Summary:
What Makes a Great Employee Experience?
Why is employee experience so important?
How can you create a great employee experience?
How rewards can improve the employee experience
What Makes a Great Employee Experience?
Are your employees engaged at work?
If not, your organisation could be losing its share of the £52-70 billion in productivity the UK economy loses every year due to disengagement.
But how do you maximise employee engagement? It all comes down to creating a great employee experience.
Why is employee experience so important?
Positive employee experience is integral to employee engagement, and engagement affects every element of your business, from productivity and profitability, through to talent acquisition and retention.
In fact, a Gallup survey found that organisations with an engaged workforce deliver a massive 147% more earnings per share than their competitors.
Your customers will notice too. Highly engaged businesses receive 10% higher customer ratings, as well as a 20% increase in sales.
How can you create a great employee experience?
Follow these five steps to creating a great employee experience within your organisation.
Step 1- Create a supportive environment
Workplace stress is a productivity killer, and it’s on the rise. Last year, the HSE found that 50% of all work-related ill health was as a result of stress, depression or anxiety.
Burnout is also a major challenge when it comes to retention, with 95% of HR leaders reporting it to be one of the primary reasons employees leave an organisation.
We all feel stressed out sometimes, but the key is to make sure you create a supportive environment where employees feel confident they can raise issues with line managers.
You should look to create a space for peer-to-peer support too. Put in place programmes that encourage team building and interaction beyond simply collaborating on work projects.
The impact this has on employee experience doesn’t just support retention, but acquisition too. When an employee feels their mental health is supported, 91% will recommend the organisation to a friend.
Considering ways to better support your workforce’s mental wellbeing? Check out these five wellness initiatives for improving employee experience.
Step 2- Give praise when it’s deserved
Praise is vital for creating a great employee experience. Research by Happily.ai found a ‘strong relationship between the amount of recognition an employee receives and their happiness at work’.
Your employees won’t continue to deliver exceptional results if they’re not recognised when they do so. In fact, recognition was found to be the number one driver of great work.
It’s not just employee performance that’s improved with recognition. Recognition is a key driver of talent acquisition, while a dedicated recognition programme increases the likelihood your organisation has ‘strong business outcomes’ by 12 times.
Step 3- Ensure there’s room for progression
Even if every one of your employees is currently happy in their job, one day, they’re going to want to move up. This isn’t just about receiving more money but also furthering their careers.
Having a clear progression path is essential for job satisfaction and a positive employee experience, while it also increases the expectation for future satisfaction.
Make sure line managers are having regular one-to-ones with their team, setting objectives and mapping out their progression path.
Step 4- Build a strong work culture
Workplace culture refers to a set of values, behaviours and tools within the organisation. An employee’s experience of a workplace is what happens when that individual interacts with that structure.
Without a strong and positive workplace culture, it’s impossible to generate positive employee experiences.
Remember, if you’re looking to implement employee engagement strategies, you need to think about how these concepts and programmes work with your unique culture if you’re to drive high performance.
Step 5- Review remuneration packages
Is your organisation awarding its employees fairly and competitively for the industry?
Money isn’t everything when it comes to the employee experience — a study of almost 20,000 exit interviews found remuneration was the cause of an employee moving on just 12% of the time — but it does still impact employee satisfaction.
According to a report on pay and rewards conducted by BDO UK, when an employee knows their remuneration is in line with their peers and that the decision process on pay is fair, job satisfaction is increased.
How rewards can improve the employee experience
We’ve already touched on how recognition is important for the employee experience. Organisations with recognition and rewards programmes see 31% lower staff churn than those without, while immediate rewards increase ‘intrinsic motivation’ by linking activities to specific goals.
So how can you implement a rewards programme into your organisation, and most importantly, ensure it delivers an improved employee experience?
Here at Sodexo Engage, we’ve been supporting organisations to increase employee engagement and perfect employee experiences for over 60 years. Our expert team will work with you to identify the ideal rewards package for your business, combining both monetary and non-monetary rewards.
Our rewards offerings include:
- eVouchers and gift cards—the ideal solution for delivering those ‘instant rewards’, our huge range of eVouchers and gift cards, as well as our customisable voucher cheques, puts the power in your employees’ pockets. They can be sent directly to an employee’s inbox and used at a huge range of retailers.
- Celebration packages—want to celebrate long service, outstanding performance or just because? Our Celebration Packages will make sure everyone feels appreciated. This could include certificates, awards and branded presentation packs.
- Film vouchers—provide your staff with a great night out or night in with our film vouchers. Save up to 40% on box office tickets (as well as those notoriously expensive drinks and snacks), or get great discounts on the latest Sky Store releases.
- Recognition prepaid cards—want to give your best performers the freedom to spend their rewards however they wish? Our recognition prepaid cards can be used anywhere that accepts Visa, both in-store and online. The best part is they’re reloadable, meaning you don’t have to order a new stack every month. We can even offer bespoke designs so you can customise them with your branding.
Want to find out more about how Sodexo Engage can support your organisation in delivering an exceptional employee experience with a range of rewards solutions, wellbeing initiatives and more?
Get in touch with our team today and find out how we can support you with a strategic approach backed up by decades of experience.