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Traditionally, most organisations' arrows have focused on pleasing the customer. Many tiles above the counter had “The customer is king” written in beautiful curly letters. Every effort was made to prevent consumers or customers from defecting to competitors.
By now, the roles seem to be reversed. Many companies are on their feet shaky — not because of a shortage of customers, but because of a shortage of employees. The focus has changed from Customer Experience (CX) to Employee Experience (EX). What does a good EX look like? And how do you ensure that your employees (continue to) choose your organisation with conviction? We'll take you through this blog.
What is Employee Experience?
First, let's zoom in on what we actually mean by a successful Employee Experience. Once you've created an optimal EX, you know exactly what your employees think, feel and want. They feel free to share with you what is going well and what could be better in the organisation. And you catch those signals and respond seriously to them. That means: solving bottlenecks, answering questions and, above all, listening carefully to employees.
Cooperation as a prerequisite for EX
Perhaps you are now tempted to leave that important package of 'EX' directly with HR to take it further. That seems logical, because we are used to placing everything related to staff in HR. But a really good EX requires a strong partnership between all disciplines within the organisation; HR, IT, Facilities, Finance, Communication and the workplace must join forces and work in a multidisciplinary way.
Of course, each department implements EX from its own role: IT provides the right tools, Communication informs, HR comes up with good employment conditions, Facilitair delivers and Finance checks whether it can all be paid. But EX relies on more than just the traditional division of roles. If you, as an organisation, really want to get to work on retaining and engaging your employees, all departments must be able to learn from each other and work together strategically.
So take a look into each other's kitchens, share the trends and developments in your own field with other disciplines. Share information with your colleagues and discuss how that knowledge can be used to motivate and retain your employees. This creates the broadest possible scope and allows you to jointly determine priorities. Then you ensure a serious, strategic Ex policy that can be supported throughout the organisation.
Exactly what wishes, questions and bottlenecks exist will vary from organisation to organisation. But we can already provide EX-tips that are useful for any employer.
We can't emphasise it often enough. The first impression you make as an employer determines the rest of the employment relationship. Give every new employee a warm welcome. Make sure everything is perfectly organised, from a clear employment contract to a ready-to-move-in laptop and corporate clothing that fits like a coat. And most importantly: a lot of personal attention. Develop a modular onboarding program that you can easily adapt to the person and position of the new colleague. By using a flexible learning environment, such as a Pluvo knowledge platform, you can easily create a warm, customised welcome.
A hybrid setup is very useful here: appoint a personal buddy who tells the employee one-on-one how things work in the organisation, from the coffee machine to the corporate culture. In addition, create an online environment where all information can be found easily and at any time.
A work environment must be comfortable for each employee and also meet the expectations of the new colleague. If the job interviews took place in a luxury office, a remote branch as a workplace can be quite a letdown. Invest consciously in every workplace within the organisation and respond well to the functional requirements and wishes. This not only reduces your absenteeism, but also your staff turnover. To help you get started, for example, consider:
Do you want to know what an employee really needs? Ask! That works better than making things up from an ivory tower, no matter how well-intentioned that is. So ask for ideas and feedback in various ways and at different times: during work meetings, a performance review or by means of an online questionnaire. You can't start early enough: start onboarding new employees, and keep your finger on the pulse afterwards. Make it easy for yourself, for example by using an online employee satisfaction survey.
If you want to retain employees, you need to provide an interesting future perspective. EX isn't just in mountains of gold, fat cars and sky-high salaries. Being able to develop yourself in your field, just being able to acquire completely new knowledge, or a job that is perfect for a certain phase of life are even more important. It is therefore a good idea to put together a wide range of training facilities, with something for everyone. Create a platform with e-learning or microlearning in a variety of areas, where you can refresh or increase your knowledge whenever you like.
The possibilities of such an online environment are almost limitless. Make full use of that: alternate professional knowledge with practical instructional videos, a fun quiz, chair yoga or healthy recipes. That sounds more complicated than it is: for example, use our super handy authoring tool, then you can put together a dazzling platform in no time that employees will enjoy clicking on over and over again!
Getting more involved with employees is the way to increase your organisation's Ex score. The younger generation, in particular, assumes that there is more to life than just working, and expects an employer to think along with them flexibly. But you will notice that the somewhat older generation also thrives when more appears to be possible than the tight straitjacket of tight schedules, iron job descriptions and always having to be “on”. It is not only good for vitality, but also for motivation and productivity. For example, it definitely pays to investigate where there is room when it comes to:
Employees can come up with interesting ideas themselves. Invite them to share their needs with you and each other. Of course, not every wish can be granted, but the mere fact that you are willing to seriously discuss it does wonders for your EX. It is therefore a very good idea to facilitate social learning: create an online environment where it is easy to chat, discuss and collaborate with each other.
Identify what you excel at as an organisation and show it to the outside world. Have you come up with something original (together with your employees) or are you proud of the organisational culture? Bent it out. It is good to dare to be different from others and to come from a surprising angle as an employer. This will make you stand out among gray mice and increase your employer branding.
Can't you figure out what your USP actually is? Take an inventory of it among your employees. Why did they choose you and not go to work elsewhere? The question of what they have experienced as positive with previous employers is also interesting. Perhaps that could also be applied in your organisation. It is not without reason that “better stolen than badly invented” is a winged expression.
Want to sparring online?
Approach increasing EX at different levels. Personal attention during one-on-one conversations and group sessions is absolutely paramount. By also taking advantage of online opportunities, you are taking a serious in-depth look. Setting up and following up questionnaires, creating a knowledge platform and assessment system, internal communication or a suggestion box: it's hard to imagine that there are online options. Curious about our ideas? Contact us, we would love to think along with you!
As an educational expert specialising in online learning, I have been writing blogs for Pluvo for 5 years. My focus is on powerful learning solutions for organisations. Universal Design for Learning and inclusive learning are my passion; I believe that education should be accessible and fun for everyone.
I've been combining my 35 years of HR experience with copywriting for over 15 years. And even then, I learn new things over and over again. That's what makes writing blogs for Pluvo so incredibly interesting!
