8 Essential Elements of a Positive Employee Experience

Every company invests in customer experience, but this is not enough for a quality business. As organizations increasingly recognize people as their most valuable asset, they invest in employee experience.

Designing a positive employee experience is something that can have a significant impact on many aspects of an organization. Thus, almost 80% of managers evaluate employee experience as a very important or just an important parameter in the work of the enterprise. Even IBM and Globoforce show a close relationship between the best employee experience and key performance results in their reports. Employees in the top 25% of the scores demonstrate the best work performance.

What is employee experience? 

The notion of employee experience may seem more understandable through comparison in contrast to things it is not:

• it is not staff engagement or satisfaction;

• these are not additional goodies, such as flexible working hours;

• it is not a list of benefits available to employees;

• it is not a newfangled office in the open space format in the city center.

Employee experience is none of the above but a complex and complete system of all these things combined with other vital parameters. Employee experience results from the relationships that an organization builds with employees throughout its life cycle and the journey, which consists of a specialist passing through five stages in the company: attracting, hiring and adapting, fulfilling core responsibilities, career growth, and leaving.

Why is positive employee experience important?

Creating a positive employee experience is not easy as it requires a lot of different resources and time. Sometimes it is impossible to satisfy everyone, but the task of HR is to inspire, to define a clear mission for which thousands of entirely different people are ready to go, to create a culture of open, sincere feedback. 

After all, the experience of employees is not just a personal matter for everyone, but something that affects many factors in business:

• the company's image and reputation as an employer (at all stages of the employee's life cycle - from recruitment to departure);

• level and rate of turnover;

• ability to attract the best talent from the market;

• problems with retaining employees for more than 6 months;

• the personal brand of the business owner.

In general, the success of a business and its profitability depend on employees' experience.

A positive employee experience not only leads to the fact that your employees do not even think about changing jobs but are also ready to work at 100%. This improves business performance, as it leads to a reduction in the cost of finding and retaining staff and an increase in revenue due to increased productivity.

Essential elements of a positive employee experience 

Improving the employee experience is critical for all companies, with no exceptions. Furthermore, providing an engaging experience will help companies succeed in attracting and retaining qualified employees. A strong employee experience also has a positive effect on the CS process and drives a high level of customer service.

Here are 8 elements essential for a successful employee experience.

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1. First impression

The company's image is often formed based on the first impression of future employees, which begins long before their first day at the office. In particular, candidates pay attention to how the site looks, browse social networks, online reviews, etc.

Your presence on the Internet and your voice should reflect all brand values. Broadcast what matters to you. Voice should be an effective way to deliver your messages.

Furthermore, job seekers expect a seamless digital experience with the company when applying for a job. Normal human interaction during candidates` evaluation and core skills assessment process always makes a stronger impression throughout the process. At the same time, for the majority, such interaction is a necessary condition and not a key decisive factor that stimulates the desire to work in your company.

2. Company culture

Company culture has a decisive influence on the long-term success of a company. If employees feel comfortable with the company values ​​and norms, there is no reason for them to leave the company. Employees are more likely to be more committed and motivated than employees whose values ​​and norms are not in line with corporate ones. 

Of course, this also applies to the leaders of the company! Thus, the impact of positive company culture in terms of human resources is:

• increased employees' motivation;

• constructive communication and conflict management and, therefore, lower costs for conflict resolution;

• the willingness of employees to participate in the processes of change;

• improved image for potential applicants;

• increasing loyalty of top performers to the company.

Company culture enshrined essential aspects of overall job satisfaction or overall employee motivation. The active development of corporate culture can make a tangible positive contribution to corporate profits and give the company a competitive advantage.

3. Common purpose

Now almost every company has its purpose. It wasn't that common before, and even when a company had a vision, it wasn't always followed through. Because of this, situations arose when the organization broadcasted one thing to the outside world, and the people inside saw something completely different. Now the common purpose is taken more seriously.

It helps set the image for the press and the customers who use the product and create an employee culture. People who come to the company understand their tasks and the overall purpose of the entire team and become more involved and responsible. In this case, a common purpose is not just a beautiful story but the core on which all the company's products are strung.

4. Mutual trust

The efficiency and success of any company are built on the mutual trust of the process participants. The company wants to trust its employees, from top management to line staff. Employees, in turn, want to trust management at all levels and, most importantly, each other.

People spend a lot of time, effort, and emotions defending their positions and decisions. Team members solve a collective problem every day, and there is a constant mutual intersection. Without trust, employees begin to control and double-check each other's work. There is an unhealthy industrial atmosphere, sometimes open hostility. There is no productive communication.

As a result, the desire to do their job disappears, motivation drops, and, ultimately, the staff either ceases to be responsible for their duties or simply quits.

Collaboration in a team with trusting relationships is built quite differently. People are focused on personal matters, as there are no distractions. Warm, friendly relations are established in the team. High-quality communication develops into active cooperation and partnership. As a result, the team works cohesively and creatively and is aimed at a common result.

5. Clarity in everything

Managers who can clearly articulate the company's vision and goals provide clarity and direction to every employee. Clear management principles enable employees to understand and internalize the company's goals. This creates a foundation on which employees can make a significant contribution to the company's success and reach their full potential.

People like it when they are given clear and concise instructions and expectations, which are easier to follow and take less time to digest. Instead of vague requests and "fuzzy" goals, it's much better to be precise about what you want.

6. Teamwork

Teamwork is a powerful tool for effectively achieving the organization's goals and completing its tasks. Teamwork significantly affects the effectiveness of team members. Firstly, people who work together are more determined and willing to cooperate with diversified specialists (even if they are an order of magnitude higher/lower than them on the career ladder).

Secondly, teamwork makes people more open and tolerant. This helps them to connect with people and organizations in the future more easily. Thirdly, employees working in teams cultivate a higher level of emotional intelligence. They can show more empathy and respect for their colleagues and know how to listen carefully. Thus, they appear to be more distinguished by respect and tolerance towards others.

7. Gratitude

Recognition and gratitude from colleagues for hard work are essential for any company. Employees feel much better when colleagues and associates recognize them. They are always with us, so they understand our work better.

Gratitude is a sign of respect and an essential part of team support. When employees constantly praise each other, this can be the basis for creating a culture of recognition. If you create a culture full of gratitude, employees will be much happier and more likely to help others.

By instilling more recognition and appreciation into your company, you'll create a friendlier, happier, and more productive environment that will attract and retain the best talent.

8. Mindfulness

Employers need to develop team mindfulness in the company. Working through the strengths of each team member and showing new effective ways of interaction, you can improve business processes.

In addition, this approach will help each employee feel organically in their professional position, reveal their potential and show their opportunities. The development of a culture of mindfulness is possible in companies where “human” is welcomed, and employees are the company's primary value.

When coming to such companies, candidates can notice the unique atmosphere in the offices. It's simple - people smile, greet, look at you kindly, there is a lot of greenery, bright colors in the corridors, equipped corners for communication, cozy and plentiful places for joint coffee breaks and lunches ... The feeling of light and air, space in the offices.

Conclusion

In 2022, people matter more than ever before. Now the power and the primary influence on the company's development is in the hands of employees. This happened due to the possibilities of social networks and services with reviews, the ease of changing areas of responsibility, and moving from one organization to another. 

Therefore, employees are the best resource for the positive growth of your brand awareness, so it is crucial to constantly monitor and improve your employees` experience in 2022 and in the years to come.

About Author: This article is written by our marketing team at HR Cloud. HR Cloud is dedicated to providing powerful solutions for your HR teams and creating an exceptional employee experience. Our aim is to help your company improve employee engagement, onboarding, and to save you valuable time!