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Evive’s Employee Journey Research Reveals that 50% of Employees Never Hear from Human Resources After Orientation and Employees Need Personalized, Data-Driven Communications to Boost Benefits Utilization
CHICAGO, February 4, 2021 – A new study released today by Evive, the leader in digital engagement and communication technology, found employers that focused on cost containment and improving employee engagement must create a more personalized employee experience throughout the employee journey.*
Evive’s National Employee Journey Survey, conducted fourth quarter 2020, included a representative sample of 500 full-time employees across industries, positions and the U.S. Below are some key findings.
A New Mandate for Human Resources (HR): Better Onboarding
Effective onboarding encourages communications, engages employees early on and shortens the learning curve. Still, half of the survey respondents (50%) said that HR never checked in on them after their orientation period to make sure things were going well.
Even more surprisingly, only 45% reported that their company surveyed their satisfaction with their onboarding or orientation experience. Along these lines, four out of 10 employees (44%) felt their onboarding or orientation lacked personalization, while 25% said they didn’t feel their company offered a structured onboarding or orientation experience.
An Ultra-High Priority: Invest in Your Employees Career Growth
Although highly engaged employees receive regular feedback from their managers, the study revealed 55% of employees received a formal review with their manager only once a year or less often, but 12% reported a review less than a year. The employee journey starts.
Career growth is a key aspect of the employee journey. However, a clear majority of employees also felt their manager never shared materials related to their career growth as written in their performance reviews. One out of three employees (34%) never received relevant webinars or conference opportunities from their manager, and one out of three employees (34%) never received relevant courses or videos in their company’s Learning Management System (LMS). Of those who said their company had an LMS, 40% said they’ve only used it for mandatory company training.
Doing More to Support Tomorrow’s Leaders and Team Dynamics
Developing tomorrow’s leaders requires the necessary support, training and skills. However, nearly 4 out of 10 employees were neutral on the idea or disagreed that their manager was committed to their career growth. On par with that statistic, more than one in four employees (27%) were neutral on the idea or disagreed that their team had a healthy dynamic.
Protecting Employees’ (And Their Families’) Health is Part of Employee Journey
Creating personalized communications motivates employees, increases benefit utilization and reduces healthcare costs. The study highlighted that a substantial number of respondents would benefit from employers using highly personalized reminders to help employees take timely action on their health, financial and workplace benefits.
Two out of three employees (66%) would find it helpful to receive timely reminders from their company when due for health screenings. More than one out of two employees (56%) would find health reminders helpful for their spouse or partner. Other reminders employees would like to see included emergency notifications and personalized recommendations from their company about which health plan to select during open enrollment.
Your Employees’ Financial Success Drives Business Success
Many employees lack financial knowledge on money management topics. As a result, 36% (more than one out of three employees) expected that their total individual (not household) retirement expenses would be less than $300,000. Twenty-six percent (more than one out of four employees) expected that their total individual (not household) retirement expenses would be less than $100,000. Experts often recommend saving up to $1 million before retiring.
Develop a Smooth Offboarding Process in the Employee Journey
Protecting a company’s reputation is an integral part of business. When an employee leaves, HR hopes that the departing team member would advocate for that company, regardless of circumstance. However, only about half of employees surveyed (48%) felt they would advocate for their company after leaving. Nearly four out of 10 are unsure, and the remaining 13% said they would not advocate.
After exiting, there are still many opportunities for employees to interact with the company, whether it’s seasonal work, alumni program or employee referral bonus. A smooth offboarding experience is critical to brand success.
“With the evolving, complex needs of today’s changing workforce, employers need to build trust and alignment, enhance current processes and expand their communications with employees,” said Prashant Srivastava, Evive president and CEO. “As more HR departments adopt workplace technology, a data-driven platform that rapidly deploys automated, personalized communications to employees would help businesses with cost containment, increase benefits utilization and positively impact the employee experience at every stage of the employee journey.”
