Elevate Employee Experience:
Checklist for Operational Leaders
Checklist for Operational Leaders
No longer just the remit of HR, workforce management has become an important enabler of a successful operational strategy. This includes a focus on quality delivery of products and services, optimizing productivity, and identifying the root causes of performance issues, all while ensuring prudent cost management.
Operational leaders who have made workforce management a priority understand the need to keep a keen eye on managing schedules and reducing excessive labor costs, while fostering a work environment conducive to employee satisfaction.
Checklist for Operational Leaders
Designed for those who manage their organization’s operations and front-line teams, use this handy checklist to help you prioritize and target the best ways to improve the experience of your workers.
Insights from the Third Annual Global Employee Experience Study reveal the importance of aligning operational strategies with workforce needs. Surveying employees and managers, the study highlights what employees value and where their employers lack most, particularly in scheduling flexibility, training access, and communication tools. As you strive to retain talent and optimize labor investments, these findings emphasize the urgent need for action. Failure to address these concerns risks exacerbating employee dissatisfaction and undermining organizational performance.
Here are practical steps and technology functionalities to significantly enhance the areas your employees find most impactful for their experience in your organization.
Employees Want Easy Communication and Collaboration Tools
Checklist
Evaluate and implement mobile communication solutions that offer end-to-end encryption and are compliant with industry standards.
Integrate communication tools with existing workforce management systems to centralize information access.
Develop protocols for emergency communications, including regular drills and updates to contact information.
Functional Capabilities
• Mobile-First Communication Tools
• Integrated Communication Channels
• Emergency Alert Systems
Effective communication is the cornerstone of employee engagement, operational efficiency, and agility. Providing employees with secure, consumer-grade digital communication tools is an investment in the heart of your operations, promoting information flow and fostering collaboration and innovation.
Employees Want Scheduling Flexibility
Checklist
Implement tools for employees to control their schedules and swap shifts to manage personal plans and sudden conflict.
Use analytics and forecasting to schedule employees with the right skills at the right time, improving scheduling accuracy, and satisfaction.
Refine scheduling practices and labor standards as operations mature and new processes and technology are adopted.
Functional Capabilities
• Employee Self-Service Scheduling
• Predictive Scheduling Analytics
• Dynamic Optimization of Workforce Scheduling
Scheduling control is one of the most important aspects of employee experience. When employees have control of their schedules, they’re less likely to experience burnout and unplanned absences—and more likely to be invested in their work and their employer.
Employees Want Easy Access to Training and Information
Checklist
Identify key skill gaps across departments and allocate resources for targeted training programs.
Invest in mobile-friendly learning management systems (LMS) that support micro-learning and gamification.
Train workers in new skills, re-train team members needing extra details, and up-skill workers in new talents at the time work happens.
Functional Capabilities
• Automated Skill Matching
• On-Demand Micro-Learning
• Adaptive Learning for On-the-Job Skill Enhancement
Investing in the development of your frontline staff not only grows their skillset but also nurtures their intrinsic desire to contribute, innovate, and excel. They become more adaptable to changing operational demands, sparking inventive problem-solving and efficiency improvements.
Employees Want Their Employer To Ask for Regular Feedback
Checklist
Select feedback tools that are intuitive and easily accessible for employees, encouraging regular use.
Set up and automate personalized pulse surveys to regularly gather insights, allowing employees to share how they’re doing.
Create cross-functional teams responsible for analyzing feedback and implementing changes based on employee input.
Functional Capabilities
• Real-Time Feedback Mechanisms
• Pulse Surveys
• Feedback-Driven Decision Making
A proactive approach to employee feedback is the lifeblood of transformational improvement within any organization. It encourages a sense of ownership among employees, where they see themselves as integral contributors to the company’s success.
Employees Want to be Recognized For Their Contributions
Checklist
Partner with HR to select and customize a digital recognition platform that aligns with your company culture.
Define clear performance metrics that trigger automatic awards for achieving specific goals within the recognition system.
Ensure milestones and achievements are automatically tracked and celebrated across the organization.
Functional Capabilities
• Digital Recognition Platforms
• Performance-Based Rewards
• Celebration of Milestones
Employee recognition directly influences morale, engagement, and retention. When employees feel appreciated for their efforts and contributions, it reinforces their sense of value within the company.
This not only boosts individual performance, but also elevates team dynamics and operational productivity.
Scheduling
Communications
Job Training
Employee Feedback
Employee Recognition
80%
of large enterprises with hourly paid workers will have invested in workforce management solutions by 2025
2023 Gartner® Market Guide for
Workforce Management Applications
Connecting workers’ experiences to their digital technologies is the biggest revolution in employee experience, improving communication, satisfaction, and retention. The trust you build with employees will be positively reflected in your organization’s productivity, efficiency, and financial position.
Access to company-approved, consumer-grade apps makes employees’ working lives easier. Whether it’s booking time off in a few clicks, accessing shift scheduling on a live dashboard, asking peers for how-to help, or alerting managers to issues with the touch of a button on their mobile device, employees not only appreciate digitalization, they expect it.
Gartner® Market Guide for
Workforce Management
The report recognizes WFM as a high touch tool that represents an opportunity to transform EX for hourly workers.
Get the Full Report
Third Annual Global Employee Experience Guide
This latest employee research underscores an urgent call to action and offers recommendations for large employers.
See All the Findings