Trends for 2015 from the Top Employers Institute

Technology, social media interaction, employee engagement and corporate social responsibility are believed to be some of the key HR trends among Top Employers in 2015, Billy Elliott, Deputy Country Manager: South Africa of the Top Employers Institute, an organisation that globally certifies excellence in the type of organisations employers create for their employees, announced this week.

Facebook anyone?

"Social media has gone from workplace outcast to office darling," Elliott said.

According to a recent study by US PR firm Weber Shandwick, published on www.forbes.com profiling 2300 employees, social media is critical to employee engagement and fuels employee activism. The study indicates that 50% of employees post messages, pictures or videos on social media relating to their employer, and more than one-third have shared praise and positive comments online relating to employers.

Elliott said that these days more companies use social media platforms, like Skype, Facebook and Microsoft Lync to conduct interviews, meetings and training courses.

"While some companies do not use Facebook as a tool of engagement, other companies use it to build relationships with their employees," Elliott said.

Certain Top Employers South Africa (TESA) and Top Employers Africa (TEA) also use Facebook as a platform to receive feedback from employees around organisational issues.

Touch, pause, engage!

Employee engagement is stronger than before and this trend shows no sign of letting up. According to research by the Top Employers Institute, employee engagement has become so important that 97% of Top Employers run engagement studies at least once every two years. In the TESA 2015 Certification Programme, 34% of the certified group of participants directly linked management bonuses to their employee engagement study results.

According to the Dale Carnegie Training group, companies with engaged employees outperform others by 202%. During a similar research process, the SA Board for People Practices said that companies with good HR practices that treat HR as a critical business function, become 105% more profitable and outperform other companies.

Brent Cairns, Talent Strategist Manager of Accenture said that engaged employees are up to 78% more productive, 40% more profitable and, as a result, the level of absenteeism drops by 37%.

Giving something back

Employers have also started noticing that more people prefer working for organisations that have a core focus on corporate social responsibility, because it enables them to give back to society while also making the company appear more attractive as an employer with a conscience.

The TESA and TEA 2015 Certification Programme indicates that 82% of certified Top Employers South Africa and 79% of certified Top Employers Africa offer services or products (free/low cost) to disadvantaged people, groups or organisations.

An impressive 75% of certified TESA 2015 participants and 71% of certified TEA 2015 participants grant employees special leave to allow them to participate in corporate social responsibility projects. In addition, 86% of certified TESA 2015 participants and 88% of certified TEA 2015 participants provide resources and assistance to raise money for charity.

"If organisations don't engage with their employees, this may lead to a drop in productivity and happiness levels, potentially resulting in average or low business results. It's important to have a strong employee value proposition, which ensures people are motivated to achieve the company's objectives," Elliott said.