Employee experience is generally how your employees feel, hear, and see when interacting with the different aspects of your business. This spans from the interaction with the leadership, the team, the physical environment, technology, the work schedules, communication and more. Moreover, the experience that your employees have with your organization will determine how engaged they will be in their work. Give them a good experience and you can expect happy and highly engaged individuals who are committed to give their best to achieve the organization’s growth. On the other hand, a bad employee experience can lead to unmotivated and disengaged employees, and reduced productivity in the end. Here are ways workplace experience will influence employee engagement.
Recruitment experience
The recruitment process is the first touch point the employees have with your organization. Providing a good experience at this point will earn you highly engaged employees from the word go. New hires will start their roles motivated and fully committed to live your vision. Moreover, if you consistently offer the best experience, the effects can be for the entire life cycle of the employees with your organization.
Some of the practices that you can incorporate in your hiring strategy to improve employee experience include simplifying the application process, maintaining constant communication throughout the process, and putting in place an effective onboarding process. This might include sending a welcome gift, assigning an orientation buddy and providing the new hires with the resources they need to be productive.
Social experience
A good social experience in the workplace entails creating a safe social environment where employees are not afraid to be themselves. They can share their opinions and concerns without fear of intimidation. In addition, it provides a conducive environment where employees and the management interact and collaborate in more meaningful ways to create strong relationships. Indeed, it is an environment where every employee will love to wake up to everyday, which increases engagement and loyalty. In addition, a positive social experience at work enhances the mental wellbeing of the employees.
You can create the best social environment by encouraging interactions among employees. Creating breakout rooms and organizing events are some of the ways that you can achieve this. In addition, being more approachable and deliberately invested in your employees well being goes a long way.
Physical work environment
The physical environment also contributes to employee experience in the workplace. If the employees have to fight discomfort – uncomfortable desks, too cold or too hot temperatures, unpleasant smells, uncomfortable light levels and the like – the experience won’t be a positive one. Moreover, it will significantly affect the engagement levels of the employees to the organization and their work. Additionally, employees want to work in office spaces that feature modern designs that inspire collaboration, communication and creativity.
Building an ideal office is a great option, but it can be expensive. However, you can choose to rent office spaces in Los Angeles or any other city where your organization is located. The good thing is that shared offices are designed with the modern worker in mind. They will provide the ideal physical environment for the best employee experience and ultimately improved engagement.
Work experience
Are your employees feeling included and visible in the organization? Are their efforts being recognized and rewarded? Do they feel like their growth matters? Do they feel supported to be productive in their work? Answering such questions can give you insights on the kind of employee experience your team has regarding their work, growth and the organization. If employees feel supported through continuous training and career development opportunities, the experience will be great and the more engaged in their work they will be. Likewise, your employees are likely to be highly engaged if they feel that you appreciate the efforts that they put in driving the company forward. Rewarding and recognizing them will give a positive work experience.
Technology experience
Technology has become an integral part of modern life. Your employees won’t have a good experience at work if it lacks a touch of technology. It is important to ensure that your employees have the technology they need to get work done and be productive. And, that’s not all, they want advanced technology that is highly responsive for the best experience. Moreover, most people, especially the millennials, are attached to their devices, with some preferring to bring their own devices to work. Thus, allowing employees to bring their own tools to work impacts the employee experience significantly. And, when they love the workplace technology experience, engagement is bound to spark.
Conclusion
Employee experience has a lot to do with how employees are engaged in their work. If your employees have a positive experience with different touch points in your organization, they will grow enthusiastic about working for you and their work. However, you need to keep in mind that for employee experience to be effective in driving engagement, it should be done consistently.
The HR Tech Weekly® 