A comprehensive strategy and the right tools are needed in order to achieve meaningful organizational change. As part of this interactive webinar, WalkMe’s Global Field CTO, KJ Kusch, explores how digital adoption can contribute to change management, highlighting relevant data and common employer challenges along the way.

What employers are up against

After defining the three types of organizational change – developmental, transitional, and transformational – Kusch presents an analysis of five levels of organizational change management:

How can understanding these help us to achieve change? 

The primary purpose is to provide us with a framework for consistent action, which we can use to inform a variety of activities within an organization. Having this in place can prevent ‘change fatigue’.

Obstacles to change

In addressing ROI, Kusch raises the issue of the Digital Adoption Gap and outlines how success is measured in tech adoption processes. Leading into strategy, the issue of tech stacks is raised – specifically, how they are used as a tool to boost organizational improvement. 

What are some potential roadblocks for change? 

38.5% of the audience agrees that change fatigue is a major impediment to successful transformations. Kusch responds by asking how fast their organizations commit to change. Is it in small bits or large chunks? In many cases, the difference between these two is the deciding factor for success.

A promising approach

What is the best way to extract maximum value from digital transformation initiatives? 

The results of random and reactive approaches to digital adoption vary from those of proactive and virtuous approaches. 

Managing and tracking change management KPIs is a key component of digital transformation success. It is possible to optimize key processes affecting overall productivity by measuring the user journey, the primary idea being that technology can help you define your success.

Key takeaways

• Have a flexible digital adoption strategy
• Enable, build experiences and monitor the people side of change
• Measure the ROI of change

To learn exactly what goes into forming a successful change management strategy, watch the webinar on-demand here. 

What makes a personal touch so impactful for customers?

In recent years, personalization and it’s leveled-up successor, hyper-personalization, have become major trends in both B2B and B2C markets. Customized experiences are being used across virtually every customer-facing business function, including:

• Advertisements 
• Customer care
• Marketing
• Sales interactions
• Product UX
• Technical support

In short, personalization is well on its way to becoming the new norm in virtually every area of business—but why is it so important to customers?

What is hyper-personalization?

Personalization in and of itself is nothing new. In fact, it could be considered a staple of the sales industry, where skilled sales representatives strive to establish rapport, create a unique relationship, and personalize the benefits of a product or service in order to make the sale. 

In other words, personalization is simply a part of building instant and lasting relationships with customers.

What is new, however, is the ability to hyper-personalize customer experiences at the level of the individual, an activity that would have been prohibitively expensive before the digital age.

Here are a few examples to illustrate what hyper-personalization looks like:

• eCommerce recommendation engines are software programs designed to recommend specific products based on one’s browsing history. Amazon’s recommendations are perhaps the most well-known example, though these engines appear in countless other services, from eCommerce sites to news pages to streaming services like Netflix.
• Social media feeds, such as Facebook or Twitter feeds, are another example of personalization in action. Just as recommendation engines attempt to offer maximum customer value by recommending content, social media feeds aim to maximize engagement by personally tailoring the content in one’s social media feed. And this can be used to great effect—Tik Tok, for instance, used an AI algorithm to exponentially grow its user base and surpass competitors such as Facebook. 
• Customer service chatbots can tap into customer data to personalize the customer experience, enabling customers to solve their problems more quickly, without the need for human intervention. Amazon’s chatbot is one example of this. The software not only accesses a shopper’s recent activities, but it can also automate common actions, such as canceling an order or requesting a refund.

Hyper-personalization, it should be noted, has not only made its way into the business-to-consumer world but also into the business-to-business world and even into the workplace. 

For instance, digital adoption platforms (DAPs) can be used to analyze users’ interactions with software, personalize training and onboarding processes, offer customized in-app guidance, and more.

Should your organization hyper-personalize customer experiences?

The importance of personalization should not be underestimated. As in the example of TikTok mentioned above, personalization can be a massive competitive differentiator. 

Although not every company can invest in cutting-edge deep learning algorithms the way TikTok did, personalization is still advantageous, if not essential. 

For instance:

• 80% of customers are more likely to make a purchase when brands offer personalized experiences, according to Epsilon
• 90% of consumers are willing to share behavioral data for a cheaper and easier brand experience, according to SmarterHQ
• 63% of consumers expect personalization as a standard of service and believe they are recognized as an individual when sent special offers, according to a survey from RedPoint Global

Despite the desire for more personalized experiences, many people still want brands to respect their privacy. According to Oracle, 87% of consumers in North America would request that brands remove their personal information if given the option.

Forrester dove even further into customer preferences, finding that consumers were more willing to share certain types of data, such as hobbies and interests, than others, such as who one’s friends are on social networks. Their research also found that around 17% weren’t willing to share their personal data at all.

While the exact numbers may have changed since the above studies were performed, it does demonstrate a critical point: people care about privacy. It is also a legal matter for many countries, as in the case of GDPR, which gives EU citizens the right to manage personal data collected by an organization.

Both for legal reasons and to respect customers’ privacy, it is important to find ways to both personalize the customer experience and offer privacy protections. 

One example of this is WalkMe Insights, a software analytics tool that identifies users’ interactions with software, while scrubbing personal data to maintain privacy.

Striking the right balance for a competitive advantage

The bottom line is that hyper-personalization is becoming an inevitable part of our digital lives, not only in the world of eCommerce but also at work and even in our daily lives. 

Personalization will continue to drive increased profit potential across domains, which can generate major competitive advantages when adopted early and used effectively. Those who fail to keep up with the personalization trend, however, could easily lose ground to competitors. 

Some companies may prefer to put privacy first, but, as we have seen, this does not exclude the possibility of personalization. By anonymizing data, being transparent about data usage and collection, and listening to what customers want, companies can both protect their customers’ privacy while still providing products and services that are more personalized and relevant.

HR leaders today face a variety of challenges in a post-pandemic world; a distributed workforce, employee mental health, remote onboarding, inclusion, onboarding and training, and managing the entire employee lifecycle. 

As an HR professional, you expect your HR tech to help you overcome these challenges and reach your goals, be it developing and executing a human resource strategy, managing the employee lifecycle, or achieving operational excellence. It might sound straightforward, but in reality your current HR technology solutions might hinder, rather than improve, the employee experience.

Instead of technology helping us overcome challenges—technology has become the challenge itself.

Digital workers will not settle for bad workplace tech.

According to Adobe’s State of Work 2021 report, even pre-COVID-19, almost a quarter (22%) of workers say they had already quit a job because workplace tech made their jobs harder. Today, nearly a third of workers (32%) say they have said goodbye to an employer whose tech was a barrier to their ability to do good work. 

Even more concerning, nearly half (49%) of U.S. workers say they are likely to leave their current job if they’re unhappy or frustrated with the technology they use at work.

The study also found that people are more likely to turn down a job because of outdated tech, while they might apply for a job because they heard a company’s employees use great technology.

Adobe’s findings provide insight into generational differences as well, citing that if they feel their work technology makes their job harder, Gen-Xers will leave a job and reject offers at higher rates than their younger colleagues. 

Today, digital workers expect the technologies they use at work to be both up to date and fit for the job. Companies must provide the proper tools and a smooth remote work experience.  

5 technology challenges HR leaders must tackle

WalkMe anticipates HR leaders will be busier than ever overcoming the following 5 major technological challenges:

1. Too many applications

With an abundance of applications, HR teams and employees feel lost and frustrated, jumping from one app to another, not sure how to use them all, and unable to complete various tasks without the help of IT or another team member. Heads of HR must find a way to improve HR processes to benefit the organization from a business level, while also taking into account employee experience and needs.

2. Managing the remote onboarding experience

Taking into account the digital dexterity of organizations’ diverse employee base, HR leaders are expected to manage the onboarding experience for all user types, but struggle to overcome language barriers and costs.

3. Compliance requirements

HR teams struggle to ensure they do not violate any of the compliance requirements when updating documents. They also cannot track these updates, potentially leaving mistakes for others to find and deal with themselves.

4. Onboarding and training

Considering that HR software usage is infrequent and changes are continuous, onboarding and training users to a desired level of proficiency has become a major challenge. HR professionals are finding it difficult to ensure employees complete processes accurately and efficiently across multiple applications.

5. Juggling a multi-platform HR environment 

Simple processes become inefficient, long, and prone to error when navigating an HR tech stack. Between HR departments working in silos, geographical compliance needs and migration of information across platforms, it’s challenging to measure employee productivity and software usage. 

Transforming the employee relationship with technology

It goes without saying that COVID-19 has changed the digital workplace. Moreso, it’s actually provided an opportunity to press the reset button when it comes to HR methodology and workforce planning.

Organizations are finding new ways to connect and engage with their customers. HR professionals are speaking about the importance of mental health with candidates and employees. HR training and onboarding is constantly adapting to fit the changing digital worker’s needs. 

“Enterprise-grade work management applications centralize and connect work across teams, departments, and companies. They eliminate silos, integrate applications and data, and keep people in the environments they prefer, while surfacing insights to help companies preempt problems, reallocate resources, and optimize their people and processes.” (State of Work 2021, Adobe)

The number one takeaway from this is that technology goes hand-in-hand with the people who use it. Humans are at the heart of it all. 

That means that HR leaders must invest in the right enterprise-grade work management technologies to help them overcome the challenges ahead in order to improve the overall employee experience. 

Want to learn more about making a successful workplace transformation? Listen to our podcast with George LaRocque, Founder and Principal Analyst of Work Tech.

Employee mental health has historically been considered a taboo subject for most managers and business leaders. They preferred to focus on work while leaving emotions out of the equation. But with COVID-19, attitudes have shifted.

Awareness of mental health and the need to support employees has increased as a result of the pandemic. Many companies are now actively learning how to provide support for their workforce.

When considering what actions to take, it is first important to understand how COVID-19 affected workers’ mental health, what employees want from their employers, and what type of support can be provided. 

Employee mental health, COVID-19, and the workplace

COVID-19 has dramatically affected virtually every industry and work environment, changing not only the way people work, but the way they interact. Social distancing, working from home, financial uncertainty, health concerns, and personal experience with COVID-19 are just a few of the many factors that have impacted the workforce and the workplace. 

For many, the difficulties associated with these effects, such as social isolation, have caused or exacerbated mental health issues. One study found that the prevalence of depression symptoms in the US was more than three times greater during the COVID-19 pandemic than before 2020.

Despite these negative sentiments, some of which are a result of telecommuting and social isolation, many employees enjoy remote work and want to continue working from home (at least some of the time).

Others, however, are ready to return to the office, and these divided opinions have given rise to the hybrid office model, which allows for both onsite and remote work.

Although workplaces may return to normal—or a “new normal,”—the lingering effects of COVID-19 will be with us for some time.

The impact on employees’ mental health, for instance, could continue to influence their levels of engagement, their productivity, moods, and attitudes. These reactions can reverberate to sway HR metrics, such as recruitment costs and employee retention, if not organizational effectiveness. 

A number of companies that recognize these impacts are therefore developing work environments that are more conducive to employees’ positive mental health.

How to create a supportive work environment in the post-COVID era

There are a number of ways an employer can support mental health, while still respecting the privacy and personal boundaries of their employees. 

Here are a few examples:

Health benefits

Health benefits can go beyond the standard benefits, such as medical and dental.

Employee assistance programs (EAPs), for instance, are benefits packages that cover non-medical treatments such as counseling for mental health, substance abuse, and workplace conflict.

Corporate wellness programs are programs that, as the name suggests, are designed to elevate the physical health of employees. Yoga and exercise classes, meditation sessions, and other healthy activities are typically included as parts of these programs. 

The work environment

The work environment itself is another area that can impact employees’ mental health, either for the better or for worse.

Outdated equipment, a poor office design with lackluster décor, and a variety of other aspects of the work environment can all affect employees’ mood and morale. This can, and generally will, influence their emotional and mental attitudes in the workplace.

It is also important to be aware that since today’s employees spend most of their time working in software, the digital employee experience also has a major impact on employees’ state of mind.

Meaning

It is commonly known among HR professionals that employees who find meaning in their work are more engaged, productive, and satisfied.

Having a sense of purpose, such as helping others, is one way to help workers find meaning in their jobs. 

Job-person fit is another factor that can affect employees’ sense of meaning and fulfillment. Hiring the right people for the right jobs can positively impact the moods and attitudes both of those individual workers and within the workplace. 

Incentives

There are a wide range of other perks that can positively influence employees’ mindsets, such as compensation, career development opportunities, promotional opportunities, learning opportunities, flex work, and remote work.

Although many employers once felt that certain perks, such as remote work, lowered employee productivity, the opposite has been found to be true—these perks positively affect the workforce, enhance productivity, and attract top talent.

Culture

Organizational culture consists of beliefs, attitudes, and tangible manifestations of the culture, such as social norms and dress codes.

Today, organizational culture change has become a central focus for many companies that are intent on adapting to today’s fast-paced economy, since certain cultural styles are more suited to the digital era than others.

It is also important to be aware, however, that culture fit also plays a key role in employees’ satisfaction with their work environment. A wrong fit can create unnecessary ongoing friction that negatively affects employees, their engagement levels, and their mindsets. 

Final thoughts

As we have seen, although mental health has always affected employee performance and engagement, its underlying impacts have largely gone unnoticed or been ignored by many employers. 

While direct intervention in an employee’s health or mental health would rightly be viewed as invasive, it is also true that employees’ wellbeing affects the workplace and job performance.

By investing in some of the activities covered above, employers can provide support to the workforce and their mental health, which can positively impact employee performance and the organization’s performance as a whole.