Back in the day, most companies thought that all employees needed to get the job done was a cubicle, a chair, and a computer. Times sure have changed and these days, businesses around the world are waking up to the value of the Employee Experience (EX).
One of the reasons for this shift, according to author and futurist Jacob Morgan, is that “The war for talent has never been more fierce.” And he attributes the state of the landscape to the rise of platforms that are providing ever more innovative ways of making money (think Etsy, Airbnb and Uber), as well as those like LinkedIn which make it possible for companies to find (and approach) top talent almost instantly.
But whatever the reasons behind the EX explosion, any HR manager – make that Head of Employee Experience – knows that building a great employee experience is critical for any company pursuing growth, stability and success.
Here are four strategies to help you build that epic employee experience:
1. Define your purpose – and make a noise about it
While a company’s mission statement is typically linked to business goals, its purpose has everything to do with why it does what it does. The reason it’s so important to have one? As Mark Weinberger, Global Chairman and CEO of EY explains, “People want to do well and do good. They want to understand how they’re making a difference in the world.” It’s for this reason too that it’s important to communicate your purpose statement to employees at all levels within the organisation.
2. Identify the problem areas
We all love to be heard. Facebook and Twitter are proof of that. So, give employees the opportunity to voice their opinions about the organisation’s current culture, technology and physical space (and where they’d like them to be). And while you’re at it, keep the process fun by avoiding boring forms and endless questionnaires and opting for pulse surveys, videos, interviews and intranet blog posts instead.
3. Keep everyone involved
Whatever you do, don’t stop employee involvement once you’ve identified your company’s stumbling blocks. Keeping staff involved throughout this important process means you’ll automatically have their buy-in when the changes are implemented. And then to see how they’re feeling thereafter quickly tap into the workplace with a quick two-question survey.
4. Maintain the energy
Don’t stop to rest on your laurels. Once your new strategy comes into play, keep the lines of communication open, check in with employees from time to time, and invite them to share their feedback at scheduled employee events.
Now, get the right tool for the job
If you’re serious about EX, you’ll want to give some serious consideration to an employee engagement and recognition platform to help your organisation build a culture of recognition and reward.
According to Deloitte’s Global Human Capital Trends Report, 2017, employee experience ranks as a major trend alongside culture, engagement and brand proposition. Almost 80% of C-suite leaders rated it as important but only 22% cited that their organisations were excellent at building this differentiated employee experience. An alarming 59% of the surveyed participants cited that they were not or only somewhat ready to address the employee experience challenge.