Having understood the business impact of a positive employee experience, let’s first understand the factors that create effective staff engagement and lead to a conducive experience.

During the pandemic, the need for work-life balance has come to the forefront as employees juggle between professional commitments and the responsibilities of caring for children/ailing parents at home. Moreover, working in silos and concerns around the virus have left employees struggling with anxiety and depression.

A recently held radio show titled, “Boosting Employee Engagement: Human Experience Management with EY, has outlined the three essential elements of a positive employee experience (EX), based on different employee needs, as follows –

• The task experience – Includes having access to the right tools and resources to get work done efficiently. When employees aren’t able to retrieve relevant information at the right time, or have to switch constantly between apps to get tasks done, it creates real frustration among them. Often, they may feel that the employer doesn’t value their time or skills.
• The social experience – If employees like their peers and teams have an excellent working dynamic towards shared goals, it inculcates a sense of belonging to the organization, and they feel effective, supported, and included.
• A sense of fulfillment – What employees expect from their work differs from person to person. “Everybody has a different sense of fulfillment. Some people might work because it allows them to do things outside of work with their families. Others, fortunately, get to do work that they truly enjoy that helps them feel fulfilled.”

Despite the financial benefits and improved business outcomes of a positive employee experience, the largely immature employee experience (EX) initiatives at many organizations leave room for significant improvement and an urgent need to close the gap between the organization’s EX strategy and employee expectations.