Companies have believed people need to work for them to put bread on the table. However, the world is changing - and doing it fast. There are many options for people to earn money and pay their bills with technological advancements.
What’s more, businesses are continually competing for top talent.
That means it’s more about whether your company is good enough for employees and not the other way around. It’s a good idea to have this perspective if you want to enhance employee experience in 2022.
We compiled a list of 14 ways to improve the employee experience to help you attract and retain skilled employees, boosting your business’ overall profitability.
Employee engagement can be a vital determining factor in how successful the company is overall.
The level of engagement within your organization is the best indicator for employee experience, joy, and sense of belonging.
It helps control everything from your levels of staff retention and absenteeism to customer satisfaction and how profitable your business is.
Today, employees are looking for purposeful work rather than employment just for earning. They desire a meaningful employee experience.
Purposeful work contributes both to individual growth and the company and community.
Your company culture reflects your sense of purpose and can significantly impact your employee’s experience.
Great employee experience positively influences employee productivity as it simplifies everyday tasks. It makes it easier and more enjoyable for employees to work.
Engaging experience will reflect on their work because they’ll be more motivated to do their job right.
Higher engagement and productivity: A positive employee experience results in higher levels of engagement and productivity. They are more devoted to work and the company. That leads to more favorable business results and enhanced individual well-being.
Lower employee turnover: Engaged and satisfied workers stay longer, whereas unhappy employees tend to leave the company or be absent more often. That impacts employee morale, productivity, expenses, and brand image.
Improved customer experience: An excellent employee experience can motivate employees to be assertive and innovative, taking charge of their duties and doing their best to deliver a great customer experience.
Job satisfaction: Employees with good employee experiences will be satisfied with their jobs and proactively contribute to the company instead of half-heartedly. The chances of exhaustion will be lower, influencing better employee well-being and work-life balance.
Talent attraction and retention: Top Recruiting Agencies are competing with each other to attract and retain the best talent. Individuals with the required skills can be picky. So, when a company finds a talent, they want to keep it. Good employee experience is often the element that keeps such employees.
Favorable business results: A great employee experience ultimately results in profitable business results. The more you invest in your workforce, the more they give you in return.
Employee experience begins when they are applying for a job. When searching for a job, employees are already juggling between job portals. That’s why having a fuss-free application process makes hiring simpler
Adding diversity into your application process will help prevent biases. Also, the interface should be mobile-friendly. Clear messaging can improve your employer’s brand and image and show that you desire to help potential employees and simplify filling forms.
A great first impression can deliver a positive experience for individuals joining your company and influence them to stay long term.
Offering training is a vital element in successful onboarding as your employees may need some tuning before they settle, even though they have the desired skills.
You’ll also want to integrate new employees with the team, especially remote workers. You can set up a session online or in-person so they can get to know their colleagues and understand the dynamics, vision, and goals of your company.
New employees may feel confused and unsure how to communicate with their team and leaders during their first days. It’s crucial to take active measures to prevent that.
Assigning mentors can help them understand their role and adapt better, leading to enhanced communication and the free exchange of ideas.
Most companies don’t have a strong sense of their employees’ experiences, and employees feel HR doesn’t understand their needs. To prevent that, you need to implement an effective employee survey.
You can do that by asking your employees to weigh in more frequently and create open-ended questions for qualitative answers. Have your employees rank their priorities and needs.
It’s vital to plan how to survey results and be transparent. You can only enhance employee experience if you take active measures to tackle the issues and stay accountable to your team.
Technology dedicated to increasing engagement will be the foundation of an employee listening strategy and impact the employee experience.
Collecting feedback from your workers and analyzing it to measure the employee experience will show what needs to change and how to do it.
The needs of working parents are often ignored. Parents are at greater risk of leaving their jobs because of high exhaustion levels and the need for flexibility.
Your policies will impact how well parents can perform at work and feel like part of the team. To enhance employee experience, minimizing their stress is a great starting point.
To do that, you’ll need to consider parental policies, such as implementing paid parental leave for new parents and offering sufficient support as new parents transition to leave.
Flexible working hours are another thing to consider to keep the parents satisfied and working. Recognizing and respecting their caring duties is also vital.
Career growth and professional learning are among the top trends for job seekers in 2022. With “The Great Resignation,” you can’t afford to lose top employees. Developing an effective internal employer branding strategy, and using an external help of branding agency ,is important for the positive reputation of your company.
The right software can support more engaging management training and upskilling sessions. However, learning and growth happen in everyday work experiences too.
The more you support employees’ wish to learn and improve with resources, projects, and feedback, the more satisfied they will be.
Performance reviews can help employees boost their skills and level up their careers. They want continuous feedback that adds to their achievements.
An excellent performance management system can help both employees and employers.
The employee can get the chance to improve their skills or learn new ones, while the employer can track the employee’s performance and show him how to advance.
Authenticity is more than displays of personality on your employee app. An authentic workplace will accept the events occurring in the employees’ lives, whether good or bad.
A workplace that prioritizes employee experience will see each employee as a person rather than a number and celebrate the good while offering support during challenging times.
With new technology, companies can know what’s happening in the lives of their workers and reach out from a human angle instead of a corporate.
Team-building activities can significantly enhance the employee experience. Ice-breaking sessions help reduce stress, taking pressure off of employees. It fosters teamwork and supports relationships between colleagues and leaders.
Some managers became micromanagers thanks to the fear that employees would take advantage of remote and hybrid work during the pandemic.
However, excessive check-ins lead to lower engagement and productivity, so it’s essential to shift to employee empowerment and autonomy.
In hybrid and virtual work, that doesn’t mean taking an uninvolved approach. It means managers need to ask about employee passions, needs, and engagement. It also means providing resources for collaboration and creative problem-solving.
Making space for employee ideas and feedback is also a great way of empowering your workers.
When they feel empowered to do their job with more freedom, your entire team wins while your company culture changes for the better.
Humans need to feel appreciated for their hard work. Your employees feel good about themselves when you recognize them for their work, and it makes them think they are significantly contributing and making a difference to the company.
That makes them want to deliver more and feel inspired to accomplish their goals and stay with the company.
Social recognition is the way to enable that. It’s a fast and continuous credit exchange between colleagues and leaders, making the employee journey unique and meaningful.
Effective communication is the essential factor for delivering an engaging employee experience.
You’ll want to focus on clear communication to help minimize and resolve conflicts among employees. That way, they become more engaged and loyal to the company.
However, your employee communications shouldn’t be dull or bland, but light when possible.
Allow your workers to show their personalities. That way, you’ll help them get to know their peers and make the workplace a more attractive place to be in, whether remotely or in person.
Sometimes it will happen that an employee leaves. And although you can’t help it, you can find out why they left by conducting exit interviews. That way, you can get more insight into employees’ experiences, understand the work culture, how other employees behave, and other issues.
When an employee decides to leave, he can offer you constructive criticism about the reason for leaving the job.
Instead of only focusing on periodic engagement surveys, genuinely listen to your employees and understand where you can gain more personal, real-time feedback. Once you know that, act on it and update your workers on how you’ve resolved highlighted issues.
After reading this article, you understand how and why creating a great employee experience will not only ensure you attract and retain top talent but also boost your company’s bottom line.
Long gone is the time when work and only work was more important than employee’s well-being and needs.
In 2022, people value themselves and their time. They don’t want to be corporate slaves. They desire to be understood and connected as humans. Acknowledge them and appreciate their work. That way, they’ll feel a sense of belonging and give their best.
Author Bio: Melissa Gray is a freelance writer and an organizational psychologist. Her focus is primarily on marketing and new digital trends across the world. She is also a passionate gamer, with special interest in narrative design. She writes for Digital Strategy One.