The future of the workforce culture lies in collaboration. Work from home systems are now the new norm and have been even projected to rise in the post-COVID-19 world as well. According to an article by Forbes, “Working from home can boost employee productivity, improve work/life balance and foster better mental health (not to mention reduce pollution from commuters).”
However, there are always two sides to a coin. While there are several benefits to remote working, there are also hurdles like communication gaps, lower team engagement and declining mental health.
As a business owner or part of senior leadership, it is important to make sure that you touch base with employees on a regular basis. You must not only monitor and support them professionally but better understand what your team needs to foster a healthy work culture.
Wondering how you can do this while your team is spread across the city or country, with no immediate plans of resuming work at the office?
Sending an emailer is fine, but have you heard of IVR voice surveys?
IVR (Interactive Voice Response) is a function of cloud communications where an automated system interacts with humans using voice and touch technology. This can be used to collect feedback, consumer experience as well as employee feedback.
Using well designed IVR surveys will not only help navigate the work-from-structure in a systematic manner but also make the move back to traditional systems smooth for your employees.
Read on to know more about IVR voice surveys and how they can help you work remotely hassle-free!
1. Timely Check-ins:
In early 2020, Mind Share Partners—the non-profit organisation of the Harvard Business Review—conducted a study on the pandemic’s effect on mental health. 42% of its respondents noted a decline and so, as Managers, we need to look out for our team members and support them emotionally too.
It is understandable that managers may not be able to check-in with their team members every day, especially when it is a bigger group.
However, creating an IVR voice survey can be of great help here. The results of the survey could help the manager divide the team by people who seem to be doing okay, and can directly extend support to ones who are reaching out for help.
The survey questions could be used to determine motivation, moods, feedback on support and more. It could also ask employees for suggestions on how to make the remote work experience more comfortable.
2. Smooth Communication:
Since people are working at home, they are automatically multitasking. Whether it be juggling with household chores or children and family issues whilst doing a full-time job, office times are bound to be filled with interruptions. This has caused people to be operating on very different schedules, and thus a simple task like planning a meeting or a conference call can be a headache.
Chances are that a person who cooks meals would prefer an afternoon time for a meeting, while someone who is a caretaker for children may prefer it to be first thing in the morning before they are awake or during school hours.
These complications can be easily resolved by conducting a survey and asking people to commit a certain time of the day for meetings or collaborations. Having a structured survey also gives your employees the opportunity to plan around and time slots to choose from.
Using well designed IVR surveys can help you understand the timing and days of the week that are convenient for your team to function. You can also figure out communication channels that work for everyone.
3. Team Bonding:
A large part of working in an office is the work culture. While focusing on work is important, it is equally imperative to make sure your employees are having fun and are engaged in the work that they do. Doing so, will help you boost productivity, retain employees longer and make your company a great place to work in.
Building this culture and relationship with your employee takes time, care, and planned effort. Just like your HR team used to plan events to celebrate festivals and help employees unwind, it is equally important to make it happen virtually.
Remote working means the lines between work and life are blurred and take it from us, your employees need a break.
Use the IVR voice survey to understand and plan virtual activities. You could give your employees various choices they would like to attend virtually, team up to plan festivals and even invite suggestions on ways to celebrate the day everyone comes back to the office.
4. Safety First:
Thanks to technology and the existence of the Internet, employees from different cities can work together without any hassles.
Hopefully, we will be planning a return to offices soon and that will come with its own challenges. It is then we would need to understand the situation of our employees, their family background and their comfort levels.
Our main goal is to be considerate of everyone’s health and safety. For instance, employees with risk-prone family members like babies and elders, or those who use public transportation only may have difficulty joining back. A survey will help us understand these niche challenges. You will be able to better account for your employees, find solutions and come up with a well-rounded plan.
As an organisation with multiple departments and growing staff, it would be difficult to collect this data on the phone. Having to do it over email, would be a long and tedious process for the employees.
Using IVR voice surveys, the questions can be customised to the parameters you want to take into consideration, and employees can answer while multitasking thus saving time.
5. Better Management:
As a business owner or manager, it can be difficult to keep track of the team’s targets and performance. Even if you have extensive data to map these, it can still be a lot to handle with a large team.
You can create structures where a weekly survey is filled out by the team, highlighting high and low points of the week, targets, adherence to deadlines. These surveys can also include a question where the employee can share any grievances he or she may have or ask for suggestions to work better.
The IVR voice survey is especially useful when you would like your employees to reflect on their own performance and answer questions before an appraisal or a performance meeting. People are more likely to be candid and honest when they are answering a call as opposed to an email or google form where they must articulate and write answers.
In a Nutshell:
IVR voice survey is easy, convenient and a feature of cloud communications to not be missed, especially while battling the cruel consequences of the pandemic.
These surveys can ensure that you stay in touch with employees on a regular basis, tend to their needs and create a perfect telecommuting system. This will be especially useful in the months to come as it will make sure your transition from the remote workspace to an actual physical office setting is smooth and easy for all parties.
Make your life easier and connect with your employees seamlessly today by calling our sales team on 1800-120-4132
