A positive employee experience impacts more than the workforce: It’s a competitive advantage

June 29, 2021 | 4 minute read
Stephanie Hlavin
Principal, Content Marketing
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Employee Experience’ might sound nebulous or even like a marketing term that’s trying too hard, but it’s not. While it’s not new as a concept, it’s also not what you think. 

 

Within the human resources (HR) function, the employee experience encompasses more than a person’s time spent in a specific position at an organization. It is the culmination of every interaction and touchpoint an employee experiences while at a particular company. 

 

The employee experience extends beyond the walls of HR—it’s also an orchestrated set of experiences and considerations the organization creates to improve their employees’ work environment, home lives, and their overall productivity. After all, the employee experience is end-to-end—influenced by every interaction your employees have with your business—beginning with their offer letter and ending on their last day at work. 

 

The employee experience is influenced by every interaction your employees have with your business, beginning with your offer letter and ending on their last day at work.

 

Why does the employee experience matter

 

The perception your customers have of your organization and brand is a critical component for competitive advantage. But just as important as the view from outside, is the view from inside: what your employees think of the organization. 

 

Studies support this: Satisfied and engaged employees are productive ones. The ones that aren’t? They’re costing you: Disengaged employees have 37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity, and 15% lower profitability. 

 

Employees who have a positive experience with their company aren’t just more productive. They are more committed to their work and its’ outcomes, including a higher degree of loyalty. Research firm Gartner found that employees who view their experience positively are 60% more likely to say they intend to stay at their current organization and 69% more likely to be high-performing employees. 

 

The employee experience isn’t what HR says it is

 

The employee experience is not what the HR department or HR leaders says it is, but rather what employees (including prospective and former) say. The main factors that impact an employee’s experience are based on the hiring process, onboarding, their interactions with fellow employees and managers, and the tools and technologies they available (or not) to get their jobs done.

 

Top 3 experiences employees want

 

As consumers accustomed to easy, seamless, and always-on access to unlimited information, products, and services, employees expect the same seamless and frictionless experiences from their workplace, including: 

 

  1. The ability to get their job done. Employees want easy and convenient online access to services, processes, procedures, and personal information. Clunky applications that don’t work well are frustrating to employees, particularly when they’re looking for essential information to doing their jobs, accomplishing their work-life goals, or taking care of work-related personal business such as benefits eligibility.
     
  2. Connection. It’s a universal desire to want to feel part of a community, including within a workplace. Even for individual contributors, employees that feel like they are part of a larger team working toward a collective goal can help them feel welcome, appreciated, and valued which shows up in quality of work, dependability, and longevity. 
     
  3. Transparency. When it comes to job performance and expectations, opportunities for development, and advancement within the company, employees want to know what the organization’s processes are and how they can accomplish their goals. Process transparency builds trust and engagement, leading to happier employees, improved productivity, and better overall company performance.

 

Read what global, HR industry analyst Josh Bersin had to say about Oracle Journeys.

 

Ways to create a positive employee experience

 

As some employees return to the office and others remain remote, it’s important that organizations meet employees wherever they are. Research firm IDC Reports that 46% of respondents expect that remote and hybrid work models will endure post-pandemic. 

 

Doing so will be integral to creating business impact and improving employee satisfaction as work returns to what’s next. 

 

Here are a couple ways organizations can ensure the employee experience is a favorable one – wherever it takes place:

 

  • Allow employees to self-manage their careers. Oracle recently launched Journeys, a new enterprise employee experience platform. It’s an intuitive and personalized HR solution with a simple-to-use, low/no-code design. Built-in artificial intelligence (AI) allows for every journey to be a personalized one, delivered in context of that unique employee. 

    Has an employee recently returned from parental leave? Based on actions and events managed within the HR system, AI will trigger the appropriate actions for that scenario and offer step-by-step guidance. The employee benefits from a low-stress, intuitive, and self-driven experience delivered on desktop or mobile. 
     
  • Acknowledge that everybody’s path to success is unique. Just as every organization is different, so are the people that work there. While it’s important that no one feels like a number, HR likely doesn’t have the time to craft bespoke, one-off experiences for the entire workforce. 

    With the Journeys Creator interface, HR users can do just that—and without the help of IT. Using pre-built, best-practice templates, you can design, edit, and assign customized journeys based on company culture and team requirements in compliance with internal standards. Line of business leaders can edit, add, or delete tasks and then assign those customized journeys to their teams. These journeys could include helping employees accomplish tasks like managing expenses, updating skills, or understanding new safety protocols as they return to the office. 

Learn how an employee experience can benefit the business and the workforce

 

Employee experience is certainly not a fad or a nice to have. It’s a must-have and should be taken seriously to create an organization staffed with high-performing and fulfilled professionals. When the business can create and deliver a positive experience for their employees, everyone wins. If you’re interested in learning more about creating a powerful and positive employee experience, visit Oracle Journeys here.

 

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Stephanie Hlavin

Principal, Content Marketing


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