13 April

Using Technology To Improve Workplace Transparency

Workplace transparency is essential. Unfortunately, even with the push over recent years to improve transparency in the modern workplace, many employees still don’t trust their employers. Employees tend to feel a sense of anxiety about what their employer is doing behind the scenes, so to speak. Sometimes, there is good reason for employees to feel like this. Some employees actually tell legal teams (see here for more information) about their employer’s behaviour, and it turns out to be a case of the employer violating laws. When it comes to whistleblowing laws, being suspicious of your employer isn’t always a bad thing.

That anxiety can distract from doing their best when it comes to their work. Without transparency, people aren’t as productive as they could be, and they’re not as engaged as is optimal. A lack of trust can lead to high turnover rates as well.

The saying goes that employees don’t quit their job-instead, they quit their boss. This is so true, but there are ways to foster a more transparency workplace, namely with the right technology.

The following are some specific technologies you can integrate into your business to boost transparency.

AP Automation

There aren’t just problems of mistrust on the part of employees toward their employer. Employers can feel similarly distrustful of employees, and sometimes when fraud comes to light, employers feel vindicated in their beliefs. Unfortunately, that sense of mistrust even when it’s warranted in certain situations can easily bleed into other areas and destroy a corporate culture.

AP automation and expense automation, in general, are tech solutions that can cut down on the risk of fraud, provide complete visibility and deliver transparency into what’s happening in the financial department. Everyone can see the same things, and there isn’t that underlying fear that something fraudulent is happening.

Performance Management

If employees in your organization regularly feel blindsided when they find out they’re being disciplined or even fired, that’s a problem.

Performance management is a process by which employers are regularly documenting what’s happening with employees, and providing fair evaluations and assessments.

Those assessments can provide employees with peace of mind if they know they’re honest and part of a larger objective to make sure every employee is being developed and viewed as a valuable resource.

Performance management software is a good place to start. Again, it provides more actual visibility, and when employees know where they stand, and their employer is upfront about where they might need to make changes, there’s a greater sense of accountability but also transparency.

Communication

Communication is the foundation of transparency, and yet it’s still something lacking in many businesses. Even in relatively small businesses, there may be the sense that communication isn’t streamlined and people aren’t kept aware of what’s going on in a timely way. There’s a trickle-down approach to communication in many instances.

This can be completely inadvertent, but it can start to feel like an employer is keeping key communication away from certain employees on purpose.

Businesses should think about choosing communication-based technology that lets them disseminate important information in a timely way, and at the same time to all relevant employees.

Finally, employees want clear paths forward in their career, and if their employer is not only showing them that they see a future with them, but that they’re invested in helping them develop in their career, it’s excellent for creating a sense of trust.

This can be handled with talent management technology, which delivers training and development for employees and shows them that they are of value to their employer, and that they want them there in the long-term.


Infographic created by Factor8 – virtual sales manager training

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