You may have heard about customer experience journey, but what about your employee experience journey. Have you ever thought about what your employees are experiencing during their journey with your business? And why should you bother?
Employees journey with your business covers all experiences they may have starting with pre-recruitment, during their tenure and goes on till they leave the company. And all these experiences play a key role in how an employee feels about the organisation they are part of. It affects their overall performance, communication with the rest of the team, employee retention and ultimately how your business is perceived from outside.
So, what can you do improve the employee experience and their journey with you…
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Talk About the Purpose of your Organisation
Successful Leaders talk about the propose of the business and help others see the future. As Mark Collar says, “Leaders teach people to dream, not just execute”. According to a recent survey, more than one-third of the employees feel that being part of a bigger purpose makes them feel that their job is important. Sharing the Vision, mission and purpose with the team makes them feel they are contributing towards achieving a bigger purpose. This is even more important for younger generation.
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Personality vs. Job role
Look at the personality of the individuals and see how well they are matched with their job roles. Personality tests like DISC help you evaluate the right traits with the right job roles. A person with a right match of personality and job would enjoy the work more and would perform better. Isn’t it true that we get better results in things/activities which we like and enjoy more? This could be the difference between a burn out and a star performer.
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Continuous Personal Development & Growth Opportunities
Leaders are involved in their organisation and committed to growing organisational capability. A personal development plan for each employee aligned to the growth opportunities within the organisation will help engagement and retention. Employees need to see the future within the organisation, like opportunities to grow, gain new skills, work with new people and enjoy greater autonomy. Engaged employees report having meaningful feedback at least once per week.
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Tell Someone They Did a “Good Job”
You may have heard, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions”. Don’t be afraid to hand out praise when a job, large or small, is well done. This builds not only enthusiasm for the work, but trust in your management. Recognising and rewarding the right behaviour and results produce more of the same. Feed forward is about what can be improved next time rather than just focusing on what went wrong. Train yourself and your team to be solution focused not problem focused.
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Setting right expectations
A big challenge for employees in small and medium sized businesses is to understand what is expected of them and how their performance is measured. Even though manager and the business owner may have an idea about what an employee is supposed to do, employee themselves may not. Clear written job profiles and individual KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) can help improve the results and morale of the team. Remember ‘what gets measured gets done and can be improved’. Tie the individual KPIs to the appraisal system and rate people objectively to improve consistency of results. It is an ongoing process through involvement in goal setting, meaningful feedback and regular reviews
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Work Environment
People perform at their best when there is a culture of respect and trust. Everyone likes to be a valued member of their team. Also, an appropriate physical environment is a psychological necessity for getting work done. A supportive work environment should give employees the freedom to work in the ways they feel are best — for example, with spaces to collaborate or work privately, depending on the task at hand.
In a nutshell, great employee experiences help attract best talent, drive high performance and build better relationships. Today, employees are no longer satisfied with turning up for work and receiving a pay check. They are looking for purpose in their work, a supportive, collaborative work environment, and an organisation that can match the lifestyle they aim to achieve.
What is it that can help improve your employee experience and how would it impact your business?