Employee experience, engagement and retention has always been a tricky area for organizations.
At Nitor Infotech, we have a different perspective of looking at this area and we have a strong connection with one of our core values – Respect & Care. Nitor has a different way of looking at Employee Engagement and Retention as we believe if you can create a “Delightful Employee Experience” then engagement and employees stay and longer quality tenure with high productivity) becomes the result.
Workplace innovation has become a vital component of organizational success.
Many organizations cannot predict the exact black and white problem areas in this area due to multiple reasons, but some of the notable ones are as follows:
- Not having a proper structure for engagement program
- Trying to fit one structure for all levels
- Lack of preparation while connecting with the employee
- Low focus on analysis and analytics and insights and using these in the employee experience
To address these problem areas and ensuring that we are creating an effective employee engagement strategy at Nitor Infotech, we have created an employee engagement program based on Maslow’s hierarchy which will touch upon 3 aspects –
- Employee Experience
- Employee Engagement
- Employee Stay (Longevity & Quality)
Creating a Structure for the Engagement Program
Before preparing the engagement program, we need to have a framework or philosophy based on which we are creating a complete engagement program. The structure should have predefined areas as per the employees’ journey in the organization.
The engagement plan should take shape as a new hire’s tenure increases within the organization. There are different needs at the different stages of the tenure and the engagement program should be able to address that.
Every stage of an employee’s journey needs different nourishment and support system. If your engagement model is fulfilling that then it will help them to create better retention or identify the early trigger of low engagement and the organization can plan strategies to mitigate the risk.
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs in the Workplace
Maslow’s five-tier hierarchal model starts with basic physiological needs, proceeds to safety and belonging, and then progresses to self-esteem and self-actualization.
On similar grounds, we can align this theory with the engagement model of the organization to make it more empathetic and objective.
Let’s see how we can do it and what we should be covering under each area.
1. Physiological needs
This talks about the basic needs for survival like food and water. Now when a person joins the organization, it is a new environment and his/her survival instincts are at a high level where they are most vulnerable.
Now when we are planning the engagement at this level it should start before the person joins because once the offer is accepted, an emotional bond should be created to ensure that a person feels attached. This is a kind of preparation for the next level of engagement.
When a person joins, we need to ensure that their basic needs are in place like a laptop, required systems and softwares, important company policies, and the salary process. Along with this important information for the new joiner from his perspective like his manager’s connect, information on assigned project etc. should be provided.
2. Safety
Once the basic needs are in place, the next level in Maslow’s hierarchy is safety.
It is now even more important for us to think about safety in a more holistic way, and that is - creating an environment where people feel emotionally safe and supported.
Engagement of the people who are entering the organization will be determined by how HR or engagement professionals manage to create this environment and ensure there is a good feedback mechanism.
This is the point where we need to check whether the new joiner is allocated to the project as per his/her skill set and skill level, if the project level knowledge transfer is done, and the new joiner is aware about the KRAs/KPIs. Another important aspect we need to check is whether we have the proper support system to ensure this is happening in a smooth way.
3. Belonging and Social Connection
This level is crucial as the individual and the organization are now entering a zone where they can build the foundation for long-term engagement.
As soon as an employee feels he/she belongs to his team, his/her manager and ultimately to the company, his/her engagement at work and motivation level will increase, helping to achieve better results.
There are several factors that will help create that sense of belonging – understanding the bigger picture and the role the employee plays in that, discussing the learning path and career development plans, identifying challenges preventing the employee from generating the expected output, and ensuring that the employee feels valued by the organization.
4. Esteem
Esteem talks about the belief that an employee is contributing to the bigger goal and getting the feeling of recognition about the contribution. When an employee believes in his/her abilities, and he/she gets support and encouragement from the organization through the manager or the department head, it creates a positive impact.
The employee’s performance and engagement is largely dependent on the employee’s esteem, to ensure that we are building a strong and transparent system to create the culture of appreciation and recognition. The engagement system should work in collecting appropriate data points and ensure that this need is handled in a better way.
5. Self-Actualization
Self-Actualization is the state where you as an organization and HR should help to achieve the maximum potential of an employee. Every person wants to reach a level where they can feel that they are doing well and so, recognizing their efforts to give them a sense of achievement matters.
One of the keys to making sure this need is met is giving employees opportunities that allow them to succeed. Employee should feel challenged at work but not overwhelmed or overburdened in order to feel self-actualized.
How we are implementing this at Nitor Infotech
To implement these concepts at Nitor Infotech, we have created a few initiatives which are based on the philosophy mentioned above.
1. Onboarding Experience
This ensures that all the required aspects for a new joiner are taken care of and the new entrant is settled in Nitor and motivated to start his/her career growth journey.
2. 7-30-60-90 Day connect program
This program is majorly based on the first 3 aspects and with methodic connects, the feedback mechanism with targeted areas helps all new entrants not only to settle but collaborate and perform according to specific objectives/ KPIs to fulfill physiological, safety, belonging and social connect needs.
3. Management Connect Program
Nitor Infotech gives an excellent opportunity to all members to get 1-1 coaching sessions from MD, CEO and People Function head to address their esteem and self-actualization needs. As an organization, Nitor has always shown commitment to the overall growth of all members, and these connects give employees an opportunity to have personal mentors who are industry leaders and highly successful mentors. Their experience and scientific ways of coaching ensure the overall growth of Nitorians through their connects.
Taking a lesson from this we can say that rather than making things complicated, organizations should focus on the fundamentals of people behavior. Better results can be achieved by placing focus on the right framework and honest efforts in understanding the people. You too can create an enhanced employee experience at your organization, the way we are doing at Nitor Infotech.
Do share your experiences with us and visit us at Nitor Infotech if you’d like to know more about what we do in the world of tech.
