Companies are looking for ways to increase employee productivity. A new study from Gallup and Workhuman suggests that there’s a relatively easy way for organizations to improve their return on investment: employee recognition.
According to the report “Amplifying Wellbeing at Work and Beyond Through the Power of Recognition,” positive employee recognition reduces burnout and improves performance, and a lack of recognition can lead to financial losses. Currently, around $20 billion is lost per 10,000 workers due to low well-being and subsequent low performance, for a total figure of $322 billion.
All employees have a journey. They onboard, have an anniversary, get promoted, complete a major project, have life events that should be celebrated, and more. These critical moments at work have more meaning for individuals when recognized.
Building lasting relationships begins with trust. When employees experience trust at work, they are more productive, more engaged, go above and beyond their role, and stay at their jobs for longer.
Developing trust starts with honest and open communication, and great communication starts with listening. Learning about employees is the first step in setting a solid foundation for a trusting relationship. AI-based interactions are able to gain knowledge in the important areas of their lives, allowing you to truly know your employees, the key that makes it all work.
1. AI Communicates Better Than Humans
Families use AI in their everyday lives with virtual assistant technology. From making a shopping list to asking Amazon’s Alexa to play your favorite music, these AI-based helpers remember your likes and dislikes and are always there to listen. She is a knowledge base, a taskmaster of lists, and so much more. While AI has become a helpful trusted resource in the home, it is just as valuable in the workplace to build trust with employees. Conversational AI can be used to gather information and gauge the state of mind of an employee during critical parts of their employment journey. This is especially effective when AI assistants offer personalized experiences based on specific data and information of each employee.
2. AI Collects Personal and Unique Data
AI collects and connects with various data sources, using them to train algorithms and eventually the AI model itself. As it relates to employee relationships, AI can collect employee review data, eNPS scores, birth dates, hire dates, likes and dislikes, and even connect with a weather database to understand the weather in a remote location where the employee works from home. Separately, this data is useful to a degree, but in the context of self-learning AI models it becomes a relationship enhancer by continuously learning about the employee’s journey with the company and making recommendations on enhancing employee engagement based on what it has learned.
3. AI Recommends
An AI recommendation engine is a system that suggests products, services, and information to users based on how it understands, and contextualizes, real-time data. An AI engine can recommend recognizing an employee for a stellar performance 5 years in a row with a promotion. Based on the personal information it gathers and then deepening its insight over time, the AI engine can make recommendations to enhance employee relations resulting in high employee engagement and longevity with the company. Alternatively, AI can recommend employee performance with educational courses, job role change, or even managing the employee out of the company.
4. AI is Scalable
Engaging employees one person at a time is not scalable in today’s hybrid work environment. AI engines can handle nearly limitless data sources, performing multiple computations simultaneously to save time and money as it serves employees worldwide. AI continuously learns about each employee, whether your company has hundreds or thousands, and then recommends actions or recognition. It also remembers at scale. Depending on the goals established and automation triggers, employee anniversaries and birthdays, and stellar reviews where the AI engine recommends a yearly reward, are never missed. AI learns, recommends, and finally executes on those recommendations.
5. AI Corresponds
Because AI continuously learns and remembers about each employee at scale, it can write thoughtful correspondence at special moments in their lives no matter where they work or what they are celebrating, and can send personalized messages to thousands in minutes. AI reduces cost and human error while being more efficient and accurate – constructing correspondence based on location, nuances, and other important information of which only it is aware. This results in employee communication that is higher quality, more accurate, and delivers a more precise and personal message compared to what most managers and HR teams can create.
Employee wellbeing matters. With AI, HR teams and managers can gather meaningful insights about individual employees and turn this information into actions that have a positive impact on overall wellbeing and retention.
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