Sponsored by Cleary
Leaders, I have two critical questions for you: 1) Does your organization truly provide a positive employee experience? 2) Would your employees agree?
If you’re not sure, I get it. These days, most organizations are struggling to close a serious gap between leaders’ perceptions and workforce realities. For instance:
- 74% of executives told Gartner they want staff to express themselves, yet only 56% of employees said they feel comfortable speaking up. Also, while 75% of executives said they consider employees’ perspectives when making decisions, only 47% of team members believe they do.
- Sadly, this gap is even more pronounced among the 80% of workers with frontline jobs. In fact, according to O.C. Tanner, half of these people feel expendable. What’s more, only 30% feel seen and valued, while only 36% describe their work as a positive employee experience.
Factors That Turn the Tide
Of course, closing this gap isn’t easy — especially now. With so many moving pieces and parts transforming modern work culture, the definition of a positive employee experience is itself, constantly changing. All the more reason why employers should pay closer attention now. No one can afford to take their eyes off the ball.
So, in today’s fluid environment, what exactly does it take to improve employee experience? Certainly, communication, recognition, and reinforcement play important roles. But lasting impact requires a deeper cultural commitment. In fact, 94% of executives and 88% of employees agree that a distinct culture focused on engagement and motivation is the key — not only to a thriving workforce, but ultimately to business success. (It’s encouraging to see agreement on this point!)
So, what exactly can leaders do to create and sustain this kind of culture? Join me as I explore this topic with an employee experience innovator on today’s #WorkTrends podcast…
Meet Our Guest: Thomas Kunjappu
Thomas Kunjappu is the CEO and Co-Founder of Cleary, the employee experience platform for high-performing teams. Under Thomas’ leadership, Cleary elevates engagement in remote and hybrid work environments, with a solution designed specifically for the modern workplace.
With his background as a product innovator at companies like Twitter, Medallia, and HP, Thomas is a technology industry mover and shaker who understands the special connection between human behavior and business results. He’s also a very cool person who is easy to find online and at industry forums. So I’m thrilled he’s joining us here to discuss the latest issues and trends in employee engagement and how to sustain a positive employee experience.
Here are several key takeaways from our conversation…
Why a Positive Employee Experience Matters
Thomas, let’s start by clarifying the concept of employee experience. Why is it so important?
Well, it originally started with the idea of customer experience, where businesses focus on understanding what customers are going through at every step of their journey, and responding with feedback loops and processes that ensure customers have a good experience at every stage in the relationship.
But who actually takes care of customers? Employees do.
So employee experience grew out of that realization, and thinking about the employee journey in a similar way.
How Work Realities Are Changing
What does it take to create a positive employee experience in the post-pandemic world?
I think we’ve all felt the shift. Being an employee now is very different in a remote or hybrid environment. Work is much more distributed, flexible, and dynamic for many of us.
But with 50-100% of people working in this dramatically different way, any employer that wants to create a positive employee experience must also think about how to support employees in a dramatically different way.
Who Owns the Employee Experience Now
So in this new environment, who is responsible for ensuring employees are engaged, recognized, and supported?
That’s arguably the sole job of leaders and managers — getting the right people in the right places, and helping the whole company grow in the same direction — with leverage from the people team, right?
HR has shifted from focusing only on ensuring the company doesn’t get sued to actively ensuring a strong talent brand that attracts great people and fosters a positive employee experience so people want to stay.
Others have a role, too. For example, internal communications and even IT. A lot of different functions contribute because a positive employee experience is really everybody’s responsibility, now.
Tech’s Role in Employee Experience
HR tech can make a difference here. How does Cleary help organizations accomplish this?
Well, our tools fit into three categories that support our vision of a great workplace with a positive employee experience. That includes communications, culture and team efficiency. And it all comes together with journeys and moments that matter for employees, starting with onboarding.
With so many organizations trying to do more with less, we’re focusing on helping people redeem time by offering templates to streamline all kinds of processes.
For example, if you’re managing a strategic product update or managing change-related communications, we’ve got dozens of templates to help you get started much faster than if you’re starting with a blank canvas…
Start Creating a More Positive Employee Experience Today
>> Check Cleary’s collection of free templates and other helpful resources
Listen to This Full #WorkTrends Episode
Tune in on Apple Podcasts, on Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you’re there, be sure to subscribe so you won’t miss future episodes.
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