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How engaged are your employees? It’s a question on the lips of many HR and People managers right now, and a very real concern for businesses the world over.
What has recently become known as ‘The Great Resignation’ seems to be a direct consequence of this lack of engagement, at least in part. In November 2021 it was reported that almost a quarter of workers are actively planning to change employers in the next few months, which could be costly for businesses, not to mention damaging to growth.
Which begs the question: how on earth can organisation’s stem the tide of resignations and retain their best talent? The answer starts with the employee experience. That is, the journey an employee takes from recruitment through to their departure. There are vital employee experience touchpoints throughout this journey that directly affect employee engagement and could mean the difference between a retained employee and an imminent resignation.
What Your People Want
There are many reasons why nearly 25% of workers are actively considering a change of job in the next three to six months. Two of the biggest being post-pandemic burnout and more job vacancies.
Put simply, lots of employees (the majority of which are millennials or Gen Z) are feeling the strain of the last two years and are making a conscious decision to put their wellbeing first. Luckily for them, there are a lot of recruiting businesses promising improved benefits and more flexibility to support them to strike a better work-life balance,
On the face of it, it might seem like these events are out of your hands. After all, how can you control what’s coming if your people are already burnt out? The good news is: it’s not too late. Now is the time to take stock of the employee experience as it already is in your business and figure out if it aligns with what employees want (and need!) from you at this moment in time.
Building Better Employee Experiences
Building better employee experiences starts with understanding the employee journey and the key touchpoints within it, as well as what your people want. From there, you can shape these touchpoints (big or small) in order to leave the best impression.
When it comes to building better employee experiences, technology is an organisation’s greatest asset. While it can never replace a genuine human connection, it is most certainly a powerful enabler. In fact, technology is used consistently at every touchpoint in the employee journey already, but often it’s not intuitive or personalised enough for users who are so used to consumer-grade tech. Choosing work platforms that are easy and enjoyable to use is key to facilitating better engagement at key moments in the employee journey.
What’s most important to remember when building better employee experiences is that as humans, we are hardwired with a negativity bias, which means we remember negative experiences far better, and for much longer, than positive ones. This survival instinct has kept us safe for thousands of years and it’s still within us today.
While it might not be totally feasible to make every single day of an employee’s working life positive, there are key points HR managers, people managers, and leaders can control and shape to leave a positive lasting impression on their people, leading to better job satisfaction. And this is where we need to focus our efforts right now, homing in on what our people want, our values and how we deliver that at vital points in the employee journey.
To learn more about employee experience touchpoints and how you can use them to boost engagement, take a look at the Huler blog.
