6 Cost-Effective Ways to Support Your Team's Growth in 2023

HR teams across the globe are under huge pressure to do more with less — as are the operational teams across the businesses they support. One way to support your team’s growth without a significant budget is the strategic use of HR tech, such as performance management systems and analytics. 

Yes, it’s an investment, but it delivers value, helps boost employee performance, and gives you deep insights that can drive business success. Used strategically, HR tech is a powerful way to boost growth on both an individual and company-wide scale. Before you get started, it’s a good idea to assess your current systems and processes. 

"We’ve encouraged all our companies to audit their processes and understand what low-value tasks HR and operational teams are doing on a regular basis,” said Jay Levy, Managing Partner at Zelkova Ventures. “This will determine where software could be leveraged, which will free up staff to work on more high-value objectives and enable the company to do more, with similar resources.” 

If you’re ready for some ideas, here are six cost-effective ways to use tech to support your team’s growth.  

1. Promote a Culture of Learning and Development 

Learning and development programs help boost engagement, performance, and retention. And with skills predicted to be a key indicator of organisational success and resilience, investing in learning is a smart move. Focusing on the internal talent marketplace by upskilling and reskilling your current employees can also avoid the cost of attracting and hiring new talent.   

The right employee development tool helps employees take charge of their career growth by understanding how new skills can help them progress to the next level. Another cost-effective option to combine with software is coaching and mentoring. You might find other HR leaders in your network who are interested in cross-collaboration, too.   

“We are constantly offering continued education to our staff,” said Rudy Mawer, founder, and CEO of Mawer Capital. “Due to our industry, we collaborate with other similar entrepreneurs and oftentimes we exchange our coaching programs for theirs. We have been able to offer free training to our sales and PR teams specifically by doing this.”

Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) or affinity groups are also a powerful way to give underrepresented groups a voice and nurture emerging talent. Jill Hauwiller, founder and principal consultant at Leadership Refinery, explained how ERGs offer the perfect opportunity for action learning:

“Action learning is an intentional, project-based approach to building skills and expanding employees' experiences outside of their day-to-day roles. ERGs provide a natural opportunity for action learning because they typically exist outside employees’ regular responsibilities. Employees may have the opportunity to take on leadership roles and projects within the ERG that expand their skill sets and networks, preparing them for future advancement opportunities.”

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2. Transition to a Pay-For-Performance Mindset 

Linking compensation to performance is becoming a hallmark of high-performing HR teams. Our 2023 State of People Strategy report found that almost half of HR teams that exceed or meet their goals invest in pay-for-performance, compared to 22% of lower-performing teams. Better compensation is also one of the main reasons employees leave their jobs. By creating a strong link between pay and performance, you can boost retention and push your team to do their best work — for tangible rewards.    

Before launching this initiative, make sure your pay-for-performance model is equitable. Using a compensation tool that includes benchmarking data can help you make strategic decisions based on market data while remaining aligned with your budget and your commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB).

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3. Celebrate Wins With Employee Recognition

Recognizing employee accomplishments can help boost productivity and engagement, which can in turn increase performance. Yet employee engagement isn’t always prioritised, because it can be hard to show the value of your investment. But the ROI of employee engagement creates a compelling argument.

Without acknowledgement of their achievements, your people may start to look for work somewhere they feel more appreciated. The cost of turnover is typically far higher than investing in software that makes engagement simple and streamlined. If employees do stay but are left feeling disengaged, then performance and productivity can plummet, which trickles down to customer satisfaction, business revenue, and company reputation.

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4. Develop Clear Career Tracks With Measurable Progress 

The lack of career progression is one of the main reasons employees leave their jobs. By making career growth clear and accessible, it’s easier to identify top talent, encourage progression, and improve satisfaction. All of this relies on regular conversations around career tracks or paths, with structured goals along the way.

“Making development a part of regular conversations with employees keeps it in front of both leaders and employees,” said Hauwiller. “It’s not artificially contained as a special annual or quarterly topic. By discussing it regularly, leaders and employees will be tracking their progress toward goals and addressing emerging opportunities and interests as they arise. Employees will know that their manager is aware of their career aspirations and actively supports them in achieving them.” 

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5. Use Goals to Align Growth With Business Objectives 

Objectives and key results (OKRs) are typically used for setting high-level business goals. But embedding these into your team’s daily routines is a powerful way to drive business results — because each employee is aligned with how their actions drive results. Since OKRs are often large, it’s a good idea to break them down into smaller, cascading goals. 

These goals create strong personal connections to the overall mission of the business. They also model what success looks like by showing employees what they need to accomplish and how to get there. To be successful, these goals should be regularly revisited and revised. By integrating goal-tracking software like Lattice Goals with existing platforms like Slack, you can keep OKRs and goals front of mind while still meeting cost-efficiency targets.

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6. Make Data-Driven Decisions Backed by Intelligent Analytics  

Data can help HR teams make better decisions — but having access to the right data makes all the difference. Collecting and analysing your data can take a huge amount of time, effort, and money. And the results might not be all that robust. A more cost-effective decision is to invest in the right analytics platform. 

Whether you’re looking to uncover the unconscious bias that stops some employees from progressing, or setting DEIB goals and tracking your progress, analytics are a powerful way to drive performance and progress while ensuring equality and engagement. 

High-performing HR teams understand this connection, which is why they place a priority on analytics. Centralizing disparate data sources also allows for a far deeper understanding of company health, which can then be fed back into your people strategy. Choose an analytics platform that also offers benchmarking, and you can compare your progress with similar companies to see how you stack up.

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Maximize Your ROI in 2023, With the Right Tech 

When you’ve got a limited budget, knowing where to allocate it can feel like a challenge. That’s why it’s worth checking out the ROI of any tech you’re looking to use. The Total Economic Impact of Lattice report uncovered the impact Lattice can have, including:

• Total benefits of $3.5 million reached within 3 years 
• 195% ROI in three years due to time saved and legacy software retirement 
• Payback (the break-even point) reached in three months or less  
• Improved employee engagement and collaboration
• Decreased attrition rates thanks to increased engagement
• Significant time savings for administrators and employees 

Use our performance management platform ROI calculator to see the estimated savings your company could make, with Lattice. To discover even more ways performance management can be used to inspire and support your team’s growth, download our ebook, How to Use Performance Management to Inspire Employee Growth.