.png)
Employee experience is the result of your talent management processes. This is where it all starts so when HR "professionals" and leaders aim to fix engagement hoping that it will all be fine because they cannot see the link between all these areas I think of the quote my friend said in her article, "Blind Leading the Disengaged".
You simply cannot fix one area and hope the employee experience is going to be great, people will be productive and happy, and your turnover rate decrease. These seven areas are working together in perfect unison and our job is to constantly fine-tune it just like a conductor.
Yesterday I drew this picture for somebody as I was explaining the work I do and he said, that it made sense. Your employees' experiences are embedded in talent management processes and hugged by wellbeing.
These areas of work and life are constantly shaping employees' experiences hence their productivity, opinion about the company, leadership, and how long they are willing to stay. We cannot please everyone and we don't want to. We cannot fight other companies in each area and we don't want to. But we must do at least this.
Asking the question, "How do we want employees to feel related to each area?" Only then can we decide the direction and how we want to achieve that. Here are the simplified self-evaluation questions I designed for a company that is now going through the process with me.
ATTRACT:
I want to be part of that experience
I want to work there
HIRE:
I want to feel the experience from the get-go
I want to be part of this. Whatever is happening here...
I want to feel invited, that they are professional, respectful, and organised
ONBOARD:
I want to feel expected and welcomed, that they are prepared for my arrival
I want to feel the buzz of getting ready to work autonomously in a month or so
I want to feel the experience that led me to submit my application
ENGAGE:
I want to come to work in the morning
I want to stay for more experience
PERFORM:
My presence here makes a difference
DEVELOP:
I am developed based on my unique needs but aligned with what the company wants from me as an individual contributor, supervisor, manager or leader.
DEPART:
It was a fantastic time, it is not a goodbye but a see you soon!
Even if we get these all correct we still have wellbeing aspects to think about and this is where we get to plan other parts of people's experiences.
FINANCIAL WELLBEING:
I don't want to worry about my finances.
SOCIAL WELLBEING:
I want to have enough time outside of work to be able to socialise.
MENTAL WELLBEING:
I want to be in an environment where I am not mentally drained.
EMOTIONAL:
I feel that I am growing, and moving forward in life and at work.
Looking at these areas allows us to systematically fix the problems organisations face. Because let's be honest here, one workshop, one team-building, one leadership course, one EVP video, a development program or another pizza party will be a waste of money and time of everyone if these 7 + 4. elements are not addressed together.
Here I also would like you to think of the necessity of HR as a position. Is this what we need? I think we need specialists: recruiters, on & off-boarding specialists, employee engagement professionals with psychology backgrounds, talent development and strong compensation and benefits experts. They must be not managed but work together with a senior Employee Experience and Wellbeing (reporting to the CEO) professional and constantly measure and evaluate each area and tweak as needed. Just like an orchestra.
Finance will continue to do the headcount planning as they already do whether we like it or not and employee relation professionals can take over disciplinary and legal matters.
What exactly is left for HR to do? I tell you, not much if we had professionals and enough people within HR teams. But we don't and everything is dumped on HR and as a result, they do everything a little bit and with a little bit of knowledge or understanding. Of course, they cannot do a great job when they cannot see the forest from the tree. Let's not continue this practice of Blind leading the disengaged.
If you want to be strategic about your engagement, turnover and productivity rates let's chat!
Comments