Engage Your Employees in Ways That Matter to Them
You can make them feel heard and valued with help from Slalom and Microsoft
In 2023, Slalom is focusing our efforts on helping our clients navigate the ongoing uncertainty that’s been with us since early 2020. Our three key action areas — focus on people, unlock value, and prepare for growth — are geared toward enabling organizations to thrive in these turbulent times. In this series of articles, we’ve already covered some helpful topics, namely reducing wasted cloud services spending and driving complexity out of your data estate to help your organization go from being “data rich” to “information rich.”
But the approaches and recommendations we’re making aren’t limited to boosting performance in times of turmoil or economic upheaval. They’re more guideposts to help keep you aligned to priorities that will serve you well no matter the state of the macro environment. The same goes for our topic in this, the final installment of our three-part series: focus on people.
Tune out the noise and tune into the voices that matter
For a moment, let’s forget about all the dire and often contradictory headlines about the state of the job market. Let’s tune out the reports about layoffs, companies that are scrambling to find qualified workers, workers struggling to land good jobs. Let’s instead tune into the workforce you have — the ones who are instrumental in keeping your operations running and your customers and stakeholders happy. These workers are telling you — sometimes with words but maybe more often with actions — what they need to be successful and happy in their jobs.
The workers who speak with actions — often by leaving unsatisfactory jobs — do so for a variety of reasons, but better pay isn’t always one of them. Some do it because they want “employment that doesn’t just pay the bills — they also want fulfillment, better benefits, flexible locations and schedules, and a great corporate culture.” But there can be more to it than that. Analyst firm Gartner makes the following observations:
“The last three years were a catalyst to elevate personal purpose and values. Unfortunately, while 82% of employees say it’s important for their organization to see them as a person, not just an employee, only 45% of employees believe their organization actually sees them this way.”
Some more alarming statistics were uncovered in another recent survey about how helpless workers can feel when they don’t believe the feedback they give their employers leads to any meaningful change. This feeling of helplessness often results in workers looking elsewhere for employment.
But even before the era when quitting became quiet, soft, or conscious, employees affected by change at work were said to be “more likely to report chronic work stress, less likely to trust their employer and more likely to say they plan to leave the organization within the next year compared with those who haven’t been affected by organizational change.”
Help your people feel supported and valued
Because we find ourselves in a climate where change is occurring frequently and sometimes rapidly, it’s understandable that your employees may be experiencing some of the frustrations detailed above. But, while you can’t and shouldn’t promise there will be no more change, you can take steps to make sure your employees feel like they are participants in change for the better, rather than just the targets of mandates they have no control over.
Slalom and Microsoft are exceptional partners when it comes to helping businesses and their people navigate uncertainty. With our combined technology and expertise, we can help you provide a better experience for your employees and give them more of a sense that they’re a valued part of your organization. We do this by:
- Helping you establish a change management plan that promotes the success of your initiatives but also takes into account your employees, customers, and other stakeholders and their shifting needs as the change is introduced.
- Working with you to identify both current and future opportunities for growth and guiding your organization and its people to a more flexible, resilient way to work. This includes the Slalom Three Horizon Workshop and Slalom’s ETHOS methodology, both of which take advantage of familiar, user-friendly Microsoft tool sets. Microsoft Viva, for example, provides personalized experiences for your employees that help them better organize and prioritize tasks, conversations, content, and learning opportunities.
- Guiding you to training resources that will help your teams when adopting new technologies and learning new skills, including Microsoft’s array of shorter, on-demand courses such as the Power Platform in a Day workshops or more involved, customized learning paths.
- Offering a co-creation option for your team with Slalom Build and Microsoft where we help you develop fully customized solutions, tailor-made for your specific needs, thereby giving your employees more opportunity to take part in innovations that are vital to the success of your business.
By making your employees part of the discussion and decision-making process; taking their feedback and incorporating it into your organization’s future direction; and giving them opportunities to grow, learn, and advance, you can create a culture where your people feel both valued enough to want to stay but also engaged enough to want to do their best work.
Our whitepaper has more information on ways Slalom and Microsoft can help you do this. We’re also here for you if you’d like to talk to us about creating a better workplace for your people.
Slalom is a global consulting firm helping people and organizations dream bigger, move faster, and build better tomorrows for all. Learn more and reach out today.
