A workplace which assures a memorable and an enriching work experience to the employees can bank upon and be assured of high performance and enhanced productivity.

In this digital era, artificial intelligence and automation are the buzz words in the market, and, organisations are trying to tap innovations and technological advancements to stay ahead in the competitive curve. Amidst such technical disruptions and the race to move ahead, we also need to think about the aspects that make a difference in making organisations successful, and, place them in a different class or league.

What is that element? The answer is rather simple and can be guessed easily-The People or Employees, who are the actual contributors and the differentiating factor to strive and sustain success in the long run. It is always the ‘Human Resource' in our organisation that brings all the essentials collected at a single place which is deemed crucial to achieving sustainable growth and competitive advantage in the existing volatile environment.

Tapping the potential

The Deloitte Global Human Capital Trends survey in 2017 and Glassdoor data has revealed that the ability of organisations to deal with issues such as employee engagement, culture and productivity dropped by 14 percent in 2017 as compared to 2016, owing to rising complexities in work environment.

The problem before us is in tapping this underlying potential for larger benefits. And, the solution lies in organisations relying and needing to work on maximising the employee experience in the present jobs to derive the best out of them. A workplace which assures a memorable and an enriching work experience to the employees can bank upon and be assured of high performance and enhanced productivity.

Many researchers across the globe have proved that superior employee experience at the workplace has a positive impact on the overall organisational performance, and, reap greater benefits than their counterparts. Organisations need to widen their myopic viewpoint which is narrowly focused on engagement and cultural issues alone. Instead, they need to improvise the employee experience as a whole using evolving wellness and fitness apps, a multitude of feedback tools, and, employee self‑service technologies. HR in organisations need to redefine and redesign their strategies to tap and extract the maximum from the available diverse workforce involving all generations ranging from Gen X to Millennials.

Factors that impact Employee Experience

On the basis of the various reports and research studies, various factors which can contribute to enhancing employee experience in totality can be summarised as follows:-

1. Meaningful Work: That powers employees with the autonomy to be a part of smaller empowered teams, with flexi-time, and, the right to choose their job profile to gain better output.

2. Supportive Management: That helps in setting clear goals and providing complete support to develop skills through coaching and allied methods, and, augmented by active performance management systems in place.

3. Positive Work Environment: That provides fair, inclusive, and, a flexible work climate with a humanistic approach along with recognition of individual differences.

4. Opportunity for Growth: That provides sufficient training and support facilities and talent mobility on the job, driven by self-directed and dynamic learning by creating high impact learning culture.

5. Trust in Leadership: That comes from the Top Management's robust approach towards their mission and inspiring attitude and their continuous commitment to invest in people or human resource through cross-cultural communication and collaboration.

The Business HR leaders in organisations need to particularly get their design and delivery right to get things on the right track, which can be done through work simplification, involvement of design thinking, and, tackling challenges of overwhelmed employees. They can try to leverage the experiences of employees in various departments working on similar lines to design integrated customer experiences. Organisations need to understand that HR services, employer brand, diversity, learning, career mobility, the structure of the organisation and leadership, all affect employees’ experience.

Many high-performing companies such as Cisco, IBM, GE, Airbnb, and others are involved in sourcing employee ideas to formulate new policies while undertaking performance management exercises, designing workplaces, benefits, and rewards which helped them to include the employees in creating a ‘perfect' employee experience. For instance, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Telstra, Nike and Deutsche Telekom have redesigned their onboarding, recruitment, and employee self-service applications that helped them to improve the overall employee experience. And, companies such as Apple Inc., Google, LinkedIn, Facebook have carefully studied their workplaces to create a flexible, collaborative and humanistic environment to propel long-lasting employee experience.

The top management and managers in charge of the various operations in the organisation have to be committed to improve the overall work environment. This can be done by modifying their policies and bringing in more agility and innovation in the approach towards addressing the issues at hand. The changing times where competition is on the rise calls for proactive initiatives that can help the existing firms to endure and sustain in the long run. Organisations can ensure their success and survival in this age of technological disruptions through their people. The available human capital is a true asset to any organisation, but, is beneficial to them when they are being invested into, or, are made to feel valued at work.

In Quotes “Organisations can ensure their success and survival in this age of technological disruptions through their people. The available human capital is a true asset to any organisation, but, is beneficial to them when they are being invested into, or, are made to feel valued at work.”

Employee experience is the key

It is always the employee experience that drives employees to give their best and stay engaged and involved in their work and showcase enhanced performance. A better employee experience leads to: -

1. Motivated workforce

2. Puts organisations on a growth trajectory

3. Helps in achieving their pre-determined goals

Employee experience acts as a catalyst to propel employees to work in the interest of the organisation. This can be done from the time the employee gets hired till the time s/he retires. Organisations need to revamp the entire organisational culture to give way to new developments and interventions that could facilitate and uplift the employee experience. This will help organisations to retain and manage their talent well, and, in realising the organisational goals, and, ensure success and prosperity in the long run. It will also put the organisations in the league of best employers and boosts their employer brand thereby setting a benchmark in the industry. 

Employee experience can be a game changer for organisations to survive and sustain in a dynamic global world. Organisations can harness employee talent driven by ‘perfect' employee experiences which will not only help to address the issues about employee engagement and organisational culture, but will enhance its overall profitability and performance. Employee experience can act as a differentiator and help companies to elevate their employer brand by setting a benchmark in this world of cutthroat competition. This will in turn drive high-performing and satisfied workforce to stay and resolve many contemporary HR issues.