If you decide to go from JHB to CT, you could travel direct, or you could do the garden route. We all know that the garden route is filled with amazing sights and stops. This means that your great experience begins the moment you leave your home, and arriving at your destination is enriched by the wondrous experiences you had along the way. There is definitely something to be said about the journey being more than just the destination. You don’t want to miss out on that journey. In fact one of the secrets to life is learning to enjoy every step along our path knowing that together, every moment is part of a bigger picture. Similarly, the secret to engaged and motivated employees that results in greater business returns, is to design great employee experience journeys.
Our days are filled with interactions. As customers we interact with suppliers and products, we interact with technology, we interact with brands and as employees, we interact with the organizations for which we work. Companies focus great attention designing positive interactions with their customers, their brand and their product. However, employee experience is often overlooked. The workplace may be the destination, but the journey itself is filled with a myriad of experiences and interactions that will all contribute to employee perception, well-being and performance. It’s all about that journey.
What Is EX
Employee experience (EX) is all about a journey. It begins when you send your CV out for a job application and it is completed at some future point on your exiting the company. Along the way it is filled with moments rich in variety of experience. It includes predictable points along the employee life cycle of onboarding, development, and offboarding. It encompasses aspects of the value proposition that are beyond remuneration. It is deeper than the perks. It is more than the responsibility of the HR department.
Employee experience is a leadership driven priority. It includes social and emotional periods in our lives that merge our personal and work-life where management empathy and support goes a long way. Such times include celebratory proposals, family condolences, and even difficult performance reviews. Thus it is a holistic long-term journey encompassing the whole person.
The goal of the journey is to creating engaged, loyal and motivated employees. This in turn generates positive financial and emotional benefits for the organization.
Journey Checklist
So how does a company prepare for the journey their employees will take.
As with any road trip, you need to have a plan in place, your car in good running order and everything you need to ensure a smooth and enjoyable ride. For companies this means having in place strong organization enablers and people drivers.
Do you have a sound strategy in place that reflects your corporate culture and is supported by effective leadership and strong relationships? Have you secured a coherent Job design with work measurement benchmarks as well as clear reward and benefits pay structure in place?
Are you outsourcing the recruitment process and do you have a clear modus operandi to ensure a good fit between candidates and your organization? What is your policy and your process regarding engagement and enablement?
While these may be traditional HR considerations, they are essential elements that need to be in place before the actual journey can begin.
Why is EX Important For Your Business: 6 Key Reasons
1. Symbiotic relationship
Just as the tour operator designs an exciting itinerary that will leave you feeling enriched by your travel experience, so to, the employee experience should be purposefully designed by team leads to generate a symbiotic relationship between employee and employer. Failure to consciously coordinate this journey will result in both parties not having reached the full potential of the experience.
2. Higher productivity
A great EX strategy results in higher job satisfaction which in turn results in higher levels of productivity. According to Harvard psychologist Shawn Achor, the “happy brain” identifies more opportunities, exhibits more dedication and has a better understanding of your company’s product or service offering. This in turn leads to greater job success and higher profit turnover.
3. Corporate culture
Employee perception and experiences impact every other area of your business. Happy employees convey a positive mood and exhibit positive energy which is more attractive to others. This contributes to a positive corporate culture.
4. Loyalty
Happy employees are more likely to remain longer and promote your organization which helps attract other like-minded people. The right Ex strategy makes your company more employee competitive.
5. Employee competitiveness
The right EX strategy makes your company more employee competitive. It will allow you to attract, engage and develop high performing employees.
6. Ex and CX
Companies that want to revel in the competitive advantage brought about by good customer experience (CX) should first consider as a precursor, good Employee experience. Positive EX has been found to be directly linked to successful CX. According to a Qualtrics study, “companies that excel at customer experience have one-and-a-half times as many engaged employees as customer experience laggards do.” Just as good CX ensures customer loyalty and retention and acquisition, good EX ensures that you will attract high end talent, and it ensures talent loyalty and retention. The interesting thing is that most companies neglect this essential detail and then wonder why their CX efforts seem in vain.
Remember, your people are your greatest asset. It is essential to invest in their experience at your organization. Don’t miss out on creating an unforgettable EX journey.
More to come: Find out how.
Authour: Yael Benjamin at Interact RDT