Want to Reward Your Employees? Here’s Why You Should Start With IT

One of the most important things I’ve learned in all my years as a business owner is that the value of rewarding your employees on a regular basis simply cannot be overstated.

There are a huge number of different statistics that back up that point, too. According to one recent study, about 63% of employees who are recognized on a regular basis are unlikely to look for a new job. 40% of employees even go as far as to say that they would put more energy into their work if they were recognized more often.

Because of this, naturally, one of the first things you do whenever you hire a new employee (or you’re trying to attract new talent) involves highlighting your company’s overall benefits. I do it, and I’m sure you do it as well. “We have a great 401k. This is a terrific work environment. We have an incredibly strong company culture.” The list goes on and on.

But on the laundry list of benefits that people usually provide to new hires… how often do you think information technology makes the cut?

In my opinion, not nearly enough – and now, I’d like to take the opportunity to go into more detail about why I think IT should be your starting point for rewarding employees instead of the afterthought a lot of people allow it to become.

Turning IT Into a Selling Point for Your Employees

There’s a reason why about 77% of employees say that they’re actually more productive while working off-site (like from home) than they are in the office – they probably have a better IT infrastructure at home than their employers do.

That’s not to say that their home Internet is necessarily faster, or that their computers are more advanced. It’s that at home, the technology they surround themselves with was carefully selected to support and empower the way they like to work. They’re not battling against inefficient programs or having to deal with the problem after problem that keeps piling up. Everything is straightforward, to the point where it “just works.”

The same probably can’t be said of their office environment.

Another recent study said that 92% of employees indicated that having technology that helps them do their job efficiently ultimately improves their work satisfaction – which makes total sense. If your employer is providing you with the tools you need to do your job and you’re not constantly butting up against the limitations of IT because the said employer was so focused on cutting corners, obviously, you’re in a position to do your best.

Why is that last part particularly important, you ask? Because more satisfied employees are more engaged employees, and companies with high employee engagement are roughly 21% more profitable on average than those without. Not only that, but highly engaged workplaces usually have about 41% lower absenteeism, too. Engaged employees are even known for providing better customer service than their disengaged counterparts, so don’t think for a second that these advantages won’t extend beyond the four walls of your office, too.

But maybe the most important statistic of all is the following: it costs businesses like yours an average of $4129 to hire a single new employee and an additional $986 to onboard them. This means that every time you lose someone because they grew frustrated with an antiquated IT infrastructure, you’re looking at a minimum of $5000 to replace them.

IT: The Best Recruiting Tactic You’ve Ever Had

In the end, understand that it’s not like your employees DON’T want to work and do their best on a daily basis. It’s just that when they feel like they’re fighting against their technology, it creates an incredibly frustrating situation – especially as we add more and more work to their plate.

Ask any human resources professional and they’ll tell you that probably the number one pain point they deal with involves finding talented people to fill available positions. Going out there and finding “the right man or woman for the job” is expensive, as stats like the above go a long way towards proving. If you finally strike gold and find that ideal candidate, only to have them quickly get frustrated and leave because of IT inefficiencies, well… that’s probably the worst thing you can do.

Rather than run that risk, use the quality of your IT to put their minds at ease immediately. Show them that you’re committed to providing them with the tools they need to do better work on a daily basis. Let them know that they won’t have to deal with the same types of issues they probably experienced at their previous job. Put their minds at ease immediately by not only going into detail about how great your company culture is, but how forward-thinking your company technology is, too.

There are a lot of providers out there who insist that, with the right approach, IT can quickly become your competitive edge in your industry. While I agree with that, I’d actually take it one step further – with the right approach, IT can become your recruiting edge, too. You just have to start thinking about your technology a bit differently in order to get there.

If you’re ready to make that change in your perspective on IT and you want to turn it into a way to attract and retain top talent to your organization, great – we want that, too. At this point, I’d recommend giving either myself or one of my colleagues at QuestingHound a call so that we can get your free consultation on the books. It’ll give us an opportunity to learn more about your business and your goals, all so that we can figure out how to turn IT into the value-driven edge you need it to be.