will guide you through the entire process and seamlessly transition you into ongoing account maintenance interactions. In addition to the intuitive platform, WorkDove offers a wealth of resources, including Help articles, Support chats, exclusive webinars, and weekly Deep Dive training sessions to ensure that your experience is always top-notch. 3. Price The price conversation ultimately needs to answer one question: What is the actual return for the price that you pay? When looking for an engagement, performance, and talent management software solution, it’s important to consider platforms that can grow alongside your organization. Will the subscription provide everything upfront, or can you add features as you go? Take the time to identify your must-haves, nice-to-haves, and potential future needs so you can eliminate options that don’t meet your criteria. This will allow you to make informed decisions on how to allocate your budget for performance and talent management. Though many of our clients use the entire WorkDove platform with all apps included, we have starter packages that allow you to use the Performance Review, Check-Ins, and Recognition apps. Those start at $5k for up to 100 users, and individual apps can be purchased as low as $3 per month, per user. Though the system has to first meet your company’s needs and offer a superior customer success operation, you don’t have to overpay for an engagement, performance, and talent management platform. We like to say, find a system that is “Just enough, but not too much.” The system should be easy to use, not offer you excess functionality that you don’t need, and be affordable. Regularly, WorkDove hears that it offers the right functionality, and allows them to save $4-5 per month, per user, and in some cases $10,000-$20,000 per year or more for a 250-employee organization. WorkDove Software Buyer’s Guide We have taken the time to develop a Software Buyer’s Guide to make your search even more simplistic and save you precious time! This guide is meant to do exactly that: guide you toward the performance and talent management digital solution that fits “just right” for your organization’s growing needs. Check it out below! Software Buyer’s Guide
Save Time and Money with a Right-Sized Performance & Talent Management Platform
According to Bain and Company, over a period of seven years, companies with more engaged workers grew revenue 2.5x as much as companies with less engaged workers. Similarly, Gallup found that highly engaged workplaces see a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales. Though the main focus of an employee experience platform is to make talent your competitive advantage and drive business results, your organization can also save a lot of time and money with a system that is just the right size and fit for your organization. Maintaining a single source of truth for all performance and talent management data reduces man/woman hours, saves money, ensures data integrity and version control, and creates a more engaging employee experience. If you find your organization sifting through old papers and/or managing multiple disparate digital systems, these are not best practices. You can save time and money with one single source of truth that can grow with your business. In this article, we will discuss the implicit and explicit savings your organization can attain by using one platform that powers engagement, performance, and talent management. Reduce Turnover and Save Money How exactly can a performance and talent management platform that provides one single source of truth not only drive the employee experience and engagement but also save time and money? Anyone with experience in recruiting knows the excessive amount of hours and resources spent on finding strong candidates. Hiring for new roles is one beast but refilling roles due to employee turnover can even be more costly. According to new research from SHRM, the average cost per hire was roughly $4,700, but many employers estimate that the total cost (time spent by department heads helping HR fill the role, sourcing, interviewing, etc.) can actually be 3 to 4 times the position’s salary. When roles have to be replaced, multiple employees must contribute to filling that position, resulting in precious hours and energy being taken away from other important areas. In many cases, poor performance occurs prior to an employee’s departure from your organization (a report from Gallup detailed in an HRD article found that poor-performing employees cost the economy on average $450 to $550 billion per year). One of the main ROI metrics WorkDove’s HR clients use to measure success is employee turnover. Fortunately, by leveraging WorkDove’s engagement, performance, and talent management platform it helps them minimize turnover. Leveraging the platform to do regular check-ins, track performance, monitor cultural fit through behavioral displays, and take a pulse on employee sentiment are best practices embedded in the platform. Hosting employee data in WorkDove helps minimize turnover, and hence, time and money. An all-in-one system that naturally fits into the everyday workflow connects your employees to one another while simultaneously engaging with easy technology they are comfortable with and excited about. Efficiency Where It Counts: WorkDove Customers vs. Others Utilizing a comprehensive performance and talent management platform like WorkDove saves time and resources in the areas that our clients have shared are the most important. Listed below are some of the core areas of the platform, which help customers save money, create a more engaging employee experience, and make talent a competitive advantage. Aligning the Organization Around Core Values When core values are not the cornerstone on which your organization is built it becomes very difficult to be intentional with culture. The result is often bad hires, an inability to coach appropriately, and the lack of a common language present among your employees. Basing performance and talent management on an agreed-upon set of core values immediately brings employees at every level together and held to the same standard. Cascading Goals Inefficient organizations are marked by company, department, and individual goals that are either not tracked well or simply not met. Goals that do not align with the overarching mission and vision create confusion and do not ultimately drive business results. A single source of truth for where and how all goals connect to one another ensures all contributors are headed in the same direction and take ownership of their progress. Ongoing Coaching and Development Consistent one-on-one check-ins, unique individual development plans, and performance improvement plans are all indicators of a team that is heavily invested in the coaching and engagement of its talent. These practices foster an environment that keeps talent sticking around for the long run, reducing resources expended on finding new talent. Employee Sentiment/Workplace Satisfaction Do you have a read on your employees’ overall feelings at your organization? Without a platform that takes frequent pulse checks on sentiment and satisfaction, you are missing a vital piece of information that may quickly lead to high employee turnover. Employees experience varying perceptions of your organization throughout their time there. Sentiment analysis gives your managers foresight to tackle any negativity or frustration in the moment. Recognition Everyone wants to be recognized for a job well done. Period. Giving employees a singular tool by which they can give and receive positive feedback, especially when it’s built on core values, creates a deeply-rooted community that withstands remote and hybrid work. It also adds a healthy dose of fun to the workday! Surveys and 360-Degree Feedback According to Zippia, 65% of employees desire more feedback. Continually tracked peer feedback gives leaders a holistic perspective of their direct reports, leading to richer coaching experiences and crucial conversations that happen faster. Asking for feedback about various topics and people from your employees also shows that their opinion is valued, leading to increased engagement. Performance Reviews Employees are rarely thrilled to complete performance reviews but this frustration is compounded when they put in the time and effort only to see no follow-up from their organization. Housing appraisal data in one location allows you to track trends over time, monitor employee growth, and quickly address performance and core value needs. Monitoring performance data well and in one place empowers employees by giving them a voice in the process and proving their perspective and growth matter to you. Interested in
Improve Human Resource Management by Complementing Your HRIS/HCM System
In an age of organizations reducing their digital footprint, many HRIS and HCM systems offer performance management modules to keep human resource needs in one place. Though this attempt to consolidate systems may save some money, many HR leaders have shared that these modules greatly need to improve in the area of talent management. WorkDove addresses these challenges by offering seamless integrations with virtually any HRIS. In addition, we complement your HRIS/HCM platform and existing processes with a best-in-class talent management bundle. This talent bundle helps your organization power the employee experience, including a company’s ability to identify, develop, engage, and promote employees and future leaders. The Talent Bundle: The complement to your performance management module(s) A traditional performance management module will include performance reviews, cascading goals, one-to-one check-in components, and peer recognition. Whether you are happy with the performance management module offered in your HRIS or need a third-party solution, both parties know there is a massive gap in talent management functionality. Once organizations are confident in their performance management practices, they move past that solid foundation, developing their talent and working to attract the talent they want. Unfortunately, this is where most performance management modules miss the mark and where WorkDove fills the gap. Talent management complements performance management by allowing you to use the data gathered from measuring performance to identify, coach, and develop internal talent. Your strategic investment in your talent becomes quite attractive to those on the outside seeking a development-focused culture. WorkDove’s Talent Bundle further elevates the work you put into performance practices through 4 applications: 9-box leadership succession planning tool, 360-Degree Feedback, Individual Development Plan Plus (IDP+), and manager and employee Check-Ins. Seamless Integrations With WorkDove, you can access and easily update your users’ information through seamless API and SFTP integrations. Because integration with your current HRIS/HCM is so vital to the success of your performance and talent programs, we integrate with virtually any system, such as ADP, UKG, Bamboo HR, and more. WorkDove is a Gold partner in the ADP Marketplace and offers API integration with ADP WorkForce Now® and WorkForce Next Gen®. HR administration and performance/talent management are separate functions, but they do not have to be separate systems that do not communicate. Instead, aligning the two strategies creates an experience that eliminates duplicate work for the administrator(s) and produces one clear path for the employee experience and journey. What differentiates WorkDove from the rest? Because organizations are all at different places on the road to performance and talent management, the Talent Bundle is offered a la carte. Thus, you only purchase the applications you need when you need them. WorkDove is passionate about offering training and support from the Sales process and beyond throughout your time with us. This includes a dedicated onboarding team, continual Customer Success touchpoints, an extensive knowledge base, customer-only webinars, and live Support available to all users. Our 9-Box leadership succession planning tool is the best on the market because it is the most user-friendly tool currently offered and the closest match to HR best practices. With real-time drag-and-drop capabilities that emphasize face-to-face conversations, this tool increases accountability and decreases the time spent on data collection and aggregation. We offer significant cost savings relative to our competitors. In a one-to-one comparison with Lattice, for example, you receive an estimated cost saving of about $5K per 100 software users. Our strong partnership with ADP as a Gold Partner allows for a plug-and-play integration experience through the ADP API connector. For ADP users, this means your initial launch with us could not be simpler and that WorkDove will grow with you amidst every organizational change. Intrigued by how WorkDove can speak directly to your HRIS and enhance talent management processes? Request Demo
7 Steps to Effective Leadership Succession & Talent Management
Most organizations believe in the practice of leadership succession planning because they recognize the critical nature of business continuity. However, many need a standardized and effective process for executing it properly and sustainably.
The Talent Bundle: Taking Talent Management to a Higher Level
You know us for having the best performance management software that leads to high-performance cultures. But how do high-performance cultures maintain traction and continually develop talent? Join us as we share how to take your talent management process to a higher level with the Talent Bundle. Discover how to: * Easily identify potential top talent * Gain valuable insight through peer feedback best practices * Ensure alignment of talent and strategically track goal progression * Empower the employee journey through inspiring development practices Watch The Webinar
Leadership Succession Made Simple: Do it right and do it (much) faster.
HR.Com Webinar January 2023 Identifying key successors is nothing new to organizations’ business continuity plans. Yet, the process, tools, and methodologies being all over the map, often prevent the timely and effective execution of this critical business process. Interested in learning about performance review phrases? This recording from HR.com walks through how to simplify and create efficiencies in your leadership succession process. As they relate to leadership succession, Melissa will review: A standardized, well-defined, and accurate way of measuring employee performance on a regular cadence. How to (simply) build and execute a standardized, well-defined, and easy way of capturing employee’s desires for next position/career growth, as well as desired personal and professional development. How to (simply) build and execute a standardized, well-defined, and accurate way for managers/leaders to measure employee performance vs. potential (utilizing a 9-box grid template). Watch The Webinar
Performance Management for Banking: Common Challenges
Just as the financial industry has adapted to the market needs for better digital platforms, increased automation, and a more convenient customer experience, performance and talent management within financial institutions has also had to pivot to the growing expectations of its employees and competitive landscape. Every industry has a unique set of needs and challenges, so performance and talent management processes are not a one-size-fits-all approach. To start discussions, we often ask banks and credit unions a simple question: “How does your financial institution identify future leaders, coach/grow, retain, and prepare employees to lead the organization in the future?” Years of experience working with banking institutions and credit unions have allowed us to become well-versed in powering financial institutions’ performance and talent management, and in turn, helping these institutions make better people decisions and achieve better results. This article details the most common challenges and the corresponding WorkDove solution. Challenge: Emphasis on Performance AND Core Values One common need we hear across industries, but specifically in banking, is the need to capture data for both performance expectations and behaviors that are in line with company core values. WorkDove Solution: The foundation of our platform is the Performance-Values Matrix. This matrix offers a visual for data that enables a high-performance culture and reveals both performance and core value fit. This allows managers to visualize where the employee stands on both aspects and coach around what is needed. Challenge: Attracting and Retaining Top Talent This challenge has unfortunately been felt around the world in recent years. Finding the right candidates and keeping them engaged is harder than ever due to a variety of factors that are certainly not limited to remote work expectations, inflation, and more. WorkDove Solution: With the right tool, you can strategically develop your talent in-house. With apps such as the 9-Box leadership succession planning tool, Individual Development Plan Plus (IDP+), one-to-one Check-Ins, and 360-Degree Feedback, you can improve employee retention and engagement while simultaneously giving managers the tools they need to coach more effectively. Bonus: Our Recognition tool allows for company-wide recognition at any time, further contributing to feelings of belonging which lead to higher engagement. Our Performance Review app gives insight into employee talents and development opportunities, ensuring they have a clear path at all times. Challenge: Leadership Succession Planning The banking industry in general has a need for insight into employee development and career growth. With Millennials and Gen Zers quickly rising as the most represented generations in the workforce, their deep desire for growth cannot be ignored. WorkDove Solution: Gain key data insights to accurately identify top performers and potential successors using the 9-box leadership succession planning tool. This tool plots future leaders on a matrix based on the two most important factors: performance and potential. WorkDove also offers a leadership succession planning report including comprehensive information on individual employees’ performance scores, next desired position, and more. Challenge: Compliance All work systems being compliant within highly regulated industries is an absolute non-negotiable. WorkDove Solution Housing all performance management information in a reliable cloud-based platform allows for one single, secure source of truth. One location that contains historical records of employee development and management documentation provides a homebase for more equitable performance and talent management. Gone are the days of accidentally misplaced papers or a loss of information due to employee or management changes. Challenge: Antiquated Systems Manual, cumbersome systems are not only a drag to the employee experience but they also slow processes down. Systems and processes that look and feel archaic do no favors for increasing employee engagement. WorkDove Solution WorkDove allows you to save precious time and money by converting from outdated systems to a modern, easy-to-use technology that integrates with your everyday workflows. Partnering with our team ensures you will have just that: a partner. We make intentional time to understand your current processes, discover what’s working well and what isn’t, and map out a new workflow that is unique to your needs, but not so nuanced that you get lost in the details. A common trend among banking organizations is the need to decrease their digital footprint. This often results in an HRIS (like ADP or UKG) that combines several solutions into one place. Many HRIS solutions offer performance and talent management modules. While this approach indeed decreases the digital footprint, we often hear that the modules simply do not satisfy all performance/talent management needs. The good news is that WorkDove can work with your HRIS. Through modern integrations, we can connect to almost any HRIS or Payroll System through a secure data feed or API, which eliminates the need for duplicate data entry and edits. Your digital footprint remains low and your solutions work collaboratively together! Learn more about how we can partner with your bank or credit union today! Click here
Why Co-Workers Should Be Friends: How To Create a Friend-Making Environment
The connection we feel to our work environment is largely dependent on the connection we have to the people within it. The innately human desire for relationships we all possess naturally bleeds into our work life. While genuine friendships that exist even outside of the office can certainly make the 40+ hour work week more enjoyable, it begs a question: is having a best friend at work beneficial to the organization at large? According to Gallup, when 6 out of 10 employees in the United States strongly agree they have a best friend at work, their respective organizations can experience 36% fewer safety incidents, 7% more engaged customers, and 12% higher profit. Gallup makes a point to include the question, “Do you have a best friend at work?” in its recurring employee engagement survey because the data has consistently pointed to an increase in performance when the answer is “Yes.” LinkedIn discovered that one-third of Millennials vs. only 5% of Baby Boomers agree that socializing with colleagues aids in moving up the career ladder. Another 46% of people surveyed believe that friendships at work make them happier overall. A ResearchGate study highlights a more complicated side to friendships at work. The research revealed that while having a work friendship did lead to higher job performance, the benefits may have been a moot point given the emotional exhaustion of maintaining friendships on the job. It is worth noting that any trepidation to having friends at work appears to be more of an American issue than a global one. For example, less than 6% of Americans have taken a vacation with a co-worker, in stark contrast to 1 in 4 Poles and roughly half of Indians. Research has shown that the true benefits to having work friendships are due to values like vulnerability, compassion, and trust. Workplaces that encourage these values are likely to produce environments that feel more friendly even if workers would not necessarily say they have a “best friend” there. The takeaway here, especially for American organizations, is that the focus should be less on forcing friendships between colleagues and more on creating a space where deep feelings of connection can freely live. The evidence is repeatedly clear. A strong friendship with a colleague significantly impacts both performance and engagement which leads to better business outcomes. How can leaders, the greatest influence over workplace cultures, foster environments that allow these relationships to flourish? In our experience working with many amazing organizations across the globe, there are a few common denominators amongst those with high-performing teams and “friendly” cultures. 1. Start with Core Values While forcing work friendships is not encouraged, creating shared points of connection is. Creating, defining, rewarding, and living out core values not only sets your business up for success, it also gives all team members a common language and reference point. On sports teams, all teammates share one common goal: to win. When great emphasis is placed on core values, all employees share the organizational expectation to display behaviors representative of their common core values. It produces a team mentality knowing that all teammates are rowing the same boat in the same direction. Core values naturally breed connection which can eventually lead to strong, healthy friendships. While actual water coolers in business offices may be a thing of the past, the concept of “water cooler” talk is still very present. It starts with just one comment behind a co-worker’s back and, if left unchecked, can quickly turn into a workplace friendship built on a foundation of shared gossip or mutual frustration. Being intentional with core values helps to eliminate many of these toxic tendencies by showcasing positive behaviors, and therefore discouraging behaviors that are not in line with the core values whatsoever. Another simplistic way to elevate core values is to invest in a digital recognition tool. The ability to recognize colleagues for positive behaviors in an online tool bolsters human connection, which is needed more than ever in our remote working world. Our WorkDove Recognition tool, for example, is open to every employee at every level and allows people to recognize others who are outside of their own department or location. 2. Leave Space for Fun Employees who play together stay together. Millennials, or the “ping-pong table” generation, brought fun in the office to a whole new level. For a few decades, organizations have been attempting to reshape the typical office environment to be more inclusive of laser tag team outings and breweries on the bottom floor. Fun will look differently for every team, but the bottom line is less about Friday Nerf gun battles and more about simply being together with the sole purpose of enjoying one another. A few fun examples we have seen from our clients are superhero dress-up days, virtual cocktails, running 5Ks together, and Chick-Fil-A Fridays. Have fun together in a way that fits your culture best! 3. Let Human Nature Take Over Here is the good news: When space is available for people to make connections, they will. We are wired to develop bonds in all areas of our lives and for most, work is the place where the majority of their lives are spent. The question is not if work relationships will be formed, but rather what type. It is never too late for business leaders to carve out space for human nature to take over. While this may feel counter cultural given the world at work right now, our suggestion is to encourage as much in-person work as possible. Remote and hybrid work will remain forever but we cannot deny what gets accomplished when we are face-to-face, namely, human connection. The power of reading body language, a quick chat in the hallway, or an all-staff meet-up meets business needs and fundamental human needs. Simply giving people the option and encouragement to work in person together will undoubtedly bear the fruit of personal connection. You will inevitably receive a large spectrum of responses from pushing people to return to physical offices given the last two years of remote work due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Flexibility on in-person
