The Rise of Employee Experience Focused HR

For many reasons, employee experience has become a business hot topic. Employees today have become more demanding and selective about where they choose to work. An ‘Employee experience’-focused HR is the optimization of HR strategies to improve employee satisfaction. The focus used to be on product and service optimization for customer experience. This is fast giving way to the HR equivalent of customer experience; employee experience.

Sir Richard Branson suggested that company staff be placed first, customers second and shareholders third. He said these shareholders will do well, customers do better and the staff will remain happy. So, the HR department has to meet employees’ demands so they can serve the company better. This fairly new concept is fast gaining momentum in businesses for the many benefits it has to offer.

Benefits of Improving Employee Experience

• Talent Attraction: Employers have had to deal with the stress of finding the right talent to fit into their team. These talents on the other end are seeking comfort and job satisfaction. Naturally, positive employee experience will rather attract the right talent to your firm.
• Employee Retention: Are you wondering why an employee on your team is still job searching while working? Surveys have shown that employee tenureship in many firms is fast declining. It is because these employees are trying to feel a satisfaction void. Employees will stay longer in a firm that offers them job satisfaction.
• Positive Branding of Companies: Employee experience optimization contributes to your brand image. If you thought that products and services are the only brand influencers, you are wrong! News travels really fast. It is never a secret which company treats its employees well and which doesn’t. A negative report will damage your reputation and most talents will avoid working with you.
• Improved Employee Performance and Loyalty: Employee experience is basically removing obstacles in the way of the employee. Anything physical, cultural or technological that prevents them from giving you their best is an obstacle. Employee experience boosts creativity, innovativeness, emotional wellbeing and improved performance. Employees will remain loyal to a team they love and enjoy working with.
• Better Customer Experience: like a reflex action, employee experience influences the customer experience. Satisfied employees will work better to serve your customers better. If you’ve been struggling with your customer experience, then you should focus on your employees.
• Increased Profitability: companies that focus on their employee experience reportedly have a competitive advantage. They grow faster, attract and retain the best talents who are willing to work. Their employees’ creative inputs improve products, services and customer satisfaction. The end result is increased in revenue, ROI hence, increased profitability.

Employee Experience and Collaboration

In every employee experience optimization strategy, collaboration is the first ally. It is important that you never overlook the need for strengthening collaboration. Most employee experience strategies bother around three main areas: physical, cultural and technological experiences. These three areas are the fundamentals of effective workplace collaborations.

Physical experience: This relates to the nature of the workplace and how it influences employees. Employee experience is influenced by daily work schedules and available facilities. These schedules should be equivalent to payment and not too demanding that they feel drained. Office spaces and facilities must be at their best for good results. IT support and in-house catering facilities are equally important.

Cultural Experience: The workplace should be like a community with shared beliefs and values. Beyond the benefits of salaries and bonuses, employees should enjoy social benefits. They should have a family they can interact with. How are hierarchal and cross-departmental interactions handled in the organization? Have the destructive silos and competitiveness been eliminated? Onboarding of new members should be so easy that they don’t feel left out for a second. Human connection is an emotional investment for employee engagement, loyalty and performance.

Technological Experience: HR must give employees the tools and resources they need to stay empowered connected and productive. Create one-stop platforms to address multiple employee needs and reduce the complexity of tasks. It involves the channelling of automations to guide employees through every phase of their journey. Online collaborative platforms empower employers to keep employees engaged and knowledgeable. Invest in collaborative tools that keep your teams and departments working together on projects.

Final Thoughts

The focus of every HR manager should be creating memorable experiences for employees. Since most companies make identical offers, this is what makes yours stand out. A collaborative environment is the best place to unlock all employees’ creative potentials. As you attract the best talent, make efforts to get them interacting creatively and freely on projects. There’s no limit to the possible achievements of a highly satisfied and collaborative team of employees.

Originally published at https://nextplane.net on April 13, 2020.