An employee engagement app is software built to enhance the level of interaction between a business and its employees. It’s built to make them feel they are an integral part of the organization’s activities and overall culture. The satisfaction drawn from such a feeling has a direct bearing on their level of productivity. The human resource department holds custody of the app and decides what features the app should have depending on the organization’s needs. However, there are certain must-have features for any employee engagement app. Here are a few of them.

1. Employee Engagement App Should Be a News Centre

Any company that has an employee engagement app must use it as a tool for the dissemination of news. The leadership has the ability to determine what gets featured as news and this can be a powerful tool to influence culture. Certain things can be given prominence as a way of instilling them among employees. For instance, by featuring stories of employees who went the extra mile to fulfill customer demands, the leadership can inspire more employees to give good customer service.

The app can also serve as a career planning tool by sharing the career stories of employees who have been at the organization for a long time. The app should have a job advertisement section where vacant positions are advertised internally.

2. Interesting Content

Besides serving as a news center, the app should feature other content that will resonate with employees. One way to do this would be to share stories about developments in the sector the business operates. The executive leadership of the organization can share thoughts and opinions regarding how they see the business positioning itself in light of changes and happenings in the industry. Such stories give employees the confidence that the business remains a going concern.

3. Employee Surveys

An app that is used by tens or hundreds of employees is a great tool for feedback collection. The app should have a polling feature whereby employees get a chance to share their opinions on matters that concern them. It’s crucial to collect employee feedback on things such as trainings, new tools, working schedules, and remuneration. Collecting feedback can forestall strikes in situations where people are unhappy about something.

4. Push Notifications

Push notifications is an important feature in any business app today. In fact, push notifications are great for increasing the amount of interaction between employees and an app. Push notification can be utilized to nudge employees to respond to messages, complete due tasks, or perform other important actions. Notifications can also inform employees of important urgent news such as abruptly planned meetings without being too intrusive.

5. Goal Setting and Tracking

Employee engagement apps should have a way to allow employees and their supervisors to set goals for a given period and track them. In fact, it should allow employees to track individual and team goals. It’s often when the goals are quantifiable, but qualitative goals can be tracked by having supervisors give ratings for work done. Goal setting and tracking is great way to align employees’ personal goals with those of the organization.

6. Internal Communication

An app that has inbuilt communication features is great for boosting employees’ interaction with another as well as with the management. When employees have to use multiple channels for communication, it often leads to fragmentation and a breakdown in communication. However, an app can replace emails and texts by bringing all correspondence to one app. The app can also allow such things as document sharing. The goal should be to bring as much functionality as possible to a single platform.

7. Onboarding

Any business that has an employee engagement app should use it as an onboarding tool for new employees. In big organizations, employees can take several months before they are truly integrated. However, by having a singular platform where they can submit all necessary documentation and access training tools, the onboarding tools can not only be shortened but can be standardized. This way, no important step or information is missed and employees can learn the history, culture, and values of the company at their own pace.

8. Communities of Shared Interest

An important feature in the employee engagement app is spaces where people in different disciplines can share knowledge, brainstorm, comment, and collaborate. For a medium to large enterprise, these communities can have tens or even hundreds of participants. This feature would be akin to channels on a productivity platform where people can share links to stories, their portfolios, and much more. Young professionals can gain knowledge and contacts from their senior colleagues.

9. Inbuilt Analytics

Incorporating analytics into an employee engagement app can help employees learn more about themselves. In fact, analytics can be a career planning tool within the app. Employees should be able to see posts that they engaged with most, which can help them choose a specialization path. Inbuilt analytics would also help the business learn more about employees. By looking at the most visited pages and the most used features, the business is able to build upon and improve them. The business would also know those pages from where most users exit the app.

Benefits of An Employee Engagement App

If your organization manages to build an app that has most of the above-listed features, certain benefits will accrue naturally.

Better Communication

An employee engagement app that allows direct interaction between colleagues and the management is likely to boost an open communication culture. The app can provide channels to discuss particular projects as well as an open discussion board when any issue can be raised. Such an approach will encourage employees to speak out on things they might not be happy about.

Lower Attrition Rates

The lack of open communication channels is a major cause of high employee turnover. However, with open communication lines, employees can raise their concerns and employers can respond accordingly. The cost of replacing talented employees is almost always higher than the cost of retaining them. It, therefore, makes more sense to respond to concerns than to let good employees leave.

High Productivity Levels

The employee engagement app serves as a channel for employees to state what they need to perform optimally. The organization should treat the app as a way to deliver knowledge to employees to boost their performance. For instance, the app can serve as a knowledge portal where employees can access training manuals and consult one another. This is likely to boost their productivity levels.

The app can also function as a platform for employees to track their performance. Employees in the sales and production departments can benefit from this in scenarios where remuneration is directly tied to sales and production volumes.

Getting Started with Building an Employee Engagement App

When a business wants to build an employee engagement app, it has to be clear what objectives the app wants to fulfill. Those championing the app should make a convincing case to the C-suite executives for approval. The business has then to decide whether to build their own app from scratch or have a ready one customized for use. The budget and the intended use will determine this. There are other technical considerations, such as building a native app or a web app. A software development consultant will advise accordingly.

If your business is considering building an employee engagement app, reach out to NS804. We will help you determine the nature and features of the app you should build. Working with us helps you plan sufficiently for the cost and development time.NS804 has a long line of satisfied business clients. We are ready for you.

9 Must-Have Features in an Employee Engagement App