There are carrots, and then there are sticks — but sticks don’t work particularly well. Merijn te Booij, GM of Workforce Engagement Management at Genesys, advised his audience to “manage by carrot” and focus on employee learning, engagement and retention strategies. Echoing a theme of the day, he said “AI is not a technology choice, but a strategic imperative.”
A Better Way to Work: The Future of Employee Experience
DENVER — Updated Tuesday, May 14, 5:00 PM — There are carrots, and then there are sticks — but sticks don’t work particularly well. Merijn te Booij, GM of Workforce Engagement Management at Genesys, advised his audience to “manage by carrot” and focus on employee learning, engagement and retention strategies. Echoing a theme of the day, he said “AI is not a technology choice, but a strategic imperative.”
Agents are transitioning to becoming knowledge workers, and that involves answering tough questions — some of which may never have been asked before. This is “a different way of working, and that paradigm shift is going to happen very quickly,” added te Booij.
He described what matters most to agents: well-being, meaningful work, and recognition and rewards. And he added that agents want long-term predictability and short-term flexibility. Innovations such as continuous scheduling will empower them to gain more control over their schedules than ever before.
Damon Spurlock, Director, Global Workforce Management and Command Center at TechStyleOS, followed te Booij to describe how his company has used gamification to develop skills, improve KPI performance, increase engagement, and improve satisfaction and retention. He advised starting off in “silent mode” to get a preliminary baseline.
“Don’t try to do too much at once,” said Spurlock. “Continuously have something in your back pocket so your game doesn’t get old.” TechStyleOS shares “bite-sized” corporate information with its employees that helps them understand how their contact center work connect to the overall business — and how they’re making a difference.
“When we build our people, they build the business.”
– Damon Spurlock, Director, Global Workforce Management and Command Center at TechStyleOS
Nathalie DeChellis, Sr. Director of Product Marketing at Genesys, hosted a panel that closed the session with Rebecca Wetteman, CEO and Principal at Valoir; Spurlock; and te Booij. Wetteman described how automation can enhance work by eliminating tedious manual tasks.
“There’s a lot of work that we do that’s rote,” she said. “We can then take that time and focus on having a more empathetic service model.” Technology can now monitor every conversation, so that you can quickly tell — and take action — when an employee is having a tough day, or even a tough hour, she added.
