Why should organizations know about the employee experience?

If the employee experience is not seen as a priority, it will inadvertently become a second-tier notion with no real measures of success.

If set as a priority, a company can reduce attrition, build brand reputation, streamline processes through enhanced communication and productivity, and perhaps even increase the overall wellness of their employee population.

As Josh Bersin says, “Pay is a "hygiene factor", not an “engagement factor”. Pay will get people in the door, but it will not keep them. If employees are engaged, involved, AND paid well, they will stay, learn and be productive in their roles and within the community.

What factors are important with the employee experience?

• Consistency – an employee experience does not have a beginning, middle and end, it is a more consistent drumbeat with consistent comms and community and events.
• Openness – employees what to know how the business is doing, not to only do the work. Sharing big picture goals, being asked to be part of decisions, understanding the financials that can be shared, all increases the employee experience.
• Embedded Values – companies who live and breathe and embed their values show that they are true to their employees, clients, and what the company stands for. This, in and of itself, creates positive experiences.

What are some trends or emerging practices in employee experience?

• From employee experience to human experience
• Giving stock equity to every employee in the company
• The hiring of new roles: Community Engagement Managers, Experience Designers
• Using technology for civic engagement, problem solving and being a force for good.
• Rethinking rewards and engagement to include freelance or contract workers.
• Companies are investing in using startup science-based engagement companies like Good.co, Cultureamp, and Roundpeg

What part of the employee experience is most important?

• Cognitive diversity – We all think and behave differently and have individual core values, interests and needs, so the employee experience must maintain a ‘one size fits one’ philosophy by offering differentiated and varied experience so that each person can find their own connection based on what matters to them. There is no one employee experience.

What does it look like when organizations make the employee experience a priority?

• Some companies are using and interpret data in new ways to make connections between people, teams, and the community. These links to and between one another are an opportunity to engage, debate, challenge, and surface things that may never have been.
• I have observed the employee experience to be most often the little things that make the biggest difference. Like adding context to photos and data shared.
• A CEO making a phone call to 5 employees a week to speak to them about their roles or congratulate or thank them for their work on an experience. 
•Deep listening happens - voices are truly heard
•Powerful questions are asked to all levels
•Decision criteria is in place to make quicker decisions.

What does the employee experience mean from a leadership and employee perspective?

A leader needs to share, provide, and model the employee experience. This may be one relationship at a time, in small groups, or as a whole team.

Can you provide examples of when employees are more engaged due to a focus on the employee experience?

One company I work with is providing their staff the chance to increase their facilitation skills when working with clients. It is an interactive experience bringing together people from different areas of the business, giving the space and tools to practice new ways of engaging an audience or creating an experience for others. In turn, it is leading to new ways of working, shared stories of success between individuals and teams.  

Another company has created an experience for contract workers to become Campus Ambassadors – getting involved in spreading the news and the benefits of a new way to gain 24/7 healthcare for Women. They are living on or near their college or university campus.

Kind Ambassadors from the company Kind Bar have KIND ambassadors who bring awareness to their brand while also teaming with other like-minded clubs on campus to have an impact on the community. KIND doesn't only want to gain brand recognition; they want to bring health and kindness together too.

Judy Goldberg is the founder of Wondershift LLC, a firm focused on results-driven transformation, partnering with leaders to shift their businesses and employees to be more successful, productive, strategic, and engaged.  She can be reached at judy@wondershift.biz.