Why you should focus on a personal employee experience to hold on to the best talent
The benefits of retention over recruitment are widely known, with the true cost of replacing an employee including recruitment, interview, handover time, onboarding, training, salary and more, not to mention the lost expertise when an experienced colleague leaves.
With a particularly challenging jobs market at the minute, focussing on employee experience and getting your engagement right has never been more important.
A recent Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) Winter Labour Market survey found that 57% of recruiting employers had hard-to-fill vacancies, with 47% of employers saying they responded to this challenge by upskilling their existing colleagues.
As businesses are finding it increasingly difficult to attract the right talent, many are trying to appeal to skilled-workers looking for employment by reviewing their benefits packages, while also adapting to the need for flexibility in the post-pandemic world.
Other employers are exacerbating the problem by reversing the ability to work from home or remotely. Candidates who’ve had a taste of a greater work-life balance may now be unwilling to compromise when it comes to finding a new role. And of course, there are many hard to fill positions in a wide range of sectors where team members need to be at their location of work, including Logistics, warehouse-related roles and in healthcare settings. Candidates want to connect with their roles beyond their benefits.
As jobseekers become increasingly demanding and pressures within the jobs market are giving candidates the upper hand, employers need to be thinking not only about building their employer brand, but also their employee journey – from a candidate’s first application to when they eventually leave the business - creating a personalised experience, tailored to each individual’s needs.
What a single 25-year-old in the early stages of their career may want to get out of their work life, won’t necessarily be the same as a 40-year-old parent. The employee journey needs to focus even more on the individual, and this is where great line management comes in.
Keeping colleagues engaged and enjoying work will minimise the risk of ending up in a tricky recruitment spot that costs the business time and money to find the right match.
Having a highly engaged workforce results in 21% greater profitability yet last year’s State of the Nation workforce report showed that in the UK alone, 41% of employees feel stressed on a daily basis, 20% feel sad a lot of the day and, in reality, only 9% are engaged.
At Enthuse Communications, we want everyone to enjoy their job and feel happy to be at work. Creating a sense of community and support within your workplace - for all colleagues - is crucial for this to happen, but there are so many other aspects that contribute to the employee experience and employee engagement, including culture and values, having a great line manager, feeling included and making sure all colleagues have a voice and are listened to.
Here are our top tips for how organisations’ Communication and People Leads can create a positive employee experience and keep colleagues engaged throughout their journey:
Communicate consistently and clearly. Engaged employees expect this to help them feel valued and to understand what they’re working towards.
Have a consistent flow of news that reflects the full picture of what’s going on in the organisation.
Always have a feedback loop, two-way communication with colleagues is key.
Address and act on what colleagues have told you, if you don’t, cynicism will creep in and a lack of trust will develop.
Consider how your communications come across to the reader. Have you thought about the tone, are you explaining the why, and are you reaching the right audiences with the right messages, at the right time and via the best channels?
When planning your communications, also consider how frequent they need to be.
Ensure you have the right mix of communications:
- Strategic
what do colleagues need to know to understand where the organisation is heading? What are they working towards? And do they understand how they contribute to this bigger picture?
- Operational
the information colleagues need to do their job to the best of their ability.
- Social comms
what represents the culture of the organisation and brings people together, such as events or other initiatives?
Set yourself up for success
Regularly review your systems and processes to ensure they meet your organisation’s needs, so they continually evolve and improve.
Ask colleagues what they need to do their roles successfully. A communications audit will take a proper look at your current working practices and help to formulate a clear vision of where you want to be.
Monitor and evaluate – act on what you’re being told to build trust and boost morale
Garner insight – anecdotal feedback is just as strong as quantitative data from a survey. Once you have insight, communicate what you’ve heard and seen then act on it. Communicate this back to colleagues to update on progress.
Seek out opportunities for improvement and keep moving forward. Celebrate successes along the way to help build trust.
Work together with leaders to understand your employees and focus on feelings – emotions drive people
Put yourself in their shoes. Ask employees how they feel right now and about their job.
Leaders should check in with colleagues to see how they’re doing personally - you may not always know what’s happening outside of work and this can have a big impact on emotions and mental health.
Senior managers should participate in regular face-to-face interaction and visit colleagues on the job to connect and empathise.
Get managers fit to communicate, make sure they have the right communications skills and that they’re supported with the relevant resources to share announcements – especially difficult ones.
Strong leadership is vital to facilitate an environment of trust. Leaders can:
Communicate openly and remain positive.
Support individuals to progress – good leaders foster open conversations among teams enabling colleagues to support one another, encourage active learning and development and make time for coaching conversations.
The employee experience stays with colleagues beyond leaving the business and therefore has an overall impact on your employer brand, so making sure you get the employee journey right from the recruitment stage and onboarding process through to the final exit interview is crucial. Prospective candidates looking for a job will check reviews on industry websites, such as Glassdoor, and talk to friends and family about local employers, so helping all employees to have a positive journey, not only ensures they’re happy and feel supported to give their best at work, but it will also leave a legacy that has an impact on future recruitment activity.