Chase Garbarino is the Co-Founder and CEO of HqO.
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With so much competition for attention, resources and talent in today’s market, achieving “best-in-class” company status can seem like an insurmountable goal. In order to stand out and draw the attention of top talent, it is critical that leadership take a closer look at the professional ROI they’re delivering to their employees.
The Surging Value Of The Employee Experience
Offering fair compensation, opportunities for advancement, meaningful work and a sense of community where everyone is pulling toward the same goal are now table stakes. Experiences that lay the foundation for increased engagement, creativity and innovation unfold when leadership offers avenues for growth and development. The professional ROI you offer employees is a combination of hard evidence such as salary with the feelings they attach to the millions of micromoments that create a holistic workplace experience. Today’s focus has become all about the unique venture you provide for the people who are helping advance your company to the next level: your employee experience (EX). Here are four approaches companies should consider when it comes to refocusing on the employee experience in their organization.
1. Create new positions focusing on your EX.
Many companies are putting an ever-increasing emphasis on their employees, seeing this as a top priority to transform how they engage. Businesses are taking cues from the world of customer experience and melding together the best attributes of physical and digital working environments to create a full view of the workplace experience. Ultimately, this pushes teams to prioritize EX with more intention than ever before. Andrew Hewitt, a leading EX analyst, said some companies are going so far as to hire not only an executive role but other new roles to focus on their EX as a priority.
Consider Unilever, one of the world’s most easily recognized companies with 400 individual brands and 150,000 employees. Their investment in EX is nothing short of spectacular. They have a team of 1,500 exclusively dedicated to EX whose collective backgrounds incorporate years of expertise in human resources, facilities and technology. These are the people who are there to ensure a singular vision is being realized and that employees have equal access to that vision.
2. Track your EX from day one.
Unilever initially developed their EX team because they wanted to make further investments in technology, but everyone was leveraging a different point solution. Technology was creating issues, not solving them. Enter a renewed vision of the EX and a two-year journey to get it right.
EX leaders like Unilever examine the end-to-end employee journey, from the moment a prospective employee hears about a company through the last day of their employment, to make sure everyone is having the same opportunities and experiences. Likewise, savvy company leaders across industries are leaning into EX as they examine ways to overcome increased competition for talent in the wake of the Great Resignation.
3. Make the daily moments count.
Given what we know about attracting and retaining those who are among today’s top talent, there’s no question that a people-centric focus should be a corporate priority. However, creating a fully developed workplace and employee experience takes time. Most EX leaders generally understand that work doesn’t happen in a vacuum. They know that in order to meet the needs of our whole selves, leadership teams need to do more than offer a wellness seminar, weekly lunches or even on-site child care. Sure, all of that matters, but so do the daily moments of repeated routines: how we’re able to relate to others, how connections are forged, whether we feel heard and seen in meetings and group environments and so on.
4. Consider cross-functional collaborations.
Empowering employees with the flexibility to handle life, come to work to connect with others, easily access central meeting places or offices and leverage technology that delivers smoothly really matters. Employee-centric companies ensure that all milestone opportunities and daily experiences properly reflect the company’s brand promise—and that everyone is invited to partake. Accomplishing this is no small feat as it requires IT, HR and operations to come together in the planning and implementation of a truly cohesive and collaborative experience. Some example steps might include:
• Assessing what spaces are needed, how these spaces should feel and how employees will use and access them.
• Aligning each member’s workflow around the critical technologies needed, and planning for their deployment, adoption and maintenance.
• Aiming to create a frictionless experience that mirrors the consumer apps used in people’s personal lives.
The Future Of The EX
It is no longer enough to have an incredible business concept. Merging physical assets with technology systems in ways that benefit both customers and employees is a must. With technology serving as the linchpin that brings together a hybrid workforce, its function and ease of use are more important than ever. In leveraging the right technology to create a high-quality EX, businesses can enjoy both increases in customer satisfaction as well as greater retention of their top talent.
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