Over the last five years Humankind has worked with over 400 businesses and learnt a lot about what it takes to grow. We know the ability to attract and retain the best talent underpins success.

We believe the best workplaces in the world have the best employee experiences in the world, and we know successful organisations understand that employee experience drives customer experience and therefore better commercial outcomes. For these reasons, we are excited to share our views on what employee experience is, and more importantly what you can focus on to improve your employee experience and achieve business success.

Leadership

The purpose, vision and strategy for any organisation are just the beginning. Also, important here is leadership style, level of authenticity and trust in an organisation and how effectively leadership communicate progress and performance across the organisation to motivate and inspire. Leadership is arguably the most important aspect of employee experience.

Operations

Operations is a foundation of employee’s experience. Whilst this includes the key stages of the employee lifecycle – on boarding, performance, development or remuneration etc. – it also includes the enabling policies, KPI’s and structure. Getting the people management component right is crucial for organisational success.

Environment

The impact our physical and virtual environment has on our experience at work is immense. It is where we create our sense of community. Our environment directly influences the way we work by allowing us to focus, collaborate, learn and socialise – leading to innovation in the workplace. Focusing on the environment is far more than bean bags and a beer tap.

Tools

Our experience at work is fantastic when we are supported by great technology, have access to the data and information we need and have systems and processes which are light touch and enabling, not cumbersome. Tools of the job will vary between organisations, including social technology to communicate, great WIFI and the beautiful hardware presented on day one.

Where traditional HR has focused on the employee lifecycle we see an enormous opportunity for leaders to ensure every interaction is deliberately designed. We think our critical interactions at work fit into these four elements and therefore have a direct impact on the way people feel and behave.

Originally published on humankind.nz