Resilience is the quality of coming back from stressful situations or failures and persevering. It is something that every employee will have to call upon at times, and those that are most resilient are typically the ones who will not let the company down when things get tough. This article explores how employee engagement apps help your organization develop resilience.
Though some people are naturally more resilient than others, resilience is a skill that can be developed through consistent practice. Everyone fails from time to time, but resilient people (and work teams) are ones that learn from failure and become better because of it.
Having a resilient workforce is essential in order for a company to thrive and grow, and there are many things managers and leaders can do to encourage resilience. One of the most important things they can do is demonstrate resilience by acknowledging problems and positive ways of coping with them. There are many other ways to encourage employee resilience as well.
Encourage Healthy Multidirectional Communication
Communication is not a one-way activity. Leaders must be confident in delegating, secure in the knowledge that properly trained employees know how to do the work they are assigned. It is important, however, that supervisors and direct reports listen to each other, and that colleagues listen to each other also.
Employees should be encouraged to communicate about issues that pop up during the work day because it is often communication that prevents problems in the first place and that helps solve problems before they become unwieldy.
Make sure all employees know about all appropriate channels of communication, including employee engagement apps, written documentation, phone calls, live chat, email, and even a company-contained social media network. Lack of communication lowers productivity and encourages speculation and rumor, while good communication does the opposite. Use your employee mobile app to keep employees in the loop regardless of where they are.
Keep Employees Informed about Opportunities
It is impossible to have endlessly resilient employees if they are never told about work-related opportunities. Do your employees know when opportunities for advancement, lateral transfers, and representing the company (perhaps by giving a technical paper at an industry meeting) arise? Few things are as discouraging to team members as when a great opportunity passes them by simply because they did not know about it.
Nobody wants to feel as if he or she is in a dead-end job, so it is crucial that employee leadership communicate about professional opportunities on a regular basis. If an opportunity will require training or certification, communicate how employees can partake of that in order to improve their qualifications. Using an employee communication app is a great way to get this accomplished.
Encourage Readiness, Problem-Solving with Training
Yesterday’s job skills may or may not be relevant today. As technologies develop, consumer bases expand, and company operations evolve, the workforce must be ready for these changes. Delivering professional training is not always easy, particularly with the old way of doing it. The great news is, much of today’s training does not require reserving a classroom and having employees disrupt their schedules to attend training.
Especially in today’s climate, more of today’s training can be delivered and completed remotely, even with mobile devices. This saves companies time and money and makes learning far more accessible to workers, who can choose to complete training modules when their schedule allows. Make it easy for employees to better themselves through training, and they are likelier to participate and augment their skill set.
Apps not only engage, but they also collect important metrics on engagement.
Be Transparent About What Is Going On
Management teams that are honest with employees about what is going on in the company have more loyal employees. When leadership is secretive or evasive when questioned, something will come along to fill an information vacuum, and that “something” is often rumor or wild speculation.
Leaders need to know if there are rumors swirling that the company is being bought out, that layoffs are imminent, or that a new facility will soon be constructed. It is not always appropriate to divulge everything, but being as forthcoming as possible about changes in the company can squash rumors before they start and prevent employee paranoia from developing.
Recognize Employee Excellence
One of the best ways to encourage the development of employee resilience is to recognize excellence. Do not wait until a once-a-year employee appreciation banquet to recognize important accomplishments. When an employee goes above and beyond, you should thank him or her directly and, depending on the circumstances, let everyone know what an employee has done to gain recognition. Employee recognition goes a long way when attempting to boost productivity.
Many companies designate an “employee of the week” or “employee of the month” and reward the honoree in some tangible way, like with a gift card or a coveted parking space. However, that should not be the entirety of employee recognition. Sending out announcements that an employee has just completed a Ph.D., or logged his or her 1,000th order lets the entire workforce know that efforts to succeed will be appreciated.
How an Employee Engagement App Can Help
If your company does not have an employee engagement app (or if it has one that does not live up to expectations), then you should know how such an app can help build a resilient workforce. One of the best capabilities of the employee engagement app is that of communication. You can customize your app to emphasize certain communication channels by, for example, having the app direct people to live chat, email, or phone calls in certain situations.
As an extension of that, employee engagement apps make it easier for managers to communicate with their teams and keep them apprised of training or other opportunities. Many training modules can actually be delivered via app, which offers maximum convenience. Apps are also terrific for delivering work-related content. It can be delivered to everyone (like when there is a holiday coming up), or just to affected people (like when a new training module for a particular position will be deployed).
Finally, the employee app can be a remarkable tool for recognizing employee excellence, because “pushing” content to people via an app is so easy. The many capabilities offered by a well-designed employee engagement app, combined with good management and a well-run workplace, can help you create a workforce that is enthusiastic, committed, and resilient.
HubEngage is the employee engagement app platform that allows businesses of all sizes, in all industries, to create an employee engagement app that is customized and that delivers exactly what your work teams need. You can allow employees to take care of various HR functions via app, can encourage communication with it, push relevant information to affected parties, and keep everyone informed about advancement and training opportunities. Best of all, you can try the HubEngage app for free. Our employee engagement app can be your company’s secret ingredient in creating a loyal, engaged, resilient workforce.
Download The Ultimate Guide to Planning Your Employee Experience Platform
To truly empower employees and optimize productivity, you need more than a communications tool. This guide frames the employee experience platform planning process and how to create the work environment your organization needs.
