How to build a data-driven culture that drives engagement – a Unit4 webinar
In a Unit4 webinar with 3sixty Insight, we were joined by their Director and Principal Analyst Pamela Stroko. She highlights the need for new tools and strategies to overcome current trends in the office of the CHRO that are impacting organizational performance.
Against a backdrop of talent shortages, one worrying statistic Stroko points to is that, according to Gallup, 77% of the workforce are ‘doing the bare minimum’ or what is known as ‘quiet quitting’.
With an unengaged workforce and a diminishing pool of qualified talent, the office of the CHRO needs to rethink its talent strategies to engage talent and develop managers.
In the webinar, Kirsty Graham, VP of Global People Experience Operations at Unit4, highlights the positive impact of deploying HCM tools, which has led to a marked improvement in engagement and ultimately retention within Unit4.
Keep reading to learn why you need modern digital tools to overcome the current trends of disengagement in your workforce.
Creating a data-driven culture in your organization
Kirsty Graham highlights the importance of a data-led culture for the modern organization. It’s “even more challenging in the remote landscape of work that we all see ourselves in. The art of a good conversation is something that we need to fight for and keep alive.”
A large cause of employee disengagement is a lack of belief in HR processes: when an employee wants to present a case for change, whether that’s to seek development, training, or process change, they don’t think their opinions will be heard.
Kirsty highlights the value of a data-driven culture for employee retention in these cases:
“Deloitte did a study and […] it said the number one thing that people want in their careers is career development […] they come back because you have such a strong development culture, you have such a strong feedback culture, and you have such a strong relationship culture that drives that.”
This means that when teams are empowered with a continuous feedback loop managers can action these insights and employees can feel heard within the data-driven culture that managers promote.
Click to read Unit4 HCM product brochure Gated
How can a digital HCM solution turn around employee engagement rates?
"Delivery of organizational agility is key.” Kirsty Graham reports. “We can use real-time insights to see what's happening within our employee workforce, inform our leaders, and adapt our people strategy.”
Cloud HCM breathes new life into common HR processes, transforming performance reviews from year-end box-checking exercises into a valuable space for employees and managers to have two-way conversations about performance, for employees to raise feedback, and for managers to create action based on feedback.
When managers have real-time insight into the employee experience, they can ensure the necessary actions are taken, and conversations are had with disengaged employees before it’s too late.
Kirsty tells us: “I can't tell you how many times I've worked with organizations, and they do engagement surveys and then nothing happens [.. ] it inspires more resentment than it helps.” She continues “The fact that you listened and took the feedback to heart and implemented it, that raises engagement, it raises passion, it raises energy.”
How can Unit4’s HCM solution help turn around disengaged employees?
Unit4’s Cloud HCM solution utilizes Cloud capabilities and integrated data to ensure that people managers have all the tools they need to ensure the employee experience is improved and employee engagement rates are high.
Unit4 Talent Management (TM) is a key module that can give employees the scheduled feedback, prompts, and ownership of data that they need to feel heard, while Unit4 TM provides people managers with opportunities to act on feedback as well as clear processes for gathering employee data.
In the webinar, Kirsty Graham details her own experience using Unit4 TM to improve engagement within her own team.
“I just listened and took all of their input away and ran a further session to give them feedback primarily on the things we could make changes on, the things that would take long-term changes, and to be totally honest about the things that we couldn't change.”
Kirsty used Unit4 TM’s features to boost employee engagement scores from 69 to 81, and participation rates from 82% to 93%, leading to data-led managerial decisions that make employees feel heard.
Much of Kirsty’s success with Unit4 TM comes from the continuous feedback loop the software prompts, allowing clear insight into what needs to change for a better employee experience, when employees see their feedback is being actioned by their manager, Kirsty found that employee engagement improved.
This demonstrates that an improved employee experience can directly lead to better organizational performance and that executives should have a keen interest in empowering people managers with data tools.
How can Unit4 help you transform your employee experience?
In the webinar, Pamela Stroko notes: “Unit4 is the solution that takes organizations way beyond the bare minimum to create a compelling experience for their employees, a compelling experience for their customers, and to grow to an organization that's agile and adaptable and can meet the demands of today's marketplace.”
Unit4’s solution provides:
- Engagement Survey Tool: Unit4's pulse survey tool allows managers to maintain a continuous feedback loop to identify areas for improvement and implement changes that make employees feel heard.
- Career Development Approach: The Talent Management module also provides clear avenues for development and supports the concept of a fluid workforce, where employees can discuss their desire to progress, rather than looking elsewhere.
- Kudos platform: Unit4's ‘Kudos’ platform allows employees to nominate their peers for quarterly awards, fostering a culture of recognition and appreciation. This program is seen as a key driver of employee engagement and retention.
- Data-Driven Culture: In the webinar, Kirsty Graham makes clear that a data-driven culture empowers employees and managers with data to foster transparent conversations. When empowered by data, employees will naturally have more faith in HR processes.
Nuclear Restoration Services (previously known as Magnox) moved from a paper-based system to the Unit4 Cloud, their implementation of Unit4 TM, integrated into our ERP suite, resulted in an engagement survey that saw 75% participation, with around 22,000 comments, a historic high for the organization.
Similarly, they found that thanks to other capabilities found in the Unit4 Cloud, NRS employees spent 50% less time on performance management. With a new system that is interactive, user-friendly, and promotes joint ownership, managers can easily communicate and request feedback, encouraging active participation.
To hear more about Unit4 HCM and TM, consult our website, or listen to the webinar on-demand to get more detail on how Unit4 HCM and TM can help turn around employee engagement rates in your organization.
