Encouraging Employee Engagement with the Right Apps
Employee engagement and mobile apps go together like Kaya and Butter on toast. Doubtful? Consider this: according to a report from eMarketer.com, worldwide mobile users spend 101 billion minutes a month using apps alone – 39 minutes per person per day, on average.
Employees who utilise apps on their mobile devices at work are more responsive, make decisions faster, and resolve issues more quickly than those who don’t (Cisco). Since employees are already using their mobile devices for apps, and apps are proven to improve employee performance, it follows that the right apps can also encourage positive employee engagement within your company.
Communication Apps
Good bye rotary phones and say hello 21st century. With communication technology advancing at a rapid pace, your business needs more than a robust phone system to get employees engaged and talking.
Employees are engaged when communication is easy; and apps make it easy. The most popular business apps are those that enable employees to communicate instantly through email, social media, and employee portals.
- The popularity of social media networks has inspired business software designers to produce enterprise-level networks. These programs enable employees to communicate with their managers and each other through the business’s private social platform. Employees can send private messages, post questions for the entire company, and form department or project-related groups for more focused discussions.
- For members of Gen Y who place high value on social networking, these apps are especially important in promoting engagement, communication, and involvement in the company. Nearly 70% of younger employees consider mobile applications important to their daily lives; however, 27% primarily use mobile applications for work purposes (2011 Connected World Technology Report).
Through these communication apps, employees can easily give and receive meaningful feedback – which is an integral element of employee engagement.
Teamwork Apps
Promoting effective collaboration between employees can further improve employee engagement, and a number of apps can help. For example: 82% of smartphone users and 36% of tablet users use their devices to view work documents accessed via the cloud.
Cloud and mobile file storage apps let multiple users read and edit files at the same time – making it far easier for employees to collaborate on a report, presentation, or database.
- Web and video conferencing apps represent another type of app that can help your employees be more engaged with each other, their work, and the business itself. 30% of firms are planning to implement mobile videoconferencing apps and 26% are planning to implement web meeting apps to help their employees collaborate (Cisco).
Health & Wellness Apps
Encouraging employees to use work-related apps doesn’t have to be the limit of your employee engagement efforts. Consider offering employees the use of apps that improve their health and wellness.
Company-led health and wellness programs have a documented positive effect on job satisfaction, employee engagement, and overall health outcomes. Furthermore, employee health and wellness programs nationwide save companies as much as US$6 in health care for every US$1 invested – a nationwide total of US$1.9 trillion saved in health care costs per year (Huffington Post).
By augmenting your wellness program with a mobile app, you can make it easier for employees to participate and reap the benefits of the program.
- Look for apps that give employees the option to work on their diet, fitness levels, disease management, etc.
- Other apps let employees log their food and exercise, check food nutrition information, or share their health information with their physician, all without accessing a computer.
Employee engagement increases when employers provide avenues for meaningful communication, opportunities for effective teamwork, and encouragement for better health. The right apps can empower employees to be more proactive in the workplace and in general, making them more loyal, more productive, and more valuable employees.
Megan Webb-Morgan is a content writer and business blogger. She writes about a variety of topics for ResourceNation.com, ranging from business apps to office productivity.