Optimizing Employee Life Cycle Management With Technology

By
IntelligentHQ

You’ve got a great product and marketing plan. What else do you need?

The ability to attract and retain good people in a competitive marketplace. You  can make that happen by fostering long-term employee engagement. 

Yet recent surveys show that less than one-third of the U.S.workforce feels engaged in their work. 

Good news: you have the technology to tackle that challenge!  And smart companies are leveraging it to boost workforce engagement, and enhance the employee experience.

The Six Employee Life Cycle Stages

The employee life cycle (ELC) model maps out career trajectory in six stages, each of which offers unique opportunities to implement strategies for employee engagement. And technology can be effectively used to optimize your efforts at every stage.

Attraction 

As more job seekers make use of digital devices and channels in their job search, organizations need to access online tools to build brand identity:

  • Raise your company’s online profile. Managers and team leaders should regularly contribute to or sponsor industry-specific websites and blogs. 
  • Use social media to offer insights into the company culture.  Update regularly with engaging content to maintain that connection.
  • Use industry-focused platforms like LinkedIn to target your search and identifying talent 
  • Use IP tracking and cookie tracking tools to remarket your openings to targeted candidates.

Recruitment 

Use technology to recruit the talent you’ve identified and want to screen.

Recruitment Marketing

  • Create a careers website and update it regularly with new job openings
  • Provide responsive website content that engages job seekers
  • Ensure the website integrates well with your brand and is SEO optimized
  • Use external social media platforms to advertise job openings

Applicant Tracking Systems

  • Applicant tracking systems (ATS)  software used for collecting, sorting, scanning, and ranking job applications
  • About 98 percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on ATS software to streamline the recruiting process 
  • ATS evaluates resume content and scans for particular keywords to assess  candidate suitability
  • Allows recruiters to focus on best-qualified candidates

Chatboxes

  • Helps recruiters effectively screen based on employee-AI interactions in the initial screening process
  • Allegis found over half of candidates interviewed felt comfortable interacting with AI to answer preliminary questions and prep for interviews 

Video Interviewing

  • Allows recruiters to “see” candidates before scheduling in-person interviews
  •  Facilitates screening large numbers across different time zones

Onboarding 

In this third stage, recruits are familiarized with the corporate environment and performance expectations. With more remote work and less on-premise learning, learning management systems (LMS) are becoming one of the most used online course tools for employee orientation and instruction.

  • 41.7% of global Fortune 500 companies use some type of LMS to train employees  
  • Helps recruits  learn about the corporate culture, understand standard operating procedures, become informed about services and products, and develop specific skills so they’ll perform effectively when they get their first projects 
  • LMS platforms like TalentLMS are cloud-based, ready-to-use systems that allow you to build engaging, tailor-made eLearning modules to target employee training needs. Some systems also feature assessment engines, which allow you to evaluate learner progress.

Development 

If you rely on traditional training methods, you can expect  employees to forget up to 50% of what they’ve learned within an hour

Interactive tools can enhance employee engagement and learning retention.

  • Handheld devices like eInstruction Clickers channel immediate feedback to the instructor, and allow the instructor to interact with employees in real-time
  • Video conferencing platforms like Skype connect trainers with a large and often physically distanced audience
  • Gamified Learning engages employees during training and boosts knowledge retention. Interactive games can be played on devices like laptop or TV consoles, or combined with more sophisticated technologies like reality simulators or augmented reality equipment. Research indicates training games make instruction faster and easier, produce higher test scores, and longer retention. 

Retention 

Now that you have your “good people”, you want to keep them.  And you do that by keeping them focused and engaged.

  • Performance management software helps managers create job profiles, set goals and expectations that align with the company’s mission, and write evaluations. It digitally tracks employee performance, continuously measures and develops talent, and provides regular feedback. 
  • Pulse surveys like Sprigg’s Continuous & 360 Degree Feedback tool  take the workforce “pulse” to determine how the employee experience could be improved

Separation 

The final stage of the employee life cycle affects not just the employee, but the company as a whole – so it should be as well-planned as the prior stages. Technology can facilitate the process.

Exit Interviews

You want honest feedback that provides insight into the employee experience. Conducting an exit-interview is one of your best opportunities to get it. And yes – there are apps for that!

  • Document your interview questions on a digital platform and encourage employees to submit their responses electronically
  • An automated exit interview app guarantees confidentiality, formalizes the offboarding process, saves administrative time, and encourages employee frankness

Alumni Portals

Let former employees know that they were valued team members by maintaining a connection.

  • Create a dedicated website to post information about events, employee achievements, and referral programs
  • Leverage social media. Companies like Salesforce and Deloitte have created employer-driven LinkedIn groups for their alumni
  • Remember that former employees are brand ambassadors and potential rehires – so stay in touch!

From recruitment to retirement, it’s important to develop strategies that will optimize your employees’ interactions with your company and ensure a positive career trajectory. Their emotional investment in your business is critical to their future growth – and to yours.

Smart employers are learning that innovative technologies can not only attract, recruit and train: they can provide valuable workplace insights, encourage workforce engagement, and help employers stay attuned to employee needs.

Employees who feel consistently engaged and connected will stay motivated. 

And that means they’ll be staying with you.

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