EAE News
How does the Employee Experience increase companies’ profits?
14 de October de 2020
“Employees have to feel the company experience to be able to transmit it”.
The experience that a company provides is an increasingly valuable commodity which, for years now, has been closely linked to the world of marketing. However, over the last few years, it is no longer simply associated with customers, but also with employees. “If the employee does not feel and embrace the company experience, they will not be able to transmit it to the customers”, explained the EAE lecturer Naiara Cantabrana.
This area of talent management is known as the Employee Experience (EX), a trend that is revolutionizing the professional world at a global level. So, why has it become so important recently and how can it be developed? The lecturer and Head of Employee Experience at Randstad Spain, Naiara Cantabrana, answered this and other questions.
Are you ready to delve into the world of the EX? Let’s get started!
Usefulness, Productivity, Commitment and Experience
“The Employee Experience is not a new thing”, explained Naiara Cantabrana. “What is new is that we have realised its importance”. However, reaching this point has been a long journey, on which the conceptualization of employees has changed year after year.
Initially, employees were analysed and viewed from the perspective of usefulness. At that time, the most important aspect was that they were useful. Over the years, the focus shifted to productivity, Therefore, both the working environment and conditions were designed with the sole aim of boosting productivity.
Moving into the 21st Century, we see the emergence of the concept of commitment and then, finally, the idea of the experience. The expert explained that “the experience generates memories and it has been demonstrated that memories generate even more satisfaction than material goods”. Understanding this point has led Human Resources departments and specialists to see the Employee Experience as the main method for keeping employees satisfied and motivated.
Reasons for developing the Employee Experience
Environment
“The current situation forces us to focus on the experience, particularly in view of the battle for talent”, explained the lecturer. A company consists of money, material goods and people. People are the only one of these factors that you cannot copy. Therefore, the Employee Experience proves to be the most effective mechanism for attracting talent and building loyalty.
Return
On this point, Cantabrana presented a study that proves that the more positive the Employee Experience, the greater the companies’ profits. So, the better the EX, the better the return.
Responsibility
Thirdly, the lecturer mentioned what she considers a personal reason: responsibility. “Promoting and establishing a good EX is our responsibility as people”.
How can we develop the EX in our organization?
Contrary to what some people may think, the EX is unique for each organization, as the approach to breathing life into the experience must always be aligned with the communication strategies, within a consistent framework developed in each company. “The fact that one multinational has table football does not mean that all companies should have one”, added the expert
When developing an effective EX strategy, the following aspects must be taken into account:
The organization’s reason for being
“Starting with the organization’s reason for being enables us to connect with the employees’ human side and we know how crucial it is for people to connect with something”, explained Cantabrana. Aligning the employees with the company’s goals has to be the first step in strengthening the EX.
Culture and Leadership
On the one hand, we cannot touch the culture, but it is like the air that surrounds all the employees. The culture encompasses the atmosphere and the service they receive, so it is crucial when developing any EX strategy.
On the other, it is important that the leaders generate trust and inspire, stimulate and challenge the team. They must also understand each of the members individually and spend time on communication. The lecturer emphasized that “it is important that the most senior leaders work as mentors. It is also crucial to promote inclusivity and all aspects of diversity”.
Technology and Environment
As far as Cantabrana is concerned, this is one of the points that has changed most. In terms of physical environments, they have to be aligned with each company’s need. “If it is a creative company, for instance, we should do whatever we can to equip the space with everything required to stimulate creativity”, she explained.
Moreover, as we all know, technology is crucial. As such, we have to create positive technological environments in which everyone can use technology freely and easily. .
MTM: Moments that matters
Here, the important thing is to define people, What is our employees’ profile? What motivates them? What do they like? What generation do they belong to? All this will help us to customize the experience, by identifying the moments that matter most to the employees over the course of the employee journey, which runs from the pre-selection phase and right through to their last day.
Steps for an effective EX strategy
Feedback - Analysis - Design - Implementation - Measurement
“People Analytics is essential for developing the Employee Experience, as it gives us lots of resources, such as staff turnover reports that we can use to analyse segments, departments and reasons, as well as helping us identify where to focus”, concluded the lecturer Naiara Cantabrana.