Dramatically shifting employee wants and needs have previously led to a big war for talent. However, even now, the Office of National Statistics reports that job vacancies in the UK are 188,000 above their pre-coronavirus January to March 2020 levels – showing that companies are still struggling to attract, engage, and retain good people.
In fact, recent research has shown that 1 in 5 employees are likely to switch to a new employer, and 31% of people have reported to have quit a job within the first 6 months. But there is hope – it’s been found that new employees are more likely to stay with a company for at least 3 years if their onboarding process is properly structured.
To resolve high staff turnover, employees need to be engaged in their workplace. But how can you drive engagement in the first place? Well, the matter of the fact is, that it is simply a choice. You cannot drive engagement. Since passion and commitment are voluntary attributes, organisations need to instead create workplaces that people choose to engage with. That’s why paying attention to the moments that matter is so important.
What are the moments that matter?
Moments that matter are important moments in the employee journey. These moments impact individual experiences and affect how employees engage in the workplace. And paying close attention to these moments allows organisations to become familiar with and understand what’s really important to their people. For example, moments that matter can include onboarding, recognition in the team meeting, paternity leave, divorce, promotion, a colleague leaving, team restructure, team building, training, and 1:1s.
How can you define the moments that matter across the employee lifecycle?
There are numerous moments that matter across every employee’s life whilst at a company. Look to the image below for some of these moments. The most stand out moments that matter are:
Onboarding
Changing jobs comes with a lot of new adjustments, both professionally and personally. For example, working with an entirely new set of people, adapting to new ways of working, and processing new information.
Culture
The standard of culture within an organisation sets the expectation for how employees will work together, behave, and function as a team. Therefore, the more employees feel appreciated and valued, the happier and more satisfied they will be, which will impact performance.
External events
The moments that matter aren’t just inclusive of what happens within the workplace. It involves what happens outside of the workplace too, where current events affect people in different and unique ways. This can include events such as the pandemic, cultural issues, or the cost-of-living crisis that’s currently happening in the UK.
Why is measuring the moments that matter so important?
It’s vital to properly understand the moments that matter to your employee population, rather than assume. Leading on the bias of personal beliefs or vanity metrics will not get you anywhere. And by getting this step right, organisations can be proactive rather than reactive.
Understanding what’s happening, whilst it’s happening, rather than learning about something in an annual survey or exit interview, will allow you to be best placed to ‘fix’ any arising challenges. And utilising this regular, leading data will drive engagement and retention strategies. In-turn, this will have a positive impact and deliver a return on your investment.
How can regular employee listening help you understand the moments that matter?
Tuning in regularly to what your employees have to say about the workplace is a direct approach to understand individual moments that matter. And if untaken via a listening platform, communication will increase from your entire employee population due to confidentiality promises. This makes for more valuable and reliable data.
And, where ‘moments’ frequently occur in the workplace, regular listening provides leading data to ensure that these moments are actioned and utilised. From this, leading data can then be used to purposely inform people strategies. And this will ultimately drive engagement and improve the employee experience.
Pulse surveys, as well as onboarding and exit surveys, that are tailored to your organisational needs are excellent tools for identifying important touch-points throughout each employee journey. WorkBuzz is an employee engagement platform that provides you with all the relevant tools to learn more about your Everyday Heroes and really get to grips with understanding the moments that matter to them. Book a demo with us today to see how our platform can work for you.