The COVID-19 pandemic put the spotlight on the need for a more personalised approach from HR leaders within organisations. It forced leaders to reinvent their strategies and only those organisations who could embrace new ways of working managed to retain talent. During the course of the pandemic, companies saw massive exodus due to exhausted and overwhelmed employees. As per a report by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, employees and people managers had to confront new challenges to health and well-being, with the line between personal life and work life becoming blurred.
All this pointed to the pressing need for employee engagement and experience - to tell employees their organisations are there for them. Today, employee experience (EX) is one of the fastest growing areas in human resources, with there being a noted rise of job descriptions like Chief Experience Officer.
Rise of superior employee experience
Managers had to create models that are employee-first, which are tailored to maximise performance, efficiency, and collaboration. So that employees eventually get support and a great experience from their workplace. And many were successful. As per the Harvard report, despite the challenges of the crisis, the average employee engagement score increased globally by 13 percentage points between 2019 and 2020.
There are three major types of EX in terms of the emotions they create – task experience, social experience, and fulfillment. Task experience covers the tools available to employees to accomplish their tasks. Social experience brings workplace inclusion and connectivity to the fore. And fulfillment gives employees a sense of purpose and enforces the belief that their job provides them everything they want.
The benefits of a robust EX program can be summarised under three themes, such as increased employee trust and engagement, improved efficiency and a future-fit workforce. Thus organisations with a superior EX model, which mix customised tools with technological expertise, managed to retain their best talents. Today, more and more employers need to create individualised and meaningful experiences for employees, replace global complexity with guided simplicity, and build skills and agility with individualised learning and development to close the employee experience gap.
Making a difference with Human Experience Management (HXM)
A cloud-based human resource management system (HRMS) handles various operations such as core HR and payroll, talent management, employee experience management, and people analytics. It lets employers focus on employee experience with their open, secure technology foundation.
Currently, user interface and user experience are vital in the selection of a technology platform. Employers are looking for platforms that are flexible, intuitive and easy to use. An increasing focus for companies to ensure this ease of use is integration with existing systems and having a unifying platform. And that’s why cloud-based HRMS is the best option. It is intuitive with integrated HR solutions, simple to use, comes with embedded intelligent technologies, has integrated tools to gather employee feedback, and offers insights to turn knowledge into decisions.
SAP is offering all of this through SAP SuccessFactors Human Experience Management (HXM) Suite. HXM addresses the critical role that EX plays in creating agile, high performing organisations. HXM puts the employee at the centre of everything, unlocking their potential to progress and do more. Because only when employee opinions are valued, are they energised to deliver their best.
Today, as offices reopen in various parts of the world or follow a hybrid model, providing employees with a rewarding work experience remains critical. As employees navigate these changes in their work life, it has become extremely important for organisations to work on human experience management to address the challenges and pave the way for a healthy, happy employee experience.