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I must admit that I was a late adopter to the concept of paying for stuff with your watch (i.e., Apple Pay or Google Pay type services). But during the pandemic, I had to learn how to use it and now, I’m a fan. Primarily because it makes things “easy to buy and easy to use”.
When I worked in hospitality, we would mention during customer service training that mantra of making things “easy to buy and easy to use”. It was all about making the customer experience (yes, you guessed it) easy and effortless. We talked about reducing barriers to purchase, speeding up delivery of the product, making upselling suggestions, and finding ways to educate customers about how to use the product effectively.
I still remember that mantra today. It’s frustrating sometimes how hard it is to give organizations money. When I’m frustrated with a customer experience, I find myself saying, “I’m trainable and trying to be a good customer. Tell me what I’m supposed to do.”
The same is true with the employee experience. It should be “easy to buy and use” as well. And in today’s technology driven society; it might make sense to add “easy to share”. Here’s how we can apply the “easy to buy and use” concept to the employee experience.
“Easy to buy” means having a company culture where employees feel they are welcomed, valued, and supported. It’s about employees “buying into” the organization. Granted, no company is perfect, but that doesn’t mean employees can’t feel like they are an integral part of the operation and a contributor to the bottom-line.
“Easy to use” refers to creating policies and procedures that help move the organization forward. It’s about only creating policies when necessary. And those policies or guidelines can be easily located and understood. I believe most employees understand that workplace rules are necessary and important. We just have to be careful not to overdo it.
“Easy to share” is focused on designing a company culture and workplace rules that can be explained by anyone. When I think of new hire buddy programs, it occurs to me that for them to be successful, employees need to be able to explain those unwritten rules to each other. If the only people who can answer questions are HR and management, there might be a problem.
Employees have choices when it comes to their jobs. If they like the experience, then they will stay. And if they don’t, well…then they’ll probably leave. Organizations should consider have a focused conversation about their employee experience, so employees choose them. And that choice should be easy to make.
Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Orlando, FL
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Justin Rigsby says
I totally agree with your idea about having targeted interactions that enhance the employee culture. It reminds firms that staff members have choices and will stay if the experience is beneficial. This reminds me of Walmart, among other corporations that have implemented self-checkout. The growing number of self-checkout lanes at companies such as Walmart is a prime example of implementing the “easy to buy and use” motto. It improves and simplifies the purchasing process for customers by allowing them to scan and make payments for things without having to wait in line. This eliminates a common purchase impediment. The technology experience is intended to be simple and straightforward to use for the majority of customers. Displayed instructions and direction simplify the self-checkout process. Implementing numerous self-checkout lines increases production and allows customers more freedom. This makes the entire purchasing experience more efficient. With this addition, I want to come back because it is so simple, convenient, and much faster.
Christiaan says
I agree with your post. I think that manifesting the notion that organizations should be “Easy to buy, easy to use, and easy to share” should be one of the top priorities of not only management and HR but of the organization as a whole. I believe that the more an organization makes employees feel welcome and give them a sense of belonging, the more likely employees are to stick with the organization. This will make employees feel like they are useful and helping the company grow. Next I would like to share some appreciation for the “only make policies if needed” part of the blog. If organizations keep making unnecessary policies it becomes to complicated and employees are less likely to follow. Thus, making the policies easy to follow will allow employees to not only learn the policies better, but also to adhere better to them. Overall, as you mentioned, I think that organizations should have that conversation about the employee experience. Employees are the heart of any company, so if their experience is perceived to be better they are more likely to stay with an organization and also create a great employee culture.
Brandon Pendleton says
I love this article! Especially the comments about company culture. I always teach my students, and tell individuals I train about how company culture is literally the foundation of every business and how it shapes what is ultimately produced. Having employees who are totally engaged in the company culture is win for everyone. You have employees who are happy. Happy employees lead to happy customers 🙂