By Heather Nezich, courtesy of SBAM Approved Partner ASE
According to new research from Eagle Hill Consulting, U.S. employees say that employers are lacking when it comes to demonstrating care and concern for their workers. Only 28% of employees say their organization cares about their learning and career aspirations, and about one-fourth (28%) care about employee job satisfaction. Less than half of supervisors (45%) care about employee ideas and opinions, and fewer (36%) care about employees’ emotional state at work.
Ensuring employees feel cared about is a major factor that drives whether or not an organization is delivering an exceptional employee experience (EX), which ultimately drives customer satisfaction and organizational performance.
These findings are contained in the new research from Eagle Hill Consulting, Improve the Employee Experience: A Guide to Creating Exceptional Employee Experiences. This research is based upon The Eagle Hill Consulting Employee Experience Survey 2021 conducted by Ipsos. The survey included more than 1,000 U.S. workers to measure their views on a range of employee experience areas.
“Organizations struggle with employee experience because they often mistake EX for employee engagement, benefits, or performance management. Instead, EX is all about how employees think and feel about their day-to-day interactions within their organization,” says Melissa Jezior, president and chief executive officer of Eagle Hill Consulting.”
The research finds that most employees don’t view EX as an HR function. 62% of respondents say it is their supervisor’s responsibility, and only 13% say HR is responsible for EX.
“The first step for employers to re-tool their employee experience is to think beyond the human resources function. EX is cross-functional because most of the moments that matter to employees often aren’t in HR’s control. That means employers must create a connected and consistent EX across their organization while ensuring all leaders are held accountable for understanding and improving EX,” Jezior explained.
The research identifies four employee experience trends:
- Employees want to feel their employers have their backs.
- Workers need more help getting ready for a rapidly changing future.
- Employees expect to feel cared for but are being let down.
- Workers want flexibility where and when they work.
Recommendations for improving the employee experience include:
- Think beyond human resources.
- Organize EX around what matters the most to employees.
- Make supervisors and managers an integral part of EX.
- Create feedback loops for employees to communicate with management.
- Reengage, reassess, and reiterate. A good EX program is ever evolving based on employee needs.