0:00:05 Welcome to the HR Tech Spotlight podcast. I'm Deanna Shimota, CEO of GrowthMode Marketing. The HR technology market is crowded and we know it can be hard to find the best software solutions for your business in the sea of sameness. On this podcast, we shine a spotlight on some of the best up and coming technology options out there. Check it out if you are interested in learning about new innovative solutions available in the market, and if you are with an HR tech company and interested in being considered for a guest spot, stay tuned for details at the end of the show.
0:00:45 Hello, friends. We're back with another episode of the podcast. This time we're putting a spotlight on Enboarder. This human connection platform cuts through the noise of daily communications and elevates the things that matter most with interactive actionable nudges. By creating better human connections across the entire employee journey, Enboarder helps meet employees' innate needs to feel seen, supported, and to belong.
0:01:10 My guest today is Andrea Dumont, chief Marketing officer at Enboarder. Welcome, Andrea. It's great to have you on the show.
0:01:16 Hi there. Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate that.
0:01:20 Yeah. So we were talking before we hit record and you mentioned you've been in the HR tech space for 25 years. Tell us about your background in this area.
0:01:29 Yeah, so it's been a really fun journey. I have done everything from the spectrum on the talent acquisition side on how you find employees, how you bring them in and entice them to accept a position within your organization to the talent management side, which is once you have those fabulous people, how do you keep them? Whether it be through recognition, learning and development, skill development, and things of that sort. So it's across the entire spectrum and really understanding that employee experience and what opportunities are out there for HR professionals in terms of overall point solutions as well as larger systems to use across the employee experience.
0:02:08 Talking about employee experience, let's dig into Enboarder and talk about what your platform does.
0:02:15 Yeah, so we focus on the concept of being a human connection company. So we really over the last several years, in particular with COVID had recognized the prevalence of hybrid work, remote work, people coming back to the office and all of a sudden having complicated technology and information overloaded as an employee. And so one of the things that a lot of our customers came to us, particularly dealing with employee experience, is focusing on how do you manage that overload and really keep people engaged and retained and feel like a sense of belonging, even if you're a fully remote organization.
0:02:51 And that has become their biggest challenge. So we have a platform that creates those connections across everything from pre boarding to offboarding and alumni networks. Right. And it really cuts through the noise of those daily communications. As you mentioned, by really focusing on these interactive nudges that make the employee experience fun and informative. And so when we talk about belonging, and we heard from our customers about the challenge of really feeling that sense of belonging, it's really that the employee's innate need, if you will, to feel seen and supported and to belong as part of a culture.
0:03:28 And so as a result of that, everything that we focus on regarding development and our connection platform is tying to those core needs.
0:03:39 What is the story behind Enboarder? Like, how did the company be? How did the founders decide there was a need? What drove them to create Enboarder?
0:03:48 Yeah. So Brent Pearson is our CEO, and he founded Enboarder, I think back in 2015. And it was interesting. The original concept for Enboarder was this mobile app that allowed companies to communicate with employees better, especially those who were not necessarily on email systems. Right. So it was targeted primarily at employers of hourly workers. So whether that be hospitality, retail factories, et cetera.
0:04:15 Right. So Brent took his prototype to his network of HR folks. As we all know, it's a great network to have. And there was one part of the prototype that everybody seemed to be drawn towards, and that was the concept of Onboarding. And so he started focusing on Onboarding and researching more about the links of the onboarding experience to business outcomes and how do we link those together. And that research was the catalyst to focus on how we create kind of better onboarding experiences and connecting employees from day one as part of their Onboarding experience.
0:04:52 So from that, we now have expanded our platform to really focus on, again, that entire employee experience journey and the focus of connection. And your first connection point, typically with an employee, is right from the very beginning, it could be pre boarding or onboarding. And now we have taken that to extend across organizational development activities like mergers and acquisitions, learning and development paths, where the concept of learning really being a team sport, and how do you get people mentors within your organization.
0:05:24 And these meaningful moments really occur throughout the entire employee journey. So we've really scoped beyond just that first touch of the employee to focus across that talent management world.
0:05:36 So there are a lot of companies in the HR tech space and a lot that play in the space that Enboarder does. How would you explain and as a marketer, I bet you can do this really well because you understand the importance of differentiation. But how is Enboarder different than the other options that are out there?
0:05:58 Yeah, so we have kind of a unique point of view on the market. And it really has come to bear over the last, I would say, couple of years, where people were coming out of COVID and really kind of sitting back and saying, my goodness, what does my workforce look like? And really managing all those type of scenarios. So our philosophy on this in terms of our unique point of view, is that employees need three core concepts or things to order to feel connected, right?
0:06:28 They need instrumental support for help in performing tasks, meeting goals, and making connections throughout an organization to help them meet those goals. They need real time kind of information, support and growth that helps them understand how they are connected to the culture and the values of the organization. And more importantly, this may be a bit softer, but we need emotional support to nurture belonging, build affinity if you will, to a brand and see how these kind of concepts of building that affinity and belonging increase performance, reduce turnover, and have more engaged employees, right? So that's what it comes down to when we look at this, is tying this concept of connection to better retention and higher return with regards to employee activity and engagement.
0:07:21 Speaking of higher return, I saw on your website that you've gotten a high performer award a couple of times and best established ROI from G Two. Talk a little bit about some of the things that drive getting those rewards and how you're being perceived in the market.
0:07:42 I'm going to pause here just for a minute because I want to get my thoughts together on this one. 1 second.
0:07:46 Yeah, no problem.
0:07:52 So I think it's a couple of aspects actually. As always, there's never just one thing. The first thing that we always kind of get recognized for is the concept of we designed our solution, our platform if you will, for humans and not for operational efficiency. As you know, having been in the HR space long as well, the rise of HRIS systems, and really looking at those and saying this is going to be your employee experience platform, and people realizing as they were rolling those out, it's like, no, this is for operational efficiency, right? This is finance work, this is legal work, things of that sort.
0:08:28 And so now all of a sudden people are like, well wait a minute, that isn't really what we're looking to do. And so how do we create something that layers on employee experience to those operational efficiencies that you get with an HRIS system? So I think that's the first thing. The second thing is really focusing on how do you get something up and running as quickly as possible. So as staying with the HRIS theme, you know how difficult it is to launch those and you know, it takes a lot of time to get those launched. So the concept of how do we create something that's zero coding, right, that doesn't require necessarily a lot of it involvement and something that's highly intuitive not only for the HR professional to use, but also for the end user to use.
0:09:14 So as a result of that, we've been really recognized for how we take those concepts and really leverage the power of belonging and connection and tie that all in together in a very easy to use, beautiful system that allows people to get an employee experience platform up and running very quickly.
0:09:34 How do you think leaders should think about today's workforce and how to manage them?
0:09:41 Gosh, it's a really hard time. And I say that just because of how many people I've spoken to. Where now the HR folks, if you will have to create programs that are not only just for your working life, but also for mental health, learning and development, and really looking at that social aspect and how you bring people together when they're not together on a day to day basis. Right. So HR departments are really challenged with this balance of what we call the belonging crisis. Right. And what I mean by that is, how do you get all these people together?
0:10:18 To have the affinity for a culture, to have the drive to go above and beyond, to engage in your programs in an increasingly remote and hybrid work where perhaps they're feeling a little bit lost and perhaps as tied to a company as they have been in the past. Actually, Mackenzie. It's really interesting. Mackenzie recently just released a study that shows about, I believe it was about 51% of employees who left their job in the past six months said they lack a sense of belonging. And about, I believe 45, 46% cited their desire to work with people who they trust and they care for each other.
0:10:58 And not having that and not having that concept of that support system or friends at work was one of the highest reasons to quit.
0:11:06 That's really interesting. I think there are a lot of HR professionals that have burnt out in the last few years. When you think of everything that's thrown at them and when you throw something like that out there, it's like, okay, that makes sense because they're the people in the organization that are trying to make sure that employees are happy, healthy, and thriving.
0:11:30 Right.
0:11:30 And when they're not, that just puts another layer of pressure on those HR professionals. For sure.
0:11:35 100%. And then you add in another layer of generational differences right. In terms of that, of how people want to be communicated to what programs do they want to have and what will they engage in. And sometimes there's overlap, but more times than not, there's not overlap. And so you're in a situation as an HR professional where, my goodness, where do you start? Right.
0:11:56 Yeah. How would you say Enboarder helps kind of ease that pain for HR professionals?
0:12:02 Yeah, I think that there's a couple of ways that we have worked with organizations where we've helped with that impact. Right. And I really focus on I'm going to break it down to three categories retention, productivity, and growth. Right. So when we look at employee retention, a lot of our organizations work with us in terms of onboarding, particularly with new hires, grad programs, things of that sort. And so how do we work and create engaged employees with you for the long haul? So, for example, Hugo Boss saw a 77% decrease in their three month attrition and 75% decrease in absenteeism. And that's because they started the pre boarding journey and the onboarding journey and created this culture affinity right from the beginning.
0:12:55 So no matter if you were going into an office or not, you felt like you were part of that organization before you even walked in the door. With regards to productivity, when employees, I think, have access to the information they need and people to do their job. So how are you connecting people to do their work together? Productivity source. Right, so we worked with a telecom provider, actually, who saw about a 15% increase in sales productivity because we're really focused on giving them the right information to do their job, but more importantly, connecting them with the people they need to do their job, whether it's in Cross offices, cross teams, cross geographies. Right.
0:13:36 And I think for us, the last part is grow. So you need people to participate in people programs and this is the biggest concern I hear across HR folks, is like, we have all these amazing programs, but participation is like, we can't get them to participate. Right, so how do you get them to participate in programs and be successful? Right, well, and part of that is taking those programs, breaking them up, generational differences, whatever it may be, and creating these friendly nudges, if you will, and interactivity where you're connecting with people on the same varied topics. So we worked with Tom Tom and they doubled their manager engagement with their people programs just by taking a concept of removing, if you will, the employee experience out of their HRIS system and putting an order on top of that very cool.
0:14:24 And I know that that really is a struggle for many organizations. They make these big investments in these really cool technology platforms to help employees and then if the engagement is not there, it's hard to justify keeping it.
0:14:38 Right.
0:14:38 And I know a lot of times contracts have like, we're going to hit this utilization rate. So it's really important when an HR team makes a purchase that they have a partner that can help ensure that they get employees on board with it and really embracing that new technology that's meant to help them.
0:14:58 Agreed? Yeah, absolutely.
0:15:01 So who is the perfect fit for Enboarder?
0:15:07 We aren't verticalized, if you will. It's any organization really looking to drive connection and engagement across their teams, their offices, their geographies. Right. With a focus on improving productivity and employee retention.
0:15:22 Is there any sizes that tend to be a better fit?
0:15:26 No, we work with organizations with 200 employees, up to 10,000 employees, and it just varies on the scope of the program that they want to do with us.
0:15:37 Thanks so much for being a guest on the HR Tech Spotlight, Andrea. To our listeners, I know many of you are involved in annual planning and company kickoffs. If you're looking for a fun, innovative way to get employees engaged and build those connections within and across teams, Enboarder has a new offering called the Connection Networking Game that I recommend you check out. I'll share a link for more information in the show notes, and for more information about all of Enboarder’s solutions, visit their website at enboarder.com.
0:16:07 I appreciate you tuning into this episode. Check back again next time as we feature another up and coming HR tech company bringing innovation to the market.
0:16:21 Thanks for listening to this episode of the HR Tech Spotlight podcast, where we showcase some of the best up and coming HR technology options in the market. If you are an HR tech company leader who would like to be considered
0:16:35 for a guest spot on this program,
0:16:37 please contact me via growthmodemarketing.com or reach out to me, Deanna Shimota on LinkedIn. And if you found this show informative, subscribe, connect with us on social media and leave a review. This is Deanna with GrowthMode Marketing signing off. Thanks for listening.
0:16:55 We hope you'll tune in again next time.