RETHINKING THE EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE APPROACH
Executives in the Human Resources department, or company leaders in general, need to convey to their employees the feeling that a business is a great place to work. This situation is considered as an important data for both current employees and candidates. Companies can consider many details, from making pet insurance to fun games inside the company. All these efforts are for qualified employees to feel good, perform high and of course increase their loyalty to the company. However, taking these common ideas one step further and renewing employee experience approaches from a broader perspective brings an important competitive advantage.
FINANCIAL NEEDS ARE NOT THE FOCUS
Traditional company managers think they can only keep an employee in the job with a good raise, bonus, or similar monetary reward. Today, the expectations of employees from managers are far beyond a purely monetary relationship. Companies that attach the necessary importance to the issue of employee experience (EX) have started to allocate much larger budgets for employee benefits or privileges. For example, Fortune 500 companies are very successful in terms of personalized employee experience. Fortune 500 companies said in a statement that they spend an average of $2,500 a year for each employee.
Gartner recently conducted a special survey on employee experience. About 5000 employees and 150 HR leaders were involved in this research. Only 23% of HR leaders estimate that their employees will remain with the company after the pandemic. On the other hand, 31% of employees report that their company offers a unique service for them.
EMPLOYEES WANT TO BE SEEN AS PEOPLE, NOT WORKERS
Carolina Valencia, one of the authors of the study, emphasizes that companies are in a race to offer the best conditions, but while doing this, they only focus on basic needs. However, as it is known, today, employees want to be motivated by emotions rather than material qualities. In other words, employees today largely want to be treated as "people" rather than as workers.
Managers, leaders, human resources officers have to make the employees feel that they care much more than their jobs. This interaction is one of the most important weapons of employee experience and belonging. A money-only motivation style can repel your employees. It is easier to persuade an employee who feels emotionally cared for. In an alarming and uncertain process like the pandemic, such feelings or expectations have become much sharper.
In the survey conducted in January 2021, 47% of the employees emphasized that the level of stress they experienced was far beyond their previous experiences. On the other hand, only 37% of these people stated that they can understand what their businesses need in their individual lives. In other words, 2 out of every 3 people on average reported that they did not receive the necessary human support and understanding from the company during a period of anxiety. From this point of view, businesses should make their employees feel that they value them in every sense, personalize their experiences and support them in all processes. It is possible to talk about a humanitarian agreement at the focal point of the relationship here.
CREATE SPACE FOR AUTONOMOUS WORK MODELS
Providing a certain amount of flexibility in the working order and developing formulas that will give the steering wheel to the employees are effective in increasing the performance. For example, all teams working at Novartis, a pharmaceutical company, have the right and freedom to determine their own working models autonomously. We see that Rentokil company has started to adopt a similar model.
Gartner underlines that giving autonomy to workgroups will result in an increase in work performance of around 40%. Finally, developing strategies that will encourage personal development processes and instilling a sense of common purpose within the organization are critical to rethinking employee experience approaches.
On the other hand, it is also important to establish connections with the elements of the employees outside of work. 60% of those surveyed by Gartner state that it is a very important criterion for their company to give importance to their private lives and families.