Positive employee experience, while benefiting your workforce, can also help your business. IBM found that of the top 25% of employees in terms of employee experience, 96% performed highly at work. If your company took steps to improve the experience of every single employee, that could lead to a massive performance improvement company-wide.
However, that is easier said than done. You can’t just snap your fingers to make your employees have better on-the-job experience. A combination of perks, growth opportunities, mentorship, and recognition will go a long way.
Here’s a list of 5 ways that you can improve your employee experience, including some software solutions that could help you along the way.
1. Reward and recognize good work
Gallup research shows that prioritizing employee recognition reduces burnout by 73%, decreases job search by 56%, and increases overall life satisfaction by 44%.
Recognition doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Something as simple as acknowledging good work on a project in a Slack channel will go a long way. Similarly, rewards can be simplified too. Offer gift cards or PTO or concert tickets to a nominated employee of the month. Little things go a long way in building company culture.
However, if you want to go in-depth with your program, try out employee rewards programs. These solutions allow you to easily offer incentives to employees for good work, and often act as a recognition social media feed, where managers can brag about the good work their employees do.
2. Build streamlined onboarding process
Onboarding is the first step in the wider employee journey management operation. So, you want to make sure it's smooth and quick for them, but also easy for your HR team. This means self-service paperwork, training manuals, introductory meetings, and more for new employees, and automated compliance, painless payroll sign up, and performance management features for your HR managers.
Jobvite found that 30% of job seekers reported leaving their company after the first 30 days thanks to poor onboarding. Don’t be one of those companies. You can make use of onboarding software to streamline your processes, prevent premature employee turnover, and keep top talent.
3. Show clear employee journey
Employees don’t want to be held in limbo. They want to know that there is a path for them to improve and grow within your company. Transparency is key.
For instance, if a sales development representative has been with you for a year and has done a good job, they should know that they are moving into an account management role next. After this, they should be able to see different pathways of growth. Are they great with SMB clients? Make them an SMB account manager. Are they particularly good with the technical side of the product? Make them into a sales engineer.
As long as employees know what the hierarchy looks like and how they can move up the food chain of your company, there won’t be any questions when promotion time comes around. According to a Work Institute survey, 20% of workers quit their jobs because of lack of career development opportunities. If you don’t show them a path for success with your company, they might take their journey somewhere else.
4. Emphasize employee well-being
Physical and mental wellness are big topics in the working world right now. While business success is important, it shouldn't come at the cost of employee burnout.
Put together a few physical health challenges or programs. Host a walkathon, where employees can earn rewards for walking extra miles outside the office. Put together a yoga lunch, where everyone gets to stretch and meditate for an hour.
Mental health is just as important as physical health. The best way for you to make a difference in the minds of your employees is to offer employee assistance programs. Some offer a full range of preventative care for mental and behavioral health, such as daily meditation apps and counseling. Others are more focused on life challenges and crisis management. Regardless, employees will be appreciative that you are looking out for their mental well-being.
Related: How to Set Up a Financial Wellness Program for Employees
5. Respect work-life balance
Especially after dealing with a global pandemic, where remote work has blurred the lines between home and the office, work-life balance is essential. You as an employer need to share that while employee productivity is important, it shouldn't come at the expense of an extra 10, 20, or even 30 hours per week.
The latest employee productivity statistics even suggest that half of global workers are productive for less than five hours per day.
On the flip side, some employees may really enjoy a home work environment. They find they can more easily complete household tasks during the day or spend more time with their children. Therefore, you should be open to partially, or even fully remote workers dependent on their preferences.
How can I tell if my employees are having a bad experience with my company?
You need to keep your finger on the pulse of employee engagement levels. A great way to do this is through engagement surveys. These real-time surveys go out on a schedule of your choosing, and can be customized for the different metrics you're looking to measure, whether employee satisfaction with benefits, growth opportunities, management, or something else.
One key to a great employee experience is making employees feel like they're important to the business. Employee surveys serve this dual purpose of showing your openness to their feedback.
However, it's important for you and your HR leaders to remember that survey results mean nothing without action. Take employee feedback seriously, and use it to create a better employee experience.
For more visit our article on "How to Measure Employee Engagement".
What can I do next?
Check out our detailed buyer guide on the best employee experience software, complete with features, use cases, benefits, pricing, and more. By utilizing software, your human resources team can easily and effectively mitigate any experience issues before the arise, and ensure that your employees enjoy a happy working environment.
