Building a better employee experience

While employee engagement can be measured through surveys, eNPS (Employee Net Promoter Score) results, absenteeism and  turnover rates, the measurement of employee experience is less tangible.

Meaningful work and open conversations with supportive leaders have become influential factors to the overall journey of an employee. The inextricable link between customer experience and employee experience means they both need to be of equal priority.

Engage and Connect

A Deloitte study showed that only 23 percent of companies believed that they had successfully aligned their employees personal goals with corporate purpose.

Regular communication and feedback are not only integral elements for a positive employee experience. Daily connection with managers will support employees with their needs to work productively while keeping aligned with their company’s purpose.

Speaking at the recent 2021 Future of Work Summit, BDO Australia’s National Leader of the People Advisory team, Jenine Waters believes every organisation will have different requirements in building employee experience.  “You can’t replicate the employee experience of another organisation. You actually need to engage and connect with your employees. You need to understand what’s important to your employees,” said Ms Waters.

Employee Engagement tools provide real time connection and messaging for both managers and workers. Team members can communicate through their preferred channels, driving morale and work productivity. Managers can stay in touch with staff while also recognising and rewarding work achievements.

Consider and Listen

Recent global events have changed employees values and priorities. This creates an opportunity for business leaders and managers to establish from their employees what they define as a positive experience.

A recent Gartner survey showed that only 13% of employees are satisfied with their experience. While business leaders are making investments to improve the situation in their organisation, the starting point is to simply listen.

Also speaking at the 2021 Future of Work Summit, Executive Director of BDO Australia’s People Advisory team, Maryanne Carter believes that once managers listen they will also be able to take into consideration employees’ opinions and the challenges they face.

Ms Carter said, “When you think about it in our interactions with people, our ability to really listen to them, in terms of what matters most for them is what’s going to help you navigate and move forward.”

Identify What Matters Most

When an organisation begins to design their own standard of employee experience, it’s important to understand what drives the employee to work to their best. To find out what these needs are, Ms Waters suggests The Whole Person Approach.

“That holistic view is absolutely important and to do that, you need to look at the entire experience within the organisation and you need to look at those expectations,” she said.

For instance, an aged care employee who has a deep passion and sense of care for the elderly   will still need to work efficiently to meet the organisation’s metrics of the allocated  time for each client.

In a restaurant that hires a majority of part-time university students, the employee experience may be based on a fun working environment, a sense of socialness among the other workers. Aside this, flexibility to choose rostered shifts that don’t interfere with studies or classes may also be a significant contributor to their employee experience.

Business leaders and management teams are discovering that it’s everyday and even minutiae elements that mean the most to an employee in their work and life.

The challenge today is for businesses to  identify these needs and then to embed these needs with tools that will drive a better employee experience that will in turn, result in higher work productivity, drop in employee turnover and an increase in profitability.

Tools For Better Employee Experience

Leveraging technology can allow you to implement the changes needed, in a meaningful way and in the flow of work, in an efficient and familiar manner.

Humanforce support thousands of businesses – big and small – from all industries to enrich the employee experience. Our tools drive employee engagement and simplify workforce management.

Our intuitive platform eliminates the complexity for shift-based organisations, providing visibility and analytics for work trends while connecting team members and managers on a daily, real-time basis.