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Customer experience is often the top consideration for keeping a business running efficiently. However, employee experience may be just as beneficial if catered to correctly.
A productivity boost
Employee experience can even assist in increasing workforce productivity. Dr Cecelia Herbert, principal behavioural scientist at Qualtrics’ XM Institute and doctor of organisational psychology, noted that addressing employee experience should be one of the top considerations for employers who want to maximise efficiency.
“Employee experiences are fundamental to addressing two of the biggest challenges every business and society is facing today: slowing economic growth and near-record lows in workforce productivity. In fact, global research from MIT shows companies with great employee experience are more profitable, innovative, and have higher levels of customer satisfaction,” Dr Herbert explained.
“It means that today, the HR function is one of the most impactful strategic growth levers for any business – one that’s as invaluable to the bottom line as marketing, sales, or [research and development]. And this is because people are an organisation’s most important investment; so, knowing what employees need to be productive, engaged, and enabled in their role is critical for them to do their best work.”
Leaders who leverage this can assist in growing their team’s productivity, engagement, and overall profitability.
“Equipped with timely and relevant insights, and the ability to easily take action on them, frontline managers and leaders can make informed decisions and effectively support their teams to deliver the outcomes the organisation is striving for – be that innovation, growth, profitability, improved customer service, and more,” said Dr Herbert.
“When this is done strategically and integrated into the operational fabric of the organisation, this enables a focus on priorities that most efficiently cultivate a healthy, engaged, and productive workforce. Ultimately, good employee experience management is good for a business’s bottom line and for the people who make it happen.”
She added: “I’ve no doubt, organisations that maintain their people-centric focus, and effectively enable their teams to do great work, will be the standout performers in years to come.”
What’s driving it?
In order to utilise employee experience advantageously, employers must first understand what drives it. According to Dr Herbert, wellbeing is one of the top areas for enhancing employee experience.
“Looking across the entire workforce in Australia – based on findings in the 2024 Qualtrics Employee Experience Trends Report – the primary drivers of engagement and intent to stay right now are ensuring company values match the employees’ and that people believe their career goals can be met,” she outlined.
“Wellbeing is driven through trusting relationships with managers and healthy work/life balance. These drivers show Australians want to do a great job and to be able [to] do it in a way that matches their own needs while making a positive contribution to the communities they serve – this is what engagement and wellbeing are built on.”
An important thing to note is how there is no “blanket approach” to employee experience. The workforce is made up of different people with diverse perspectives and experiences, meaning some individuality must be given to policies.
Dr Herbert continued: “The drivers of employee experience are often varied based on the employee’s individual circumstances – be it role type, tenure, life stage, and more.”
“As employees have responded to considerable and ongoing change in the world, and at work, we have seen the drivers of experience regularly shift since 2020, which heightens the importance of being able to systematically understand and meaningfully address diverse employee needs.”
Looking to the future
As we approach the end of 2023, leaders may be using this opportunity to plan for the coming year. There’s no better time to review employee experience policy and create a plan to hit the ground running in 2024.
“Employee experience is more than just engagement – it is every interaction employees have with an organisation and is deeply connected to how work gets done. Every person in an organisation – from the C-suite down – is therefore responsible for employee experience, and each cohort of the workforce has a different role to play in promoting a great one,” Dr Herbert said.
“Great employee experiences are built from the top. The Qualtrics research shows an organisation’s most senior leaders, such as the CEO, often have an outsized impact on employee experience – particularly when it comes to communicating the company vision, demonstrating the company values, making decisions that ensure the organisation makes a positive impact on society, and maintaining a transparent culture through open and honest communication.”
This means that employee experience must be seen as a driver of the bottom line rather than simply an engager of employees.
Dr Herbert explained: “For HR executives, the most impactful ways they can elevate the strategic imperative of employee experience management is to effectively link these programs to business outcomes. Readying the business for the next era of employee experience management, and activating these capabilities across functional lines, is essential to develop the organisational agility required to successfully navigate the years ahead. These goals can be achieved by creating and sharing value models linking improvements in employee experiences to the organisation’s economic and strategic outcomes.”
“HR leaders are at the helm of employee experience, and next year, their priorities should be employee growth and development, onboarding journeys, and optimising flexible work models. Equitable growth and development is one of the most impactful drivers of employee experience, and needs to be a priority if businesses are to realise sustainable performance and agility into the future,” she said.
“Lastly, frontline managers have a critical role in employee experience, too. When the relationship between managers and employees is built on trust, respect and integrity, we see an empirical connection with employee experience outcomes. The most important action this group can take is [to] practice effective two-way communication with their teams. This means creating a team culture where it feels safe to speak up about obstacles that get in the way of doing a great job, ideas for improving operating processes, and the support they need to adapt to organisational change. And then, importantly, ensuring this feedback is responded to by the business. Ultimately, it’s about creating an open and honest environment where people can do their best work.”
Jack Campbell
Jack is the editor at HR Leader.
