Driving people-centric organisations: 6 practical ways to improve employee experience

Monthly team outings or free access to the gym are quite effective in keeping your employees engaged but are these extrinsic factors enough to retain your top talents and help them reach their full potential?

Today’s workforce is digitally capable; they want smarter solutions, faster responses and are not willing to compromise on crucial factors such as self-esteem, working conditions, and career growth. They deserve technical support, guidance, and streamlined processes that are conducive for both personal and professional growth.

It’s high time for forward-thinking organisations to adopt the perspective of their people and think on a broader scale to improve their end-to-end employee experience.

Research shows that companies that invest in employee experience are twice as innovative, provide double the customer satisfaction, and deliver 25% greater profitability.

They record higher ELTV (Employee Lifetime Value), demonstrate responsibility towards their job, enjoy collaboration, and are deeply invested in the success of the organisation.In this article, we are focusing on the six most important factors that pave the way for robust employee experience.

Fluid work environment

Aspire to build an agile environment that’s characterised by flat hierarchy, absence of workplace biases, free-flow of ideas, and meaningfulness. It’s a tough endeavour, no doubt. However, the employee experience is your competitive advantage, and it makes complete sense to try to provide the employees with an environment where they feel comfortable enough to open up and work harder to achieve both their personal and organisational goals.

Employee insights

Gather employee feedback at significant touchpoints to give them the voice they deserve. Send relevant, personalised questionnaires regularly (after momentous events/one-on-ones/group meetings, etc.) to grasp their thought processes and identify emerging patterns of dissatisfaction.

Leverage digital tools to automate the surveys and the data-crunching processes. Working with real-time insights about how the employees feel about their situation, their journey, and the organisation as a whole is crucial in building the workplace of the future.

Frictionless processes

73% of employees who work in a fully-enabled digital workplace reported a positive impact on their productivity

Your employees’ success depends on their ability to perform in an environment that doesn’t hinder their productivity. Make it easier for them to collaborate faster and work smarter with tools that enable them to set milestones, goals in a few simple steps and follow-up on their progress whenever required. Make the system transparent enough so they can follow the organisational goals and decide how they can contribute to achieving those as a team.

Skills development

“CFO asks CEO: What happens if we invest in developing our people, and then they leave us?CEO: What happens if we don’t, and they stay?”

A quite well-worn quote no doubt, but the idea behind the expression stands true. Your employees are your biggest reinforcements; the skill set they bring to the table defines the success or failure of the company. They must be given the opportunity to hone their skills, to train themselves so that they can do their jobs better. Facilitate organisational growth by investing in skills development for both the people and their leaders. LinkedIn’s 2018 Workforce Learning Report states that 93% of employees would stay at a company longer if it invested in their careers and development.

Meaningful conversations

The most effective method of knowing your employees better is through performance evaluation meetings or one-on-ones. Make the most of these face-to-face conversations by planning and designing a structure around the sessions. Set a frequency, have questions and conversation points ready well before schedule, create an action plan based on the result of the meetings, and follow-up regularly to help them stay focused.

Management accountability

Leaders can make a difference by taking up the responsibility of coaching their teams, inspiring them, and celebrating their successes. They must reinforce the ideals, values, and purpose of the organisation and provide support whenever necessary. That doesn’t just imply professional assistance, but it also includes support and flexibility during personal crises.