Inflation is high, and everyone is watching their spending as the rising cost of living dominates the UK news headlines.

This was very evident as I walked around some shops in Manchester last week after attending Microsoft’s Ignite 2022 conference, where the central theme running throughout was all about ‘doing more with less’. As an ex-retailer, doing more with less used to translate into long days, less staff and a heavier workload. However, Microsoft’s Chairman & CEO, Satya Nadella, was keen to point out that doing more for less doesn’t mean working harder or longer.

“It’s about applying technology to amplify what you can do and, ultimately, what an organisation can achieve amidst today’s constraints”.

Whether it’s better communication and employee engagement or delivering productivity efficiencies alongside class-leading service standards, optimising the employee experience is crucial if businesses are not only to navigate this change but emerge stronger. Highly engaged organisations that empower their workforce experience the following benefits and more:

Reduced Absenteeism and Staff Turnover

According to a recently updated Gallup report, engaged employees show up to work and do more work, with highly engaged business units realising an 81% difference in absenteeism. Engaged workers are also more likely to stay with their employers. In high staff churn sectors like retail and hospitality, where rates of around 50% are not uncommon, highly engaged businesses can achieve an 18% difference in staff turnover. Engaged employees don’t look for new jobs, whereas disengaged employees constantly look for new opportunities as their bond with the organisation is not strong enough to retain them. 

With the cost of recruiting and training new employees now averaging £4,000, that’s an awful lot of beans, pairs of socks or pints of beer to sell to offset the cost of recruiting just a handful of employees when it comes to maintaining your bottom line. And that’s before we even consider trying to put a price on lost social and knowledge capital.

Increased Productivity and Efficiency

Another characteristic of an engaged workforce is their positive behaviour towards the organisation, as they often believe strongly in the company’s values, mission and vision. This mindset makes people work harder and proactively to reach personal and corporate goals, which leads to a 17% increase in productivity. Engaged employees know their work is appreciated and valued. Higher productivity and efficiency are key benefits of employee engagement for employers. 

Communicating relevant information, tasks, success, goals and performance all play a part in keeping an engaged workforce informed and in lockstep with the company’s objectives and ambitions. Making this information accessible, available and in context to the individual is key to delivering a hyper-engaged and productive workforce. Put simply, digitally engaged employees produce better business outcomes than other employees – across industries, company sizes and nationalities, and in good economic times and bad.

Technology

We find ourselves in challenging times where uncertainty is almost everywhere one cares to look – cost of living, inflation, and interest rates are all rising. The threat of recession looms; however, I remain optimistic, and here’s why…

“Digital technology is a deflationary force in an inflationary economy” – Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO at Microsoft

Technology is the enabler to free people up to do what matters most, and this is where RMS and Metro want to help your business not just survive but thrive — Metro keeps workforces engaged and informed, out of back offices, and doing what delivers the most benefit to the organisation where it matters most. With modules designed to redefine communications, boost productivity, optimise wage spending and more, you too can hyper-engage your workforce, increase productivity, retain staff and do more with less. It starts with a no-obligation chat and a review of your current digital toolsets. Contact us today – we want to help.