How Has Hybrid Work Changed the Employee Experience?
Blair Williamson
When budgets are tight and raises aren't possible, CEOs often look to other strategies to retain and keep their people onboard. That's why improving the employee experience is an increasingly important part of enterprise talent retention strategies.
Since the pandemic and the growth of hybrid work, the concept of employee experience has evolved. Employee expectations and goals have changed along with the way work now gets done. As a result, the definitions, solutions, and approaches to managing the employee experience have also changed.
Close to 40% of white-collar workers continue to spend all or a portion of their week working from home instead of the office. But what does employee experience mean when it comes to a distributed digital workforce? That’s a question that many HR, comms, and leadership teams are wrestling with.
Understanding how work has changed in recent years can help answer this question. Consider how the hybrid digital-first workforce relies on technology, not only to get work done, but also to reach out to clients, colleagues, and superiors. Clearly, technology plays a role – not simply as a versatile communication and productivity tool, but also as a critical resource. It links a community of dispersed individuals together across offices, countries, and continents.
What is employee experience?
Employee experience consists of all interactions an employee has with a company throughout their relationship. It starts when the candidate applies for a job, meets with a hiring manager, and continues through the entire onboarding process and the first few days of work.
But while the first days can color an employee’s experience, the impact doesn’t end there. Employee experience continues throughout a job, all the way up to and including the end of employment.
The employee experience is significant because employees who have a positive experience and attitude at work are more likely to be engaged with the company and perform at their best. They are more likely to make the extra effort that delivers a positive experience for customers, as well as speak highly of their employer and recommend the company to friends.
It's tempting to think that upping salaries will solve any issues employees may have. Though financial compensation remains an important motivator, research by Gartner shows there are also a number of other ways employees find meaning and purpose at work.
Employees rely on three kinds of motivators at work:
1 - Work as transaction: These employees are motivated by compensation and benefits and seek wellness programs and benefit packages. The focus is on concrete incentives and better remuneration.
2 - Work as world: Workers in this category are more focused on social responsibility and community. They are looking for connection with peers and colleagues as well as meaningful face-to-face time.
3 - Work as identity: For this group, the work they do is part of a core identity - the way they understand themselves in the world. It shapes who they are. They not only want to grow professionally, but also seek opportunities that align with their goals.
Not only is each employee unique, and motivated by a particular combination of wants and needs, they typically span more than one of these categories. Leadership must remember that addressing the employee experience is not simply a productivity issue. It is a key to retention, limiting problems like quiet quitting, and ensuring a dynamic workplace culture.
Not only is each employee unique, and motivated by a particular combination of wants and needs, they typically span more than one of these categories. Leadership must remember that addressing the employee experience is not simply a productivity issue. It is a key to retention, limiting problems like quiet quitting, and ensuring a dynamic workplace culture.
How to Boost Employee Experience on Digital Teams
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Does hybrid work make it all different?
Yes, it does! In the context of a dispersed hybrid workforce, the way we meaningfully communicate, connect, and collaborate has changed. Though most of us have taken these changes in stride and adapted to the new way of doing things, the shift has created a host of new challenges.
Primary amongst them is understanding how companies can retain the human-centric focus as workers spend less time in the office. As the demands placed on work change, it’s only logical that the tools we use to meet these new challenges evolve too.
At LumApps, our goal is to equip organizations with tools that help create an exceptional employee experience for all members of the team. For us, productivity is a fundamental concern. But our approach also considers outcomes that impact long-term success, like worker retention, worker engagement, and company culture.
We believe that to serve employees in the digital era, leaders need to enable their teams with tech stacks that support seamless communication and collaboration at all levels. At the same time, companies must provide easy and secure access to the tools and resources employees need to do their jobs well.
A modern intranet is one of the most important resources at a company’s disposal. As such, it should enable solutions across a range of employee touchpoints. That's why LumApps provides enterprises with an array of powerful and versatile tools.
These include email campaigns for streamlined onboarding and tools for continuous learning, like our micro- and nano-learning technologies. Other solutions include our AI-assisted technology and employee dashboard, which deliver powerful resources to help teams reduce digital friction and improve how work gets done. More than a Digital HQ, LumApps makes work more productive and meaningful, enhancing the quality of work while improving the employee experience.
Leaders in the Forrester Wave: Intranet Platforms for 2024 and a Gartner Magic Quadrant Leader, LumApps is the modern intranet solution that centralizes and powers communication for all employees. It creates a human-centric space where your company and distributed teams can learn and grow while generating meaningful and productive results.
For more information about improving the employee experience and our powerful technology solutions book a meeting today.
