What do employees want? The web is full of articles dissecting employee expectations at length. While they convey a realistic vision that deserves our attention, the only way to understand what YOUR employees really want is to take an interest in them.

Only then will you be able to implement relevant actions in line with your employees' desires, and thus improve commitment, performance and fulfillment within your company.

So how do you go about it? What solutions can you put in place to find out what your employees want?

1/Create polls and surveys

How would you rate your workload? Are you satisfied with your working conditions? What areas do you need to improve? Do you have confidence in your managers? Whether they focus on a specific subject or not, the questions found in surveys and polls have a precise objective: to take the temperature.

In fact, fulfillment and performance fluctuate according to the transformations and unforeseen events affecting the company (organizational change, conflict between employees...), and the needs and aspirations of employees. In other words, the company is an ecosystem in constant motion, impacted by both external and internal factors.

What does this imply? That actions and measures taken in terms of quality of working life, skills development, career management or performance that were effective a few years ago may no longer be so today. And sometimes, their effectiveness is even more ephemeral!

By creating regular, anonymous surveys and polls, you'll be able to react quickly. And with HR digitization, there are intuitive, customizable turnkey solutions for creating as many surveys and polls as you need. From short 2-minute surveys to specialized surveys on diversity and inclusion, you're sure to find what you're looking for. Start-ups such as Supermood and Bleexo have even made a business of it.

The advantage of digital solutions? Real-time access to HR data to analyze strengths and areas for improvement.

2/Schedule regular one-to-one meetings

Surveys are all very well, but coupling them with regular one-to-one interviews is even better! These are privileged meetings between manager and employee, conducive to in-depth discussion and strengthening the bond of trust.

The manager has the opportunity to focus the discussion on a particular problem encountered by his or her N-1 (e.g. organizational difficulties) or an event that has occurred within the company (e.g. merger of 2 departments). As the meetings progress, the employee feels more at ease, and the floor is opened up. This enables them to take an active part in the exchange, by proposing a topic for discussion and expressing their feelings, difficulties and needs more readily.

These exchanges are invaluable for both the manager and the company. It's an opportunity to gather qualitative information on employee expectations that you might never have known about without these interviews. The N+1 can then pass this information on to the HR department to personalize the strategy and take action before motivation, fulfillment and performance are threatened.

Finally, one-to-one interviews are a two-way street. In other words, it's also an opportunity for the employee to give feedback to the manager.

3/Conduct 360° feedback campaigns

How about taking the dialogue a step further? 360 feedback is a practice that allows you to survey all the people who work with your employees: peers, customers, external service providers, etc. Although it is mainly used to evaluate employees, it is also an excellent way of finding out their expectations, for two reasons:

Firstly, managers are not in constant contact with their teams. It is therefore difficult to be aware of their difficulties, needs and expectations. Secondly, 360° feedback invites employees to work introspectively. Let's take an example.

Plusieurs personnes font des éloges sur les qualités pédagogiques et relationnelles de votre collaborateur. Jusqu’à maintenant, ce dernier n’en avait pas conscience. Grâce au feedback 360, son projet professionnel au sein de votre entreprise s’affine. Il souhaite exploiter son potentiel et s’orienter vers un poste dans la formation. De lui-même, il va pouvoir faire remonter cette information à son N+1. Et son manager pourra penser à lui lorsqu’un poste sera vacant dans l’entreprise !

4/Analyze HR indicators

HR data provides clues to your employees' expectations. Let's look at some examples.

The turnover rate is calculated from the number of people leaving and joining the company over a given period. Have you noticed an increase in departures over the past year? Is the turnover rate getting a little too high? Then it's a sign that something is amiss with the social climate and quality of life at work. We advise you to look into these possibilities.

eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) is an indicator that shows how likely your employees are to recommend your company. More specifically, eNPS focuses on motivation, loyalty and employer brand. If your eNPS is low, we advise you to refine your survey with other questions: why are your employees demotivated? Why do they have a poor image of your organization?

Training follow-up. How many employees have undergone training in the last two years? What skills have been developed? What is the completion rate? And the return on investment? How many employees have moved on (internal mobility, promotion)? This data will help you measure employee commitment and draw conclusions about their expectations in terms of performance and professional development.

5/Measuring the results of actions taken

Whether in terms of quality of life at work, management, professional equality between men and women or development, actions have been put in place to meet the needs and expectations of employees and the company?

Now is the time to draw conclusions. For example: you've deployed telecommuting, and no meetings have been allowed to take place before 9.30am for the past year. Have these actions improved your work/life balance? If so, congratulations, you're meeting employees' expectations! If not, we'd like to know why.

In conclusion, combining these different solutions will undoubtedly help you to really understand your employees' expectations so that you can implement the right actions!