Workers with a positive employee experience are 16 times as engaged as those who report a negative experience. They are also eight times more likely to want to remain working for their current employer.
These figures are striking and underscore the importance of enhancing employee experience in the workplace. In this blog, we outline a number of ideas to improve employee satisfaction at your organisation.
Elevating employee experience: A how-to guide
1. Nurture a culture of communication
It should go without saying, but communication is key to cultivating an engaged workforce. Consider establishing company-wide internal communications channels for sharing team wins and keeping employees up to date on the company’s direction and strategic goals. This invites all workers to feel like they are contributing to an organisation’s growth, not just the decision-makers in senior management positions.
By the same token, it’s important that employees are given the opportunity to provide upward feedback. Not only does this promote the sharing of ideas and continual improvement at all levels, but it also makes employees feel that they have agency within an organisation and that their opinions are valued. For this to be effective, management must acknowledge and respond to feedback in a timely manner, otherwise employees may perceive requests for their feedback as disingenuous.
2. Promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
One of the most effective ways to create a positive work environment is to promote Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI). This should not be considered as simply a ‘tick-box exercise’ - instead, DEI should be consciously embedded into an organisation’s DNA. In doing so, employees of all backgrounds will feel understood, valued and supported to unlock their full potential.
To effectively implement measures that promote DEI, you’ll first need to identify any business areas where DEI is lacking, as well as areas where employees perceive DEI deficits. Next, develop a plan to rectify these shortcomings with established roles and chains of accountability. Once ready, put the plan into action and make sure to collect data that you can use to measure its success and refer back to when refining future iterations.
3. Make work meaningful with opportunities for growth
Workers thrive when they feel their work has meaning and impact and a great way to do this is to promote workplace autonomy. By giving workers more control over their roles and the way that they work, they’re more likely to perform better and derive more satisfaction from their work. A large part of this comes from autonomous workers feeling like their managers are investing more trust in them, which in turn empowers them to achieve more.
It’s also important that employees see achievements being rewarded and are aware of growth opportunities within their organisation. There are many ways to do this, including giving employees the opportunity to advocate for a role promotion or a pay rise, supporting them to undertake further training, and providing access to industry networking events. By making it clear that there are ways for an employee to progress through the ranks of an organisation, they are more likely to apply themselves to this goal and feel more committed to the organisation as a result.
4. Be supportive and inspire trust
While employees crave autonomy, they also need to feel supported by management to excel in their roles. Coaching and feedback sessions are excellent ways to provide this support because they allow employees to access and learn from the skillset of their supervisors in a nurturing setting. This may also necessitate investment in your management staff to ensure they are equipped to provide this support.
Company leaders must also inspire trust in employees by making them feel valued and respected. As discussed previously, allowing employees to work autonomously can be an excellent way to make them feel that their contributions and expertise are recognised. Other ways to inspire trust include incentivising and rewarding great work, involving employees in significant company decisions, and providing a workplace environment with facilities and amenities that allow them to thrive.
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