Photo by Alexander Dummer on Unsplash
At the start of February, Microsoft announced their new Employee Experience Platform, Microsoft Viva. Learning from the shortcomings that have affected countless businesses during the pandemic, Microsoft seized the opportunity to tackle the fragmented market of digital employee experience.
The vision, as explained by CEO Satya Nadella, is to create a “thriving culture with engaged employees and inspiring leaders” to develop a culture of resilience across the organization. The platform is set to be released within the next few months. Microsoft promised 4 modules designed to enhance essential aspects for employee relationships: engagement, wellbeing, learning, and overall corporate knowledge. The announcement offers a unique opportunity to businesses to review their employee experience. Are you doing enough? What else could you do to help your employees thrive?
Help them grow
It is the role of a company to think of its employees as long-term assets that are part of the organization's growth and potential. Therefore, you want to consider how each employee could develop their skills and knowledge within the company. The talent you hire needs to be constantly nurtured through targeted training opportunities. You can use training as a tool to enhance knowledge. But it is also a platform for career development, encouraging staff to progress in their careers.
Help them bond
People make the culture of a company. But without frequent team building activities, your people can find it hard to work and grow together. Team building events can come in a variety of formats. Ideally, you want to combine off-site events, such as arranging for corporate bus rentals for a weekend out of the office, with social gatherings and communications in the office. Have you started a coffee break in the office? Coffee breaks video calls can be a lovely way to reach out to home-based employees and break the ice. Besides, you don’t need to break the bank to get people to talk to each other!
Help them live
Your employees have a life outside of the office. Offering services that can make their day-to-day routines easier will also impact their productivity and engagement at work. For instance, new parents can benefit from childcare services on-site or flexible schedules. Stressed-out parents can find it tricky to focus when they need to sort out emergency childcare care about the babysitter canceled at the last minute, for example. But if you make it your business priority to integrate social considerations into the list of services and benefits your employees receive, you can make their work hassle-free.
Help them shine
The last thing your employees expect is to work hard on a project without anyone acknowledging their efforts. When the team goes above and beyond to make things happen, the least you can do is to recognize their performance. It is the little things that make a big difference. Not every company can afford a pay rise. But saying thank you doesn’t cost anything. Other ways you can recognize their hard work can include public praise, suggesting days off after a tough project, or simply mentioning their work to clients and partners. Good work should not be taken for granted.
It makes no doubt that organizations are looking forward to implementing Microsoft Viva into their everyday systems. However, in the meantime, there’s so much you can do to create a positive employee experience!