HR: how to provide a better employee experience

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Echoing the concepts of customer experience and user experience, employee experience defines all the feelings and experiences of employees at work. It begins once the recruitment process is over, from the moment new talent arrives at the company until they leave. Employee experience applies to everyone involved in the company, and more specifically to salaried employees. A real growth driver for the company, an improved employee experience increases employee performance and the quality of life at work. This is where QWL and Quality of Life and Working Conditions come into their own! Discover how to define your HR strategy to offer your employees a better employee experience!

Employee experience: what’s all the fuss about?

Employee experience is the reflection and indicator of what happens inside the company, of your employees’ experiences and career path. There are many issues related to improving employee experience. In particular, it helps to:
  • Develop employee engagement and build loyalty;
  • Ensure a better customer experience;
  • Improve the company’s image;
  • Increase business performance;
  • Attract new talent through a tailored and differentiating recruitment experience.
  There are two goals for companies in providing a better employee experience:
  1. To guarantee employees a fulfilling work life, enabling them to commit and contribute to developing the company’s influence and performance.
  2. To make employees ambassadors of the employer brand, who embody its values and culture in order to enhance the company’s image.

Employee experience: what your employees expect

By its very definition, employee experience must meet employees’ expectations. However, each employee has different needs: salary, development prospects, interest in the tasks and assignments to be performed, working hours, relationship with the hierarchy, managers, and team, training goals, etc. According to a 2018-2019 Gartner study, 77% of employees would like to have options that facilitate routine tasks, such as booking leave or logging their work hours. Following the first lockdown, another study conducted by consulting firm KPAM in June and July 2020 identified employees’ main expectations as:
  • A need for meaning and security that is as strong as ever;
  • A more compelling need for work-life balance;
  • A great need for social ties and sharing;
  • A common expectation in terms of improving working conditions;
  • A search for reliable, ergonomic tools that promote information sharing, accessible to all.
To improve the employee experience and satisfy employees in their daily working lives, from their recruitment to the day they leave, companies must implement a genuine employee experience strategy.

Five keys for improving employee experience

Strengthen the company’s culture and values

Shared values, knowledge, and behaviors combine to create the company’s culture. They help engage and retain employees by connecting them to a common identity. To strengthen the company culture, it is important to consolidate group behaviors, to ritualize them, and to increase the feeling of belonging. To do this, you can create rituals within the company, for example, by celebrating the arrival and departure of employees, birthdays, company highlights, etc.

Focus on the onboarding of new talents

Onboarding involves more than welcoming newcomers on the first day and offering them some freebies on behalf of the company. It must be treated as a long-term process. Focusing on onboarding will enhance the way that new recruits view the company. Given that 20% of employees who join a company are already considering leaving it on their first day, the stakes are high. Companies can propose pairings where a senior employee accompanies and helps a newcomer to settle in and find his or her place. Training and regular meetings with the manager can also be set up.

Improve the quality of life at work

The quality of life at work has become one of the main challenges for companies. The work environment must be pleasant, the spaces functional, and the furniture comfortable. By improving the quality of life at work, the company also improves its productivity. Numerous initiatives can be implemented: office and seating arrangements, creation of a relaxation area, or enhancing the decor, for example (cozy atmosphere, subdued lighting, green plants, etc.).

Encourage collaborative management

Modern management is most definitely not the same as old-style management! To develop employee experience and encourage employee commitment, management must be flexible and encourage close contact. Employees are primarily looking for fulfillment at work and to find meaning in their professional activity. The manager is there to help them achieve their objectives and to involve them in the company’s projects. Collaborative management favors benevolence, availability, trust, and listening. Offering flexible working hours, including teleworking days, is a good example.

Simplify administrative processes

Administrative processes can have a negative impact on the well-being and morale of employees, especially when there are many processes in play: leave management, meal vouchers, expense accounts, signing contracts, etc. Employees’ daily lives can be made easier thanks to digital technology, which can reduce time-consuming and cumbersome administrative procedures. Several digital solutions are available to facilitate administrative processes and improve the efficiency of the HR department, such as tools for managing paid leave, electronic signatures, or expense reports.
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Leave and absence management software: how does it affect employee experience?

Opting for an online leave and absence management tool simplifies the process and the management of personnel. Thanks to digitalization, the HR department saves time, paid leave requests and responses are smoother, and employee experience is improved. A paid leave and absence management tool offers your company four benefits:
  • It facilitates communication between employees: employees can access their team members’ leave schedules, allowing them to organize themselves collectively.
  • It improves administrative processes: employees can enter their leave requests on the user-friendly interface and managers can validate them from the platform.
  • It facilitates access to information: employees can consult their leave balance by type (rest days (RTT), paid leave, recovery days, etc.) and transmit supporting documents for their absences via the platform.
  • It reduces administrative ambiguities and errors: validation circuits ensure that everyone receives the right notification at the right time and has the information they need.
The Keeple leave and absence management software is a lever that will improve employee experience and facilitate your company’s administrative processes. Each employee benefits from an overview of the team’s leave and absences, in real time. The interface is ergonomic and information can be automatically exported to payroll software, facilitating the tasks performed by managers and the HR department. Do you have any questions? Please contact us!

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