The Employee Experience Drives Employee Retention – hr bartender
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
I read an article in HR Brew about how new hires are leaving organizations at higher rates than in previous years. According to a report from Qualtrics, 40% of employees who have been with an organization for less than six months are planning to leave. The report cites the reason being a disconnect in setting new hires up for success (i.e., onboarding).
There are lots of articles declaring that quiet quitting is over and voluntary quits are down. And that might be true. But it doesn’t change the fact that turnover is expensive. Organizations should remember that there’s a direct relationship between the employee experience and retention.
If you’re looking for an opportunity to assess your employee experience, here are a few articles that might be useful.
A 5-Step Audit of the Candidate Experience
Some people might be saying, “I thought we were talking about the employee experience?”. Truth is that the labor market continues to be competitive. Organizations cannot have a terrible candidate experience and expect people to want to work for them. A positive candidate experience is the gateway to a positive employee experience.
Give Employees a Better Employee Experience
Organizations are very focused on the economy and profits right now. Hopefully, they are equally focused on the people side of the business. Because it takes people to earn profits. Companies that want to thrive will make the connection and deliver the best experience.
Employees Expect an Experience Based on Trust
The employee experience is important. Candidates want to talk about it during the interview. Employees want to learn about it during onboarding. And all along the way, employees want to know that they can trust their employer to do the right thing – be honest. That helps with employee retention. Even when we don’t have all the answers. Or when we have an answer that the employee might not want to hear.
I do believe there might have been a time when candidates and employees wanted to work at companies where the employment brand portrayed “family”. I’m not sure that’s the case today. But that doesn’t mean organizations have to change who they are. My guess is if they really looked at their definition of family, the company already has a great message to send.
Employee Feedback Can Help Employers Save Money
Organizations are always going to have some sort of challenge that they’re dealing with. Start putting a process in place to ask and get employee feedback. That can help with employee retention. Employees have great ideas. Use them.
Organizations Need to Proactively Monitor the Employee Experience
I want to believe we all agree that organizations need to have a pulse on what’s happening in the workplace. The process of doing so is a never-ending task. Because expectations change all the time – company expectations, customer expectations, and employee expectations.
That’s why using a gap analysis to set a baseline then regularly utilizing the feedback tools allows the organization to proactively monitor the employee experience.
Organizations spend a lot of time and resources attracting and selecting the best talent. From a business perspective, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to not give those employees a great experience and setting them up for success. And we’re not just talking about new hires. Throughout an employee’s career, they should feel the organization wants them to have a good experience and wants them to be successful.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Orlando, FL
43