Over my previous two blogs, I’ve outlined just what employee experience is, why it’s so important and key ways to measure employee experience at your company.
But what can you do if you find your employee experience is wanting? Or, more importantly, how can you ensure you foster a workplace that encourages a great experience in the first place?
Here are our five top tips on improving your employee experience.
- Cultivate a positive workplace culture
Like many workplace issues, their origins can be traced back to a toxic company culture. Culture is difficult to define but it’s what employees and customers understand of your mission, values, practices and attitudes, as well as organisational structure and leadership style.
When your employees come to work, do they feel stifled or motivated, drained or energised, discouraged or empowered? Do they feel like they belong? The questions you ask as part of your employee experience management programme will help you discover the answers.
Crucially, to receive the most truthful and insightful feedback from your employees, you need to cultivate a sense of psychological safety, which goes hand-in-hand with a positive culture. People need to feel they can provide honest feedback without fear of reprisal.
- Listen and act
Regularly and consistently gathering employee feedback is the only way you can effectively measure the experience of your people and spot areas for improvement. However, outside of structured surveys and interviews, employees should feel like they can speak to their leaders about any workplace issues, including reporting incidents of bullying, discrimination and harassment. Clear reporting channels should be available and communicated to everyone. Providing services, such as a freephone employee hotline, show the importance you place on the voice of your people.
Whether general feedback made through a survey or the report of a case of bullying, it’s important that leaders listen carefully, take everything on board and act. Without action, employees will soon stop reporting their issues and your culture (and employee experience) will suffer.
- Don’t neglect training
Training serves many important purposes. Firstly, effective induction training can make a real difference to how welcome a new employee feels at your company. It helps them familiarise themselves with your culture, policies and practices so they can get their teeth into their new roles as soon as possible.
Training is also vital for enhancing your culture, for example ED&I training, which imparts to all employees the behaviour that is and isn’t acceptable at your company, helps people evaluate their biases and privileges, encourages allyship and ultimately fosters an environment where everyone feels welcome.
Offering training opportunities can help employees feel fulfilled by providing the chance to learn new skills. This not only leads to personal development, but professional development too, helping people progress in their careers at your company and encouraging them to stay.
- Evaluate your physical workspace
It’s not surprising that employees who work 9-5 in a windowless basement have a very different experience from those who spend their days in an airy office with break-out areas and a kitchen or canteen facilities. It also goes without saying that those who are happy and relaxed in their work environment will be more productive and have improved wellbeing.
Thanks to the pandemic, the definition of a physical workspace has changed. Giving employees the chance to work from home or hotdesk, as well as offering flexitime, can also contribute to a positive experience.
- Invest in technology
Imagine turning on your work computer on your first day and discovering you’re working off software with the speed of Windows 97! Investing in suitable tools for your employees so they can get their work done efficiently and without frustration is essential for a positive experience.
Technology has become even more important since the pandemic. Ensure employees who have the option to work away from the office have the appropriate technology so they can access their emails and files, and continue to collaborate with their colleagues, wherever they may be.
At Tell Jane, our skilled HR practitioners partner with your business to support and manage a variety of people, organisational and cultural strategies, including how to improve your employee experience. Get in touch by emailing hello@telljane.co.uk to find out more.
