The employee experience at work is key for any business. It’s affected by many factors including the physical and technological environment, as well as the culture of an organisation. Despite this, many HR departments don’t meet their full potential when it comes to staff satisfaction.
This is partly due to time having to be spent on administrative tasks, and also perhaps because they are unsure of the best ways to achieve this goal. Here’s a quick overview of why employee experience matters and what you can do about it in your business.
Why is employee experience so important?
The benefits of having happy staff are well documented, yet companies are often not aware of them. These advantages include increased productivity and better teamwork, improved staff retention and engagement, fewer absences, plus higher creativity, motivation and innovation – all of which also translate into higher profit for your company.
How can HR keep employees happy?
Employee experience is not solely the responsibility of the HR department, but they do have an important role to play – as any HR company will agree. Here are some ideas for ways in which your business can boost the experience of your employees:
- Foster a good work/life balance – this is extremely important for the physical and mental health of your staff. Overwork leads to dissatisfaction and burnout. Be as flexible as you can with issues such as remote working and flexitime requests to ensure your employees feel respected and valued.
- Promote growth and development by providing opportunities – no one wants to feel as though they are stuck in a dead end job. The prospect of advancement, heralded by a clear career path, can be highly motivating. Offering plenty of training courses and opportunities for further development is key to this.
- Give feedback and show appreciation – feedback helps your staff to understand how they are doing and where they need to improve, which enables them to be more productive. Don’t forget that appreciation for what they doing well is just as important though, boosting confidence and morale as well as job satisfaction.
- Create a pleasant and positive work space – the importance of this cannot be understated. Work environment has a massive impact on how people feel, as they spend so much time in the office. Little things like natural light and comfortable furniture make a difference, as well as space to relax in. Also included in this is giving employees the necessary technology they need to do their jobs well.
- Give workers autonomy – letting staff have a say in decisions makes them feel trusted and valued. In addition, it promotes creativity and innovation, both of which can be hugely beneficial to your company.
- Organise regular social events – this is an easy way to boost teamwork and employee relationships, making people feel more positive about coming to work and improving the workplace culture.
- Ask for suggestions – if you really want to know what will make your staff happy, just ask them! Whether it’s specific incentives or little extra touches you’d never have thought of, you might get some great ideas. The mere fact that you are asking will also show your staff you care about their employee experience.
