Talent shortfalls have led to a growing focus on employee experience (EX) as a key determinant of organization performance and employee well-being in today’s highly eccentric world of work. Employee experience includes everything a person experiences during their journey in a company — from recruitment to exit. Everything affects this journey, from the physical office environment to company culture, career development, the leadership style, and the tools they use on a daily basis.
But creating an exceptional employee experience is not a “one-size-fits-all” proposition any longer. It’s not something that can be imposed from above as an end point or, you know, William Faulkner said, “Your most gracious mourners”? Rather, employee experience design should be an iterative process, always involving employees in the co-creation of what their work life looks like. Here's why.
Everyone Is Not a Demographic Segment–Employees Are People
Employee experience, at its most fundamental level, is about people. And people are ever-shifting, ever-changing creatures. Every employee comes to work with individual expectations, life experiences, and career goals. Because what works for one person does not work for another. In other words, we are not one-size-fits-all types of beings.
Interactive modes allow for dialog and iterative development. Stimulating employee engagement regularly allows you to capture your employees’ evolving needs, address pain points as they hit, and develop experiences that matter to them. The process acknowledges that every employee has distinct needs — in the same way that every human being does.
A company might, for example, survey employees about their work-life balance and adjust flexible work policies accordingly on an ongoing basis. Gradually, this cycle of feedback generates an improvement that echoes back to the employees, who see their concerns being targeted, and feel listened to and well thought of.
Lets create together ownership and engagement
Couching your employees at the table and actively including them in the creation of their own working experience lends itself to an air of ownership. They move from being passive recipients of HR policies to envisioning themselves as co-creating the workplace culture. When you know you have ownership of something it can be a massive driver for increasing engagement.
Because engaged employees know that their opinions matter and have been valued by the organization, they are more likely to bring their best selves to work. When employees play a role in shaping their own experience, whether through feedback on training offerings or input into wellness initiatives, they will feel more connected to the company’s mission and values.
As an example: dost employees help to shape a workplace wellness program, this is more likely to motivate them to participate. Including their perspectives in the design process helps the program feel more authentic and suited to their true needs.
Resilience and Adaptability: Feedback的帮助去适应变化的现实
The nature of work is changing faster than ever. New technologies, social shifts and global challenges — including the COVID-19 pandemic — have altered how individuals conceptualize work, what is important to them and what they need. What employees cared about yesterday may differ from what they care about today.
An interactive process allows organizations to adjust to those changes in the moment. When employees have regular opportunities to safely express concerns and give feedback, HR teams can rapidly adapt policies, benefits, and initiatives to address these changing needs.
When the pandemic sent many people off to work from home, for example, companies that had already built a habit of soliciting employee feedback were able to ease into the transition by asking employees what they needed in order to continue their work smoothly. Some employees worked remotely with inadequate tools, others required flexibility with childcare. These insights enabled HR to deliver more customized solutions for employees, at a time of deep uncertainty.
Transparently to Build Trust
Listening to employee feedback and using it to influence decisions creates trust on a deeper level. Trust is the bedrock of any good relationship, especially that of an employee with an employer. When employees feel that their opinions are taken into account and help to improve their experience, they are more likely to feel a connection to the company and its leaders.
A participatory design process doesn’t gather feedback and then press smelt. It’s about being transparent with staff about how their insights are used. Then if a company asks employees to take the survey, they need to share the results with employees and make it clear what will be done as a result. Sharing this information fosters trust, communicates to employees that their opinion counts, and demonstrates the company’s commitment to improve the workplace for all.
For instance, if a company solicits employee feedback around work-from-home policies, it should share the findings of the survey and how it will be incorporated into decisions. This transparency ensures that employees have confidence in the process and feel that they are part of the decision-making process.
Another way to say this is: No two employees are alike. Some prefer a collaborative, buzzing team environment, while others seek quiet, solitary workspaces. Some workers might be excited about opportunities for quick promotion, some may be focused on work-life balance.
Because employees have different preferences, an interactive EX design process ensures that their perspectives are incorporated. Constant feedback helps HR teams build experiences and policies that are tailored to different interests to make employee experience personal. Not only does this help personalized the employee experience to the degree that increases employee satisfaction and engagement, as it demonstrates that the company knows the individuals they employ as more than just a number on a spreadsheet.
For example, an organization can divide career development programs into specific types of training or mentorship, thereby enabling employees to select their path according to their career goals. And this gives workers a sense that they have agency in their own growth and development, which translates to increased satisfaction and retention.
Empathy Drives Connection
Empathy — the ability to feel what other people are feeling — lies at the core of an interactive EX design process. It’s easy to get caught up in metrics, performance reviews and KPIs when designing employee experiences. But in the end, it’s the human element that counts.
A human-centric approach to EX means focusing on the whole person, not just the person at their desk. Organizations can create an experience that doesn't just check boxes, but also addresses the holistic well-being of employees, respects their personal lives, and makes employees feel human and cared through this social science of interacting with people. Employees are so much more likely to remain engaged, productive, and loyal to the company when they feel that they’re doing it for their well-being.
For example: Providing mental health resources or flexible schedules isn’t merely a supplemental benefit, but rather an empathetic strategy that acknowledges the holistic needs of employees. As a result, it creates a deep emotional bond between the employee and the organisation.
Adaptation to New Work Norms
New norms are emerging that challenge pre-existing models of working as the workplace continues to evolve. From the rise of hybrid work and the importance of digital tools to the need for work-life balance, we’ve seen many changes in recent years. To thrive, organizations need to be aware of these trends and ready to pivot quickly. An interactive design process enables organizations to achieve this by eliciting feedback from employees who are experiencing these changes firsthand.
HR can pivot with the times, to keep pace with the demands of modern work, by being responsive to what employees need. Rather than being reactive at the mercy of trends that require change, businesses that adopt an iterative process can respond proactively to the needs and desires of their people.
Example: Countless companies are working toward hybrid work arrangements, but not all employees desire the same balance of remote versus in-office work. A feedback loop on remote work preferences is an interactive process that allows organizations to develop a hybrid model that matches what works for the majority.
