More than ever before, brands are coming to understand the link between customer engagement and the employee experience. Where once, businesses would focus purely on building a great customer experience (CX), now they are increasingly realising that their efforts cannot succeed unless similar positive experiences run throughout every aspect of the organisation – from products to brand and employees.
Employee experience is a major part of this initiative, with employees often representing the most direct touchpoint through which customers interact with a brand. As a result, the need for employees to feel motivated and engaged has never been more important.
As it stands, however, research shows that just 39 per cent of workers in the UK look forward to going to work in the morning. With this in mind, just how do brands guarantee that their employees are engaged, motivated and being their ‘best selves’ when they arrive at work?
Here are three steps to get started:
1. Understand the impact of your HR initiatives
Organisations have set KPIs at various stages in the employee lifecycle, but they often exist in silos. By developing a holistic view of their employees’ initiatives and objectives, HR teams can build a better understanding of these KPIs and demonstrate the impact of their initiatives on the organisation’s performance. Once you understand which HR initiatives are working and which aren’t, steps can be taken to maximise those projects that have a genuine impact not only on traditional measures like employee engagement, but on the business’ bottom line.
2. Gather feedback in the moment
If a moment matters to employees, it’s a good time to get feedback. To create a world-class employee experience, it’s important that businesses gather feedback ‘in the moment’ at key stages in an employee’s lifecycle—whether that’s onboarding, a work anniversary, parental leave, a return to work, or even an employee exit. This ongoing, instant measurement provides leaders with a complete, timely and relevant view of the employee experience, further helping to identify where improvements can be made.
3. Collect data and ensure a digital ‘open door’
HR needs to enable managers with relevant data about their teams, as well as the training, tools and resources to turn that feedback into improvements for the people they work with every day.
Where once this was a single engagement survey served once a year, as employers move to gathering more feedback, more frequently, they need to be able to gather feedback at scale. A ‘digital open door’ is key – implementing processes and systems that use the technology available to gather more feedback without a proportionate increase in HR resource. By incorporating the latest experience management technology into this open door approach, feedback requests can be automated and relevant information can be shared instantly with the right people.
From employees to customers
By collecting insights, acting upon feedback and understanding the impact of existing HR initiatives, businesses can use data to revolutionise the employee experience approach. But remember, this is just the first link in the chain. Engaged employees are important in their own right, but they also represent the gateway to better products, more memorable brands and, ultimately, happier customers. Being able to link all that data together allows HR teams to demonstrate to the organisation’s leadership team where there efforts are paying off and how changes to the employee experience can impact the other core experiences they offer.
