Everyone, from enlightened CEOs and CFOs to savvy CHRO’s and HR people are seeking to improve their people’s overall Employee Experience. They get the fact that doing so fosters a much more positive, happier, and productive work environment where people feel safer voicing their opinion and ideas that produce innovation and competitive advantage. Building an incredible Employee Experience does however take time, is an incredible effort, and requires an unflinching desire to make things better for everyone. Here are 5 initiatives needed to get the ball started. Once, you’ve begun, know that the positive returns will be many, including higher levels of employee engagement, less attrition, a stronger brand to attract higher caliber talent and of course higher levels of productivity and profitability.
Here’s your roadmap to get started!
- Enlightened and Empathetic Leadership. In the words of Herb Kelleher, “A company is stronger because it is bound by love rather than by fear”. While enlightened leadership is very much concerned with the growth and success of the company, it is also, just like Herb Kelleher – founder of Southwest Airlines, concerned with placing equal emphasis on having positive work environments where people can be themselves and not having to look over their shoulder all the time. It is knowing that our relationships with people at work can be just as deep and meaningful – if not more so, than with those away from work and striving to value one another’s contributions. These are the sorts of environments that enlightened leaders look to cultivate.
- Practice Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in everything you do. Each of your workers is unique and brings their own set of skills and talents. Magic can happen when people apply their diverse viewpoints to emerging issues and develop new solutions that the “same old way” of thinking would never have produced. Celebrate diversity and ensure all people are treated equitably. Examine your processes, including pay systems and consider means and ways to address all workplace inequities.
- Transparency at work is more important than you realize. Workers place value on knowing that they are playing on a level playing field. Work environments historically have complicated and arcane processes for employee ratings and bell curving which are laden with subjectivity and secrecy that only serve to suppress morale further. Look to de-mystify all your processes and supplant them with open platforms enabling workers with greater visibility with one another and also at a company level.
- Give People a Voice. Everyone is so much more than their job. Every worker has within them the power to transform. Enable your workforce to feel safe in sharing ideas which are essential for nurturing an innovative environment. There is nothing more powerful when we as human beings are acknowledged for the unique contributions we make. We feel good when we make such contributions but also our co-workers feel equally great knowing that the company values people’s input and their voice.
- Opportunities for Growth. There is no question that job progression is important and that all companies should provide transparent career paths with detailed information on what’s needed to get there. However, I am also talking about the opportunities for growth within the individual’s self. The opportunity for an employee to build a “Persona” based on all contributions they’ve made. Such a persona conveys the respect and captures all that the employee has strived to attain and produced at work and is available for everyone to see.
With so much going on at work at any given time, it is easy to lose focus on the effort needed for a great employee experience. Knowing that Workplace Experience is likely your most important undertaking is, however, a great place to start!
Written by John Cardella, Chairman & CEO at RehvUp Technologies Inc
RehvUp Your Workforce – Fix Your Employee Engagement Issues Once and For All
