HR Tech Think Tank: Employee engagement software
- Melia Widjaja
“Customers will never love a company until the employees love it first.”
Manav Batra, General Manager of BI Worldwide in Asia-Pacific (pictured left), says this quote from Simon Sinek’s book Leaders Eat Last is ringing increasingly true for organisations throughout this region.
More than 50 HR professionals gathered at the interactive Engagement Tech cluster during the HR Tech Think Tank. Led by Batra and his colleague Pooja Lal (General Manager for BI Worldwide’s Australia and New Zealand markets, pictured on the right), this took delegates on a deep-dive exploration of why employee engagement remains one of the top priorities for organisations today, and the ways software can help HR improve this metric.
The key – Batra says – lies in productivity and innovation. Engaged employees are more likely to stay with an organisation, learn more while they are there, and invent and problem-solve much more effectively as a result.
“Loyal, productive employees are valuable beyond measure,” he said. “People want to know how their employers will make their future better, and to understand that they are appreciated and a part of something bigger.”
Design thinking for engagement
Inspired by principals of Design Thinking and Behavioural Economics, the session delegates undertook an actual case study with real-world data to build an Engagement Blueprint for an organisation. Across three stages, they were guided to first understand the employee culture and needs and behaviours of the workforce in question. Batra and Lal then helped them to utilise that understanding, along with BI Worldwide’s New Rules of Engagement and Design Thinking, to create an overall strategy.
The third stage involved putting those plans into practice and activating the unique framework built.
While BI Worldwide offers a specific software platform for building engagement, Lal was quick to highlight that the technology alone does not make it a “solution”. Rather, the company aims to research the specific engagement challenges facing its client organisations, and then consult on a comprehensive strategy to move forward, using both technology and other relevant platforms.
“To design an effective programme around engagement, we take a co-creation approach where we bring in our own research in behavioural economics behind how to change employee behaviour, and organisations will bring in their own insights into their company culture and practices,” Batra said.
“We later combine both parts of research together into our proprietary framework, which traces the lifecycle starting from attracting employees, to hiring the right fit, to the employer branding strategy, and establishing employees as brand ambassadors.
“Also, we show how to make that shift on a continuous basis, as it is not a one-off process, but a journey.”
About BI Worldwide
BI Worldwide is a global leader in engagement and loyalty consulting. It works with organisations across industries to inspire people associated with them (be it their employees or channel partners) to deliver results that drive overall business performance. All of its work is heavily driven by principles of Behavioural Economics, helping brands translate their strategic goals into actionable plans.
Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, BI Worldwide has more than 25 sales offices throughout the US and market headquarters around the world in Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Latin America, Singapore, and the UK.
