Four ways to avoid the horrors of a poor employee experience
In the world of HR, a bad employee experience is the stuff of nightmares when it comes to attracting, retaining and motivating people. With anonymous platforms like Glassdoor, there’s nowhere to hide. It’s become very easy for unhappy employees to publicly air their grievances and instantly damage your business’s reputation. Negative comments can unnerve job applicants and even thwart your business’s ability to attract talent in the first place, which can be catastrophic for your business in the long run.
But a poor employee experience won’t just come back to haunt your business when it comes to the recruitment process, it’ll also have an impact internally. From the very first interaction with your business at the recruitment stage, right through to the exit process, all of your employees embark on an experience with you as an employer, and this experience can make or break your employees’ engagement.
Put simply, employee experience and employee engagement go hand-in-hand. If you’re not delivering a good employee experience, you can’t expect to have engaged employees.
So, how do you avoid the horrors of a poor employee experience? Here’s some simple but effective tips.
1. Listen to your people
Although this seems an obvious point, many businesses tend to overlook the importance of employee voice. To understand what kind of employee experience you’re currently delivering, you need to ask your employees. They know first-hand what it’s like to work for your business and will have plenty of feedback to help you make things better.
Regular surveys, polls and feedback opportunities should actually be a staple part of the employee experience anyway. Not only does this give employees the opportunity to share their honest thoughts and raise concerns, but it also allows you to assess how you’re doing.
You could uncover some fundamental issues that might never have been brought to your attention otherwise. This crucial information will allow you to constantly develop and improve the employee experience so it’s the best it can be.
2. Build a positive work environment
The day-to-day working environment of your business will have a huge impact on the employee experience. It’s so important that your employees feel happy, comfortable, supported and valued, while having a clear set of goals to work towards.
A healthy work/life balance is key here. Of course, your employees should be driven to work hard, but remember that they’re human and can only do so much. A high pressure environment can cause stress and burnout which should be avoided at all costs, so make sure that you strike the right balance with your working environment so that your employees remain motivated, productive and, most importantly, happy.
3. Deliver good communications
Your internal communications are a key piece of the employee experience puzzle. Good communications that effectively deliver key messages are invaluable. Not only do they ensure your employees are well informed, they also reinforce your strategic narrative and remind everyone that they’re working towards the same goal.
A regular flow of information such as company updates, news, events, new starters, leavers and more, will help build a sense of community among your workforce by keeping everyone in the loop. Being consistent with communication is valuable for new starters too, as it’ll help them feel part of the team quickly and give them visibility of things going on in the wider business.
To reach employees from all areas of your business, whether they work remotely, offline or part-time, make sure that you use a variety of communication channels. We adopt a ‘Pixel, Paper, Person’ approach both for our own internal communications and for the communications we create for our clients’ employees.
4. Go the extra mile
To ensure you deliver a positive employee experience, you need to go the extra mile. A relaxed environment and flexible working aren’t enough. This is where employee benefits come in.
Employee benefits that are aligned to your brand, values and the unique interests and needs of your workforce will enhance the employee experience dramatically. Access to a wide range of money-saving perks as well as free competitions, wellbeing services and more, will make a real difference to your employees. Giving your employees something on top of their salaries shows them that they’re valued and, as part of the wider employee experience, will truly build engagement over time.
This article is provided by peoplevalue.
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In partnership with peoplevalue – The Employee Engagement Company
We are a leading provider of employee reward&recognition, benefits delivery&wellbeing solutions.
