Bar Scanner Software Helps Get Millennials Engaged at Work

October 16th 2018 15:00:00 PM

Yes, we know. It’s popular to criticize Millennials for their tech-focused work habits and their freewheeling start-up culture mentality, but facts are facts: Millennials are very creative, dedicated workers, just so long as you can get them personally engaged in your company’s success

Since Millennials are swiftly becoming the largest population in today’s workforce, it’s extremely important that you focus some attention on how you can get members of that generation engaged at your company.

Bar scanner software can help with that.

Reading is easy. Software is not. Get the information you need the quick and easy way when you contact Scanco online or at (330) 645-9959.

What Does an Engaged Employee Look Like?

Ask your HR department what the traits are for an engaged employee and they’ll tell you that these workers:

• Are emotionally committed to your company’s success
• Think more creatively than their disengaged counterparts
• Work harder, for longer hours
• Focus on customer satisfaction
• Stay with your company longer
• Display lower levels of absenteeism
• Reduce your turnover rates company-wide, since they tend to build long-lasting relationships with other employees

When faced with these facts, most business leaders won’t ask, “Why should I focus on employee engagement?” They’ll start actively seeking an answer to their question, “How fast can I build an engaged workforce at my organization?”

And often, business leaders in the warehousing and distribution industry discover that bar scanner software helps them create the engaged culture they want—faster.

Look, just to be clear here, bar scanner software is not a magic bullet. It cannot do all the work of engaging employees for you. As your HR department knows all too well, it’s extremely challenging to create an environment that supports an emotional connection between your employees and your business success, especially in today’s world where those darn Millennials simply want to engage with their smartphones all day.

But when it comes to engagement using bar scanner software, those smartphones are the key.

What’s Bar Scanner Software?

Bar scanner software (also known as barcode scanning software) used to only come packaged with barcode scanners, which were those hefty, multi-buttoned, ruggedized devices that employees had to lug around with them to keep track of inventory. No one liked those clunky tools, but they were necessary for scanning. And scanning is necessary for true warehouse productivity.

Luckily, in our modern digital world, bar scanner software and barcode hardware are no longer inextricably linked. These days, smartphones can run bar scanner software, so you can skip those heavy ruggedized scanners entirely.

How Does Bar Scanner Software Help Create an Engaged Culture for Millennials?

Did you catch what we mentioned in that last paragraph? We said that smartphones can run bar scanner software now. That means your Millennial employees can use their smartphones at work as a productivity tool.

Aside from the obvious draw this benefit provides to techie Millennials, bar scanner software on an iPhone or Android device can also provide a range of additional, engagement-building benefits:

• Improves accuracy, which improves workplace communication and reduces conflict

A poll by Randstad US found that employees of different generations are having difficulties understanding each other at work, especially in male-dominated workplaces. Miscommunication on the warehouse floor can lead to conflict on the job—and that increases your turnover and reduces engagement levels.

Good bar scanner software and tools ensure accuracy in inventory tasks, and easy-to-use scanning software makes it simple to communicate what needs to be done, when, and by whom.

• Eases training stress with intuitive layouts and tools

Employee engagement begins on Day 1 of a new job, and employees who feel empowered with knowledge and information at the outset are likely to feel more connected to your company in the long-term. Conversely, if employees feel that they’re still struggling to understand their work assignments or the warehouse layout months after their hire date, they’re much less likely to feel committed to the company. In fact, their constant confusion may lead them to seek out a new job, one they think will be a better fit.

When you choose to use smartphone-based scanning tools, your Millennial employees will easily be able to understand the general workings of the device with little training. When you combine their tool knowledge with bar scanner software that offers an intuitive, easy-to-learn scanning procedure, you’ll be well on the way to simplifying and speeding the training process significantly.

As an added bonus, some bar scanner software solutions offer additional flexibility that enhances the learning process. Voice-directed picking is a fast, easy way to get new employees confidently moving around the warehouse immediately, and hands-free software options make it a breeze for workers to manage bins, pallets, carts, and inventory safely.

• Provides real-time feedback in multiple ways

You’ve surely noticed by now that Millennials really like regular feedback. They want to know when they’re doing well, and they also seek work-habit corrections before they waste too much time doing the wrong thing. You guessed it: bar scanner software helps with that too.

Smartphone barcoding software often connects to the cloud, which leads to real-time feedback across the warehouse. Not only will you, as their supervisor, be able to identify and correct errors as soon as they occur, your Millennial employees will also be able to receive feedback from the tech tools they use in the workplace. Apps can ding or change color to verify accurate picking, productivity statistics can be displayed in public view using digital dashboards displayed on large wall-mounted monitors, and creative managers can even gamify real-time results to increase work output in short bursts (e.g. speed picking contests).

The uses of real-time data are endless, and bar scanning software gets you access to the data you need.

Confidence Builds Engagement

When you choose to use bar scanning software with smartphones in your warehouse, you can tap into greater employee engagement among your Millennial employees, and GenXers are likely to prefer the easy-to-use, easy-to-learn tools as well.

These tools improve inter-generational communication to reduce workplace conflict resulting from misunderstandings, assist new members to your team build their skills and knowledge base faster, and boost you toward your goals of running a more productive, more profitable warehouse.

Ready to learn more? For nearly 30 years, Scanco’s warehouse experts have been helping companies like yours run more efficient, effective warehouses using cutting-edge barcoding technologies. 

Contact Scanco online or at (330) 645-9959 to learn more about how you can use bar scanner software in your operations.