Steps to building an effective employee experience
Treat your employees like your customers; take a walk in their shoes and ask, what is the dream employee experience?
Human resources and learning & development (L&D) experts are upskilling in design thinking to create effective people processes. A significant aspect of this is shifting to a designer's mindset and architecting practical employee experiences for their organisations. What makes this so relevant now as opposed to five to ten years ago? Earlier, there was higher employee tenure. These days, the average worker stays with the organisation for as low as two years. Because of the way conditions were in the past, the human resources teams focussed more on ensuring compliance, decreasing liability, and fine-tuning administrative processes. However, now, with the war on talent being intensified, retaining talent and keeping it productive takes precedence. To this end, prioritising employee experience journeys has become essential.
Another way to think about it is to consider your employees as your customers. Ritz Carlton, Amazon, Netflix, and Disney are some of the companies that are featured amongst the most customer-obsessed companies by Forbes. They listen to their customers and utilise technology and data to understand what their customer needs truly are. They offer exceptional personalised experiences, fantastic perks and quality products. They are obsessed with providing seamless expertise and strive to use technology to dazzle their customers all the time.
To architect a fulfilling employee experience, companies must become employee-obsessed and work towards consistently wowing them.
Incorporate design thinking for employee experiences at different stages in the cycle--for example, maternity, promotions, relocation and so on. Try taking a walk in their shoes. Ask questions such as what does a dream employee experience look like?
Mapping the employee experience will always be work-in-progress due to rapid growth. It has to be looked at as a balancing act and allowed to evolve.
It is tough to gauge what is essential, and that may change, so a dynamic focus becomes necessary. One can get caught up in things such as daily noise, company swag, snacks in the office, free meals, pet policy, benefits and team building exercises. These are all important and have their place, but a sharpened focus is essential.
Staying true to company values and vision is vital. A few things that matter to the company make it a consistent experience based on the organisational values. Always align with them.