3 Areas of
Employee Experience:
Culture
Environment
Technology
Employee Experience is a vast realm that this 2-3-4 Navigation does not aim to tackle completely. For this guided thinking, this navigational tool is designed to focus on how to be more human and show compassion towards your colleagues, your team, and yourself. This particular section shows three broad areas of EX that need mindfulness and intentionality.
"I’ve been hearing about “employee experience” everywhere. Almost every software vendor, HR consulting firm, and HR executive is trying to figure it out. Why? Because the concept is very broad and vague, and in some sense it encompasses everything at work. The term “employee experience” (EX) came out of AirBnB around 2017 when the company started to apply design thinking to its employee services. They found out, as others now know, that actual employee “experiences” are far more complex than the traditional HR programs we build, so they started to co-design solutions for their people. Since then we’ve called them “moments that matter,” “employee journeys,” “employee interactions,” and lots of other things. And hundreds of books, articles, and tools are being developed. The bottom line, however, is that all this is noise if we can’t figure out where to focus. Companies with “heads of employee experience” or EX programs have to decide where to start." - Josh Bersin
Culture
Culture is how things are currently done in your organisation. Language, symbols, behaviour, and practices all makeup culture. Culture is an invisible and intangible part of your organisation— yet you know it's there and you feel its presence. It is heavily driven by your company's mission and vision, or lack thereof. Culture goes deeper than ping pong tables and free beer every Friday. It is about relationships, leadership style, purpose, and about the people that make up the organisation. Culture can motivate us or drain us. It is how the organisation makes us feel in every aspect of our lifespan with the company. Culture can be the glue that can bind your organisation together when things get rough.
How can you be intentional and purposeful when it comes to company culture? There is no one size fits all answer, but having a common language and having everyone understand how to best represent your company is a good start. Being intentional about practices and processes to achieve desired behaviour is ideal. Being intentional and purposeful with the screening, evaluation, and training of new hires to ensure the right culture fit is best practice.
Technology
"The technological environment of the organization refers to the tools employees use to get work done. This includes everything from the internal social network to the mobile devices that employees have access to. This also includes any apps, software, e-learning tools, and user experience and design elements that impact how employees use these various tools. Technology is the central nervous system of an organization, and most concepts and themes related to the future of work are not possible without technology. Creating a great cultural environment requires having tools that focus on employees' needs instead of business requirements and making sure the tools are consumer grade." - SHRM
Encouraging the correct behaviours and honing the right mindset is a good start in becoming mindful in this area of EX. Innovation and transformation should be focused on the human psyche, needs, and behaviour more than on the technology itself. Let's not forget that digital tools are there to help and not complicate our lives.
"Employee Experience, which was perhaps the biggest new trend in HR, has now firmly landed with COVID-19.
Most companies think COVID-19 is all about digital transformation. Well I think its far more that this – it’s a big wakeup call that Employee Experience (and Customer Experience) is now primary to every business in the world.
Consider the issues we now face. In our latest survey with HR professionals, the #1 topic in “back to work” has been “how do we make it optional to return, yet create a safe set of workplace protocols that people will trust?” This is an issue with Employee Experience, totally reimagined. (Or rather, reinvented.)"
- Josh Bersin
Environment
Our workspace affects us physically and psychologically, affecting our productivity. Our work environment consists of (but not limited to) our desk space, our view, spaces that we can go to for different purposes, our commuting experience to and from work, and amenities. During this time of COVID-19, the majority of the workforce has been working from home. Our work environment blended into our home environment. While there is a plus side to being able to stay home, this shift in the work environment could be stressful. Intentionality at this point is mostly on the individuals, as the companies can only do so much. Some organisations have gone out of their way to send the employees their officer chairs, books, and other work materials that were left at the office. Some companies also sent WFH care packages to employees— a really good way to show care and compassion during trying times.
Companies that started welcoming employees back to the office made sure their workplace is sanitized and safe. Government and health standards have set minimum guidelines to be followed in order to open workspaces and public places. On top of these official policies, are there other ways that you extend empathy towards everyone? Could you put together a back to work care kit? Could you perhaps design the signages in such a way that they also communicate inspirational and motivational messages?