As a director of HR, understanding what employee experience is and how to enhance it is critical. Employee experience (EX) is the sum of all interactions an employee has with their workplace. It includes the physical environment, technology, tools, processes and people they interact with while at work physically or remotely. This concept allows HR professionals to focus on improving the entire employee journey from onboarding to offboarding. Enhancing employee experience can bring multiple benefits to businesses such as higher employee engagement, improved productivity, and better customer experience.
Employee Engagement
Employee engagement is a key factor in enhancing employee experience. Employee engagement is the emotional connection that employees have with their work and their organization. It is important because engaged employees are more likely to be productive and perform better at their job. To increase employee engagement, HR directors should consider implementing strategies such as creating a sense of belonging, providing meaningful work, offering rewards and recognition for employees’ efforts, and encouraging open communication. Additionally, there are many tools that can be used to measure and track employee engagement levels such as surveys, polls, and pulse check-ins.
Self Service
Self service is another effective way to enhance employee experience. Self service solutions provide employees with the ability to access information, resources, and services without having to rely on a third party. This type of solution can save time and reduce frustration for employees as they are able to quickly find what they need without having to wait for help from a third party. Examples of self service solutions include digital portals, automated help desks, and knowledge bases. Self Service also benefits the company's bottom line from cost savings. When employees find their answers quickly without engaging a third party, the cost of those tickets is saved and productivity is gained.
Intranet
An intranet is another tool that can be used to enhance employee experience. An intranet provides a secure platform for collaboration and communication among employees within an organization. It can be used to share documents, host meetings, distribute newsletters, and much more. Examples of intranet solutions include Microsoft SharePoint, Google Sites, and Slack.
Convergence
In order to provide a single destination for employees to self serve, perform job related tasks, collaborate with employees, share docs, and be in the know of company news and events, companies are combining intranets and employee portals into one. Employee portals are now becoming that single destination that drive self service, enable employees to collaborate and be in the know. This not only consolidate various technology into a single stack, but also give the employees the one place for anything they need across the enterprise, thus reducing confusion of which destination to go to, and increase productivity.
Conclusion
In conclusion, directors of HR have many options for enhancing employee experience. By focusing on increasing employee engagement through strategies such as creating a sense of belonging and offering rewards and recognition for employees’ efforts, implementing self service solutions such as digital HR portals or automated help desks, facilitate collaboration and communication among employees, directors of HR can create a positive work environment that will improve employee satisfaction and productivity.
