Introducing 1:1s and a New Performance Experience to Drive Employee Engagement

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In today’s competitive talent market, employee retention and engagement have become two of the biggest challenges for organizations of all sizes. It has forced HR leaders to rethink and reshape workplace dynamics in favor of a people-centric culture, where employees are actively engaged in meaningful ways. Unfortunately, according to a study by Gallup, an overwhelming majority of employees in the US are not engaged and haven’t been for a while (51%). 

Earlier this year, Reflektive surveyed over a thousand US workers to uncover the primary factors driving engagement across their organizations. The data shows that direct managers have the most significant role to play when it comes to engaging, growing, and retaining talent. Fostering better communication and alignment between employees and managers, and encouraging both to have consistent, structured, and purposeful conversations can have a dramatic impact on employee engagement across your organization. 

So how can you really improve employee engagement and retention at scale? Our research shows that regular, productive 1:1 meetings between employees and managers is paramount to success. The data shows that employees that have productive 1:1s with their managers are 2X more engaged than those who don’t, and 3X more likely to stay at your company over the next 2 years.

Unfortunately, 45% of employees don’t think their 1:1s are productive, and while most want more feedback and career conversations with their manager, they don't know how or where to start. Busy schedules make it easy to lose sight of the big-picture conversations that require thoughtful planning, sometimes turning a career and coaching conversation into a nice-to-have rather than a must-have. 

As Jordan Bengston, Sr. HR Business Partner at HelpSystems, explains it: “We want to improve employee engagement and retention, and that starts with people understanding their career paths and taking more ownership of their development. The recurring employee-manager 1:1 is critical for this.” 

At Reflektive, we believe in harnessing the power of productive conversations as the first stepping stone to a fully engaged workforce, and we are excited to announce that we’ve revamped our entire Performance solution to drive better workplace conversations and improve employee engagement and alignment. 

Our new 1:1s solution empowers managers and employees to have better conversations with the use of structured Conversation Starters and the ability to prepare for and track discussions. Here’s how it works.

Managers and employees can now easily collaborate through Reflektive, email, Slack or mobile to set 1:1 agendas for constructive conversations. Users can track conversations by date, follow-up on past items and mark topics as discussed so you know what’s been covered and what’s still open. 

Great 1:1 meetings aren’t status meetings, they are intentional conversations that align managers and employees and create healthy working relationships. We’ve worked with customers and organizational experts to create Conversation Starters that help managers engage employees in meaningful ways while driving consistency. Whether it is a career development conversation or an opportunity for coaching and feedback, users can pick from a variety of topics designed to engage employees in ways that benefit everyone from first-time managers to experienced veterans.

A key to having great 1:1s is having the proper context on performance. Our 1:1 solution is built right alongside our goals, feedback and recognition products so users can quickly compare 1:1 topics against progress on performance. 

Today’s most innovative organizations understand the need to move away from conversations that don’t challenge either employees or managers. “We want to elevate our 1:1 conversations so that we’re addressing employee development head on. Reflektive’s new 1:1 solution with structured Conversation Starters helps ensure these conversations take place consistently so we can scale great management. Feedback from our team has been overwhelmingly positive.” - says Bengtson.

Together with the rest of the Reflektive platform, 1:1s provide valuable insights managers can leverage to inform their organization’s employee engagement strategies at scale. 

"We put a lot of consideration into what makes a great 1:1 meeting, as well as how we could incorporate those elements in a repeatable and scalable way across an entire organization," said Irina Bukatik, Director of Product at Reflektive. "With our new 1:1 tool and an enhanced Performance experience, we are enabling teams to take a more proactive and thoughtful approach to 1:1s through collaboration and strategic planning. Our hope is that they will lean on Reflektive to create a positive, lasting impact on employee engagement and development.".

Reach out to schedule a demo and learn how you can leverage the new 1:1s solution, along with the rest of our People Management platform to drive employee engagement and alignment within your organization. Want to have smarter 1:1 conversations? Watch our fireside chat with Julie Zhou, the author of The Making of a Manager to learn more strategies and tips for productive 1:1s.