What do the tools offer employees?

At G2 Crowd, there are over 300 products for employee wellbeing and employee engagement. The goal of many tools is to provide employees with content that is specifically tailored to their needs, their lives and their interests. The tools are supposed to provide employees with information and inspiration.

A lot of the software available on the market works on a similar principle: Employees describe themselves and their situation and receive content that suits their needs. It should be mentioned that employee data absolutely has to be protected and not made available to HR or supervisors.

For example, the Thrive Global tool lets you choose what you want to improve on. The app then provides appropriate content, tips and small tasks that you can check off if successful. Some tools have interfaces to other software solutions. The tool can then detect that an employee has upcoming holiday leave or an employee was promoted. So it can adjust the content automatically without the user having to provide an input.

Other software solutions not only provide content, but also offer playful challenges. The employees’ efforts can then even be rewarded with rewards. The principle is reminiscent of gamification, which is used for example in educational games like duolingo. One of the oldest and best known tools is the Virgin Pulse Global Challenge, where team members record their athletic activities and travel around the virtual world. They get tips and inspirational content so they can improve their lifestyle in the longer term.

At HR Campus, we find software solutions that support employees throughout their entire working life in the company particularly exciting. SAP has developed a tool that tracks important moments, whether in the private or professional life of employees, and offers support. The goal of SAP is that managers can optimally support their employees at these important moments. This is true not only for occasions that are important to the company, but also for events that employees consider important.

Valuable data for HR

Of course, the increase in the well-being of employees is first and foremost. In the longer term, this will not only increase their motivation but also save on costs and boost productivity. An overview of the reasons why we need happy employees can be found in the blog article Employee Wellbeing.

The use of Employee Wellbeing Software has an additional advantage: data. To ensure employee privacy, the individual data is never published here; only team data starting from a certain number of data points is published. This provides statistics on team performance, engagement with the software, key needs, and the most-read content. This data can then be compared with performance data or project workflows. This allows opportunities and risks in individual teams to be identified and used in a targeted manner.

What needs to be considered when choosing the software?

When choosing the software, it is not only important to keep the corporate goals and corporate culture in mind, but above all the employees. It does not help to introduce a software if no body wants to use it. So the software itself hast to be made attractive to the target group. Employees, for example, can incorporate their wishes and demands beforehand and in doing so already develop an awareness of the benefits of the software.

A software solution can then be selected based on these requirements. We recommend considering some practical and technical criteria here:

• Data protection:Employee data is extremely sensitive. Does the software comply with the European Data Protection Regulation? What data do supervisors and HR employees see?
• Adaptability: How much time do you want to invest? Do you want a ready-made solution that you cannot adapt well, or do you want to develop a lot of it yourself?
• Content:How much content is available and where does it come from? Can content be customised specifically? How is content selected? Is content expanded and updated?
• Language:In what language is the software available? Do my employees understand this language?
• Analysis:Is there a BI interface that integrates with my existing analytics software, or is the analysis integrated? How are the results prepared and presented? How can they continue to be used?
• Interfaces:How well can the software be integrated into the existing system landscape?
• Features and usability:What features does the tool offer? What questions does the user have to answer at the beginning? Can the questions be adjusted? Can the software be used for employee surveys?

An exciting task for HR employees

Employee Wellbeing Software solutions, in our opinion, have great potential and can measurably enhance the well-being of employees. The conclusions that supervisors and HR employees can draw from it are extremely valuable, and when it comes to taking action, there are no limits to creativity.

We do see some risk in the integrated challenges: they may cause stress. The software should therefore be carefully selected and introduced. The advantages, benefits and above all the privacy protections have to be made clear to all employees. That is the only way employees can use the software solution as their personal “wellbeing journal” and benefit from it.

*Sources:

BSF, Annual absence of employees according to selected absences, gender, nationality and employment, 2002-2016; 2nd assumption on average of CHF 100 per hour

https://www.greatplacetowork.com/best-workplaces/100-best/2019