Five trends in the field of Employee Experience in 2020

It's January again: the perfect time to take stock for 2019 and look ahead to 2020. Also in the field of work experience. If we look back over the past year, we see that great strides have been made in understanding Employee Experience (EX). This year's research on job satisfaction has taught us that factors such as culture and engagement are increasingly influencing job experiences.1. These elements are therefore considered increasingly important when looking for a job, and determine to a large extent how long an employee remains with an organization. 

A large-scale survey of 507 organizations shows that EX is high on the priority list of HR managers. Of the 521 respondents, 90% indicated that work experience was a top priority2. Fantastic, you'd think. And they would be, if these priorities were respected. And unfortunately that doesn't happen all the time. Only 12% of the interviewed HR managers indicated that they had an EX strategy. And this while a strong EX strategy is essential for the growth of the organization and the success of the future. After all, employees make the company. For those who want to make an impact on EX in 2020, we list the most important trends for the coming year.

1. Attention for the entire employee journey

Anyone who wants to offer employees the best possible work experience should look beyond the annual Satisfaction Survey. Work experience starts during the recruitment process and only ends when the employee closes the door behind him for the last time. Throughout the Employee Journey Break down into phases, points for improvement can be found. For example by mapping key moments. These are the moments that leave a big mark on the work experience and commitment. Think of the onboarding period, a promotion or the moment of retirement. It is very important to offer employees the best possible experience at these moments, whether it is a moment with a positive slant (employee makes promotion) or a more negative slant (employee decides to leave employment). EX not only has a major influence on commitment and employee satisfaction, but also on ambassadorship. Even when an employee leaves service, do you still want him or her to look back with a good feeling and remain an ambassador of the organization?

KORTOM: Take care of a good experience at every stage of the employee journey through key moments in map.

2. Retaining talent is recruiting new talent

There is a growing shortage of talent3. The labour market is tight and the largest percentage of the labour force is made up of Yillennials.4. And don't let this generation be known for its organizational loyalty. Research shows that 33% of new employees already start looking for a new job in the first six months.2. 23% leave the organisation within a year.

So there's a lot to gain at the beginning of the employee journey. Therefore, it's not a bad idea to have the onboarding period with each new employee. Regardless of whether this employee continue to work for the organisation for the first period, or decide on another looking for a job. Because you need a lot of honest feedback, and you get it... often only by asking for it. What can we do better onboarding? period? What does new talent need to feel at home in the organization?

For both the onboarding evaluation and the examination of employee satisfaction In other stages of the employee journey, this must be done structurally and properly recorded. In this way the results can be compared and action points can be identified. When researching and evaluating work experience, keep point 1 in mind: You want to offer the best possible experience at these key moments. Make sure you have an appropriate method and follow up the research results.

KORTOM: Invest at in retaining talent by maintaining a dialogue with employees, in particular in the first period of employment.

3. Culture on one

Glassdoor conducts a large-scale annual survey into employee and employer status. Last year's survey revealed the shortage of talent as the biggest risk for employers. This calls for a new approach to recruiting successful employees. And while studies still point to money as the most important motivator for employees and jobseekers, half of the respondents in Glassdoor's survey say that organisational culture is more important than pay1. Many employers are already responding by making employee engagement a priority. For example, they pay a lot of attention to diversity and inclusion and are committed to better onboarding processes and the retention of successful employees.

KORTOM: Corporate culture is one of the most important reasons for employees to (continue to) choose an organisation. In order to retain talent, it is therefore important to take a close look at the organisational culture and, if necessary, change it.

4. Diversity and inclusion

Young and old, Dutch and non-Dutch descent, husband and wife and everything in between. Many companies today aspire to diversity in the workplace. However, research carried out by CHRO earlier this year showed that these intentions are not yet being fulfilled, or are barely being fulfilled.5. Why is it so difficult to get the desired diversity policy off the ground? It could have to do with the motivation of organisations. The results of the study showed that organisations mainly strive for diversity because they believe it is part of their social vision. This is not a bad reason in itself, but you also need to keep in mind the influence of a diverse workforce on important strategic goals. Think, for example, of more creative ideas from different perspectives, or enabling identification by the target group.

In 2020, it is important not only to social, but also the business value of diversity in the workplace to go see. Therefore, ensure good cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the different groups within an organization. The incoming generation of millennials can learn a lot from the departing generation of baby boomers and vice versa.

KORTOM: We need to make the move from the striving for diversity to become a reality. It's important that we are going to realize that a diverse team not only contributes to social, but certainly also business interests.

5. Digitisation

It comes as no surprise that digitization belongs in this list. As a society, we are busy digitizing processes. So too in HR. More and more HR officers agree that a lot of time can be saved by automating and digitizing processes. Take for example exit calls. Retrieving feedback from departing employees is an important part of every exit. It is only difficult to record and analyse these conversations in a structured way. You can find a common thread in the large pile of notes from last year's exit talks. Fortunately, there's a solution to this. By means of an online employee survey you only have to occupy yourself with interpreting the results and you can focus on making changes. 

Often HR officers feel the fear of to make the process too impersonal. While as an organization and certainly as HR department naturally wants to stay close to your employees! It's good to to consider that an employee survey serves as a supplement to the current policy in which one-to-one discussions play a major role. Every Employee is different and needs different things to make the most of themselves. to be able to make it. This information does not come from an employee survey on in front, simply because the results of the investigation are not traceable to people. Therefore, it is a good idea to use the (negative) results from a employee research with teams around the table. In addition, you can offer the possibility to request an extra call to as a result of the investigation. Plenty of opportunities in times of digitization to remain personal.

KORTOM: Invest in the digitization of the EX strategy. This not only saves a lot of time and money, but also offers more analysis capabilities. This allows you to use employee surveys to find the right draw conclusions.

All in all, enough to focus on in the new year! What are you going to pay more attention to in 2020?

Sources

  1. Chamberlain, A. (2019). Glassdoor's Job & Hiring Trends for 2020. Glassdoor.
  2. Jacobs, V. (2019). The State of Employee Experience 2019. TI People.
  3. Bolden-Barrett, V (2019). Talent shortage emerging as a top risk for organizations. HR Drive.
  4. Fry, R. (2018). Millennials are the largest generation in the U.S. labor force. Pew Research Center.
  5. CHRO (2019). More or less innovation through diversity? CHRO.

2 January 2019

Please comment

The e-mail address is not published. Required fields are marked with *