We are at that time when we must return to the office and remote working was changed for hybrid model, the perfect setting to rethink the employee experience and improve the work environment of our teams. Ensuring that every person who works with us enjoy a positive experience and they would recommend our organization to friends and family. Also reminder that satisfaction in workers becomes into satisfaction in customers.
Creating a proper working environment should be on the roadmap of every human resources department and leadership team, as it is the cornerstone that ensures any successful business strategy.
What is the employee experience?
The employee experience is very similar to the customer experience and it’s related with the perception that employees have of the organization. This experience not only focuses on their professional work, but also includes the selection and hiring processes, onboarding process, the treatment received during all their time within the business, career development plans, communications, etc.
In a nutshell, it ranges from the moment the person leaves us their resume until he or she leave the company, which is also known as the employee journey.
More and more companies are realizing the potential that the employee experience has to improve the engagement, commitment and loyalty of their workers. But not only that, it also contributes to increasing workforce satisfaction and motivation, which translates into better incomes.
For this reason, a lot of companies aim for a better employee experience.
Why is it important to consider the employee’s experience?
Employee experience is directly reflected in all corporate processes, and if it is negative, business activity can be seriously affected. Not considering how teams feel within the organization can have critical consequences such as an entire unmotivated workforce, increased work accident, higher absenteeism, and a high turnover rate.
With a good employee experience strategy, we not only avoid the negative aspects mentioned before, but it would also contribute to attracting and retaining talent.
In this sense, maintain a good communication with our teams is the key, only with that we can know what aspects of our business are those that directly influence the satisfaction and well – being of our employees, and allow us to take actions that suit their needs with actual benefits for the entire company.
Conduct pulse surveys to employees is a quick and easy way to obtain data leading to increases the productivity and motivation of our teams. However, we have to be consistent and communications and surveys must be regular. And, of course, apply actions that reward the employee in the short and medium term.
In short, giving a positive employee experience generates commitment in the workforce, and helps to boost motivation and productivity. So, organizations that are looking to design an appropriate employee experience for their teams have in their hands a great competitive advantage.
How to improve the employee experience in our organization?
There are many ways to improve the employee experience in our workplace, none of which require a large investment of money or time.
In fact, the vast majority are related with the way we communicate with our workers. In this article we are going to reveal 7 ways to improve the experience of our teams through improving our workplace communication.
1. Spend time with your employees
A simple way to improve the employee experience is dedicating part of our time driving one-to-one meetings. Either a weekly, biweekly, or monthly, you should have scheduled meetings one-to-one one to exchange feedback with your employees.
In these events, you can talk privately and confidently about current priorities, set short and medium-term goals, inquire about the situation of the teams, and seek relevant information in case that we must take any important decision.
In the case of remote teams, scheduling video calls regularly can solve physical distance.
2. Host weekly team meetings
Knowing our employees as individuals is important, but also it is knowing them as member of a teamwork.
On this occasion, the meeting will focus on the project’s progress, what are the short-term goals, if there is any problem that blocks the teams and also it is a perfect space for sharing knowledge and experiences, thus creating a collective intelligence aligned with the organization’s goals.
On the other hand, it is the perfect time for managers to announce upgrades and changes, important news that affect the workforce and share the successes of those people who have worked hard and reward them in public.
As a result, we achieve greater transparency in communications, build trusting relationships, and create opportunities for collaboration and teamwork.
3. Stablish a safe workspace
Organizations must advocate for their employee’s psychological safety at work.
When we talk about psychological safety at work, we refer to that feeling of well-being that comes from knowing that our decisions are not affected by the possible reactions of the people of our work environment.
In other words, it means that employees have the certainty that they can express themselves freely without being judged.
This is especially important when creating an environment of trust and well-being that enhances the employee experience. When this happens, collaborators are more willing to share their impressions, their ideas, and say what they really want to say.
4. Develop meaningful tasks
Numerous studies, such Google’s Aristotle Project, states that the most important thing about the employee’s work is not the payroll they receive, but the meaning of their duties.
Workforce enjoy more of their work if they know that what they do has a reason, a meaning, and that their contribution is important to the sum of the whole parts.
So, when you schedule duties and tasks, make sure your employees know why they do what they do. Even the least attractive task can become meaningful if it is communicated with an honest message about why it is important to do that work.
5. Feedback should be constructive
It is important to communicate to the team what we expect from them clearly. In this way, we ensure that they meet our expectations on the one hand, and avoid their frustrations on the other, reducing the risks of a negative impact on their employee experience.
But being clear and concise doesn’t mean not taking care of our words but being empathetic and sensitive. We must ensure that with our words employees understand what they do well and what they can do to improve.
Also, this process should be two-way. Employees need to have a space in which to expose their concerns and contribute ideas with which the organization can improve its actions and methodologies.
6. Don’t be too formal
A leader’s job is not just to set goals and make sure the workforce has the knowledge and tools to carry them out. One of their main tasks is to connect with people.
Formal treatment is appropriate in those environments that, given the situation, are more corseted. But once outside, such as in the hallways, on lunch breaks, or even outside of work, we can relax.
Try to spend time knowing your team on a more personal level. It is not about overwhelming or overcoming privacy, but about knowing who is behind the role of employee, the “human”. Simple things like asking about their hobbies, about their holidays, or remembering their children’s names in informal conversations that are not related to work help create a climate of camaraderie and trust that improves the employee experience.
7. Provide your teams with a space of confidentiality
If you want to promote a culture of transparency and honesty, employees must have a space where they can communicate with their management team in complete safety, without fear of judgment or penaltys.
Giving your employees a way to send comments and start chats in a totally anonymous way opens a whole range of possibilities to discover information that lies at the bottom of the organization which negatively affects both teams and the business in general.
The more information, the better action plans we can develop, and the better solutions we can provide.
At Team Insights we provide employee engagement, satisfaction, and motivation pulse surveys with the option of making the responses completely anonymous.
Not only that, we also have a communication channel in which employees can talk at any time with their manager to share experiences, doubts, conflicts or any other thing about the company with the full assurance that their identity not is unveiled.
How often do you listen to your employees? The best way to design a great employee experience is by getting to know our employees, and for this, good communication is essential .
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