We all have experienced it – the feeling of being stuck doing certain manual tasks that take way too long or pulling your hair out working with an antiquated software system that was last updated before you were born.
Frustration, annoyance and a few more expletives ??!@#* being added to your vocabulary do not make work a happy place to be and if not tackled it could lead to you losing your greatest asset – your top talent.
That’s the bad news. The good news is that there are solutions to fix what’s broken.
It’s a fact. Fast computers, tools and systems that help you do your job, data backups, seamless communication, real-time collaboration, easy processes, and security are not luxury. These are crucial things that you can arm your employees with and prevent them from leaving you. Especially, with Gen Z (a generation that has grown-up consuming tech all the time) entering the work force in droves and changing the workplace, it’s an important question you should be asking yourself,“ Is your old technology good enough to retain a workforce that’s only getting younger?”
More than three-quarters of business leaders say the ability to hire and retain talent is the biggest factor in achieving growth.
PwC Pulse Survey: Executive Views on Business in 2022
What happens when your systems do not support your employees?
It’s simple – if you don’t invest in your employees and empower them with the best technology and environment that enables them to not only achieve their goals but is also conducive to their growth, they’ll walkout.
Our very own President, Mark Arteaga shares an anecdote of his earlier experience of working in a top banking firm (from what seems like another lifetime). “They had a sh**ty bug tracking system and was so convoluted to use that it compelled me to quit after two weeks”, Mark recalls. Well, we’re glad he left and started RedBit but not sure if you’d want such brain drain in your organization. What’s your loss could be someone else’s gain.
We’ve had enough experiences and the interactions with our clients and teams to share a few reasons why employees leave when they feel the technology of their organization is creating blockers in the way of their success.
- Left to one’s own devices (literally!): The current generation of employees is on-the go, they have no time to waste and expect super-fast responses within nanoseconds. If your technology systems (both hardware and software) are sluggish and old, it won’t take them too long to say adios.
- Lengthy and time-consuming processes: The next time you see an employee yawning or looking rather uninterested doing a task, question if it’s time to automate the repetitive, lengthy processes. The thought of doing the same old, tedious, and unnecessary tasks everyday may not be exciting enough for them to be attached to your organization.
- Lack of upskilling opportunities: You leave no scope of growth or a window for your employees to learn a new software or a tool if you continue using the same old system over the years. In fact, many may even feel they can contribute a lot to the success of the organization but are hindered by the archaic ways of doing things.
Technology enables a great work culture
Of course, the culture of an organization is important but that’s a discussion we’ll leave for another day (hold that thought) but if your employees are struggling with the basics – just doing their job efficiently then even the greatest perks, remuneration, lunches/dinners or benefits are not enough to hold on to your best people.
Kevin Decker, our talented Product Designer shared how he hated working at a company where they “ran an outdated and clunky software. Majority of the functionality was not even useful to the team.” The result? High attrition in just the first few weeks of employment.
So, how to retain your employees? Ok, this question is a bit broad but the least you can do is start looking at ways you can make your current technology more user-friendly, interesting, and intuitive for your own people to use.
Automating redundant and repetitive tasks: Eliminating unfulfilling and monotonous tasks can do wonders to employee satisfaction and engagement. Having a system in place that can free up employees to do more meaningful and important things - maximizing their unique skills, talent, and creativity. We have another blog post that talks about if it’s worth automating your processes, take a look when you get a moment.
In a recent project with one of our non-profit clients, we leveraged Microsoft’s Power Automate to automate their processes that were previously done manually. 40 hours a month to 8 hours a month – that was the amount of time saved that went into managing certain tasks manually. In one of the meetings, we could clearly see the joy and excitement in their eyes as they took things in their hands, getting rid of the tedious tasks and learning something valuable.
Enable collaboration and communication: We keep talking about how it’s important to make every employee feel an integral part of the team. Is that possible without seamless collaboration and communication, especially in today’s hybrid world? Not really. Nothing can foster effective communication and connection better than having robust, user-friendly and secure tools in place within an organization.
At RedBit we have streamlined all that with Office 365. Sharing information using the same platform with our teams spread across different locations and time zones is critical for us.
Embrace agility and flexibility: According to PwC, 12% of office workers have moved more than 50 miles away from their company’s core office location since the pandemic began, and another 22% are considering following suit.
Technology that drives flexibility in today’s hybrid / remote way of working, constantly shifting teams, flexible hours and that serves the tech-savvy minds go a long way in improving the employee experience and bringing a sense of overall satisfaction.
One of our clients had a tough time hiring younger people when they were told that they “wouldn’t be able to access their emails on their phones or they had to be at their desks in office to be able to work." Some of us, especially those who are in the business of tech, can’t even relate to such problems but yes, these are real challenges faced by real people! The first thing team RedBit did was move them off the on-premises exchange servers and got them on to the cloud to enable collaboration and remote access. Moving to the cloud helped their staff manage everything remotely and continue business as usual without having to lose their minds about data breach and security issues.
Prioritize UX design for your enterprise products: You may be creating some cool and sophisticated apps for your clients but if you ignore the needs of your own employees and they eventually leave, who are you going to chase to create more amazing products? Are you willing to take that risk of spending time and resources to find the right people to replace the top talent that you just lost? It’s overwhelming, especially if they had been working on a critical project with tight deadlines.
Your employees give their all in at work –the last thing that should create hurdles in the path of their success is the internal application itself. Be it an HR manager, a marketing intern or Operations Head – involve your teams while designing and testing an enterprise app. When you invest in a UX design to make an app more engaging and user-friendly for your employees, they will love you back! Prioritizing UX in your internal products ensures that these tools integrate seamlessly into the work environment and make a positive impact on your employees' day-to-day tasks.
We have 4 good reasons why you should prioritize UX design in your enterprise products here.
As talent drain continues and the younger workforce demands a great enterprise experience, a company that ignores technology is at a greater risk. If you still don't know if this is an issue in your organization, better to ask your employees. Nothing like getting information straight from those working there
Sources:
Executive views on business in 2022: PwC
Reduce Employee Turnover with These Microsoft Tools (aerieconsulting.com)
Work Trend Index: Microsoft’s latest research on the ways we work.
Cio - how automation can help you attract and retain a better workforce
Is the old technology in your business impacting employee retention?(innovativeinc.net)
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