How to maximize engagement with a unified employee experience

The new world of work comes with a new set of workplace expectations. People are raising the bar for their employers and refusing to settle for dead-end jobs and unfulfilling professions. Instead, employees are looking for meaningful careers and portfolios of development opportunities that align with their personal and professional goals.

As talent shortages continue and skill gaps widen, businesses are striving to go the extra mile to meet their people where they are at. And that means creating compelling employee experiences that take everyone’s growth and wellbeing into account.

Most companies have already upped their spending, with 70% of businesses noting that they’ve increased their employee wellbeing investments over the past two years. While more financial backing might be a step in the right direction, businesses must unify these resources to give their people the kind of compelling employee experience that they’re looking for.

Cultivating a compelling employee experience in the new world of work

By now, most leaders know that prioritizing employee experience is a smart strategy. Research shows that companies that cultivate a compelling work environment reap several key benefits. Businesses that rank in the top quartile on employee experience have double the customer loyalty of their competitors in the bottom quartile—not to mention that only 21% of employees would leave a company with a great employee experience, versus nearly 50% at other companies.

Yet, getting employee experience right in the new world of work is challenging. Employees have a lengthy wish list of workplace expectations that includes flexible schedules, wellbeing resources, personalized career development guidance, and opportunities to drive lasting change. And even when employers manage to deliver on all of their workforce’s asks, app overload and disjointed digital experiences often prevent employees from reaping their full benefits.

Why app overload is hindering employee experience

Now that organizations are striving to up their employee value proposition, many businesses are investing in new tools and resources to keep their people happy, calm, fulfilled, and engaged. But in this quest to optimize employee experience, leaders are missing an important takeaway: less is often more.

Leading HR analyst Josh Bersin estimates companies have an average of 70 different employee applications. While these tools might add some value, they also create problems of their own, in the form of bottlenecks, low engagement, and disconnection. So although many organizations are investing more in employee experience, few have the results to show for it.

How Opportunity Hub maximizes engagement with a unified employee experience

All too often, employees aren’t taking advantage of the services their employer provides because there are too many apps and too little visibility into the actual opportunities. Gloat’s Opportunity Hub is here to change that by creating a single destination that integrates coaching, learning, volunteering, wellbeing support, and more into a talent marketplace.

Thanks to Gloat’s network of best-of-breed partners, organizations can now access an ecosystem that touches every element of personal and professional development. As a unified destination for employee experience, Opportunity Hub enhances engagement in several key ways:

#1. Put a stop to burnout with wellbeing practices
Burnout poses a real threat, with estimates suggesting that job stress results in approximately 120,000 deaths and almost $190 billion in healthcare costs each year. Yet minimizing burnout and promoting employee wellbeing isn’t as simple as telling people to take more time off.

Instead, employees need access to real-time stress reduction tools and science-backed techniques to help them build better habits—which is exactly what Thrive Global has to offer. Through an integration with Gloat’s Opportunity Hub, employees get expert-led courses on topics like high performance, mental health, and nutrition, as well as interactive daily content experiences that will motivate people to change their behaviors for the better. Employees can also tap into Unmind to learn about science-backed digital tools and techniques to proactively improve their mental wellbeing.

#2. Empower people to learn new skills
Many employees are looking for opportunities to expand their horizons, especially if they’re relatively new to the workforce. Linkedin research reveals that 3 in 4 Generation Z workers hope to build new skills.

With Opportunity Hub, organizations can put employees at the helm of their professional development by equipping them with the resources they need to take their careers to the next level. Users can tap into Udemy Business, EdCast, Open Sesame, Go1, and getAbstract for access to a unique variety of learning formats and modalities. Employees can also earn “nanodegrees” through Udacity, while HR teams can leverage content from Josh Bersin Academy to ensure their organization remains future-fit.

#3. Let employees lend a helping hand
Employees are putting a premium on purpose. While most workers want jobs that will give them a sense of fulfillment, only 18 percent believe that they get as much purpose from work as they want. As a result, many organizations are looking to volunteering as an opportunity to bring their people together and make everyone feel like they’re making a difference.

Yet, coordinating fulfilling community service initiatives at size and scale is challenging. Rather than letting logistical hurdles hamper volunteering, employees can turn to Opportunity Hub to gain access to purpose-driven opportunities. VolunteerMatch manages community service initiatives end-to-end, including volunteer management, event communications, and facilitation.

#4. Give everyone access to coaching
At some point in their lives, each of your employees will find themselves looking for career guidance. Since professional development is not a one-size-fits-all solution, Opportunity Hub features coaching from BetterUp, CoachHub, and Torch to give people the support they’re looking for.

BetterUp’s proprietary matching algorithm identifies the right population for coaching and recommends the most effective growth path for each person. Those users then bring their newly learned behaviors and skills back to their teams, fostering a culture of collaboration and growth.

If you want to take employee experience to the next level, find out how Gloat’s Workforce Agility Platform can help you grow and develop your people.