How Calendar Sync Can Improve Your One-On-One Meetings

Regular one-on-one meetings are an important way to keep employees engaged.

They can raise any issues before they develop into something more serious as well as receive feedback on their performance.

This feedback helps them to further develop their skills and progress in their career. All of this is vital to ensuring that employees remain engaged.

And, with only 34% of the US workforce engaged, this is more important than ever.

Especially when you factor in how much this costs – up to $550 billion per year in the US alone.

Yearly appraisals can be used to agree and measure personal development plans, but weekly one-on-ones play an equally important role.

In smaller businesses, organizing weekly meetings and yearly appraisals is a challenge.

Organizing them for larger organizations with thousands of employees is even harder. After all, there are only a handful meeting rooms. You can’t magically find more just because you need them. Once you’ve scheduled those meetings, how do you track that they’ve happened? How do you measure their impact on employee engagement?

Here’s how calendar sync can help you to better organize and track your one-on-one meetings...no matter how many you need to schedule.

Automated scheduling

In the US, each employee wastes 520 hours every year on repetitive tasks that could be automated. This equates to $1.8 trillion lost every year. Failing to automate repetitive tasks leaves employees with less time to work toward their goals and objectives. This leads to a poor employee experience and higher employee churn rate. When HR software is calendar synced, employees don’t need to waste time scheduling any form of meeting. When rooms and resources have their own calendars, their availability can be factored in when organizing meetings too. Organizers don't need to flit between different schedules or different apps to find a suitable time: software can use the schedules of people and rooms to work out the most suitable times to meet. This avoids double-bookings and scheduling conflicts for everyone and everything involved. Rescheduling can be done automatically without HR teams needing to get involved, saving everyone time.

Attendance tracking

Sometimes, because of circumstances outside of employees’ control, they can no longer attend their appraisal. Calendar sync allows HR teams to track meeting attendance from the HR software they use every day.HR teams and managers can also track attendance through room booking confirmations. If someone doesn't confirm their attendance in a room, this shows HR teams that they haven’t attended the meeting. They can then speak to the manager and employee involved about re-organizing the appraisal.HR systems can also record if regular one-on-ones are organized, and the impact that this has on them. Are employees that have fewer one-on-ones more likely to leave? Do some managers have more engaged team members because they meet with them more often? HR teams can then use this data to look for patterns that may occur within teams or within a company. With this data, they can report back to managers and provide them with feedback on how they’re performing in their role. They can then improve their performance and by association, the engagement of their team.

Goal tracking

Companies can also use one-on-ones to set goals for employees’ progression. This gives them something to aim for, ensuring that they don’t fall into the monotony of repetitive tasks and become disengaged. It also gives employees control and agency over projects, making them feel more engaged and valued in their roles. It’s important during meetings to set the right goals. SMART goals (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-based) give employees the ability to measure their progress while also giving them a deadline to hold them accountable. SMART goals also give their line managers something to measure. Employees and their managers can track progress using a shared calendar. Information such as deadlines, future meetings to discuss goals and objectives, and notes of what to discuss in meetings can be placed in employees’ calendars. This keeps their objectives visible, reminding them to work toward them regularly. Employees can store agendas and meeting notes in the notes section of their calendars. This ensures that they have a record of what they agreed in an easy-to-find location. If they organize their workload in their schedules, they can also set reminders to work on a particular task related to their goals. This keeps it front of mind and means they don’t get distracted by other day-to-day activities. Deadlines can also sync with HR software or project management software, making it easier for employees to manage their schedules. Their calendars can store everything they need to know. They don't need to duplicate information between multiple places, meaning they're less likely to forget upcoming projects or deadlines. Deadlines and reminders ensure that goals are always at the forefront of employees’ minds, encouraging them to work toward them regularly.

Schedule follow-ups

Scheduling meetings often takes more time than it should. Staff members have to check their calendar, their colleague’s calendar, and the availability of a room before anything is booked. When all of these things are calendar synced, none of these steps are necessary. The availability of attendees and a meeting room are used to propose times by the HR software. Follow-ups can be scheduled at the end of meetings to ensure that everyone knows when to meet next. This can be done in seconds when HR software is calendar synced, meaning that they don't need to lose five minutes at the end just to schedule the next meeting. If they want to meet on the same day and time every week, this can be set up as a recurring meeting in their calendar. Even if someone tries to schedule a meeting with them on that day, the attendees will come up as unavailable.

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