The New Worker

There are no two ways about it: the landscape of the modern workplace is changing. Companies that prioritize employee engagement and employee satisfaction above the bottom line are poised to reap the benefits of increased productivity and reduced turnover. 

But what are the driving forces behind employee engagement and satisfaction? The answer lies in the employee experience. 

In this article, we dig into what it means to measure employee experience by providing leaders like you with 25 examples of employee experience survey questions.

The importance of employee experience

Employee experience refers to every tangible and intangible aspect of the employee lifecycle, including:

• The employee's role in the organization
• The employee's relationships with management
• workplace culture and employee morale
• The centrality of diversity and inclusion in the workplace

When you measure employee experience, you view your organization from the employees' perspective. You gain insights into how your team members feel about various aspects of their jobs, their daily needs, and how your company could improve for its employees.

Managers can use the employee survey results to create action plans, the goal being to improve the employee experience and employee satisfaction within and among their teams.

Elevating the employee experience is a gift that keeps giving. When you take care of your employees, you can expect benefits like:

• Increased productivity
• Higher employee engagement
• Greater employee satisfaction
• Reduced employee turnover
• Better company performance

Differences between employee experience and employee satisfaction surveys

Employee experience may sound similar to employee satisfaction, but the two are not interchangeable. Surveys that measure employee experience are looking for feedback on how employees perceive the organization and how their perception affects their engagement, motivation, and so on.

On the other hand, employee satisfaction surveys seek to measure employee happiness. It is now well documented that a better employee experience results in higher employee satisfaction, so managers may send out short employee satisfaction survey questions every other week or every month to keep their finger on the pulse of their team's emotional well-being.

Employee experience surveys can be longer and less frequent, or they could be short Pulse Surveys for quicker employee feedback. They measure things like employee engagement, job satisfaction, and alignment with the company's culture and values.

25 employee experience survey questions

With the availability of easy-to-use employee survey software like Officevibe, you don't have to sit around a table with other leaders and guess what your employees need. You can ask them for feedback through employee survey questions, which will help you identify roadblocks and develop action plans to overcome them.

The questions you ask should seek an accurate overview of the employee experience in your organization. You can get a combination of qualitative and quantitative data by asking open-ended questions as well as those that use a scale or choices. The goal is to gather actionable feedback that you can use to make improvements.

Questions about an employee's role in the company

Most of an employee's experience with your company comes from their daily responsibilities and interactions with managers and other team members. You can ask survey questions that gauge an employee's experience in their role. These employee surveys relate to management, work environment, personal growth, and overall job satisfaction.

Just a few examples of what employees can answer about their role on a scale of 1 to 10 include:

1. How much do you feel that your company values your role?
2. How supported do you feel by your manager?
3. How well does your company maintain a work-life balance?
4. How would you rate your current pay?
5. How happy are you in your current role?

You can also ask open-ended employee satisfaction survey questions, such as:

6. What is your least favorite aspect of your job?
7. What is one thing that could make your job easier?

Questions about management and leadership

According to research by Gallup, half of adult Americans have left a job to get away from a manager. Leadership quality has a significant impact on how employees feel and overall job satisfaction. A genuine employer-employee relationship can improve the employee experience by creating a safe place for employees to provide constructive feedback and address their needs and concerns.

You can use employee satisfaction and engagement surveys to judge how management affects the employee experience by asking questions assessing how well a manager performs leadership tasks. These questions can help gauge how an employee feels toward their management team.

8. How satisfied are you with the frequency of feedback from management?
9. How happy are you with the quality of feedback from management?
10. Are you satisfied with how your manager handles conflict?
11. How satisfied are you with your manager's response to your issues and concerns?

Open-ended employee satisfaction survey questions on leadership include:

12. What is one way that your manager could improve communication?
13. How would you like management to recognize your achievements at work?
14. What do you wish your manager would be more transparent about?

Questions about company culture

Company culture includes the values, beliefs, and vibes of the organization. A well-cultivated workplace culture leads to engaged employees who feel an emotional connection to their job and organization. Slack's State of Work report found that 84% of employees who clearly understood their company's strategy felt aligned with its vision and values.

Employee experience surveys can provide feedback on whether your company's values coincide with how your employees perceive them. Ideally, your employees should feel connected to the organization and believe they're doing meaningful work. When this is true, you'll have higher employee engagement levels.

The following are questions you can ask in an employee experience survey about company culture:

14. Which three words would you use to describe the culture of the company?
15. Do you see professional growth and a clear career path with the company?
16. How would you rate employee morale (on a scale of 1 to 10)?
17. If you could change one thing about the organization, what would it be?
18. How likely are you to recommend working here to a friend (on a scale of 1 to 10)?
19. Do your beliefs align with the company values?

Questions about diversity and inclusion

An employee engagement survey is a crucial tool for determining how your team members feel about diversity and inclusion in your organization. Most surveys are anonymous, allowing you to get genuine feedback from employees who might feel uncomfortable voicing their concerns about how the organization treats people of different backgrounds and identities.

Employee feedback will help human resources and management identify issues in the workplace and quickly address them. Asking these questions and, most importantly, acting on them, will improve employee well-being, employee retention, and employee satisfaction.

To measure employee satisfaction and experience regarding diversity and inclusion, you can ask questions like:

20. How diverse is the company regarding age, gender, race, religion, ethnicity, disabilities, sexual orientation, etc. (on a scale of 1 to 10)?
21. Have you had a negative experience at work due to your identity?
22. How comfortable are you expressing your cultural and social beliefs in the workplace (on a scale of 1 to 10)?
23. What is one thing the organization could do to become more inclusive from now on?
24. Do you feel that the company provides equal opportunities for career growth to every employee?
25. How well does the company accommodate those with disabilities (on a scale of 1 to 10)?

How to measure employee experience

Employee experience surveys use an amalgamation of workplace metrics, such as:

• employee satisfaction
• employee engagement
• employee recognition
• employee retention

In other words, you are measuring different aspects of how the organization affects employee happiness and vice versa. Primarily, these survey questions should focus on determining what the company might do differently to provide its employees with a fantastic place to work. You can also track the success of your employee engagement efforts.

You should ask employees to rate their answers on a scale of 1 to 10 to get quantifiable data for your employee experience records. If you categorize the questions using the parameters you want to measure, you'll be able to track trends for each one.

{emphasize}If your plate is already full, don't worry: you have options to make this process quicker and easier. Officevibe's survey platform can do the heavy lifting for you!

Our surveys use 10 metrics along with 26 sub-metrics of employee engagement to give managers a detailed view of their team's experience at work.{emphasize}

Key benefits of employee experience surveys

At Officevibe, our employee experience surveys are customizable for capturing feedback in different areas of the organization, allowing you to analyze overarching trends in employee satisfaction throughout your company.

By conducting employee experience surveys, you can:

Find out how your employees are feeling

One of the benefits of this comprehensive survey is gaining a clear understanding of the overall employee experience, including work environment, relationships with their team and direct managers, and whether they feel included in the organization's culture and values.

Solving issues in these areas will lead to happier employees and better company performance. Depending on the employee feedback, you might find that you need to improve career development or how you approach employees with experience gaps.

Obtain actionable feedback

Remember why you're asking questions in the first place: to make improvements. Employee experience surveys give you employee feedback that you can use to develop new initiatives.

For example, your employee satisfaction survey might reveal that over half of your team want leaders to recognize them for their work more often or differently. You can devise a plan to implement a structure for more recognition from management.

Survey any location, department, or team

Employee experience includes everything that affects the team members in your organization, which means your surveys can ask questions related to any team or department. The survey can be a general questionnaire for the whole company or a quick Pulse Survey for fewer people.

Make employees feel valued and heard

Asking for your employees' new ideas and opinions and acting on their concerns makes them feel empowered. Because of your survey and subsequent actions to improve based on the results, they'll see how giving honest feedback and participating at work can lead to change. This can boost employee engagement, productivity, and performance.

Employee experience surveys best practices

You've learned the types of questions you can ask, so we'll share some employee survey best practices:

Identify the purpose

Before you begin, answer these questions:

• Why are you conducting this survey?
• How are you going to use the feedback from this survey?

For example: "The survey aims to identify the most important factor in high turnover in the sales department. We'll use the results to pinpoint the problem and develop a plan to correct it."

Communicate your strategy

Employees are more likely to participate in the survey and give sincere feedback if they know the purpose of the questions and what they plan to do with the results.

If you send an email with the survey link, try to include the following details:

• the purpose
• whether it's anonymous
• how long it should take
• the deadline
• results from past survey-induced initiatives

Avoid survey fatigue

Besides communicating with your team, you can avoid survey fatigue by keeping the length short enough to complete in 10 to 15 minutes. Ensure that your questions focus on a particular topic to keep it concise. The length and cadence of your surveys will depend on your organization, but it's best not to overwhelm your employees with long, weekly quizzes.

Create a follow-up plan

Show your employees that you're listening by using their feedback to create an action plan. Once you have the data, you can generate a report to show your team the survey results. From there, you can discuss key issues and develop strategies to improve.

Find out how you can enhance employee experience with Officevibe

Every company is unique, and the things that factor into employee experience vary, depending on the type of organization, industry, number of employees, etc. Officevibe is an employee-centric platform that works wherever your team is. We provide a simple way to gather anonymous employee feedback that you can use to increase employee satisfaction and keep your employees happily engaged at work.

At Officevibe, we provide an innovative employee experience platform to help business leaders like you see the big picture regarding the relationship between employee engagement and your company's overall performance.

Officevibe's Pulse Surveys give managers real-time feedback on the employee experience with easy-to-read reports that you can share.

Sign up and try Officevibe for free today!

At Workleap, we are a fully (and proudly) distributed company. What does that mean, exactly? Well, in addition to having the freedom to work from our offices or from home, our employees can choose to do so from just about anywhere in the world, 150 days a year. And it works. Here’s how.

Kimberly, technical content specialist at Workleap, found the perfect combo: work & play in Europe for 4 months, as a solo traveller. Quite the adventure!

Hi Kimberly, where are you as we speak?

Kimberly : Hi! I’m currently in Alicante, Spain. If I slightly turn my head to the left right now, I can literally see the ocean.

What made you want to travel, and why did you choose that part of the world?

Kimberly : I’ve always loved learning new languages, and Italy has consistently held a special place in my heart. So much so that I learned the language years ago and thus, speak Italian - although I must admit, I’m a bit rusty now. I’d always wanted to solo travel to Europe, so I jumped at the opportunity Workleap provides us with and came to work from Italy for a month, same in Spain and another month in Portugal. Then two last weeks split between London and Scotland. I chose my destinations really keeping in mind my needs and wants for a great summer, like proximity to the beach and mountains…and good grub of course!

What does that kind of flexibility mean to you as an employee and in general?

Kimberly : It means I can continue to build my career in Montreal, to progress and grow professionally, to enhance my personal growth as well.

I’ve had the chance to meet a lot of people who work remotely, smart working as some call it, and really connect with them and their cultures, countries, languages, and daily experiences. I’ve also come across people from the tech industry and have learned about new tools and new perspectives that I can apply to my job. It’s very enriching.

[cta url="https://www.gsoft.com/en/careers/" title="Find out how we work at GSoft" target="_blank"]

Tell us about your everyday life. Your tasks, team…the jet lag  ;)

Kimberly : I look at it this way: each place I visit is home for a month. So, in terms of my routine, nothing really changes. When I first got here, though, I did have to adapt my schedule to the 6-hour time difference. Oh, and my Microsoft Teams' background gives us plenty to talk about during team meetings ;) my coworkers are sharing my experience in a way.

Truth be told, the 6-hour time difference means I’m not able to interact with my team as much as I used to. The great thing about working with folks like the ones at Workleap is the variety of conversations we have on Slack. Whether you’re participating, facilitating or just along for the ride, it really makes you feel like you’re part of the team.

As technical content specialist at Workleap, I don’t work directly with our clients. I have requests that come in daily through Trello, and I complete them so that my coworkers have everything they need to move forward with our clients. Which I must admit is very convenient for me as a remote worker.

The pandemic was so intense that our managers at Workleap AND Workleap encourage us to disconnect every now and then and go for walks (along with plenty of other wellness activities) …my walks are that much more motivating with a view like this one.

Any anecdotes you’d like to share about your European remote work experience?

Kimberly : Like all remote workers, I think the Internet is both our best friend and our worst enemy. When you work in several different locations like I have, you realize it’s not always 100% reliable. In Italy, for example, my wifi was down for 24h, and I had to use my hotspot to get my work done. Let’s just say I paid for that day big time! That’s just the reality, though, and it’s out of our control. We adapt, we learn, we make sure it doesn’t happen again.

[cta url="https://www.gsoft.com/en/job-openings/" title="Interested in working with Kimberly?" target="_blank"]

Three tips to make the most of working abroad?

Kimberly : I would say start prepping well before you take off, and by that, I mean let your insurance and financial institutions know about your trip. In order to avoid unwelcome surprises when you get back.

And we all know how much we rely on Google Maps when we’re in a new country! So, if you never want to be without the Internet, my advice is to always have your electronic SIM card on hand. Sometimes we think that it’ll be easier to just buy a new one, but depending on where you are, that can be quite challenging to obtain. So, look into installing an eSIM directly on your mobile device, is what I would tell anyone going abroad for a long time.

Also, a company like Workleap trusts us 100%, so I think it’s essential to keep in mind that even though we do have the freedom to travel and to explore, our employer trusts us to do our best work always, whether we’re working remotely or not. There really is no difference between the two, and I think that’s something we truly need to value as employees.

Can one be productive when working from another country?

Kimberly : Yes, but productivity can vary. When you’re in “discovery” mode in another country and working at the same time, time flies. And when you try to squeeze everything in (discovery and work responsibilities), it’s easy to get distracted.

Also, for those who aren’t familiar… summer in Europe is VERY hot. Comparable to the heatwaves we get in Quebec but with a little added touch of discomfort that makes working from home challenging at times. So, my advice to you is: make sure your accommodations have AC if you’re planning on coming in the summer!

A key takeaway from your time there?

Kimberly : Working abroad, and alone to boot, really took me out of my comfort zone! I’m pleasantly surprised by how many people I’ve managed to meet (via expat groups on Facebook and the Meetup app) and connect with in different languages and across cultures (because yeah, the locals totally join us at expat events). It’s super enlightening and my goal is to continue challenging myself.

It’s true that travelling alone can be scary. Much more so as a woman (of colour in my case). I’ve learned that it’s super important to do your research when it comes to neighbourhoods and to not be afraid to ask for help when you feel you need it – regardless of the language barrier or any shyness you might feel, sometimes you just need to get creative.

What would you say to someone who’s on the fence about joining Workleap?

Kimberly : Do it! I think we got really used to our comfort during the pandemic, which of course makes it all the more complicated to take the leap and give something new a whirl.

Workleap is all about growth. Take me, for example: they trusted me and I was offered a role I wasn’t exactly qualified for. I started out on the Technical Support Team but my manager took note of my writing skills. So, I was able to transition into a technical content specialist role, initially in hybrid mode, until, little by little, I acquired the skills necessary to carry out my new tasks to the best of my ability. I then transferred teams! The training materials we have access to are invaluable to me, especially as someone who’s currently growing into a role that’s unrelated to my initial experience.

Finally, and most importantly if you ask me, is that Workleap introduced me to some lifelong friends!

[cta url="https://www.gsoft.com/en/careers/" title="We're hiring. Join the team!" target="_blank"]

A company's success depends in large part on employee engagement. When employees feel engaged, they produce their best work and contribute to a positive corporate culture. They invest themselves and their futures in the company for which they work.

Energy, passion, and commitment drive an engaged workforce toward higher employee satisfaction and resilience, better productivity, and more innovation.

According to Gallup's 2021 State of the Global Workplace Report, only 20% of employees worldwide feel engaged at work, down from 22% in 2019. Leaders must tackle this downward trend by building more engaged workforces.

As a manager, part of your role is to recognize the importance of employee engagement and help your team members discover (or rediscover) their inner strength, happiness, and enthusiasm. Let's look at why employee engagement is so critical, how it's measured, and what you can do to promote engagement in your employees.

‍

Six reasons why employee engagement is important

Disengaged employees may not feel like themselves at work. They may contend with fatigue, stress, loneliness, sadness, and even anger.

On the other hand, engaged employees tend to be happy at work, feel valued by leadership, work with authentic energy, and find more satisfaction in their daily tasks.

Let's look a bit more closely at the primary benefits of employee engagement:

1. Productivity

Productivity isn't about how many hours your employees work in a day. It's about the quality of that work and the employee experience.

According to Gallup, business units with high employee engagement levels enjoy 18% more productivity.

It's not surprising that elevated employee engagement leads to increased productivity. Disengaged employees struggle to feel invested and often spend much of their days waiting to clock out.

Employees who are engaged with their work feel invested in the business and their contributions to it. They work with more motivation and energy and produce higher quality work.

2. Employee satisfaction

High productivity works hand-in-hand with high job satisfaction. An engaged employee feels connected to and fulfilled by their work.

Satisfied employees find support and belonging within the company's culture, feel valued and valuable, and feel celebrated when they go above and beyond for the business.

They enjoy a healthy work-life balance and show up with consistent enthusiasm, driving positive business outcomes and low employee turnover.

3. Employee retention

Human resources personnel and business leaders benefit from improved employee retention because their workforces are engaged.

Our data report, The state of employee experience, from here on out, looks at Officevibe Pulse Survey data from 2019 to 2021 to examine the many elements of employee experience and retention.

Roughly 30,000 Officevibe users take Pulse Surveys every day. Just over half (53%) of them reported that they have recently looked for other professional opportunities.

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Employees hunt for new jobs for many reasons, but you can improve employee retention by increasing employee engagement. People stick around when they find pride and satisfaction in their jobs or careers.

4. Brand ambassadorship

By boosting employee engagement, you can quickly turn employees into steadfast brand ambassadors. Engaged and motivated employees who believe in the company's mission are keen to share their enthusiasm with others.

Just as employees cannot thrive without support from leadership, a successful business cannot succeed without the support of its employees.

Both customers and potential new hires trust the opinions of your current employees. Increased employee engagement means more word-of-mouth exposure, social media marketing, and great employer reviews that attract future talent.

5. Company culture

The entire company culture benefits when leaders increase employee engagement. In other words, when you use employee engagement strategies, you encourage higher morale on your team.

Your employees will want to support the company and each other. They will naturally develop an empowering workplace culture that you can strengthen using strategies like clear communication and regular recognition.

6. Customer satisfaction

When employee engagement is high, your workforce will approach your customers with a positive attitude. In contrast, low employee engagement can result in poor customer service.

Consider the last time you ate at a restaurant and had a clearly disengaged waiter serving you. Perhaps they were sluggish, bored, or distracted. Did you feel inclined to return to that restaurant any time soon? Probably not!

Customers can tell the difference between an engaged and disengaged employee. An engaged waiter is excited to see you, offers helpful menu tips, and makes you eager to return.

As a manager, when your employee engagement is high, your employees will bring those positive vibes to their customer interactions. Simply put, happy employees mean happy customers, leading to increased company success.

How do you measure employee engagement?

You can use several strategies to measure employee engagement effectively.

The key is employee communication. Give your employees the opportunity to communicate with you on a regular basis through surveys, one-on-one meetings, and interviews.

Employee surveys

Employee surveys provide invaluable information on how your team feels about their experiences as part of your staff.

You can measure employee engagement using surveys that prioritize important metrics, such as these 10 employee engagement metrics.

One-on-one meetings

Using what you learn from your employee surveys, you can conduct one-on-one meetings with each team member to celebrate accomplishments and address concerns.

Use one-on-one meetings to dig deeper into what's keeping each employee from being engaged.

💡 Click here for some essential tips on conducting successful one-on-one meetings from Officevibe.

Stay or exit interviews

Leaders conduct exit interviews when an employee leaves the team to learn more about their experience and to discuss some of the reasons for parting ways with the organization.

You can also use stay interviews to learn about possible issues before they result in the loss of a valuable team member. Use these stay interviews regularly to connect with your team and improve staff retention.

Employee Net Promoter Scores (eNPS)

A Net Promoter Score (NPS) is a single question you can ask customers and employees to measure loyalty. It reads, "How likely are you to recommend...?" and asks the respondent to choose a rating on a scale of one to 10.

The employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) model proves very effective in measuring employee engagement.

Three strategies to improve employee engagement

We've established that employee engagement, important for so many reasons, is an essential consideration for company and team leaders.

Maintaining employee engagement is not a one-and-done affair. To continue benefitting from higher employee engagement, you must put in the work long-term.

Let's get into the actions you can take to improve employee engagement in your workforce.

1. Build development plans

Officevibe's Pulse Survey data tells us that 73% of employees believe they could receive more explicit goals from leadership. An engaged workforce knows precisely what their employer expects and what the business is working toward on a company and team level.

When you build a professional development plan for each employee, you support the employee in their growth by providing clear goals and expectations. Use one-on-one meetings to establish personal goals and the required steps to reach them.

When building an employee development plan, remember to consider each person's:

• Personal and company-related values
• Personal and company-related goals
• Education and mentorship opportunities
• Support and communication needs
• Physical wellness needs
• Mental health needs

According to our Officevibe Pulse Survey data, 26% of respondents feel that their organizations do not care about their mental health. By considering not just what proves best for the business but also what's best for the employee, you show that you care and are willing to offer help.

Every developmental plan will look different, which is why it's so important to include the employee in the conversation. For some great advice on conducting these one-on-one meetings, check out this Officevibe article about the GROW coaching model.

2. Build connections on your team

Showing your workforce that you care goes a long way towards improving employee engagement. Build connections on your team by providing a work environment where your employees feel valued and they belong.

Provide or help your employees find the resources to address physical and mental health issues. Encourage employee communication on these topics so that you can foster an inclusive culture of mutual respect.

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You can also build connections on your team by letting employees participate in business decisions. An engaged workforce is invested in the company's success and wants to help establish and reach company goals.

Finally, encourage employees to give each other feedback.

According to our Pulse Survey data, 28% of respondents wish they received feedback from co-workers more often.

3. Give meaningful employee feedback

Disengaged employees often report infrequent feedback from company leaders. Our Pulse Survey data tells us that only 25% of employees feel that the frequency of the feedback they get from managers is sufficient to help them grow.

Effectively engaging employees means providing valuable feedback on a consistent basis. Highly engaged employees thrive on constructive feedback that provides actionable steps for improvement.

Employee engagement initiatives that get results include strategies for effective employee performance feedback.

Although the feedback sandwich model is not recommended, be sure that your feedback also includes opportunities for employee recognition. Your team members want and deserve praise when they do a good job or stay late to complete a project.

Give your staff props when props are due to improve employee engagement.

FAQs about engaged employees

Are engaged employees less likely to quit?

According to Gallup, businesses with the lowest employee engagement have a 43% higher turnover rate than those with the highest employee engagement. It's easy to understand why this is.

When you successfully engage employees, your workforce will be more invested in the business and more passionate about the work. That's why employee engagement, important for many other reasons, proves essential for retaining employees.

Employee engagement improves when team members feel heard, appreciated, and treated fairly. When employees feel ignored, underappreciated, or unfairly treated, they're not motivated to stick around.

Are engaged employees more productive?

Yes, to increase productivity and business success, leaders must consider employee engagement. Your employees will produce better quality work more efficiently when they feel engaged at work.

Gallup data tell us that businesses with the highest employee engagement benefit from 18% more productivity, 23% more profitability, and 81% less absenteeism compared to companies with the lowest engagement.

Employee engagement encourages more collaboration between workers, leaders, and staff. Employees understand what they are supposed to do and how to do it. They actively engage with organizational drivers, resulting in more production and innovation.

Are engaged employees happier?

Employee engagement may not be synonymous with happiness, but these concepts are intertwined all the same. Employee engagement encourages a positive employee experience.

Will engaged employees exude happiness every single day for eight straight hours? Not likely—but they will likely be happier overall in their personal and professional lives.

Engaged employees:

• Maintain a comfortable work-life balance
• Tackle work difficulties like stress head-on
• Feel valued at work
• Find joy in using their unique skillsets
• Find fulfillment in their jobs

All of these aspects of effective employee engagement garner happier employees.

Using the right employee engagement software

Improving employee engagement can prove daunting for direct managers and other business leaders. As a leader, you understand why employee engagement is essential to your business strategy. Still, you may be wondering how you're supposed to manage all the tasks that go into keeping a workforce engaged in addition to your regular workload.

Luckily, today's technology-driven world includes services that make employee engagement easier. Automated platforms like Officevibe's Employee Engagement Solution provide all of the tools you need to measure and improve engagement and organizational performance.

Officevibe's solution allows employees to answer weekly Pulse Surveys and provide anonymous feedback to you and other company leaders. Our system produces easy-to-read reports with actionable insights to help you address tough issues and find new solutions.

Our Employee Engagement Solution can help you gather and interpret your company's engagement data. Officevibe offers solution-driven data to help you improve engagement for your current and new employees, improve employee loyalty, and build a stronger, more connected company.

Officevibe is simple to start and easy to use. Your team will thank you for it. Reach out to us today.

Your business is growing - congratulations! 

However, with growth comes the need to delegate daily tasks to free up time. You have probably already heard that it’s also important to optimize your business operational processes, or systematize your business.

But what does that bring you, concretely? 

Once a process is created and communicated, employees know what to do and how to do it. This eliminates the need for constant supervision and micromanagement and can save you valuable time. 

Sounds interesting?

Business process definition

A business process, or operational process, is a series of activities or tasks needed to reach a particular goal. Business processes are usually broken down into smaller sub-processes, each of them with a specific purpose.

Let’s take a look at how you could optimize your business processes in 7 easy steps!

‍

What is business optimization?

Optimization, systematization, automation…

How to know what’s what?

No worries, we’ll explain it all!

Process optimization is the improvement of an existing process to make it more efficient. The goal of process optimization is to save time, money and resources, without compromising on quality. 

Systematization refers to the creation of systems and processes that aim to streamline and optimize business operations.

Automation means using technology to automate manual tasks or processes.

So what is the difference ?

Process optimization aims to improve an existing process. Systematization is about creating new systems and processes. Automation uses technology to automate manual tasks. 

Automating tasks yields many benefits

Operational or business processes are the bread and butter of any business - they lead to the efficient production of goods and services, and therefore deliver results. 

By automating your processes, you will save time, have better communication with your team and improve the quality of your work (and theirs).

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

Improved organization

When you optimize your processes you streamline them to make them more efficient. This can go from a new way of thinking about how tasks are assigned and executed to automating repetitive tasks. 

In the end, reducing the number of steps in a process significantly reduces the risk of error during implementation.

Improved communication

If a process is set up but it is poorly explained or communicated, your team may not be aware of it. This can lead to confusion and frustration, on top of time and resource waste.

By documenting and communicating your processes, you make sure everyone is on the same page and knows what is expected of them.

Increased quality

Process organization can help produce better results while saving time and effort. Your employees will be more productive if they know what they need to be doing and how to do it.

Furthermore, automated tasks are often more accurate and consistent than manual tasks.

Which operations can be systemized?

There are a multitude of recurring and business-specific tasks that can be easily systematized.

So why not try it out?

Onboarding new employees

The arrival of a new employee involves a large amount of onboarding tasks that must be performed in order to help them integrate into their new position.

Often times, several people are involved in the onboarding process and steps can get forgotten or duplicated. In short, an event that should be positive can quickly become a source of frustration for your team.

By creating an onboarding process, you ensure that all the necessary measures are taken and that nothing is forgotten.

This will also create a less chaotic onboarding atmosphere for your new employees. 

And after all, you want your employees to be happy!

Customer relationship management

From the first contact with a potential client to the after-sales service, managing customer relationships involves many steps.

By systemizing these tasks, you will be able to better identify your clients’ needs, offer a better experience and build strong relationships.

Project management

Process management can be broken down into several smaller sub-processes, each with its own specific purpose. 

Systematizing this process is often the key to ensure that all projects are completed on time and on budget.

Internal communication

In any company, there are several channels of internal communication — ranging from email and using the intranet to in-person meetings.

By systematizing how these channels are used, information is properly disseminated and everyone is informed of all pertinent changes.

Common procedures

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) are a set of detailed instructions that describe the steps to follow to complete a given task.

Creating standard operating procedures for your business ensures that tasks are always performed in the same way, which leads to consistent quality.

What? Create a process for procedures?

As procedures must be followed each time a task is performed, they are an essential part of any process.

Which steps require the creation of a process or systematizing?

Some of the main stages in the evolution of a business require implementing a process, or systematizing. Creating and documenting processes is one of the pillars of any business that operates smoothly and efficiently.

New employee onboarding

As your business grows, you hire more and more employees.

It is crucial that you create an onboarding process for your new hires so that they can be operational and productive as quickly as possible.

Revamp your program with our free onboarding template! Get started for free and make your onboarding program stand out from the crowd!

Position multiplication

Multiplying positions is an important step, and it is essential that you establish a process for the onboarding of your new team members.

Being surrounded by performing employees is a privilege you must take advantage of!

By creating a methodology you will be able to pass on their knowledge and skills to other team members.

Integrating new software

When you integrate new software, there is usually a learning curve for your employees. 

It’s very normal!

However, by documenting and recording procedures about the use of the new software,, everyone will know how to use it. This will lead to great time and energy savings (which we all like!).

Launching a new product or service

When launching a new product or service, there are a lot of moving parts that need to coordinate smoothly. It all can get complex very quickly.

Setting up a procedure to market new products and services allows you to not overlook anything and make sure everything goes as planned.

This way you also make sure there are no bad surprises!

Creating marketing campaigns

Creating, planning and executing marketing campaigns involves many steps. Establishing a process guarantees compliance in the planning and execution of your campaigns.

Marketing campaigns are often very costly. For them to be cost-effective, the results must be carefully monitored and analyzed. 

Setting up a process for marketing campaigns allows you to track their effectiveness and make any necessary changes.

Outsourcing tasks

Anytime a company grows, its expansion leads to delegating certain tasks to external suppliers.

But this can be a scary step.

Setting up a process for this purpose allows you to choose the right suppliers according to your needs and ensures that tasks are carried out according to your specifications.

Delegating tasks internally

As your company grows, the tasks that need to be accomplished also multiply. 

In itself, this is great news. But you will need to find a way to have more time.

In order to free up your time, you will have to delegate some of these tasks to other people. Having a process in place to do this ensures that tasks are well assigned and carried out according to your expectations.

This is also a great opportunity to develop a sense of initiative and intrapreneurship within your team.

How to systematize in 7 steps

Now that you know how important it is to systemize or create processes, let’s see how you can do it. 

Setting up a process is not as difficult as it seems. In fact, one you start you’ll find it is quite easy.

However, there are a few elements you must keep in mind when setting up a process. 

First of all, it is impossible to set up all the processes of your company by yourself. You will benefit from getting your employees involved in the creation of the content.

After all, they are in the best position to know how to get the job done!

You can start by selecting a few key processes which will have a significant impact when implemented.

1. Identify the current situation and the ultimate goal

What would you like to achieve through this process?

What is the end result ?

The first step in optimizing your business processes is assessing your current situation and your ultimate goal.

Think about the tasks that you and your team members are responsible for on a daily basis.

• Do some tasks take longer that they should?
• Are there ways to streamline the way these tasks are accomplished?

Once you have a good understanding of your current situation, you can start making changes, but not before!

2. Break down the steps

Once you have identified the goal, start by breaking down the steps you need to take in order to achieve it.

Be as accurate as possible.

For example, if you want to set up an onboarding process for new employees, the steps could include:

• organizing an orientation meeting;
• sending a welcome email;
• conducting an office tour;
• designating a counterpart;
• reviewing company policies and procedures;
• setting up the employee’s computer and email;
• reviewing the employee’s job description.

3. Estimate the time required by each step

This will allow you to estimate how long the process will take, from start to finish.

Why is this necessary?

This is important information when setting up a process because you will have to allocate time and resources to it. It will remove uncertainty in the operations management and make schedule planning easier.

4. Determine who will be responsible for each task

Once you have identified the steps in the process, determine who will be responsible for each task. This is especially important if you delegate tasks to others.

It is crucial that you entrust tasks to individuals or teams who have the skills and knowledge to accomplish them.

5. Document the process

The key is to verify that the steps are easy to follow, through the use of simple language and clear instructions.

One of the crucial steps (although they are all important) of setting up a process is to document it.

There are many ways to do it, such as creating a process diagram, as well as:

• creating an organizational chart;
• writing down the steps in a document;
• using a mapping software to create a process map.

Visual documentation, such as process mapping, allows everyone to understand it and know what is expected of them.

It also simplifies the process and makes it easy to modify it, if needed.

6. Test the process

Once you have set up and documented a process, it is time to test it. This is a fundamental step in identifying areas for improvement.

Testing the newly created process also helps to see if employees understand and follow the steps well.

There are several ways to test a process:

• running the process yourself;
• having your employees test it;
• organizing a discussion group.

After testing the process, you can make any necessary changes and improve it.

You then have to implement it and notice if it works as planned.

7. Systematize knowledge management

Once the process is created, it is important that you store it in a central location where it is easily accessible to everyone. This way, everyone uses the same version of the process and has access to the most up-to-date information. 

A knowledge management system (KMS) is a great way to achieve it. 

A KMS is a system that allows process management in addition to sharing information within an organization.

There are many types of KMS, and they all share the same goal: making information available to those who need it.

The most important aspect when choosing a KMS is making sure it is easy to use and it meets the needs of your organization.

There are many factors to consider when choosing such a system, including:

• the size of the organization;
• the type of information to be shared;
• the number of people who need to access the system;
• the budget allocated to the system.

Once you have analyzed these factors, you can start considering the different types of KMS and choose the one that best suits your needs.

Trust: a key component of successful process management

As previously mentioned, delegating is a key part of any process.

Tasks that are not delegated are often badly executed, if at all.

However, in order to delegate effectively, you need to trust the people you will be delegating to. When you trust your team, you are able to delegate more effectively and create processes that work.

But building trust doesn’t happen overnight, it takes time and effort. It is therefore important to choose the right people and give them the training and support they need to succeed.

Otherwise, it can be easy to start having a controlling attitude, which is not an effective way to manage employees. When you try to control tasks delegated to other people, you risk sabotaging the entire process.

We must admit that few things are more annoying than being micromanaged.

Trying to control everything only leads to frustration, on both sides.

So how do you build trust ?

• be clear about expectations;
• give employees the autonomy they need to do their job;
• encourage open communication.

A relationship of trust also requires:

• choosing the right people;
• giving them the training and support they need to succeed;
• monitoring their progress and providing feedback;
• being available to answer questions.

You can start by delegating small tasks and gradually increase responsibilities, as the person you have delegated to proves themselves.

It is also important that you provide feedback throughout the process, both positive and negative. This will help your employees understand your expectations.

By following these tips, you will create an environment of trust that is conducive to the success of any process.

How can Workleap LMS help you implement business processes?

Hiring additional staff is only part of the solution, when it comes to growing your business.

Another part of it has to do with creating efficient processes. By following these steps you could optimize your business processes and have your organization run like a well-oiled machine!

At Workleap LMS, we know that creating and monitoring processes can be complex. That’s why we offer a platform that allows you to create training courses and easily document your teams’ knowledge.

This is called a Learning Management System (LMS).

Through our platform, you can easily create and offer training material that will help your team members understand and correctly follow the steps of any process. Request your LMS demo today!

It’s no secret that the rise of remote work has changed the way many organizations operate. Some managers adapted with ease, implementing swift and efficient new communication channels to keep the pulse on how their people feel, while others found it challenging to maintain regular contact with their newly distributed workforce.

If you’re feeling disconnected from your remote or hybrid employees, it’s important to check in often to ensure your teams feel supported. Sending your employees tailored survey questions is a great way to measure engagement levels and nip any potential issues in the bud.

Why survey your remote workers?

Most companies have realized that happy workers are productive workers and have started investing in creating a positive employee experience in the workplace.

One fundamental way to understand the employee experience is by collecting information directly from the employees themselves. Whether through one-on-one feedback sessions, team meetings, or anonymous surveys, creating a feedback culture allows managers to gather details about how employees feel about working for their company.

The rise in remote work has created specific challenges that affect employee engagement and productivity. As the trend of remote work shows no signs of slowing down, understanding how remote employees feel about their situation is vital to their continued productivity and success.

Survey questions to ask your remote, hybrid, or distributed employees

Despite offering great benefits, remote working survey questions can be tricky to formulate correctly.

A major challenge facing many remote employees is the blurring between their personal lives and work. You need to tread the fine line of asking personal questions that impact productivity, mental health and well-being, and unique difficulties without delving into specifics.

It's a good idea to keep these surveys anonymous, as this allows employees to feel more comfortable in sharing potentially personal concerns. It also prevents retribution from unhappy managers, giving employees the confidence to provide honest, genuine feedback.

Remote lifestyle questions

Some people thrive in a remote work environment, while others may need additional support. Finding out how employees have reacted and adjusted to their new situation offers valuable insight into how you can help them make the transition.

Some question examples include:

1. What's your favorite part about working remotely?
2. Do you have a set routine?
3. Have you ever worked remotely before, and what's different about your current situation?
4. Do you have many distractions during the day?
5. Are you able to stop working after hours?
6. What do you do for fun and to recharge from work?
7. What are your main productivity barriers, and how can we help address them?

Information dissemination questions

Many decisions happen spontaneously during office discussions, and remote work can make team communication challenging. It's harder to have insightful conversations as a team, but it's also harder to keep everyone in the loop. Here are some questions to hone in on common communication issues:

8. Do you feel included in major team decisions?
9. Have you been blindsided by any news or information during a team meeting?
10. Are our current remote working tools good enough?
11. Do you often have technical difficulties with remote communication tools?
12. Are our on-site meetings remote-friendly enough to encourage your participation?

Connection questions

Many people struggle to engage with text-based or video-based communications, leading to missed contexts and increased conflict between remote team members. It's vital to build strong bonds between employees, even if they don't share the same space.

13. Do you feel you get into the office enough?
14. Who do you go to when you have a great idea?
15. Do you feel that you can approach anyone on the team with a problem you have?
16. Are there enough opportunities for small talk and bonding? How do you think we could create more?
17. Do you feel like you're a valuable member of the team?

Remote work planning questions

As more organizations move towards remote working and hybrid models, consulting employees is a great way to get ideas on how to implement these strategies effectively.

18. How many days do you need to be in the office, based on your current workload and responsibilities?
19. Are you confident that your managers are willing to promote alternative, flexible working practices?
20. If you had total flexibility, what days work best for in-office work (if any)?
21. Which arrangement do you prefer: hybrid, 100% remote, or 100% office?
22. How can we make the transition between remote work and office work seamless for you?

Remote work productivity questions

Various aspects of working from home will affect employees differently. However, some practices will make everyone's life easier, and it's vital to implement them as early as possible to keep productivity high.

23. Do you understand the company's work-from-home policies?
24. Do you have clear work objectives?
25. Do you feel that your manager trusts you to do your work at home?
26. Are you satisfied with the quality and quantity of communication from leadership?
27. Can you reach your team or your direct reports easily when you need them?
28. What are your preferred communication channels when working remotely?
29. Would you like to return to the office? Why or why not?
30. Do you have a dedicated working space at home?

What are the struggles of remote employees?

It may be tempting to assume that managing a remote team works the same as managing people in the office. However, the shift to remote working has raised new questions and challenges for employees and managers alike.

According to Officevibe's State of Employee Experience report, almost 30% of employees have to deal with unmanageable stress levels, despite having the flexibility to work from home.

Understanding the challenges of working remotely can be tricky, especially if managers and executives remain in an office environment. That's why employee feedback is essential in providing the proper support necessary to address the specific concerns of a distributed workforce.

Maintaining a healthy work-life balance

The biggest challenge for managing remote employees is supporting a good work-life balance. Many people don't have a dedicated office space at home, leading to a blurring of lines between their personal life and job.

It can be very tempting to "just finish up this one task" before logging off. Some people also struggle to get going in the morning simply because they don't have the clear transition of going to work that gets them in the working mindset.

Loneliness

Even if your team members aren't best friends, the office fosters constant small-scale social interactions. Even simple banter between team leaders and colleagues is enough to create a feeling of camaraderie and social well-being.

Working in a remote environment eliminates almost all of these social interactions. Many remote workers find that they can spend an entire day working without speaking to another person, leading to feelings of isolation and loneliness.

Difficulties communicating and collaborating with remote team members

People communicate in a whole host of ways, including body language and other non-verbal cues. These cues give everyone context for communication and can dramatically alter the meaning of spoken words.

Text-based communication lacks the ability to accurately convey these non-verbal cues. You may think you're writing an informal, casual email, while the recipient may think you're being sarcastic or too informal. Since you can't adjust your tone on the fly, both parties lack the necessary context for effective communication in the workplace.

While video calls may alleviate some communication issues, they lack the spontaneity and real-time insights that make for a successful team.

Household distractions

Working in a dedicated office space fosters an environment without distractions where employees can focus on their work. Working remotely opens up a host of distractions, from pets to household repairs and even administrative tasks that interfere with an employee's concentration.

Many people have started going to coffee shops or renting coworking spaces to work remotely while avoiding household distractions. Unfortunately, these may not be the right solution for every team member working remotely, and it's vital to provide the right support to help hybrid or remote employees focus on their tasks.

Staying motivated

An isolated remote environment can make it incredibly difficult for people to self-motivate. Usually, an entire team will motivate itself to push harder, but the lack of constant communication can lead remote staff to feel like their contributions aren't important. While it's up to the team leader to ensure that their team stays motivated throughout a project, working remotely can make the task significantly more difficult.

Working across different time zones

Another major barrier for any distributed team is when individuals log in from different locations. Different time zones introduce a layer of administrative challenges, and getting remote teams together requires a lot more planning than simply calling an impromptu team meeting.

Having the right equipment

Not everyone that starts remote working has the resources necessary to work from home. Some people may rely on their work laptops, while others need high-speed internet access. Ensuring that everyone has what they need is a key component of helping remote teams get up and running as quickly as possible

Pulse Survey for remote workers

The goal of any short-form Pulse Survey is to get a snapshot of employee engagement in your organization. To get the most out of the survey, stick to topics that:

• Require employee feedback. Avoid asking about topics where employee opinions don't factor into the decision-making process.
• Are actionable. Only raise topics that you can change in a reasonable timeframe to show off visible results.
• Address general concerns. Pulse Surveys aren't the place to ask about individual employees' job satisfaction or personal issues and should target broader challenges facing remote employees as a whole.

Pulse Surveys give the best results when limited to a specific topic. For instance, if you want to get an idea of how employees feel about returning to the office or a hybrid model, a short Pulse Survey may look like this:

• How can leaders foster a safe working environment?
• I feel that I have the necessary resources to safely return to the office. Y/N
• I feel that leadership has taken the right measures to protect employees when we return to the workplace. Y/N
• I know the procedures and policies in place that will keep everyone in the workplace safe. Y/N
• I don't feel pressured to come to work if a family member or I feel sick. Y/N

Combining surveys with one-on-one meetings

Managing remote employees requires identifying general problems of working remotely while also helping individuals deal with specific challenges. Surveys are great at detecting general trends but may feel impersonal, leading to greater feelings of isolation and lack of communication.

Combining a wide range of surveys with one-on-ones and active listening will allow employees to feel connected and managers to set expectations. These meetings allow employees to bring up personal concerns affecting their well-being that aren't suitable as remote working survey questions.

How to optimize your survey questions for remote team members

Asking the right remote working survey questions is as important as sending out the survey in the first place. The questions you ask have a huge impact on the quality of the survey data and participation rates.

As remote working raises unique challenges, it's important to focus on these aspects. You can still use other anonymous surveys to monitor employee engagement for on-site workers or hybrid workers, but remote work surveys for fully remote employees should focus on their needs.

When optimizing your employee survey questions, remember to:

• Ask questions that identify personal concerns that may affect productivity without bringing up specific personal feelings or family situations.
• Constantly monitor employee mental health and well-being without asking generic questions where answers may change daily.

It's also important to use the survey results effectively, which means understanding that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for remote working. Short surveys will reveal trends with remote work that you can explore further in one-on-one meetings with individual employees.

Get the most from your remote employee engagement surveys with Officevibe

As employee spaces and work practices change, organizations need to adapt to keep up. Officevibe offers a host of useful employee engagement tools and resources to help you establish a feedback culture in your organization. From short Pulse Surveys to long-form questionnaires, we'll help you keep your employees motivated, happy, and productive.

Is your business growing well and you would like to delegate more tasks to your teams?

Would you like to make sure that your employees’ skills are aligned with your company’s future needs and your long-term vision?

Would you like to develop the skills of your most promising and ambitious employees?

Did you answer ‘yes’ to at least one of these questions? If so, you are at the right place!

We have just identified an essential element in business: developing employee skills. 

It is a proactive learning strategy that builds on employees’ professional development ambitions to improve performance, in every sense of the term. In other words, you want to give your employees the best tools so they can thrive at work and grow in their careers.

As a manager, the main goal of skill development is to bring more value to your business and bring its growth to the next level.

How can you do that? By using your most precious resource: your employees, their workforce and their willingness to acquire new skills.

Would you like to find out more ? 

Check out this guide on business skill development, which explains in detail what employee development consists of, how to set up such a strategy and what to avoid when doing so.

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What exactly is skills development? 

Skills development: Definition

Skills development is a learning process by which a company allows its employees to deepen their knowledge and improve their practice.

This approach addresses long-term needs and ambitions and is aligned with the employees’ careers.

What is the difference between employee training and skills development ?

The concepts of employee training and skills development are so intertwined that they are sometimes taken for one another. So let’s be specific!

The goal of employee training is to meet a specific need for a new skill or knowledge, in the short term, related to the position currently occupied by the employee.

On the other hand, skills development is a long-term process which aims to develop more general skills. Of course, these new skills can be put into practice quickly but the process pertains more to the long-term development of the employee’s professional career.

It can refer both to the know-how in an employee’s current field of expertise and the know-how needed for future positions that require more responsibility.

A human approach to reaching your goals

Skills development is human-oriented.

At Workleap LMS, we notice the same thing day after day: a company that achieved its organizational goals is a company that focuses on the human, because it represents its main strength.

Successful companies manage to make the most of their available skills. Above all, they involve their employees in the process, in order to truly understand their needs and support them effectively.

Why invest in skill development ?

When well executed, improving employees’ skills benefits everyone: the employees first of all, then the company. It is a lever that managers have every interest in using to improve performance both at team level and at company level.

When we talk about ‘performance’, we are not necessarily talking about dramatically increasing the number of contracts or company turnover. Rather, we focus on improving ourselves to become more efficient and productive, through better trained employees who are more fulfilled in their work.

The budget a company allocates to skills development is not just a ‘burden’ or an ‘expense’, it is a real long-term investment. Employees are the greatest wealth of a company. It is therefore natural to take care of it and maintain its value, and better yet, to improve it.

Skills development is therefore not a burden, but an investment that brings value to the company in the long run!

Who is responsible for skills development in business ?

This is a big question that we have tried to answer, and we advise you entrust the strategic vision of skills development to the operations managers, and its coordination and support to your human resources department.

Could we be forgetting a part of the equation? The most important part of it all are the employees themselves.

Remember: the career and professional development of your employees are at the heart of skills development.

And while operations management and human resources are responsible for this approach, the core rests with the employees, because they are its focus. It is up to the most motivated among them to make the best out of what the company is ready to offer them, in terms of skills and career path.

The 5 biggest benefits to developing your employees’ skills

Here are the main benefits a company can reap when implementing actions that aim to develop its employees’ skills.

1. Achieve long-term growth objectives

You probably have big dreams for your company: new products, new markets, new growth prospects… and that is normal, the human mind is always looking for more!

Improving your employees’ skills has a strategic dimension, but it also pertains to human resource management. They both go hand in hand.

In a company, learning and growth are intimately linked. And the challenge of skills development is to match the employees’ professional ambitions with the company’s organisational goals. It is a loop that benefits everyone, the employees and the company at large.

Some employees may be looking for new responsibilities, new professional challenges. Skills development makes it possible to meet their ambitions. 

Among the many impacts you can expect for your business are :

• An improved customer service quality through soft skills development
• Organizational efficiency through your managers’ leadership development
• Innovation and new ideas through intrapreneurship development

2. Delegate more responsibilities

Why should you continue to entrust everything to team leaders when some employees are motivated to take on more responsibility?

This is where skills development comes into play: it helps you delegate responsibilities to employees who have all the motivation and potential needed.

By gradually delegating higher-level tasks, managers enable employees to develop new skills and prepare for further, higher responsibilities that the company needs to address in order to achieve its growth goals. 

But remember that when it comes to skills development, there is a valuable human aspect to address: by delegating responsibilities you also improve trust between managers and employees, which is in itself a precious asset.

3. Improve performance

At Workleap LMS, we believe that ‘performance’ is not a ‘dirty word’.

When a company strives to achieve goals, they are referred to as ‘organizational goals’. Without properly trained employees, it is impossible to achieve them. Employees who are better supported and better equipped to manage projects will be more efficient, more comfortable in their role and their daily life.

For example, a company could have as an organizational goal to increase the average bill of their customers. By offering to develop the communication and persuasion skills of its sales team, the company will help them perform better and therefore increase their chances of success.

These skills can also be applied in other contexts, or even in a growth perspective (for example, becoming a department manager).

4. Increase motivation and commitment

Skills development is a corporate culture marker.

No employee likes the feeling of ‘stagnating’ in their position and not learning anything. Inversely, in a company that promotes continuous learning and advancement, employees evolve in a constructive working atmosphere. 

All this contributes to the creation of the employer brand.

Employees’ motivation is higher when they feel they are progressing. Giving employees the opportunity to develop new skills or to improve their skills opens up the possibility to entrust them with new responsibilities.

According to TeamStage, motivated employees can contribute to:

• 21% increase in profitability
• 41% reduction in absence rates
• 87% less employees leaving the company

5. Improve employee retention and save money on hiring

This brings us to a very sensitive topic : employee retention.

Thanks to their new skills, employees can apply to other positions by benefiting from internal mobility. It becomes interesting to bet on employees who have potential and need a chance to prove it.

By implementing a skills development policy, you can improve your talent management and reduce talent drain, as well as save money on the hiring process.

We all know that it is easier and less costly to retain talent rather than look for new one! In the current context of labor shortage, all companies should consider this! 

The good news is that all these benefits can accumulate their effects, provided you set up a good skills development strategy and aim for long-term results. 

The best ways to develop your employees’ skills

How to develop employees ? 

This is a question many business leaders ask. There are many different ways to develop your employees’ skills. You can even use several different methods together!

Identify relevant skills

‘Skills development’ is a hot topic, but which skills are we talking about exactly? 

It is a fact that skills are different from one company to another, and from one employee to another. Any manager who engages in an effort to improve their employee skills must first complete a skills gap analysis.

The goal: identify the critical skills that need to be developed, and which your company needs in the short, medium and long term to achieve its objectives; next, compare them with the actual skills of your teams.

This is the first step, but there is still work to be done to compare the skills the company needs to the career ambitions of your employees.

Rely on your employees’ career goals and wishes

How can you know what your employees wish for in their careers, if you don’t ask them about it?

It is impossible. That is why managers and employees must set up meetings and exchange periods to help employees identify their professional goals and create individual development plans that will define:

• The challenges that employees face in their missions and the challenges they want to take up in their career
• The means for employees to achieve their goals and meet their challenges
• The time required to achieve the goals you have identified

Take time during one-on-one meetings or annual assessments to ask these questions! 

It is one way to motivate employees and make sure the company’s goals are in line with those of its employees.

Implement individual skill development plans

After completing the skills gap analysis and collecting your employees’ expectations, you now know:

• Which skills need to be developed
• Which ones are a priority
• How many employees are concerned by your findings
• Who your most ambitious employees are, in terms of career
• etc. 

You can then develop individual skills development plans.

But concretely, how do you set this up?

There are many different ways to develop your employees’ skills, formally or informally. Both types of learning have their advantages but the big advantage of formal learning via a training platform is that you get to create a structured framework that allows each employee to achieve the set goals.

Create an enabling environment: break down barriers and keep employees motivated 

If you have read this far, it's because you have a great motivation to succeed in your skills development process. The last point we would like to emphasize is creating a favorable environment for the success of your project.

Your plan will not work in a company whose departments and teams work in silos, within a rigid structure. You must first ensure that cross-functional collaboration is possible, that exchanges are fluid and that the corporate culture is conducive to sharing and employee development, at all levels.

By eliminating work silos you can enable employees to explore new, more challenging areas and strengthen their skills.

Finally, you must communicate with your employees throughout the process, in order to give them feedback, identify elements that need improvement, and recognize success. Motivating your teams is a daily challenge!

You are wondering why we are talking about breaking down the barriers that may be in your way? To prevent you from running into traps or pitfalls.

What pitfalls to avoid ?

As previously seen, skills development is a strategic move for your company and for your employees’ well-being. How do you make this strategy pay off?

Other managers have done it before you, and we have compiled all the mistakes and behaviors to avoid.

Lack of exchange with employees

Learning new information, regardless of your position and age is a very profitable step, but it requires putting yourself in an open, welcoming position. Not all employees are ready to take this step.

So how do you go about it? By listening to what employees have to say about their careers and professional development. After all, they are in the best position to talk about their ambitions.

In other words, setting up a top-down approach is far from being the best idea.

Setting up a skills development strategy must start from the people who are the most concerned by it: your employees. You must therefore take the time to exchange with each member of the team regularly.

Lack of communication about the company’s long-term vision

We cannot repeat it enough: communication within a company is essential. It allows everyone to know what they have to do, and how to improve, if needed.

For your skills development strategy to work, you must give employees all the information they will need to achieve your organizational goals.

It is the responsibility of the team leaders to think about explaining the ‘why’ behind your actions and the potential long-term challenges. 

Fortunately, technology makes it possible to get everyone on the same page and offer them the same level of information. For example, a knowledge management system can store all the information in one place and make it accessible to all members of a company.

Lack of involvement on behalf of the managers

Within this challenge, the role of managers and team leaders is crucial. Everyone has a role to play and employees cannot handle everything, no matter how motivated they are. We should remember to maintain motivation and stimulate a culture of learning.

On the other hand, the role of managers is to encourage the development of their teams by driving the process themselves. How can an employee develop if their manager does not encourage them to do so and does not seek to continuously learn themselves? It is crucial to show employees that a skills development approach is an integral part of your corporate culture, and that it applies to all levels of your organization. 

It is time for managers to put their leadership into practice, because leadership is an essential business skill!

Lack of time

In order for it to be a profitable and pleasant experience, the skills development approach should not be seen as an additional burden or extra work that you add to your already busy schedule.

At Workleap LMS, we often say that ‘Developing new skills takes time’.

Managers must therefore give employees the time they need to learn and practice their new skills.  Practically speaking, this means that each employee must be able to reserve time for training within their schedule, even if it means encroaching a little on the time normally dedicated to productivity.

Lack of evaluation of the approach

Skills development is a long-term approach, but how can you evaluate its results?

No one likes to work in vain, of course.

You must define measurable performance indicators from the start. They will allow you to see if a strategy is effective or not, and to identify the elements that need improvement. There is also a need for regular re-analysis of the skills gap.

How can an LMS help track skills development?

‘What tools could help us develop our employees’ skills?’ Thi is a question we get asked a lot, at Workleap LMS, and our answer is a three-letter one: LMS.

What is an LMS?

You may not be familiar with the term ‘LMS’, so let’s start from the beginning. An LMS is a Learning management system. It is simply a private training platform that is specific to a company.

At the company level, using an LMS optimizes time use. Once the training is created, there is no need to start all over again. You can access it infinitely, reuse it, enhance it, and more.

On the employee level, the use of such a tool promotes autonomy, because an LMS allows them to learn at their own pace, in time slots of their choosing.

Beyond these advantages, there is an essential point that interests us: the follow-up process of your employees’ skill development. In our opinion, there are several great advantages to using an LMS to do this follow-up.

Create customized courses and training adapted to each professional path

By using an online training platform like Workleap LMS, a company can create different content depending on the skill needs and areas of expertise, the type of position or department of the employees being trained. Each employee can follow all or part of the modules, according to what has been defined with their team leader, based on their professional ambitions.

Yes, skills development places people and employees at the heart of the equation.

Employees displaying the most potential and ability to develop new skills can therefore progress more quickly, while those who need more time can do so at their own pace.

An LMS allows you to track employee progression in real time, in an individualized and personalized manner.

Track and measure employee progress

Everyone needs reliable data.

An LMS centralizes data and information. It is a tool that allows you to track the progress of each employee and generate reports. On the other hand, managers can have access to the individual progress of each employee, see the modules they are following and the scores they get. This provides indicators.

In summary, using an LMS helps to ensure that skills development fulfills its functions: to match the company’s goals with the professional ambitions of its employees, based on objective indicators.

Adjust your skills development strategy

By analyzing this information, it is possible that the company decides to modify certain elements and adjust its strategy and actions: it could choose to develop new modules, prioritize certain specific skills, etc.

For example, an LMS allows you to organize training according to different groups, to define its order and number of steps. Everything is modular and customizable, nothing is fixed!

Build a common knowledge and skills base across the company

Is your goal to get the most employees on board and involved in the growth of your business?

If it is, you will find using an LMS very helpful. It will become a reference tool for monitoring the skills development and will serve as a centralized knowledge database from which your employees can draw at any time.

You can use it to document internal expertise and work on continuous skills development!

It’s your turn!

As we have seen, skills development can be one of the biggest challenges for companies, but it is also an excellent lever that can propel your business and employees.

Do you need help structuring your skills development strategy? Contact the Workleap LMS team.

They say that you get a silly answer if you ask a silly question. So logically, you're bound to get quality answers if you ask great questions. This theory is especially true when asking for honest employee feedback through survey questions.

To help take out the guesswork and set you on the right course, we've put together our top 33 questions about managers' performance and productivity that you can use for your next employee engagement survey.

Questions like these are a helpful way to get valuable feedback and take positive action.

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Asking the right feedback questions about managers

Managers play a vital role in every organization, so it’s just as important to get employees’ feedback on the job performance and skills of the management team as it is for them to assess their direct reports.

Since it’s imperative to ask the right survey questions to get the best feedback on management, we’ve broken the questions down into distinct sections for you.

Questions about a manager’s communication skills

🔑 Communication is key, especially between managers and their direct reports.

To offer outstanding leadership, managers must be great communicators and make their team feel comfortable being open and straightforward with them. This way, they open the door to healthy conversation and the ability to solve problems effectively.

Asking these survey questions can be an excellent tool for receiving feedback about how management and supervisors interact with their team:

1. How comfortable are you communicating with your direct manager?
2. How frequently do you receive recognition from your manager?
3. How satisfied are you with how often you get direct feedback from your manager?
4. Does your manager clearly communicate their performance expectations with you?

Questions about managerial and leadership skills

⚖️ When it comes to leadership, not all managers are created equal.

Some take to it more naturally, while others need more development in their role to be influential leaders.

Employees should feel encouraged to share their thoughts on their manager's performance as a leader within the organization so they can adequately fulfill their management responsibilities.

5. How confident are you in your manager’s leadership abilities?
6. Does your manager have the right expertise to help your whole team succeed?
7. Does your manager have high standards for their role as a leader?
8. Would you consider your manager a good role model?

{emphasize}Learn more about different leadership styles (and how and when to apply them on your team).{emphasize}

Questions about trust and respect for management

🤝 Much like any relationship, whether professional or personal, if you don't have trust and respect, there's not a lot of ground to stand on.

These are the foundation for functional, healthy relationships and are essential qualities for leaders to have with their team.

Employees feel valued when they know they are respected and their manager cares. In turn, these qualities also build greater employee-management trust within the organization.

9. Does your manager create an open and trusting environment? How?
10. How does your manager make you feel like you are a valued team member?
11. Does your manager treat everyone on the team fairly and with the same level of respect?
12. Do you feel like your manager values your ideas and suggestions?
13. Does your manager listen and take action when you address an issue with them?

Questions about effectiveness

🎯 A great manager is an effective leader. They can solve problems, see different perspectives, consistently make effective decisions, and set clear goals for their team.

An effective manager will help employees identify and use their strengths to their advantage, giving them even greater confidence in themselves and their roles.

Manager performance should be assessed from all levels of the organization, including from each direct report. Here are some key questions to ask about management effectiveness:

14. How confident are you in the overall effectiveness of your immediate manager?
15. Does your manager have the expertise and ability to help you and your team succeed?
16. Does your manager maintain high standards for their conduct?
17. Has your manager worked to improve on issues in the last year?
18. Does your manager make consistently effective decisions?

{emphasize}Want to brush up on the benefits of employee feedback? We've put together a comprehensive guide for managers.{emphasize}

Questions about support from management

👐 It’s so important for employees to feel supported by their managers both inside and outside the workplace.

Supportive communication is vital, whether it's to support their development, encourage productivity, identify areas of improvement, or tell an employee they're doing a great job.

These open-ended questions can help identify if managers are providing their employees with the professional (and personal!) support they need:

19. Do you feel supported by your manager?
20. Does your manager give you a reasonable workload and realistic deadlines?
21. Does your manager react quickly and efficiently when you request support?
22. Does your manager care about your life and well-being outside of work?

Questions about mentorship

👩‍🏫 Managers can be great mentors for employees looking to grow in their roles and advance professionally.

Career development is valuable, so when managers take the time to lead their employees in the right direction, it can make a world of difference.

Many employees count on their organization to help them get the kind of mentorship they need to maybe even step into a manager position down the line.

23. What do you value about mentorship as an employee?
24. How does your manager act as a mentor to you?
25. Does your manager offer you other mentorship opportunities?

Questions about professional development

⛰️ Career development is valuable to an employee's growth and a great way to prevent employee turnover and increase employee engagement.

Leaders should be in tune with their team’s skills and identify how they can develop them even further.

Here are some on-point survey questions for organizations to ask their employees to get actionable feedback on professional development:

26. Do you and your manager discuss the status of your career within the company?
27. Do you see yourself advancing your career at this company?
28. Has your manager helped you identify the steps you need to take to grow within the company?
29. Are you satisfied with the learning opportunities available to you?

Questions about work-life balance

🧘 Now more than ever, there is a greater focus and importance on work-life balance within the company culture. A balanced life doesn’t just create more happiness outside of the workplace, but it also contributes to greater satisfaction within the company.

In today’s modern business world, constructive feedback on these questions can help assess whether managers are placing enough importance on the human side of the employee experience:

30. Does your manager recognize the importance of your personal and family life?
31. Do you feel like your manager cares about your mental health and well-being?
32. Does your manager encourage you to take personal time when needed?
33. Do you get a sense that your manager cares about you as a person?

Open the communication with Officevibe

Employee engagement and feedback are essential for healthy company culture.

While taking note of these survey questions is a great way to initiate communication between employees and managers, Offcevibe is a helpful platform for automating the entire employee feedback survey process (with no technical expertise needed!).

Access all the tools

Officevibe offers sample survey questions, templated surveys, easy-to-understand reports, and a range of other valuable feedback tools to take you beyond the big picture, to help keep communication open, and even determine whether a manager change is needed.

Managers, employees, and entire teams will find great value in what Officevibe can bring to the table!

Corporate training is crucial in manufacturing. Efficient learning management can help reduce the skills gap, reduce workplace accidents, and improve long-term employee engagement!

However, traditional training approaches are not very motivating for workers, and the cost-benefit ratio is not necessarily worth it. 

You guessed it: the manufacturing industry needs to dust off practices and modernize learning management once and for all. Here are our tips to help you get there!

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What's in this article

• Rethinking Skill Management and Development
• Investing in Learning and Career Management Technology
• Now, it’s your turn!

{emphasize}

Rethinking Skill Management and Development

Traditional learning methods are often not adapted to the reality of your organization and your employees. 

Indeed, this type of training does not let you centralize information or keep track of trained workers to ensure regulatory compliance. And that's without mentioning other time-consuming constraints, such as having to take notes to remember each certificate that needs to be renewed! 

With this in mind, here are some tips to optimize the tracking and development of skills in your manufacturing company.

Revitalize Training Management 

Implementing modern management methods: easier said than done? 

Don't worry! 

Several simple practices will help you win all the way. Here are 4 of them to experiment within your company: 

SMART Training Method

Have you ever heard of SMART Training? 

This learning method takes its name from its approach (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-framed). In short, we define clear training goals that are attainable and relevant to each individual. 

We then measure the employee's progress: have they acquired the required skills? This is also the perfect time to ask employees what they liked or disliked about their training. 

This approach provides the perfect feedback to establish relevant skill development strategies. All in all, you increase organizational efficiency while modernizing your practices! 

Technology Skills: a Crucial Asset

What could be more modern than promoting technological skills among your employees? 

These skills are critical in the manufacturing sector, where technical and technological progress requires you to keep up with the times. 

To avoid creating a skills gap between your current employees and new hires, we recommend promoting corporate training that focuses on discovering and using new technologies!  

The Importance of Soft Skills

Soft skills are undoubtedly the future of professional skills! In the upcoming years, the need for soft skills is expected to increase by 30% in manufacturing companies. 

What are soft skills? In a nutshell, they are all the qualities that make up an excellent professional outlook: the ability to take on challenges and solve problems as well as teamwork skills, for example.

Promoting the acquisition of soft skills also allows you to expand from routine training in manufacturing. Your employees will be happy with these changes!  

Adaptive Learning

This teaching method uses artificial intelligence to identify the employee's skills, even if they are unconscious. Therefore, you avoid redundancy and wasted time by going straight to the point! 

You'll also be able to maintain the pace of operations while providing relevant and quality training to your employees. 

Click here to learn more about adaptive learning!

By adopting these modern practices, you will show that every skill matters when it’s put to good use within the company. Therefore, your employees' full potential will be recognized and developed accordingly. 

Your teams will feel appreciated, and you will develop essential skills for your company: it's a win-win situation! 

Promoting Initiative and Dialogue

Promoting initiative and dialogue in skills development is critical in your modernization strategy. Here are the essential steps to take to build a healthy and efficient training culture: 

1. Initiate the conversation to identify strengths and gaps, so you can better support employee development. 
2. Discuss skill development over time during performance reviews. 
3. Survey your employees about the skills they would like to acquire and the specific training they want.
4. Be proactive thanks to previous discussions (identify and implement relevant training, avoid skill gaps within the organization).

Congratulations: you and your employees are now enjoying all the benefits of a modern, efficient, and people-oriented training plan!

Investing in Learning and Career Management Technology

Modernizing your learning management approaches is already a big step in your journey. However, it can be challenging to implement these significant changes without the right tools to support you. 

Fortunately, easy-to-use and effective software tools can revitalize your corporate training management. 

The icing on the cake? They are adapted to the reality of the manufacturing industry!

LMS (Learning Management System)

The first step in your training modernization strategy is to choose the best LMS for your company.

These solutions offer the tools you need to quickly and efficiently modernize your training processes. Here are some key benefits of an LMS for a manufacturing company: 

• Access critical manufacturing certificates and courses;
• Benefit from synchronous and asynchronous training for more flexibility in managing atypical schedules;
• Raise employee awareness on occupational health and safety through training that is more attractive than traditional courses (video format that is fun and accessible to all);
• Ensure the homogeneity of training for all employees: if you have several factories to manage, the LMS is the perfect solution to ensure a consistent level of training for all your employees! 
• Make training accessible anytime, anywhere, to anyone! What if the first step in modernizing training was to make it more accessible to everyone, no matter their context? 

Accessibility, flexibility, adaptability to your professional context... Discover all of these benefits by choosing Workleap LMS!

Human resources management software

A human resources management software adapted to your needs will be a major ally in modernizing all your processes. 

The following features will be essential to restructure learning management in your manufacturing company: 

• Comprehensive training features: Calculate training costs and centralize relevant documentation (invoices, certificates) to facilitate daily follow-up; 
• Certificate management: Efficiently manage all skill certificates and their renewals with automated reminders when they expire;
• Career management: Ensure the progress of your employees and find all the information you need at a glance; 
• Employee profiles: Keep track of your employees' development with ease;
• Accident management: Use the accident rate and frequency indicators and quickly identify affected employees to improve safety management in their workplace!

Psst... Folks HR offers all these features in a user-friendly and affordable package!

Now, it’s your turn!

Congratulations, you’re well on your way to modernizing your company's training management!

However, these positive changes need to be sustained over time. Indeed, corporate training is your best ally for effective skills' development in the long run. 

Our final advice would be to make corporate training a top priority in employee management. 

Fortunately, there are technology tools to help you in your efforts. Try Workleap LMS for free and discover the best LMS for modernizing learning management in your manufacturing company!

Open and honest communication between managers and employees can have a huge impact on employee motivation, satisfaction, and even productivity.

One-on-one meetings are a great space to discuss goals, career development, and challenges. Unfortunately, they can also become uncomfortable to manage, especially when discussing negative topics like conflict or performance issues.

We sat down with managers on the ground to get you the best tips for creating open communication channels and getting the most out of your one-on-one meetings.

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What managers gain from one-on-one conversations

One-on-ones aren't just about keeping your team on track and achieving goals; they offer unique opportunities that can benefit employees and managers alike.

Having a regular one-on-one meeting can foster trust and improve the manager-employee relationship. It creates a safe space where employees can raise concerns and managers can take action to keep their teams satisfied and productive.

According to a recent Gallup poll, regular weekly feedback creates more engaged and motivated team members than irregular or annual feedback, which can hurt morale.

Boost employee performance

According to MMC Global's Kathryn Kellam, the primary benefit of weekly meetings is boosting performance — hers and her team's. By creating a conversation flow and integrating employee feedback, she can cover important topics about current concerns while also creating actionable plans for the future.

Tackle difficult conversations

Many managers dread having to navigate difficult conversations or awkward topics during their one-on-ones. But Tony Ticknor from Irish Titan views those moments as a chance for team members to give honest, genuine feedback.

I want people to come tell me when something's hard, or they don't want to do something, or they're having a conflict with someone on the team. I don't love spending an entire one-on-one getting project updates from people. I'd rather they focus on goals and on the awkward, tough stuff.

Tips for better one-on-one conversations

Understanding the benefits of one-on-one meetings is one thing; actually, having a successful meeting is a whole other ballgame. Many managers struggle to improve communication between themselves and their team members during a one-on-one meeting, but a bit of preparation can ensure that your meetings begin and end on a positive note.

Plan ahead

Setting a meeting agenda and coming up with talking points before the one-on-one ensures that everyone involved has set expectations about what the meeting will cover. It also ensures that the meeting remains focused on the discussion points, keeping it short. If you're concerned about awkwardness, you can even prepare conversation starters and write down open-ended questions that will foster more open conversation.

Ticknor finds that one advantage of Officevibe's collaborative agenda is to empower employees to set their own meeting notes and talking points. Doing so ensures that each meeting is useful and productive.

Since using Officevibe for one-on-ones, I've seen more engagement from people in planning what we're going to talk about.

Tony Ticknor

Keep track of notes and commitments

Keeping accurate meeting notes is an important skill. Comprehensive notes let managers and employees keep track of key topics and check in on progress during subsequent meetings.

Making meeting notes available to everyone involved also ensures your whole team is on the same page. Miscommunication often creeps up during one-on-ones, and having clean notes prevents misunderstandings while also providing evidence in the case of conflicts.

Falon Peters, a manager of ten at LaFleur, uses Officevibe's meeting notes functionality to keep notes accessible and centralized. While having a notebook may be simple enough, Peters found that:

The collaborative agenda where employees can add talking points before the meetings helps make sure that we're covering everything. Then, being able to set action items ties it all together.

By updating agenda items collaboratively, managers and their direct reports can develop a working relationship that focuses on teamwork and meeting career and project objectives.

Focus on employee purpose

Motivated and engaged employees are more likely to be productive and produce high-quality work. Having a sense of purpose is an essential aspect of engagement, as it emphasizes that what the employee does matters to the company.

Falon Peters has found that tying her employee's sense of purpose to company values and goals makes tackling difficult or sensitive conversations easier. During a recent one-on-one meeting with a direct report whose communication style resulted in conflict, Peters said:

"I prefaced it by saying that one of the things we value at LaFleur is relationships, which sometimes means that we have to value the relationship more than being right. It's important to have your facts ready and to offer your help for any next steps. From there you can come up with a plan — but aligning it to your company values is a good place to start."

Hone in on employee engagement

Many managers view one-on-one meetings as spaces to get status updates on current projects and set goals for the next meetings.

However, regular meetings can also foster employee engagement by showing the employee you value their input while identifying problems and potential solutions. Viewing these meetings as a two-way street builds trust and openness, and employees who trust you are more likely to raise concerns before they turn into costly problems.

Kathryn Kellam uses her standing meeting times to ask her direct reports about aspects such as professional development, work/life balance concerns, and team collaboration. By getting a high-level overview, she can create collaborative agendas that value employee input. As she puts it:

"Being able to look at how we're performing as a full company and where my team is in comparison to that, I'm able to see certain themes. Sharing the survey results with the team and then building that into how we work together has significantly improved overall employee satisfaction. The one-on-one platform and having a formal process to review and document things has helped through that."

Fostering strong relationships requires excellent leadership skills but offers significant benefits that affect the entire workspace. Keeping most one-on-one meetings positive and focused on day-to-day work enables managers and employees to have productive conversations about difficulties and challenges when necessary.

Value your employees

If you want to get the most out of performance reviews or one-on-one meetings, you need to take them seriously. That includes scheduling one-on-one time with every team member, acting on their input, and getting to know them personally while also understanding their professional goals.

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The worst thing you can do is regularly cancel your one-on-ones. Not only does it show team members that you're not serious about their input, but it also prevents employees from taking the one-on-ones seriously. If you schedule a recurring meeting with a direct report, honor it and avoid wasting their time.

As Melissa Hui from Context Leap told us at Officevibe:

The biggest benefit is the establishment of rhythm towards rapport and trust-building. Great relationships don't happen overnight. When you keep one-on-ones, you signal that you're committed to growing each other.

Discuss challenges and share constructive feedback

Constructive feedback is an essential component of personal growth and career development. There is a learning curve to any job, and constructive feedback helps identify problems and find solutions.

Giving useful feedback to direct reports requires having serious, sometimes difficult conversations. As a manager, you need to be able to provide useful feedback but also to take it from your direct report.

Avoiding negative reactions to honest employee feedback fosters trust and gets the most out of each one-on-one meeting with your direct reports.

Talk about development

Career growth is an important factor in employee satisfaction. Employees that don't feel like they're making progress in their work environment are less likely to stay.

One-on-one meetings can be a dedicated time where you discuss your employee's career path, training, and future goals. If you've used previous one-on-ones effectively, employees will be more likely to be honest about their career goals, allowing them to develop pathways to get to those goals.

According to Jordan Scheltgen, a manager at Cave Social:

Once you know where someone wants to be in five years from now, you can help reverse engineer what needs to happen for them to get there.

Get the most out of one-on-one meetings with Officevibe

The key to successful one-on-one conversations is planning and openness. Officevibe's array of performance review and meeting tools encourages collaboration and alignment with company goals and creates an open feedback environment between you and your team.

The benefits of one-on-ones extend far beyond the occasional status update, so why not harness the power for your team today?

Please note that the individuals mentioned in this article may have moved on to other professional endeavors since the date of original publication.

Following a pandemic that has transformed our habits and practices, solutions that were temporary at first are now being considered as potential permanent ones. Such examples are remote work or hybrid work, which allow for a certain flexibility.

But is this an opportunity or a challenge to productivity?

‘Hybrid work’ allows employees to do their work both remotely (at home, in a coffee shop, etc.) and at the office, according to a schedule that suits them and their employer. This allows for a certain flexibility at work while respecting schedules that facilitate communication. 

To maximize success within your company, we offer you our comprehensive guide to hybrid work.

{emphasize}

What's in this article

• What is hybrid work?
• 5 benefits of hybrid work for managers
• Setting up for successful hybrid work
• Downsides of hybrid work
• How can an LMS support hybrid work?

{emphasize}

What is hybrid work?

Definition

Hybrid work is a way of dividing an employee’s work hours between the office and other workplaces: their home, cafés, cottages, campsites, etc.

The idea is to offer them flexibility and allow employees a better personal and professional life balance.

In fact, there are several types of hybrid work:

• 50/50 : 50% at home, 50% at the office
• 25/75 : 25% at home or at the office, and 75% of the time the other way around
• fixed days when employees are at the office or at home
• fixed weeks when employees are at the office or at home

The main thing is to have a simple and clear procedure that allows a healthy schedule management, both for the employees doing hybrid work and their colleagues!

Who is hybrid work for?

Some jobs are easier to switch to a hybrid mode than others. If your business is in the construction field, it will be very difficult to offer remote work to all your employees.

However, there is always a solution!

For example, a forestry engineer cannot do remote work instead of fieldwork, but they could do the planning and data analysis outside of the office.

The jobs most likely to suit hybrid work are in the administrative field, as well as software and computer work in general.

5 benefits of hybrid work for managers

As a business manager, you care about the well-being of the company, its growth and increase in value. But you may be wondering if your employees will actually be productive if they worked remotely.

Workleap LMS offers you 5 benefits of hybrid work that will show you the advantages of this type of operating (pssst… several of our employees work remotely, and even in different countries!).

Productivity

If your employees love their job and you give them a reason to be motivated, they will use their time in an optimal manner and work when they are the most productive.

This means that you will have better results and complete your tasks faster.

When your employees are at the office, they are often interrupted for questions or comments, while at home they can filter and decrease unwanted interruptions.

Happiness

Nothing beats the comfort of your own home and getting back into your habits. Being in their own environment can make your team more comfortable.

Spending less time in transit, playing music in the background, having their cat on their lap while working… these small things can weigh a lot when it comes to your employees’ mental health!

Sickness

When we share common spaces with colleagues, we also share diseases. Being able to work remotely reduces risks and therefore sick leaves.

Furthermore, if an employee has symptoms but is still fit to work, they could stay home and continue working, without sharing any germs.

Saving on maintenance costs

Whether it’s electricity costs (fewer people on site, fewer computers and lights on) or rental spaces (since one office can be used by several employees), you can save big.

Do make sure that your employees are well set up and equipped to work, even from home!

Hidden talents

You can hire anywhere in the world: some hidden talents may not be located in your city, so you will have to look further.

Or maybe your best employees are planning to relocate or travel the world. Why lose them when you can offer them what they want while keeping them on your team?

Setting up for successful hybrid work

As a business owner, how should you set up for hybrid work?

First of all, know that there is not only one way to do it, it all depends on you and, above all, on your teams.

Here are the steps to a successful balance between on-site and remote work:

1. Survey your employees

Your employees will ‘pay the price’ for your decisions, and, as you know, unhappy employees are not productive employees.

Ask your teams about their preference: do they prefer the 50/50 or the 25/75 models, fixed days at home or at the office or fixed weeks? 

There are no set rules, it is up to you to create the rules that will suit your business!

Here are some questions you could ask:

• Do you have children, and if so, what time does school or daycare start?
• How far away from the company do you live, and how long does the commute take?
• Would you like to work remotely or on-site? How many hours per week?
• Are there specific days when you would prefer to work on-site or remotely?

You don’t have to create a schedule for each individual employee, of course (this would be a huge puzzle) but it is possible to do it by teams, departments, projects, etc.

It is up to you to see what suits you best in terms of management!

2. Offer the necessary equipment

You probably have an equipment budget for your business, it is time to use it!

Not all of your employees have a desk, a recent computer or a comfortable space where they can work properly.

Show them that you care about their well-being by offering :

• training on the correct posture when working on screens;
• training on managing distractions at home;
• an ergonomic computer, mouse and keyboard;
• a comfortable office chair;
• a mobile phone;
• etc.

It all depends on your budget and the needs of each employee, both in their work and personal life.

Which brings us back to the first point ‘Survey your employees’. Do not hesitate to ask them what they think they need to do their work well.

3. Use a communication platform

Communication is key.

If messages do not get across or get across incorrectly, the job will not be done well.

Whether you use remote work or not, why not use an established software that will help you centralize communications? 

At Workleap LMS, we offer the best remote work tools in Canada for managing:

• human resources;
• schedules;
• employee engagement;
• training and skill development;
• communication.

A reliable tool ensures that you keep in touch with people, have regular project follow-up and can easily arrange everyone’s schedules.

4. Create a pleasant and efficient work environment in the office

After spending time apart, it is normal that some things become a little awkward and the relationship between employees becomes a little less natural.

Allowing employees to spend time together as part of their work is a great solution to not only reconnect but also take pleasure in participating in the development of the company.

Organizing focus groups, brainstorming sessions, mind mapping sessions are all informal training activities that you can carry out within your company in order to generate ideas and get your teams involved.

5. Get feedback on a regular basis

Needs change constantly, as you may know. That is why using a satisfaction questionnaire is an interesting tool - do it every quarter or every 6 months.

This can help you notice the evolution of your employees’ happiness level at work on different themes, and allow you to improve the aspects that they do not find optimal.

By offering anonymous surveys, you will get the pulse of the situation and could take the necessary steps to improve the employee experience of your teams!

Downsides of hybrid work

Obviously, no solution is perfect.

While hybrid work yields several benefits, it also sometimes leads to more complex situations to manage. By anticipating them, it will be easier to prevent inconveniences and find ways to compensate for them!

Here are some things to watch out for and some solutions to avoid them:

1. Fewer opportunities for advancement

When we spend less time working together, it is rare that we are aware of and exposed to others’ projects. 

Your employees will have fewer chances to notice advancement opportunities within the company, and to advance in their careers.

The solution could be asking team leaders to organize daily or weekly meetings (such as Scrum, for example), where teams briefly discuss their current projects.

Not only can outsiders contribute ideas, if needed, but this also allows everyone to know what is going on in your company.

2. Little knowledge sharing

Whether you are onboarding a new employee or maintaining contact with existing employees, knowledge sharing is an essential part of remote work.

Your teams may feel neglected and unstimulated. This is why cultivating engagement remotely, through activities and a simple onboarding for new employees, are points to remember.

You could organize ‘lunch and learn’ activities, by bringing everyone together, in person or virtually.

Of course, these moments are precious and you could record them so that your employees could easily find the information.

A good knowledge management system is the cornerstone that will get everyone motivated to learn more.

3. A greater sense of isolation

People who work from home often experience isolation at work.

‘Clans’ can also form, as well as favoritism for employees working on-site, because they have the opportunity to chat with their managers more regularly.

Besides that, by being at home, alone, your employees may feel unmotivated or less supported by their colleagues.

Whether in person or remote, communication breaks isolation at work. It is a major element to consider when setting up hybrid work in your business.

Communicate your company’s mission, its objectives, etc. If your employees don’t know WHY they are doing something, their motivation, and therefore productivity, will gradually decrease.

How can an LMS support hybrid work?

An online Learning management system (LMS) helps share knowledge and procedures easier and according to the employees’ pace.

They feel less overloaded with information and are more willing to check data in the application rather than bother a colleague.

Everyone can follow the same training without having to travel at all! Your on-site teams and your remote teams can carry out their daily work without having to schedule meetings and rent rooms.

Start planning hybrid work and remote training in your organization today : request your free Workleap LMS demo!

Collecting employee feedback is a key part of maintaining your team’s health and growing as a manager. Whether it’s positive, negative, or constructive feedback, effective communication channels allow you to keep a pulse on what's enabling or blocking your team’s success and overall employee happiness.

When you collect feedback you can offer support and realign team goals and priorities. This is what distinguishes a good leader from a great one: being open and adaptable to the needs of your team, and making employee satisfaction a priority.

So, how do you get employee feedback? There are several avenues for soliciting employee feedback, each with important benefits. Discover five ways you can collect honest feedback from your employees to improve your team’s workplace experience.

A feedback-positive culture

The most successful organizations are those that foster a safe and inclusive company culture where employees can express their opinions and concerns candidly. This means being open to receiving feedback, and demonstrating that employee opinions are valued.

How to build a feedback-positive culture

• Let employees know their opinions matter: You built your team of bright minds because you believe in them. Tell employees that sharing their ideas, questions, and perspectives contributes to their collective success. Encourage them to exchange feedback among themselves and build on each other's suggestions.
• Practice being open and curious: Negative feedback or constructive criticism can feel like an attack. If you notice a defensive wall going up, ask a question or repeat what you've heard back to the other person. When people elaborate on their feedback, you both understand better what it means and how to proceed with it.
• Turn insights into action, and give credit: Find ways to implement the feedback you receive and brainstorm with employees about how you can apply it in your team's workflow. Thank your team for their input, and give employees recognition for the efforts they put into developing solutions.

How you solicit —and how you receive constructive feedback—sets the tone for your team. Lead by example and make exchanging ideas a positive, collaborative way to improve team dynamics and performance. This will amplify both the quality of the feedback you receive and how you apply it.

Honest feedback loops between management and employees

Workplace communication is a two-way street. For a team to thrive, management should excel at giving constructive feedback to boost efficiency, but should also master the art of how to get feedback from employees to improve the overall employee experience.

By building and enabling a continuous feedback loop where comments and concerns are analyzed, you can make informed decisions to support your team and encourage innovation, productivity, and creativity.

Collect employee feedback using pulse surveys

Pulse surveys are one of the best ways to maintain a high-level view of what your team needs and feels in real-time. Pulse surveys let you spot fluctuations quickly and are especially helpful for remote or distributed teams where managers are at risk of losing touch with their teams.

Keeping a pulse on employee happiness and satisfaction with a weekly or bi-weekly employee feedback survey helps you understand how your employees feel and stay connected with your team members by discovering sore spots before they lead to larger challenges.

How do pulse surveys work?

Employees respond to a select few targeted questions more frequently than with more traditional models like annual or even quarterly employee feedback surveys. This not only lightens the workflow for your team members, but it also provides you with more accurate insights by collecting it regularly, rather than just once or a few times a year.

Most pulse survey platforms, like Officevibe, will synthesize data into a simple, digestible report, so you can take action when issues arise and show your team you're taking their feedback to heart.

When to use employee surveys/pulse surveys

Use surveys on an ongoing basis. A key benefit of pulse survey software is its consistency, which allows you to track trends on 10 metrics and 26 sub-metrics of employee engagement, like recognition, wellness, or manager-employee relationships. Pulse surveys are an excellent way to collect employee feedback regularly and implement meaningful changes in real-time.

Regular one-on-one meetings

Connecting individually with your employees on a regular basis is fundamental to establishing a healthy and productive work environment. One-on-one meetings paint the perfect scene for giving and collecting feedback from employees and help create a feedback culture on your team.

A question as simple as “what can I do to help you this week?” can reveal insights that might help you better support your team. When people are comfortable sharing their thoughts with you directly, fewer surprises arise, and you're better equipped to make adjustments when necessary.

Officevibe's one-on-one software makes building collaborative agendas simple, so you and your direct report can add talking points ahead of your team meetings. This lets you both bring up what's on your mind while allowing your employee to come to the meeting prepared.

If you're not sure what questions to ask during one-on-ones, you can always select from conversation prompts available on the platform, or check out your list of notes and action items to follow up on what you discussed last time.

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When to have one-on-one meetings:

At regular intervals. Whether that means weekly or monthly will depend on your team's context. The important thing is that you have recurring one on ones with every team member where you can exchange feedback. Be fully present during these conversations, set clear action items, and follow up in your next scheduled team meetings.{emphasize}

Anonymous feedback methods

Anonymous feedback channels come in different shapes and sizes but all have one thing in common: they provide employees with a safe space to share their honest thoughts, questions, and ideas directly with their managers in a remote setting. 

Whether it’s a traditional suggestion box or comments on a public review site, receiving anonymous feedback opens up conversations that might not otherwise happen between employees and managers.

Don't stop short at collecting anonymous feedback—let employees know that they are heard, and turn it into a discussion. Share how you plan to take action on their feedback whenever possible.

With Officevibe's anonymous employee feedback software, a secure chat is created each time feedback is submitted. This way employees can have a two-way conversation with their manager while maintaining anonymity. Officevibe creates a direct line to provide feedback, and the usage speaks for itself: in one year, employees submitted 2.1 million anonymous feedback messages to their managers using Officevibe.

In one year, employees submitted 2.1 million anonymous feedback messages to managers using Officevibe.

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When to use anonymous feedback:

Any time. The option for anonymity should always be available so employees know that they can ask any question or raise any concern without having to identify themselves. It could be to address a sensitive subject, offer constructive feedback, or simply share an idea. Being able to do so anonymously can give employees the confidence to speak up.

Check out more examples of employee feedback.{emphasize}

Custom employee feedback surveys

A customized employee survey gets you the specific, real-time feedback you need to understand your team's feelings around a particular topic. Anonymity is a key feature of custom feedback surveys. These surveys can touch on personal or sensitive subjects, team dynamics, company decisions, or contentious issues. Making it safer for employees to share their honest feedback with anonymous employee surveys paints a more accurate picture of the tensions and concerns that exist on your team.

It's important to know how your team reacts to big events, like changes in strategy, staff turnover, or restructuring. Similarly, it's important to have a starting point when you want to address issues like diversity and inclusion or your team’s happiness within a remote context.

That's where Officevibe's Custom Polls come in. You can create your own or select from dozens of expert-built templates where your employees maintain their anonymity. The data is then compiled for you directly in Officevibe.

{emphasize}When to use a custom employee survey:

Addressing changes, events, or other specific topics. If your team just had a big win, you can better understand what drove their success. If they're facing a challenge, you can uncover any uncertainties or concerns.

Whether you use one, all, or a combination of these methods to collect employee feedback, the most important thing is that your team members feel heard. Soliciting feedback from your employees shows that you care, and contribute to the ongoing development of your team. {emphasize}

Other ways to collect employee feedback

If the traditional suggestion box or annual surveys don’t fit with your management style, there are many other ways you can hear from your employees and keep in tune with your team. You can get creative with your communication methods and test out different innovative ways to collect employee feedback. 

Conduct stay interviews

Periodically checking in on your team and gauging how your employees feel can make all the difference in reducing unfortunate employee turnover. If an employee tells you that they are thinking of making the switch to another team or that they have received an external offer, hold a stay interview to see what you can do to best support them and motivate them to remain on the team.

{emphasize}💡Tip: Ask the right stay interview questions to improve employee satisfaction and enhance the employee experience.{emphasize}

Carry out exit interviews

Occasionally there’s just no way around it; despite your best efforts, some of your most talented employees will leave for new professional opportunities. Conducting exit interviews allows management to dive deeper into what challenges arose during their time on your team, increases employee engagement for your current team, and can help you improve the employee experience for future hires.

Find the best way to collect employee feedback for your team

There are myriad ways to get feedback from your team, but it’s important to know which methods will work for your people. While some employees will feel at ease offering candid feedback in team meetings, some might opt for the comfort and ease of a more private anonymous survey.

With Officevibe, you can gather feedback from your employees and create a safe space for your team to communicate their thoughts at their own pace thanks to the software’s intuitive easy-to-use platform.

Ensuring your distributed workforce is happy and engaged can be a challenge at the best of times; throw a pandemic into the mix and you have your fair share of work cut out for you.

Bragi, a Munich-based software company with employees around Europe, sought to make sure its personnel remained satisfied and motivated despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.

Determined to keep their finger on the pulse of their far-reaching dynamic teams, Bragi introduced Officevibe to their employees in the summer of 2021. After several months of using the software to gather anonymous feedback from their teams, Bragi was able to launch an array of successful initiatives to boost employee happiness including additional vacation days and a home office spending budget.

We sat down recently with Dr. Franziska Grassl, Bragi’s People and Culture Manager, and Ipek Sümer, Talent Acquisition Associate, to learn more about her experience with Officevibe and how they were able to make meaningful changes based on the employee feedback they collected.

Why did Bragi decide to use Officevibe?

It was important for us to measure employee engagement to see people not only as resources, as is often implied in HR, but like actual rounded individuals. It’s so important for us to be to able to tap into our employees’ full potential.

I think having a tool like Officevibe allows us not only to gather direct feedback on particular topics but lets us dive deeper with pre-set questionnaires where you can look into specific feedback on specific themes. It also allows us to take note of how we are doing overall as a company when it comes to the different Officevibe engagement scores. We take [employee well-being] very seriously.

What did you like the most about Officevibe?

We examined different metrics, most notably we did a “deep dive” into the happiness metric four times so far. It seems to be a recurring topic that we really try to keep our eye on so that people can work productively and happily from home or at the office.

We also looked quite a lot at the analysis and reports offered by Officevibe. The feedback we gathered from the questionnaires and direct feedback features were so valuable in guiding current and future HR initiatives.

What did you learn while using Officevibe?

Home office topics and remote work challenges were frequently brought up. Of course, we can provide a nice environment at the office, but it’s equally important that our employees have that at home, too. We are a software engineering-focused company, so we are trying to establish an environment that will remain mostly remote moving forward.

I think with Officevibe we were more able to look at specific challenges and explore adding things that may be missing from their home office environment. Thanks to the feedback we gathered from Officevibe, we introduced a home-office budget to ensure that people have the work environment they wish for.

What changes have come about at Bragi as a result of using Officevibe?

These HR initiatives, like additional vacation days and a home office budget, are a start, but we are also introducing an encompassing performance management tool that will involve not only a performance review but also coaching and disciplinary features among other elements.

For example, when we looked at our fairness and transparency scores, we received constructive feedback to take into consideration. We now try to tackle these problems not only by trying to improve the manager-employee relationship through team-building events but by really trying to establish an accountability structure where managers are not only encouraged to be nice but are also accountable and responsible for the people they are leading.

With the insight from Officevibe, we have guidance on where the focal points should be for these kinds of initiatives. The software is easy to use and has quite a lot of templates and questionnaires that are extremely useful.

{highlight}Officevibe is the incredibly friendly people-first employee experience platform— the fresh, new way to engage, recognize, align, and enable world-class leaders and teams. Easy to use and super powerful, it creates an environment that encourages genuine conversations, with conditions that inspire a better vibe for all, no matter where you work.

Officevibe is the ideal way to show employees the big picture and how they can best be a part of it. It equips managers with the right tools to lead, tackle tough situations and guide important conversations, the human way.

See how Officevibe’s intuitive features can help you collect invaluable feedback from your employees and develop deeper connections with your team members.{highlight}