Designing the Employee Experience

The digital world loves a good word or phrase to describe the complex, strategic, innovative stuff we do. Digital Transformation, Customer Experience, Growth Strategy, Audience Engagement…are among the many we use liberally every day. That’s fine, we need memorable language to translate the complex and save time in meetings. But, if there is no strategy, tactics or measures behind the buzz words then it’s all just ‘bullshedo’ (the ancient martial art of speaking out of one’s ass - thanks Jonny Vaughn!).

Great companies and leaders can sift through the brown stuff and identify the factors that are important to creating a high performing business. They understand the importance and add the of layers of thought, planning and action which must take place to make the changes to drive performance. Culture is a word currently trending very strongly in the world of business transformation and one that we are extremely interested in, both as an agency and for our customers.  

Firstly, what the hell is culture? 

After much debate, we have come to the conclusion that its…wait for it… ‘How employees feel about their company and their position in it.’ Defining it is the easy part. The tricky bit is fostering it and sustaining it.

• How do we retain our culture through growth?
• How we sustain/improve our culture through organisational change?
• How do we help foster a culture of innovation?
• How do we develop a culture that will attract talent.
• How do we maintain cohesion with a dispersed or mobile workforce?

   Very simply, your company will fly or die on the energy your culture creates and sustains.

Employee Experience

Employee experience design must be high on the agenda for business leaders. A focus on culture and continually improving the employee experience is essential for growth and high performance. People must be engaged, enabled and empowered in order to perform at a high level. In Western Europe an average of only 10% of employees are ‘engaged’ at work, with 71% not engaged and 19% actively dis-engaged. (State of the Global Workplace – Gallup) In the US the percentage of engaged employees jumps to 31%, this is in part due to a higher skilled workforce, but also to a more established culture of coaching and communication. The actual costs of recruitment, sick leave etc are easily calculated, but the opportunity costs arising out of those not engaged or actively disengaged are possibly more alarming.

What could your business be achieving if you engage another 10-20% of your workforce?

How do you mitigate the negative impact of those actively disengaged?

This requires a strategy which uses Cultural, Technological, Physical tactics. It also requires leaders who can influence and inspire. The strategy and tactics can be assisted and amplified through the use of digital tools for communication, sharing knowledge, managing and interpreting data, helping people do their job better and also adding some value to their lives. We have worked with some outstanding companies who are extremely focused on their employee experience and driving a culture of high performance. Our work has included the development of staff engagement apps, online training tools and and social media aggregation tools. There are also some great applications which support the health and well being of employees, gather data on ‘company mood’ and provide perks for staff. Innovative and visionary leaders need to be asking important questions;

• Are we thinking about the experience of our employees?
• What percentage of our team are engaged or actively disengaged?
• What is our employee experience like?
• How can digital help develop a connected and collaborative company culture?
• How do we make sure our culture is authentic and genuine and not just going through the motions?

Lots to think about. Contact Origin and we’ll help come up with the answers!

Jonny Kelly

Creative Director at Origin

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