6 Resources for Creating a Better Employee Experience
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Reddit was founded in 2005 as a social discussion website. It ranks as one of the top 20 most visited sites in the world and the top 10 in the U.S. They have about 430 million users and, from a work perspective, mostly individuals in the early stages of their career.
If you haven’t seen it, there’s a subreddit that’s gaining a lot of attention lately. It’s called “antiwork”. I’ve been paying attention to it for several weeks and I’m not sure that the discussion isn’t really opposed to work as much as it is opposed to working in a terrible organization. When you have a moment, check it out. The stories from employees about the way they are treated … well, check it out for yourself.
Not every organization is treating employees with the complete disrespect mentioned in the antiwork subreddit. But it does prompt the question for businesses: “What is our employee experience like?” and “How would employees describe it?”
The employee experience isn’t a “set it and forget it” strategy. It should be regularly monitored and updated. Now could be a perfect time to audit the company’s employee experience and make some adjustments. Here are a few resources that might help.
How Organizations Can Build an Intentional Culture
We all know that the past couple of years have been tough. Organizations want to shift their focus toward economic recovery. And let’s be clear – economic recovery doesn’t necessarily mean “back to the pre-pandemic days”. During the pandemic, organizations and employees have learned smarter ways to work, and those discoveries need to be incorporated into the business.
The process of redefining organizational values and behaviors then using those to create an intentional culture could be exactly something for organizations to consider right now.
3 Areas to Include in an HR Compliance Self Audit
As we’re starting the New Year, conducting an audit is a helpful way to check the status on your compliance. Because compliance activities like labor law posters don’t follow a set schedule. It’s not like “every January labor law posters change”.
2022 is going to be a busy year. As such, I can see a lot of organizations wanting to start the year focused and ready. This includes the HR department. HR will want to know that compliance matters are in order so they can spend much of their time on recruiting, training, and helping the organization accomplish its business goals.
Human Experience Management #HXM – 4 Essential Culture Components
Now more than ever, employees are looking for a real authentic human work experience. They want to know that the organization views them that way. This isn’t to say that employees aren’t prepared to do hard work – trust me, they are. But they expect to be treated as a human first.
HXM is exactly what it sounds like – it’s about treating individuals as humans versus employees. But what does that mean? What are the key components of having a human experience? HXM isn’t about separate programs. It’s about bringing all the components together into everything the organization does.
How to Build a New Employee Benefits Plan Post Merger
Mergers and acquisitions can be exciting times for businesses. M&As can create opportunities for new products and services. They can unleash innovation and disrupt industries.
But make no mistake M&As are also tough and present many challenges. One of the biggest is merging talent management strategies, such as employee benefits. There are lots of decisions to be made and we often don’t make everyone happy. But, if we make decisions in alignment with company values, and if we’re transparent about how we made those decisions, then I believe employees will respect the process.
The Employee Lifecycle Has Not Changed but the Employee Experience Needs To
The business world is constantly changing and as a result, the employee experience should constantly evolve with it. I’m not talking about the different phases of the employee lifecycle: hiring, onboarding, engagement, development, retention, and separation. Those really don’t change much.
What should be changing is the organization’s approach to these lifecycle phases, which is the essence of the employee experience. Organizations should ask themselves, “What is our candidate experience?”, “How will the organization conduct onboarding?” Those experiences can and should change over time because employee wants and needs change.
Employers and Employees are Responsible for Retention
Organizations should care about employee retention and put strategies in place to retain employees. But this doesn’t mean that employees don’t have any responsibility in retention.
Organizations are unable to put retention strategies in place if they don’t understand what employees want (i.e., what makes them stay with the company). Employees need to provide honest feedback to the organization. Retention occurs when organizations create a strategy to engage and retain employees based on feedback from employees.
Over the past few years, employee expectations have changed about work. If organizations want to retain employees, they need to offer a complete employee experience that aligns with today’s employee expectations. Organizations should solicit feedback from employees and try to align the experience appropriately.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Los Angeles, CA
16