It’s one thing to have an enticing job ad that draws in talent, but when the reality of the day job doesn’t align with what was sold at the interview, the cracks can start to show and retaining top talent might not be as easy as expected. Fear not, we’re here to help you nurture the employee experience through effective recruitment and retention to keep your people happy, engaged and motivated to be their best at work.
The impact of a positive employee experience
The stats don’t lie. A happy workforce is a more motivated one.
Our research found that 54% of employees believe productivity is hindered by negative company culture, which can directly impact the bottom line.
Your employees are more than just staff, they’re people with aspirations and a need for social connection. Considering the amount of hours we spend working in our lifetime, it might as well be enjoyable, right?
Our toxic workplace report also revealed that over two thirds of respondents believed there was a direct link between negative workplace culture and employee retention. The employee experience is built around the company culture. By working on this and showing appreciation for your people, it is likely that turnover rates will slow down, saving the company costs on recruitment and protecting against knowledge loss from your most experienced or best performing colleagues.
Assess the current employee experience
Our employee happiness survey revealed that the main driver of employee happiness is work life balance. While it can sometimes seem like a buzzword, doing it right can truly transform the attitudes and performance of your workforce. For example, providing flexible working opportunities for your colleagues shows that you value them, their expertise and competence.
Assess your existing internal comms offering and consider if it is aligned with the employer brand that you are striving for externally.
- Do your people have a central digital place to connect?
- Is it easy for people across the business to access software and resources they need to do their job?
- Can your non-office based staff access these platforms?
- What about employee recognition and awards?
- Do you still expect your people to get all their news from all-staff emails?
- Do you offer training and development to staff?
Wherever you sit with the answers to these questions, pair this with the company benefits you offer to staff and you will have an indication of how strong your employee value proposition is. The employee value proposition, or EVP, is essentially what you give back to your colleagues in exchange for their hard work, and the ways in which you facilitate this can impact its success in retaining top talent and providing a fulfilling employee experience.
For example, you might have a whole host of benefits but each of them requires registration or access through its own portal, and it’s not clear for employees where they go to sign up. Perhaps each employee has a training budget but they’re unsure how to ask for it so they never utilise it, holding back their personal development.
Let’s see how we can showcase all aspects of the employee value proposition and nurture an employee experience that paves the way for attracting and retaining top talent.
How do your people rate their employee experience?
The next step is to encourage people to have their say. You need to know where you stand now in order to understand where you can develop and improve the employee experience.
Gather employee feedback at scale by creating pulse surveys which can either be sent to your entire workforce, or tailored so that certain teams only see certain questions. Oak’s pulse surveys can be fully personalised with a variety of response options so you can be specific about the information or perspectives you’d like to gather on how your company culture is perceived.
Creating your employee value proposition
Next up is to plan how you will motivate and engage your employees with a revamped employee experience.
Considering the questions we considered earlier in conjunction with your employee feedback, identify where there are gaps to be filled:
- Do you need to create a digital space for employees to find news and connect with colleagues?
- How will you ensure that important updates are received at the right time?
- Can you create social hubs for like-minded employees to connect?
- Do you need to streamline business processes to save your people time?
- Can you make it easier for your people to access third party tools?
- Will you set up or revamp your employee recognition programme?
- What about your deskless and mobile colleagues, can they get involved?
- Can content be translated to better resonate with a global workforce?
- Do you need to organise documentation on company initiatives?
Nurturing an engaging employee experience and company culture
All of the suggestions above will contribute in some way to improving the employee experience, whether it’s through speeding up processes, accessibility or forging connections with colleagues.
Recognition and awards
Many of us would agree that recognition for a job well done can encourage us to carry on and keep doing what we do best. Why wait for employee of the month or quarter, when you could send notes of thanks in seconds? Make peer recognition and reward a key part of your employer brand to create a company culture of celebrating all the wins and support, no matter how big or small.
Work life balance
Flexible working is key, and being able to switch off away from work is also extremely important. Another aspect is also being able to get some respite in the working day, giving staff time to breathe and take a few minutes out from a busy schedule to recalibrate. Whether people bond over shared hobbies or through company initiatives, the social aspect of a modern intranet like Oak means that people can share their own updates on a social feed for others to react and comment, just like their favourite social media platforms.
Recruitment and retention
A content workforce is a productive workforce.
Nurturing this from the first interview through the entire employee lifecycle means that you are more likely to retain top talent. Your people will also talk more positively about the company in their networks which will instil trust in the company and the employer brand. This will support the ongoing efforts of attracting and retaining people who will stay with the company for a long time.
Modernising internal comms
Internal comms is ever-evolving, but so is the tech we use to do it. By adapting and investing in tools that will engage your employees and maximise their interactions with colleagues, news and updates, you’re much more likely to see the results you hope for. Just look at what we’ve done for Five Guys, Pizza Express, Burger King and ScS for proof.
Transform your employee experience
If you’re ready to build an engaging employee experience on an award-winning platform, we’re here to show you how.
If you’d like to know more about how we can help, get in touch to arrange a demo of Oak and we’ll show you how we can level up your internal comms and engagement with ease.
