What if your HRIS could boost your company's social climate?
Against a difficult socio-economic backdrop, employees seem to be feeling increasingly unhappy at work.
18% feel dissatisfied and uninvolved in their company, and only 12% like their working environment.
Source: study by the Quartz website.
22% have changed jobs in the last five years.
Source: Ministry of Labour, November 2018.
In the face of this perceived lack of recognition and uninhibited professional mobility, HR departments undoubtedly have their cards to play in terms of remotivating and retaining potential, in particular with these 3 key tools:
- Professional interviews to listen to employees and gather their wishes and motivations;
- GPEC (Gestion Prévisionnelle des Emplois et Compétences - forward-looking management of jobs and skills) to help employees progress in their jobs and offer them new prospects;
- Training to give employees the means to support their development within the company, in France or abroad.
Tool no. 1: Interviews to assess and value your employees
Why not take advantage of this privileged moment of exchange between management and employee to go beyond the simple legal obligation and establish a context of dialogue and trust that will serve as a basis for the employee's feeling of recognition?
All too often, managers and employees see the annual or professional appraisal interview as nothing more than a formality for handing out bonuses and setting objectives. But by changing the way they are approached and, above all, used, they can prove to be a formidable source of information, providing a relevant and regular overview of the company's resources and a real motivational lever.
To do this, you need to adjust the questions asked and the headings covered, to widen the range of possible answers. Give employees the time to prepare well for their interviews beforehand and show them that their comments, suggestions and requests have been taken into account by providing appropriate answers over and above those provided by the manager.
What are the benefits of making full use of the minutes ? First of all, you get a more detailed picture of each employee's situation in relation to the company. How are they feeling, are they suggesting that they would like to change jobs?
This will make it easier to identify employees with high potential. Firstly, those who take the time to seriously prepare for their interview. Then, those who propose real solutions, or show ambition and dynamism in their answers.
Then you'll be able to anticipate your recruitment and training needs on a wider scale, in anticipation of staff movements.
Using an HRIS allows you to dematerialise these documents, and is also a real plus when it comes to using interviews, making mass data processing much easier. All this information is invaluable in achieving a mapping of your company, which will be the keystone of effective and relevant Human Resources Management.
💡 Our advice:
- Promote and develop interviews as a time for exchange and give the employee the floor more regularly;
- Don't leave requests arising from interviews unanswered;
- Provide your employees with a simple, accessible tool.
Tool 2: GPEC to support and develop your employees
A company that manages to keep its employees happy is a company that wins. Several studies corroborate the fact that :
An employee who is happy at work is up to half as sick, six times less absent and around 30% more productive.
So you have everything to gain by including this objective in your good resolutions for 2019.
However, people are never static, either in their plans or in their personal or professional situation. Thanks to the interviews, you have been able to identify a need for development and mobility. How can you support employees and give them the autonomy to build their own career path?
This is where an adapted GPEC tool can help you achieve this objective. You can match the results of annual appraisals to a skills requirement linked to a new project or job opening, to find the right person(s) quickly and reliably. For their part, employees will be able to consult the history of their interviews to see how their skills have developed over time, or to project themselves into a new position. They can then put forward training requests that are in line with their plans and gaps.
These training requests will make it possible to draw up a training plan based not just on managers' estimates, but also on your employees' actual skills needs.
This plan will define the course of action to be taken, so it is essential to have relevant information. Allowing your employees to store their wishes on a platform accessible to their N+1 and N+2 encourages dialogue throughout the year and not just at interviews.
It is also important to include all employees in this exchange process, from the moment they are hired. An initial skills assessment, however brief, is always worthwhile. It provides a point of reference for the future, identifies talent, but above all allows your new recruits to feel taken care of and valued from the moment they are recruited.
💡 Our advice:
- A GPEC is a great tool, but it needs to be prepared carefully. Make sure you have the support of employees and managers. Involve them in the decision.
- Provide managers and employees with results to enable them to make projections. Don't let them think that GPEC is just another whim of the HR department.
Tool no. 3: Professional training to retain your employees and anticipate their development
When we talk about happiness at work, we often think of relaxation areas, seminars and all the other things that make life at work more "fun". Of course, these aspects should not be neglected, but they should not be the only pillars of your action plan to keep your employees invested in your company.
While more than one in two employees experience stress and fatigue at work almost 45% also experience "brown out", i.e. they find no meaning in their job.
Source: THINK Institute study, 2017.
Very often, this lack of meaning stems from the feeling of stagnating in their current position and/or of not being heard. Supporting your employees with these management tools, while encouraging internal mobility, gives employees a different perspective within the company, the opportunity to build and visualise their career path and feel recognised.
In addition, training can help you achieve this goal. It's never a bad decision to invest on a regular basis in order to add skills or gain greater expertise. You stimulate your employees by bringing something new into their daily lives, showing that you have confidence in them and that you see their potential. They will no longer feel stagnant; they will gain in experience, responsibility and loyalty to the company.
Employee loyalty is a crucial issue in the current climate. A person who is committed to his or her work and who stays with a company for longer is a guarantee of sustainability, but also a financial gain for the company. Not only is a fulfilled employee more productive, but the loss of skills and experience associated with a departure takes several months, or even several years, to be compensated for by recruitment.
Reduced staff turnover is an important indicator in the social barometer and offers new possibilities in the short, medium and long term: in the short term, you are less often in a recruitment hurry to cope with unexpected departures, with all the administrative process that goes with these transitions.
In the medium term, your company becomes more efficient: the people you have promoted are actually better suited to their jobs and more committed to them, because they feel valued by their superiors. In the long term, you can manage your business optimally by taking turnover partially out of the equation. You know everyone's strengths and can anticipate the future more calmly.
💡 Our advice:
- Optimise and encourage internal mobility. This offers the opportunity to visualise a future within the company ;
- Combine HR tools with initiatives to improve working conditions. A relaxation room and a GPEC do not fulfil the same functions, even if they are complementary;
- Use training as a means of building loyalty and responsibility;
- Identify and define the development aspirations of each individual in order to define a succession organisation chart and anticipate internal movements in the longer term.
Conclusion
The role of the HR Director is crucial in these turbulent times. Simply good administrative and financial management is not enough. The social and human aspects must be effective and visible. It is through this showcase that you will build loyalty and attract new talent.
More than ever, an HRIS (even for SMEs) is needed to accompany and support this change:
- LISTEN and GATHER: Interviews
- ANALYSE and PROPOSE: GPEC
- SUPPORT and PROVIDE THE MEANS: training
It will be the link between all the players in the company, the federator of talent and the foundation of a social climate that employees approve of.
Article translated from French