Do these things to make sure you deliver a great employee experience
At the highest level, employee experience or EX illustrates everything that people encounter, observe, or feel over the course of their time with a company. EX is defined by the sum of its parts–from the daily vibe in the workplace to the employee’s purpose and place on their team and how they deliver value for their organization.
As leaders, we are stewards of culture and the environment our team works in. We create opportunities. We position individuals and teams to thrive. We tend culture.
None of this happens without dedication and attention. EX, how our employees feel about the culture in which they work, is a true test of our leadership.
With that in mind, here are seven ways to foster and build a great employee experience:
1. Intentionally construct meaning
Shaping EX starts with thinking strategically about what individual employees need, what the team needs, and how those collective experiences define our culture. When it comes to leadership’s role in culture building, employees are our customers; they are the recipients of our efforts. With the staggering costs of turnover, the stakes for getting things right for our internal customers are just as high as our aim for our external customers.
It behooves us, then, to approach EX work with the same diligence and dedication with which we approach our customer experience (CX) work. Our efforts can’t be token gestures; internal customers need more than birthday cake, inspirational quotes, and foosball tables.
Creating a stellar employee experience starts at the top–with leadership providing employees a sense of purpose around the company’s mission, vision, and values. What are we collectively striving for, what motivates us to get up every morning, and how does our broader strategy connect to everyday work?
In order to improve EX, you need the commitment of every leader across your organization, along with a shared vision around the key areas you want to make progress on, how you will measure it, and how you will make it meaningful for employees.
2. Evolve and foster employee engagement
Consistent engagement is vital to EX. Engagement by leaders across the company helps to foster individual and team growth by opening up new opportunities for collaboration that shape the broader experience.
While the social aspects of any workplace are important, employees are looking for meaningful engagement around their work that helps to motivate, inspire, and inform their day-to-day contributions and connection to the organization’s bigger mission and goals.
Employees relish meaningful work and want to contribute impactful ideas. When someone is intellectually engaged, their personality is activated, not only as an employee, but as a human being using their skills and creativity to solve problems and stretch further.
To define what works for your team, focus on each layer of employee engagement–from your organization’s structure, workflow, and processes to best practices for leaders in how they engage with their team.
Processes and programs to improve employee engagement should be hyper-flexible, and constantly evolving to adapt to the changing needs. Another key element to engagement is leveraging technology and collaboration tools to keep employees connected and doing their best work.
3. Create a culture of belonging
Leaders champion meaningful work by creating a culture of belonging that yields a positive employee experience. In addition to engagement, this includes designing your office space in a way that invites and encourages creativity, flexibility, and collaboration.
Think through how you want employees to use meeting spaces to work and collaborate. Employees matter. The company would not succeed without them.
Double down on this message by providing for employees’ wellness. Allow them flexibility and balance in their physical space and their routines. Cultivate diversity on every level. Show your team how much they matter, individually and collectively, every chance you get. These aspects of EX make employees comfortable in their jobs, enabling their best work and positioning them to stay.
4. Build trust and authenticity
Trust and authenticity are fundamental to this work. Be genuine. Make room for your leadership role. It’s a full-time responsibility, not an add-on. Build trust purposefully, mindfully, and daily.
Another key is transparency–being open, available, and honest. Consistently prioritize an employee-centric and one team culture. Model humility and respect. This is more than just treating people fairly, it’s about giving clear goals, trust, and being accountable for results.
5. Seek out feedback to measure EX
What do we think, team? How are we doing? How are we feeling? First and foremost, it is important to create a culture of honest dialogue. Cultivate an environment where employees know that their feedback is valued, where they feel heard and respected.
Metrics matter, but fundamental to that is to create a culture of listening. Invite input. Create check-in questions for leadership to pose. Recognize great work and to build on its success. This should be an ongoing leadership initiative.
Listen to information, insights about the culture you’re building. Make yours a culture of listening, learning, building. Activate effective channels of communication for employees to provide feedback. Listen, encourage ideas and suggestions, and follow up.
6. Champion co-creators
Culture building can be a heartening and mindful collaboration. The smart, innovative people we hire can help us shape our culture. They don’t have to stand by and watch us build. This enables us to develop our future managers and to earn their buy-in. Give employees the opportunity to do what they do best everyday. Focus on a continuous learning culture to drive and reinforce the connection and commitment to work. They sense co-workers’ commitment to quality and have a direct connection between their work and the company’s mission.
7. Streamline culture
Provide a culture where employees shape processes. Relinquish dependencies on bureaucracies, obscure tribal knowledge or one-off solutions. Pursue streamlined solutions that your team identifies.
If an employee has the insight to suggest a revision to current practices, it’s important to hear that suggestion and to be open to revising. While it can be tempting to “table” a new idea in favor of “how we’ve always done it,” that approach runs contrary to evolutionary thinking.
Listen to the ambassadors of your brand who work in the trenches of your processes; they are well-positioned to refine these systems. Let them. Doing so benefits processes, culture, morale, and retention.
Your role as culture creator is essential to your success as a leader. While these efforts are encompassing and ongoing, so are the rewards. When you do this right, it brings out the best in you and in your team.
This article originally published on Glassdoor and is reprinted with permission.
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