Technology Is Key To Employee Retention

Chief Technology Officer at Tangoe, responsible for the global corporate technology strategy and research and development (R&D).

Coming off the waves of the 2021 "Great Resignation," it's no secret that employers are continuing to recover and implement strategies to retain top talent better. The work landscape has been indisputably altered, putting more power in employees' hands than ever before. Modern workers are demanding more—more pay, more flexibility, more recognition. In fact, research from Oracle indicates that 88% of workers feel the meaning of success has changed, citing their prioritization of work-life balance, mental health and workplace flexibility in 2022.

Yet despite 87% of HR leaders naming employee retention strategies as a top priority in coming years, 20% of them find it difficult to maintain focus on this priority. With digital transformation revolutionizing the ways in which we work and communicate with one another, it shouldn't be a surprise that a key to employee retention lies in technology itself, and it starts at the source.

Onboarding can make or break an employee experience.

Employee retention starts on day one on the job: Organizations with strong onboarding processes are shown to improve new hire retention by 82%. We know that employees are demanding flexibility and autonomy with their work, and the right technological structure will make or break an employee's experience from the start.

As technology leaders, it's our job to provide the right product choices that empower our teams to work efficiently without compromising security for either employer or employee. The right onboarding process is one in which employees feel safe, respected and in control of their working environment, without sacrificing your company's need for security, cost-efficiency and data management. Supporting employees' choices on how they'd like to set up their digital office empowers them to feel more respected, independent and productive.

Technology should support a healthy work-life balance.

As cliché as it sounds, happy employees are productive employees. And what makes employees happy in 2022? The answer is simple: companies—and managers—who care. With Harvard Business Review estimating that 65% of tasks currently performed by managers have the potential to be automated by 2025 (paywall), the expectations of managers will likely shift as automation continues to evolve. Managerial responsibilities will transform from mere task management to overall experience management, meaning that managers must further support employees' professional development goals, work-life balance and relationship to the company itself.

But for all the managers out there: You shouldn't wait for automation to change the way you manage your teams. By leveraging the tools you have now and embracing this mindset shift, you can facilitate better workflows for your team, get real-time pulse checks on their mental and physical health and open the door to social collaboration that wasn't possible before. Here's how:

• Look past the tools. Plugged-in managers will begin to look past the face-value functionality of digital tools and leverage them to create closer relationships with their teams. For example, when screen sharing with employees, I've noticed the use of outdated systems or processes that I've offered to update to streamline their workflows. When employees who are usually on camera get into a habit of turning their cameras off, I'm alerted to engagement issues that I can address to better understand what's going on behind the scenes. Strong leaders should pay attention to the idiosyncrasies of their employees' use of technology to stay tuned in.

• Encourage health and wellness. There are thousands of tools that companies now leverage to inspire greater levels of mental and physical health. Offering telehealth benefits and providing corporate-sponsored apps allow employees to control their health according to their own volition. Even simple things, such as allowing flexible work hours or implementing no-meeting days, can help employees recharge.

• Break social barriers. Technology can be used to break down social barriers to form more meaningful connections. When you hear a dog bark or a baby cry in the background of a meeting, it instantly breaks the prior "work is work, home is home" notions that were previously the norm. Ironically, working from anywhere allows us to come together to be more socially aware and considerate of one another.

The Future And Beyond

In the coming years, the line between reality and virtual reality will continue to blur, and the workplace is no exception. People are getting used to speaking with chatbots instead of humans and seeing Big Brother-like recommendations for restaurants and consumer goods popping up on their phones. For now, consumer-oriented technology seems to be ahead of what we use in the business world.

However, I don't suspect that will be the case for long. Take Microsoft Viva Insights, for instance. It scans your emails and calendar to collect recommendations to optimize your workday better ("follow up on this email," "set aside more time to focus," "don't forget to schedule this meeting," etc.). While this is a good feature for employees, the future is much bigger than that.

As VR continues to evolve, I predict a future where video calls are no longer one dimensional—a day where we can smell one another's coffee and see a 360-degree view of each other's workspaces without leaving the comfort of our own homes.

Now just imagine how that would shape the employee experience.

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The C-Print® System

C-Print is a speech-to-text (captioning) technology and service developed at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a college of Rochester Institute of Technology. The system successfully is being used to provide communication access to individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing in many programs around the country. In addition to educational environments, C-Print also can be used in business and community settings, and with individuals with other disabilities, such as those with a visual impairment or a learning disability.

Costs for using the C-Print system vary, depending on what equipment is used, the pay level and hours the captionist works, the service needs/demands, etc. Salaries typically are between those of a professional notetaker and an interpreter. A laptop computer is the primary piece of equipment used by C-Print captionists. C-Print can be a cost-effective service that a university, secondary school, business or organization may provide.

The basis of C-Print is printed text of spoken English displayed in real time, which is a proven and appropriate means of acquiring information for some individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. A trained operator, called a C-Print captionist, produces a text display of the spoken information in classroom or other settings. At the same time, one or more students read the display to access the information. A C-Print captionist includes as much information as possible, generally providing a meaning-for-meaning translation of the spoken English content. After class, the text can be provided in paper or electronic format for the student to use as notes.

C-Print Pro software is specifically designed for providing C-Print speech-to-text services. It allows a captionist to input text using a keyboard abbreviation system. The abbreviation system is based on phonetics, or how words sound. Although spelling-based abbreviations might seem easier to learn, in practice, abbreviations based on how words sound are more instinctive because unlike traditional keyboard typing, a C-Print captionist processes information auditorily. Typing using abbreviations based on how words sound is an extension of the auditory process. In addition, problematic spelling is not an issue. The software also can accept input from automatic speech recognition applications.

Rochester Institute of Technology National Technical Institute for the Deaf 52 Lomb Memorial Drive Rochester, New York 14623-5604 585-475-7557 (Voice/TTY) 585-475-5949 (Fax) cprint@rit.edu http://cprint.rit.edu