How to improve your employees’ digital workplace experience

How does employee experience affect productivity?

Employee experience directly affects productivity. Put simply, unhappy employees do not perform as well as happier ones.

Additionally, employees on inclusive teams outperform those who aren’t by 27%. Such employees are more engaged, deliver a higher quality of work, and contributed to better overall customer relations.

An employee-centric model is needed for the modern employee

To recruit and retain employees today, you may need a more employee-centric workplace model.

Digital workplace trends suggest that remote and hybrid workplaces have a large place in this. Companies that allow remote work experience 25% less turnover than those who don’t.

In fact, remote work is so popular that 1 in 3 employees say they would quit their current job if their employer stopped offering remote work options. The digital workplace, clearly, is a fit for the modern employee.

Develop a strategic employee experience

Employee experience encompasses the entirety of the employment life cycle from initial job advertisement to exit. Simply being focused on updating processes or technology ignores candidates’ and employees’ true human experience.

Learning and development opportunities can boost a flagging employee’s morale, as can reinforcing your company’s culture. Put yourself in an employee’s place. Would you work for you?

How can you involve employees in this process to ensure better solutions are reached?

Employee experience has more to do with human interaction and company culture than with technology.

You’ll want to put a fine point on this human element. A couple of popular ways of engaging: social media and periodic engagement surveys.

What key components should be considered when creating an employee experience strategy?

When creating an employee experience strategy, pay careful attention to:

• Candidate experience

• Onboarding

• Communication

• Development opportunities

• Compensaton packages

Once candidates have become employees, make sure you:

• Define and reinforce company culture 

• Align new employees with your purpose and mission

• Encourage good work-life balance 

• Provide periodic appreciation and recognition

Workplace learning

Learning opportunities motivate employees in both the short and long terms.

Both structured and unstructured development modes help employees learn in a way conducive to their own preferences and availabilities.

Hiring

COVID has put a great emphasis on a trend that has been evident for some time – employees these days are seeking a work-life balance. Work is an important part of life, but it isn’t the totality of it.

So, focus on your company’s culture. If attention to work-life balance or social-improvement goals aren’t part of your company culture you may have difficulty attracting top talent, especially from among younger cohorts.

Onboarding

Employee-minded onboarding has its benefits: 91% of employees stick around for at least a year when organizations onboard them efficiently.

Here’s some onboarding advice:

• Put new hires on large projects right away.

• Encourage managers to learn about new hires before they even start.

Collaboration

Collaboration is key to keeping employees involved and invested in your company. Employees in highly collaborative environments report feeling the sort of sense of belonging that contributes to greater job fidelity, improved productivity, and an overall boost in company culture.

But doesn’t remote work pose a challenge to employee collaboration? Not really. After all, 78% of employees are happier working remotely and they’re willing to make it work.

So how do you create a collaborative remote environment?

• Hire the right people

• Scale properly

• Be sure roles and expectations are clear

Retention

41% of workers are considering leaving their job. That kind of mass resignation could be a serious problem for any company.

But there’s hope. 68% of employees said that being recognized for their contributions encourages them to stick around.

Technology in the workplace

Metrics and statistics don’t always tell the whole story. Productivity-improving tech may drive employee burnout if it’s too complicated or awkward.

Don’t overload employees, especially those for whom the digital workplace is new.

Learning opportunities

Some skills gaps are to be expected amid today’s multi-generational workforce.

Older employees may possess insufficient digital knowledge to thrive in the virtual workplace, while younger workers, adept with contemporary technology, may need more training to develop soft skills such as friendliness toward customers.

Depending on how you look at things, skills gaps aren’t necessary liabilities; rather, they represent perfect learning opportunities to teach new skills while emphasizing your company’s culture.

94% of employees would stick with a company that invests in their career development.