As pandemic measures is gradually lifted across the world and the global economy is jumpstarted back into action, we realize things are not the way they used to be. We’ve seen a great deal of perseverance and innovation from global companies we serve with varying degrees of success. The world of business has changed for good, whether we like it or not.
The pandemic has also served as a litmus test for companies’ employee engagement strategies, as during a time of crisis stability at work is more important than ever. Some companies did well, others have received widespread criticism from their employees over their management during COVID-19.
So where do we go from here?
Based on 30,000 employee interactions with Amber across 100+ HR teams, our people science team discovered critical findings on how the workforce has evolved before and after COVID-19. Some of these findings will definitely surprise you.
As the workforce is no longer confined to one office space but is dispersed across their respective homes around the world, their behaviour dynamics have significantly changed. On the surface, the overall employee mood remains unchanged yet there are glaring disconnects with leadership which will impact morale and productivity if not acted on immediately.
We also noted that organizations need to be equipped with the right HR tech tools if they are to continue business as usual even when the workforce is dispersed across the world. Establishing meaningful connections is critical now more than ever.
Interestingly, despite the uncertainty caused since the pandemic, employees talking to Amber have shown lower turnover intent. While this is a good sign, unchanged organization mood may be indicative of passive disengagement ... which is why we dug deeper into employee behavior dynamics to get a more granular understanding.
Our data has shown employee-manager relationships have been negatively impacted due to a lack of proximity or close working spaces. However, we've also seen a huge spike in manager accessibility scores. While employees feel managers are now more accessible, they may not necessarily be happy with leadership overall.
Over 100 HR teams continue to reach out through an AI bot to employees to understand their mood, morale, and sentiment during such a crisis. While the number of promoters for AI in HR have increased signficantly, employees also rate the experience of interacting with AI comparatively higher than before COVID-19.
It's all about using the right set of tools to get actionable data on your workforce to develop engagement strategies that will help your employees come out of this pandemic stronger. Companies that have invested in AI tools like Amber have experienced returns on investment as high as 18x. See for yourself.