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Produced by:
Francis David Mwale
GLOBAL FUTURE CAPABILITIES DEVELOPMENT MANAGER
How can businesses measure and improve employee experience?
Employee experience is a very broad concept. Every step of the employee lifecycle has a part in defining an employee’s overall experience. It’s important to set objectives that are linked to the organisation’s direction when looking to improve employee experience. This way, when you assess proposed changes to elements to the employee lifecycle, there is a direct link with your corporate objectives. This will allow you to justify and measure the changes in ways that resonate with your organisation so that you get the support and resourcing you need to make and sustain change.
As a working example, let’s say you want to improve the quality of hires you make. You would start by thinking of the experience that potential hires have of your organisation. You could ask yourself how potential employees find you, do they receive timely feedback or do they feel like an individual throughout the process rather than a name in a process? Reviewing the answers to these questions will allow you to see how well you have defined your employee value proposition and whether the reality is aligned with your objectives, ultimately defining a key part of the employee experience.
It’s important to set objectives that are linked to the organisation’s direction when looking to improve employee experience. This way, when you assess proposed changes to elements to the employee lifecycle, there is a direct link with your corporate objectives.
Career progression has been an important factor for a number of years now, but since the pandemic employees expect to have access to flexible working options and opportunities to collaborate with like-minded colleagues.
In what ways did the global pandemic impact HR teams?
The working world has been through a significant period of disruption due to the global covid pandemic. Things that might have sounded far off or impossible before the pandemic suddenly became accelerated as businesses scrambled to adapt. Video meetings are a prime example of this transformation. As recently as three years ago, they were only ever considered a backup option but have now established themselves as the commonly accepted first point of contact in business. Remote working also became the norm during this time, and HR technology providers turned out to be some of the ‘winners’ of the pandemic.
But the most significant change has been in the expectations of workers. Gone are the days when pay was the main, and sometimes sole, motivating factor in finding a new job. Career progression has been an important factor for a number of years now, but since the pandemic employees expect to have access to flexible working options and opportunities to collaborate with like-minded colleagues. As a business you have to be aware of these changing priorities for employees and if you want to attract the top talent in your industry, make sure that you not only meet but exceed these expectations where possible often with limited budgets.
How important are tools and systems within HR?
HR should work to provide employees with the quality of user experiences equal to those they experience outside of work. As individuals outside of work we have become used to slick, user-friendly interfaces on our mobile phones and the websites we visit. But this experience is very rarely replicated when it comes to HR software. If your colleagues have to jump between multiple applications with poor interfaces just to complete small tasks, then they will quickly switch off and stop engaging with the process. Your systems should be intuitive, save employees time by not having to constantly re-enter data such as their name. We must use language that is familiar to them at work. Try thinking about your colleagues as customers - it’s your job as an HR professional to understand their needs and provide them with the systems that empower them to efficiently complete their work and ultimately maximise their performance potential.
If your colleagues have to jump between multiple applications with poor interfaces just to complete small tasks, then they will quickly switch off and stop engaging with the process.
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