One of the most pressing issues Mining Executives face today is staff retention. Many companies suffer from high turnover rates and a lack of specialist talent. With more jobs available now than in previous years, companies are realising the importance of workforce engagement for employee retention.
Why is Digital Automation Important for Workforce Engagement?
Today, over 40% of the workforce are millennials. A generation raised with broadband internet, social media and a world of ever-evolving technology. Younger generations have shorter attention spans than previous ones. They expect quick and easily digestible information and software that is intuitive and user-friendly. The pandemic has also caused older generations to rethink their work-life balance. The new phenomenon of silent quitting is becoming increasingly common in the workplace, with employees becoming disengaged from their work.
When we discuss workforce engagement with our customers there are three common comments we hear:
Logistics constrains our production
“Right now production is constrained by people, logistics, and morale. Production should be constrained by the capacity of the plant, equipment, and assets. Better systems are needed to manage our people.
Spreadsheets impact our ability to plan and report
Administrators compensate for fragmented, siloed, and duplicated data by producing a ‘plague’ of spreadsheets. This creates errors and travel change requirements that impact workers’ FIFO experience.
A persistent morale issue
There are ongoing morale issues for employees and contractors due to the inability to accurately forecast the demand for flights and accommodations based on future maintenance and construction commitments. This leads to changes in agreed plans and flight bookings, which negatively impact contractors and personnel.
- One way communication: I feel like there is one way communication with my employer. My employer demands daily reports and checklists from me, but there is little or no response to the safety or production issues I raise.
- Out-of-date compliance and training records: My employer’s records of my compliances and training are often incomplete or out of date, and I must resubmit documents. They are not visible to me and it affects my ability to travel or enter the site.
- Last-minute changes to travel: Flights to and from the site are sometimes cancelled or changed at the last minute, affecting commitments I make to family and friends.
The common denominator in all of these issues is purely data – how it is given, received, actioned and reported back. Employees constantly facing these issues will be more likely to seek other, more streamlined companies.
Our Workforce Management Solution
We have recently invested in a People Management system, PeopleTray, to address the existing solution gap. This new tool encompasses all aspects of workforce, people, and safety management for our customers. The primary goal PeopleTray is to enhance employee morale by guiding, supporting, and partnering with workers, rather than allowing them to feel isolated. By fostering this connection, we aim to increase productivity while reducing risks and harm, ultimately leading to improved staff retention.
PeopleTray provides an integrated cloud web client with a unified mobile app to give site administrators and HR managers better visibility of issues. This allows them to make better travel decisions and helps to reconnect managers with their workers by seeing and acting on the issues they raise in a real-time format. This will help you support and build better relationships between you and the people that drive your company’s success.
