As India faces a potential second wave of the pandemic, the general workforce continues to work remotely or takes rotational shifts at the office. But with remote and hybrid working still being so prevalent, how can employers and management keep tabs on employee happiness quotient?
It’s not simple. But it’s definitely not impossible, thanks to the prompt adaptation of technology during the early months of the lockdown in 2020.
Questions – Ask and Welcome Them
The simplest way of finding out something is to ask direct questions. In the case of remote working, managers should regularly reach out to their team and enquire if there’s anything about work that is troubling them. HR teams should make it a practice to roll out frequent internal communication and pulse surveys that asks employees about their well-being and overall employee experience. Collectively, managers, company leaders and HR teams must encourage employees to freely express their thoughts, opinions and questions.
Town halls, weekly team catch-ups and quarterly team huddles are some platforms wherein the employee and employer can convey their views and be honest. Such interactions, albeit virtually, can help gauge employee happiness quotient by listening to what they say and reading body language. Sometimes, these interactions also divulge what employees aren’t saying or are afraid to, and hence, may secretly be crying out for help.
Employee Happiness Quotient To The Rescue
Due to the lack of physical encounters between teams for almost a year, there naturally tends to be a disconnect. Bridging this gap can often be a challenge when management isn’t even aware of it. With the unsettling situation of the pandemic, caring for family, being financially stable and trying to cope with work pressure, an employee’s performance is bound to be impacted. Add to this constant video calls and long working hours, and soon employees suffer from burnout. But all of this can be avoided if management runs an employee happiness quotient check regularly to be aware of what employees are going through and if the company can help ease the load. These checks in the form of pulse surveys can have a positive impact on the overall remote working culture. Ask employees what they want and if there’s any way the company can lend support. These surveys also serve the purpose of being anonymous feedback portals for employees to be heard.
Data collected from pulse surveys give a clear picture into areas of improvement and what situations can be prevented if action is taken at the right time. Train managers and leaders in empathetic leadership and imbibe a culture that is supportive and reassuring.
Reviving Employee Engagement Remotely
Happiness quotient gives companies a real-time idea of what employees are feeling or thinking. It’s a tool that is effective in keeping an account of what should be a company’s next steps when it concerns the employee experience. Would certain new policies face a potential backlash? Should offices open up since employees are tired with working from home? These and more questions can get answered with a single pulse survey that is taken by employees across departments. More importantly, HR teams get better equipped at reviving employee engagement in order to boost morale and productivity. With Zoom call fatigue being the new challenge, HR teams must find a way to conduct meaningful virtual employee engagement activities. Since pulse surveys reveal what goes on in an employees mind, it tends to be easier to plan impactful activities basis the data collated.
The business world has come a long way in the past year! The biggest learning was adapting to the times to survive, and that’s why companies need to be mindful of employee happiness quotient and understand who their employees are. This information can take the company a long way into the future by actioning initiatives that actually work.
