Working in the shadow of a pandemic has made irreversible changes in the way workers act, think, and function. An empowered workforce has triggered the Great Resignation, with roughly 33 million people quitting their jobs since the spring of 2021. As organizations rush to retain their employees, the coming decade will be about learning why employee experience is important and adopting policies that improve it.
Employee experience, popularly known as EX, is defined as the view that employees hold of their employers. Right from onboarding to the final day, everything that an employee absorbs from his or her working conditions contributes to employee experience.
Leading studies have claimed that working professionals with superior EX have 17% higher productivity than their counterparts. Here’s all you need to learn about how you can make this possible. But first, let’s explore why employee experience matters in 2022.
Five Reasons Why Employee Experience Is Important
Employee Retention
A happy employee is a key to the success of a company, whereas the absence of a positive ambience can quickly lead to a talent bleed. It is estimated that the US spends billions of dollars in turnover expenses each year, which not only chokes the resources of a company but also eats into its progress. Employee retention is the key to productivity and overall increased employee morale, and the best way to accomplish it is by keeping your employees happy and creating a positive employee experience.
Customer Satisfaction
An obvious way to satisfy your customers is through a highly trained and professional staff that can relay the mission and vision of your business to your clients. A happy and learned employee is an asset to the company, just as a disturbed and inept employee can quickly turn into a company’s liability.
As competition rises, a business firing on all cylinders gains the edge. The better your employees emulate your brand in front of customers, the greater loyalty you will build with your base.
Employee Engagement
Employee experience is cemented by the engagement employees have with their coworkers, bosses, and support staff of an organization. An increasingly engaged employee is capable of enhancing his or her productivity and outperforming their less-engaged counterparts. The employee experience advantages are lasting and benefit an organization in multiple ways.
Organizational Performance
Employee experience has a domino effect on the organization, with its impact rippling through the entire chain of productivity of the workforce. The only way to make progress as an organization is to generate a humane and decent working experience for your employees — in ways through which they can feel a difference. Once you get the ball rolling with your efforts, the payback will be far and wide, resulting in formidable chances of growth for your organization.
Growth & Development
Uplifting EX has a serious impact on the personal and professional growth of an employee. A fast-paced and futuristic organization can be dragged down by low morale and an incompetent workforce, with a risk of rapid turnover. This can be prevented by building a strategic relationship with the workforce and allowing for a free exchange of ideas between the parties.
Employers must take care of the emotional, physical, and social well-being of their employees. Here’s how you can win the 21st-century war of the workforce by attracting and retaining the best talent:
Five Ways to Improve Employee Experience
Creative learning and development opportunities
There are many creative ways to lift EX in the workplace. Measures like targeted engagement, continuous learning cycles, employee feedback, and workplace transparency are the ways in which EX gets a much-needed boost. Access to learning and development is critical to improving the employee experience in the organization.
Studies show that compact learning increases EX by 31%. In-house learning, aided by employers and coworkers, is instrumental for the growth of employees.
Engaging leadership and invested management
Managers must exert their influence and pay equal attention to everyone on the floor. From training opportunities to personal guidance, they must always be ready to lead the workforce through uncharted waters. Inclusive leadership makes all the difference in the world and is critical for a reignited EX in the workforce.
Hybrid workforce
Your organization must have a combination of subcontractors, freelancers, and full-time employees. Granting a flexible work environment maximizes input, as everyone works in the environment of their choice. Being chained to a desk is a relic of the past, whereas uber-cool co-working spaces and remote talent sourced from multiple channels are the way forward.
Feedback loop
A feedback loop is the best way to measure the employee experience and get a pulse of your organization. By getting a first-hand evaluation of the areas of improvement from the people who make deals on your behalf, your business taps into the gold.
The feedback loop must begin from the moment the employee is onboarded and must continue till the final day. Nothing trumps real-time feedback, especially for an organization that’s interested in improving the employee experience.
One-on-one coaching
Personalized employee experience created via mentorship programs and coaching opportunities is crucial for the professional development of employees. The entire business stands to benefit from an employee’s growth. Access to personalized coaching, wellness programs, child care benefits, and mindful assistance are all crucial aspects of boosting a sound EX in your organization.
Summing Up
Every night, the biggest asset of your organization — its workforce — returns home, and your job is to make them come back tomorrow. Creating an environment of exceptional employee experience is not a two-way bridge, but a highway that must be built by the organization. The better the position an employee is in, the greater benefits the organization will reap.
