Next-generation employee engagement

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With employee engagement a high priority for businesses large and small, an increasingly hybrid workforce requires a new approach to engagement strategies

EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT is something of a buzzword for businesses at the moment, a movement Damien Andreasen, ANZ country manager at HiBob, says is perfectly logical. “Happy, engaged employees who like the work that they're doing, the company that they work for and the team that they're working with are significantly more likely to be productive and significantly less likely to leave the company,” he says. Andreasen notes that there are new studies supporting the direct impact of employee engagement on a company's profitability – it leads to higher retention and productivity rates, which also lead to higher profitability than that of companies with poor engagement levels.

HiBob was founded to modernise HR tech. HiBob's intuitive and data-driven platform, Bob, was built for the way people work today: globally, remotely and collaboratively. Since its launch in late 2015, HiBob has achieved consecutive triple-digit year-over-year growth and become the HRIS of choice for more than 2,500 modern, midsized and multinational companies that understand that a powerful, agile HR tech suite is mission-critical and a key driver of organisational success. Fast-growing companies across Australia and the world, such as Seer, Novatti, Airtasker, Gong, Fiverr and VaynerMedia, rely upon HiBob to help HR and managers connect, engage, develop and retain top talent.

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“We’ve gone from what was an employer-led market where employers could dictate the terms to an employee-led market. This is a fundamental shift, and how long it will last, no one knows”

Damien Andreasen, HiBob

The pandemic accelerated the value companies place on employee engagement, with the unique experience it presented also fundamentally changing what employees value in their work and workplace. “COVID closed the borders, and many employees couldn’t physically come into their offices. This created a disconnect across blue- and white-collar professions," Andreasen says. "Fast-forward another year or so, and many businesses are ready to get back into it bigger than before. While there are ambitious plans for growth, companies are also cautious of market conditions.” At the same time, the pandemic has created skills shortages, which is hindering businesses’ ability to execute their ambitious plans. As businesses vie for the best and brightest talent, a competitive market has emerged, and for once, employees hold a lot of the power.

The challenge of a hybrid workforce Working through the pandemic taught employers and employees alike that working remotely could be done, and in some instances done well. For employees working from home, this meant dropping the commute (and many of us learned a five-minute break to pop on a load of washing here and there freed up evenings and weekend time). With the competitive labour market, employees are asking for – and getting – more flexible working arrangements, which are likely to stay. While there are benefits to offering a hybrid workplace that brings in the talent, it is not without challenges in terms of employee engagement. “How do you drive engagement when you can't sit around and have a coffee with a colleague or sit down with your boss and have lunch and get to know them on a personal level?”

Andreasen says market-led trends demand more from businesses' systems when it comes to improving engagement, be they local or global companies. “People are saying they’ve been in lockdown for two years, stuck on Zoom, treading water. Now that we're coming out of this, they are looking to challenge themselves and find a new purpose – something they are really aligned to and really want to do." Andreasen says engagement is not solved through packages and benefits alone. Purpose recognition, attachment to the mission, enjoying the people you're working for, and the work you're actually doing as well, is important, but the puzzle is, how do you achieve that with a remote workforce?

Along with ensuring that employees’ input and value are regularly recognised, investing in their development and career paths in a meaningful way also helps them see the purpose and relevance of their place in the company. “Bob is a people management platform that really addresses the scalability issue for fast-growing businesses," Andreasen says. "If your company is scaling at pace, leaning in, actively listening and helping someone with their career path is a hugely different challenge than for a big enterprise with huge HR teams.” It’s a big call, but he says the way Bob works is a fundamental shift in how people management platforms have been designed and what they're designed for. “It starts with a homepage that is like a social feed, so managers can publicly acknowledge staff who’ve done exceptional work and even recognise them globally. “For example, they could post, ‘Haley just delivered a project at half the cost, well done’, and everyone will see that – and they can also post a congratulations message. Now, that might feel like a very small shift, but you've got people all over the world seeing what each other has done. People feel recognised, and teams all share in one another’s successes.”

“Employee engagement is no longer just an HR responsibility, it’s now a business issue all the way into the C-suite”

Damien Andreasen, HiBob

Building a better picture of employee value Bob also has a module named 'Core talent' – aka performance and compensation. “Bob makes it possible to blend two data sets, so when it comes time to have a look at compensation, you've got a much more detailed picture of the impact employees have over and above tenure, title and salary, which is traditionally how it's done. “All of a sudden, you have quantifiable data on whether they have achieved their goals, how their peers feel about working with them, if their managers feel they're having great impact, and whether they have been recognised for great work,” Andreasen says. This means performance is being assessed in a much more rounded manner, not just by how long they have been with the company – a common way of deciding if someone needs a pay rise. Drinking their own merlot Andreasen says HiBob itself uses the platform, and he speaks to how it has helped the business create that all-important company culture and community when onboarding remotely. He says the old way of onboarding usually involved arriving on the first day to be given the tour, then sitting at your desk and perhaps being given a few resources and introductions before being left to start the slow process of really figuring out how to deliver on your role.

“With Bob, before you've even started in your role, you've already been matched with your buddy who's going to shadow you and show you the ropes. You’ve been shown who all the team members are, what their interests are, how long they've been with the company, and how you’ll be working with them. So before you walk into the office on day one, you’re prepared.” On the day itself, Andreasen says, you’ll have a task list for the day – for example, a list of resources you should read and who to check in with. “In short, from the minute you walk in, you’ve already started feeling like part of the team and getting stuck into your role – building that all-important sense of purpose and value from day one. “Doing this has seen HiBob grow from 300 to over 600 employees in the last nine months, plus successfully open several new regional offices, including in APJ.”

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of professionals have been approached directly by a new employer or a headhunter with an offer to consider a new job and place of employment

62%

THE HUNT FOR TALENT

55%

of employees working at midsized companies are being offered salary increases of 10% and more by other companies

of employees being approached are being offered significantly better benefits

20%

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of the companies are expanding internationally, and 25% are expanding in Australia

37%

of employees reported their company’s revenue to be modestly or significantly higher than the year before

73%

of the companies that respondents worked at had open roles for hire and many positions waiting to be filled

77%

Jobs on offer as businesses expand

HiBob’s Employee Survey found: