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Once, I threw the idea, "Instead of telling employees about our culture, values and what we stand for during induction, why don't we allow them to experience the workplace and, based on their interactions and experience, ask them what they think our values and culture are?"
Other ideas for induction.
Obviously, my idea wasn't well received because why would we ask such questions when we like telling people these things even though their experiences may be different:-)))
Employee experience is the same concept as guest or customer experience. They tell us how they feel, rate us, give us feedback, and when they complain, we try to rectify the matter and make sure that they leave on a positive note. Why? Because we know that if we don't respond to their needs, requests or feedback, not only will they not come back, but it will also hurt our brand's reputation. This simply comes from our culture of customer service. You find this in every hotel you go to and we are very good at that!
And this is what employers must understand. Employees work the same way. Their experiences with us determine their loyalty and our reputation.
Instead, companies put out great marketing campaigns and slogans to attract talent, but when employees arrive, the year 1956 welcomes them. Policies, procedures, rules, working conditions, systems, mindset, rewards, people management practices, leadership styles, and hierarchies have not changed in the past seven decades.
Organisations have changed everything about their physical aesthetics, just like hotels. We changed the interior design, the bed, the chairs, the music, and the scent in the lobby. We modernised the uniform (that's debatable), changed the amenities to more environment-friendly ones, and even changed the standard on the strength of the lamp on the bedside table. We thought about everything when it comes to our guests' experiences. So did other companies.
But collectively, we all forgot about the experiences of the people who make all that money that guests and customers bring us.
When they behave as our guests/customers do, i.e. giving feedback, rating us, and communicating their needs, we either don't respond or explain to them that they are wrong or why we cannot deliver those requests. When they leave, we blame them.
We then have meetings to discuss low engagement and high turnover and blame talent management for their failed employee value proposition campaign, HR for wrong hiring, and management for poor leadership.
It has never occurred to anybody that the behaviour and actions of those people and the employees' experiences are governed and influenced by decades-old policies, procedures, rules, systems, working conditions, mindset, rewards, people management practices, leadership styles, and hierarchies, which they all happily ignore.
You cannot change culture and employee experience by simply redesigning EVPs, putting a new slogan out to the public or running culture workshops.
Culture and employer branding comes from employee experience. It may be time we started focusing on that so we can stop moaning and complaining about the employees and saying things like "they don't want to work".
They do, they just don't want to work in 1956.
PS: I just received a message from the CEO of a reputable hotel brand saying that he is not interested in employee experience despite having the same struggles as other hotels. If CEOs think it is not important, then why are they all up in arms constantly talking about talent retention and playing the role of a recruiter? Hmmmmmm
If you want to create employee experiences that are in line with the modern world give us a shout.
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