Posted by The workforce is undergoing a generational shift that has brought about radical changes in the human resource industry. Many corporations have taken the initiative to reinforce the nature of HR from employer-centric to authentic employee engagement.
However, while embracing the future of work with technological implementations in place, many companies forget to nurture the employee experience on a more, well, humanise level.
Despite being the buzzword circulating the world of HR in these recent years, employee experience is still an obscure concept. In fact, the term is often associated with the level of engagement, which is true to some extent, but that’s only the surface.
Five core components of experience
1. Culture and team atmosphere
A company’s culture speaks volume of its values and trustworthiness, which are the two most important aspects that affect a person’s experience in the company. Use your culture to create a team that is unified by a shared belief.
While it is expected of the managers to set the stage for work in a way that benefits the organisation, a thriving culture is one that’s built around the people to ensure that it works for them too. Regardless of how you define culture, it has to exude the vibes that resonate with all employees.
2. Workplace environment
Physical workspace contributes a huge part of employee experience. Since most employees spend a minimum of 8 hours at work, you would want the office to feel like home to them.
Monitor how your team prefers to work – whether in a closed environment (think cubicle) or in an open space, office arrangement does impact productivity! And it’s not just about the floor plan, it’s also everything else that’s present in the office. So try to design a space that accommodates your employees’ working styles.
3. Learning and development opportunity
The new rule of work requires people to be self-accountable for their career development, which means companies who can provide a supportive environment for growth will be able to foster positive employee experience.
However, giving them the opportunities alone is not enough, your role as a leader also entails coaching and mentoring. More importantly, have consistent personal development plans in place to cultivate a learning culture, which will boost your employees’ proactiveness as well.
Related: HR Best Practices from Fortune’s Top 10 Companies 2017
4. Technology advancement
There is almost no aspect of life that is immune from the digitisation trends, even more so in the workplace. Technological applications are designed to simplify the way we work, hence the high expectation of the employees in terms of digital transformation at work.
Although it’s not necessary to mobilise or digitalize all areas of work, your organisation has to, at the very least, utilise technology to improve the traditional workflow and in turn, enhance productivity and teamwork.
From recruiting, onboarding new hires to team communication (and much more), digital integration has become the new standard when evaluating the level of a company’s employee experience.
5. Work-life balance
Helping employees to achieve a healthy work-life balance is an on-going challenge for all HR professionals. The common question is: What can employers do to enable their staff to enjoy the best of both worlds, especially with the pressure of making ends meet?
Besides the usual benefits like flexible working hours, remote work and even sabbatical, you should learn about the actual experience that your employees are going through to offer assistance where possible.
Furthermore, people are more concerned about their career goals than merely climbing up the corporate ladder. So monetary incentives have become meaningless. What you can actually do is to create an inspiring workplace where employees can get a chance to fulfil their personal goals. That’s the new norm of work-life balance.
Don’t restrict your employees within the contractual duties, take a holistic approach when managing people to ensure that everyone has a sense of purpose, that everyone is able to thrive.