Reliance on IT makes assessing our workplace IT relationship vital. Positive IT experiences boost job satisfaction, performance, and organizational success. Now, let’s explore Digital Employee Experience (DEX) and the benefits of continuous feedback/measurement.
Digital Employee Experience (DEX) is an individual’s and the organization total perception of IT.
IT Happiness stems from a blend of experiences, emotions, perceptions, and expectations regarding technology’s role in job performance and organizational success. Companies focusing on digital experiences and IT needs achieve higher IT Happiness. This concept is shaped by job nature, digital skills, available tools, and employer expectations of employee digital competencies, encompassing both soft aspects (like IT support’s responsiveness and friendliness) and hard aspects (such as system performance and reliability). Yorizon’s 15 years of global research highlight the mutual benefits of positive digital experiences, showing that well-functioning IT boosts both organizational success and employee wellbeing, while poor IT can significantly increase stress and lower productivity.
So, what is the best way to measure IT Happiness, and how frequently should you do so?
Traditionally, IT departments measure IT satisfaction similarly to employee engagement surveys, typically annually or biennially. This frequency is chosen to avoid survey fatigue and timing conflicts, such as overlapping surveys, holiday seasons, and fiscal year-ends, making less frequent surveys seem more practical.
We recommend an alternative approach to understanding the IT relationship.
We advocate for a new strategy to gauge IT satisfaction, moving beyond traditional surveys to capture the dynamic essence of an organization’s IT environment. Recognizing IT’s ever-evolving nature, we highlight the importance of continuous feedback during times of change, such as mergers, acquisitions, or major IT rollouts. These moments, often seen as challenging for feedback collection, are actually ideal opportunities to understand how end-users interact with, adapt to, and accept changes in IT infrastructure.
Continuous measurement provides invaluable insights into how changes influence both the user experience and the overarching IT management structure, offering chances for optimization that are missed with infrequent feedback. This real-time approach enables organizations to assess the digital workplace experience, ensuring that employees have the necessary support, resources, and communication. It also evaluates the effectiveness of business applications in meeting internal needs. Suitable for organizations of around 1,000 employees or more, this method ensures a thorough understanding of IT satisfaction, facilitating adjustments to enhance the digital environment continually.
How continuous IT Happiness engagement works.
For an organization with 12,000 employees, employing a strategy of random sampling for feedback throughout the year ensures consistent and comprehensive insights. By inviting around 1,000 employees monthly, or approximately 50 per working day, even smaller organizations can adapt by increasing the frequency to twice a year for broader participation.
Advantages of Continuous Feedback
Regular Communication: This method embeds IT Happiness discussions within all digital change communications, ensuring that feedback requests are recognized and valued by employees.
Segmented Communication: By having continuous insights, communication can be tailored and segmented for various groups, enhancing information quality and response rates. For instance:
- Service owners: monthly
- Business application owners: quarterly
- Infrastructure teams: biannually
- CIO/IT Leadership: annually
Integration into PDCA Cycle: Moving beyond annual surveys allows for more agile responses to feedback, with monthly analyses keeping the organization aligned with its IT Happiness goals. This ongoing cycle promotes a dynamic approach to IT management, enabling quicker adaptations based on real-time feedback. Read further about the PDCA process.
Optimized Learning: Continuous feedback facilitates phased rollouts and adjustments, allowing organizations to learn and improve iteratively, enhancing the overall digital experience.
Double Loop Feedback: This approach enhances positive reinforcement for IT teams by highlighting the impact of their work, motivating improvements and fostering a culture of proactive change.
Enhanced Decision-Making: Continuous insights allow IT leaders to focus on key performance indicators like IT Happiness, productivity, and digital well-being, offering a granular view that supports strategic decision-making.
Cultural Shift: Embracing continuous feedback embeds a service-oriented mindset within the IT department, positioning it as a key player in enhancing employee satisfaction and organizational success.
This strategy underscores IT Happiness as a pivotal factor for organizational change, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing digital well-being and cultivating a culture that values IT’s role in enhancing daily operations and employee satisfaction.