Are you exploring better strategies to close and renew as many deals as possible before 2022 ends?

If improving your customer experience (CX) is one of your strategies, we think it should actually start with employee experience (EX)! 

There is no doubt that customers are the primary focus of most businesses and a lot of effort and focus is spent on striving to satisfy customers’ needs. Nonetheless, a study by Forbes Insights and Salesforce demonstrated that organisations with incredible employee experience (EX) are more likely to deliver an exceptional CX and thus achieve 1.8 times quicker revenue growth than those without. On the contrary, those organisations focusing solely on CX neither improve their revenue growth nor are their employees happier. Take Chick-fil-A as an example, where EX is a priority and they even outperform their rival by earning almost double the per-store sales of McDonald's. EX is a critical lever that enables businesses to have more engaged employees, leading to better customer service and ultimately better profitability.

So, why not shift your focus by investing in your employees to reap the benefits like Chick-fil-A and Starbucks? Like Angela Ahrendt, a former Senior Vice President at Apple Retail, once said, "Everyone talks about building a relationship with your customer. I think you build one with your employees first." This article will further explain the relationship between EX and engagement and how organisations can help employees shine in the workplace. 

Are Your Employees Happy?

EX is about the overall employees' journey, from hiring to departure. You might wonder how organisations can redesign their EX to attract star employees, who are highly productive and enthusiastic about their work. 

You do this by looking at the overall employee journey and determine when and at which process they find themselves disengaged from their work. Which part of the journey leads to the most unhappiness?  You start there and make incremental changes until you see a positive outcome.  

Research has shown that happiness is an indicator of engagement. However, be mindful that happiness may not solely be work-related as it involves various contributing factors such as health, relationship, and finances. Work may only be one partial factor in employees' overall happiness.  

What matters is engagement at work.  But reviewing the entire employee journey and picking out the hotspots that most frequently lead to unhappiness and, thus, disengagement is a good starting point.  Make sure you rely on data to guide you!

Engaged employees put their best foot forward, as they are connected to the organisation's mission and vision and want to be part of the journey to achieving its goals. They demonstrate a strong sense of belonging as they take ownership of their work. Hence engaged employees are more likely to be happier. 

What Do Today's Employees Want From Their Employers?

"Why do you want to work here?" This is a common interview question in which organisations want to find out what motivates candidates to join them. However, you will soon realise the reasons given today are different from the reasons of the past. 

Today's employees want to be associated with purpose-driven organisations that substantially impact their community. More than half of respondents from a survey by CNBC / Momentive highlighted that they would not even consider joining organisations that share different values from them. This perhaps explains why many organisations rebrand themselves to be more purpose-driven. 

Take H&M as an example, where they aim to make sustainable fashion accessible to everyone by committing to using 100% recycled materials by 2030, as part of their initiatives to fight against climate change. Similarly, IKEA launched sustainability initiatives where they buy back unwanted furniture from customers to resell it as pre-loved. 

Brands like H&M and IKEA, which position themselves as mission-driven, could appeal to talent who place greater value on sustainability-related initiatives. The workplace has changed; it is not merely about meeting employees' basic needs but also where they do their soul-searching, such as fulfilling their purposes. 

You might be wondering why today's employees put values as a priority. One contributing factor could be they were raised with broader media coverage and thus more awareness on environmental, social, and governance issues (ESG) issues. Thus, they became eager to learn how their work can help overcome the challenges that society is experiencing and want to join socially responsible employers. This is why it’s important to create an aspirational EX where employees' expectations can be fulfilled.

Employee Engagement Begins With Managers

"People leave managers, not companies," said Marcus Buckingham, a well-known author. Gallup studies have shown that the manager determines 70% of the variance in team engagement. 

Imagine Ken, whose strength is analysing data, but his manager delegated him to develop creative campaigns. He struggles, gets frustrated, and eventually leaves the company, as he can't shine at work. Therefore, managers must learn to identify employees' strengths. But what if managers aren't provided with the right training programs and aren't engaged themselves? 

Their performance ultimately has the most significant impact on the organisation as each manager influences many people below them.  However, remember that managers can only facilitate cultural change when they are well equipped and also have a good employee experience. Only then can they motivate and coach their teams effectively. Hence, an engaged workforce starts with the managers. 

Build a Strength-based Organisation

Have you realised that Meta, formerly known as Facebook, has been around for almost two decades? Yet, Meta still remains one of the most popular platforms for organisations to market their brand. 

One contributing factor to Meta's success was Sheryl Sandberg's leadership. In her 14 years as Chief Operating Officer at Meta, Sandberg transformed a platform with massive followers into a profitable organisation, surpassing USD 100 billion in revenue in 2021. So, what are the secrets behind this successful transformation?

Instead of looking for the right people to fit the jobs, Sandberg believes it is more critical to make jobs fit around people. This explains Facebook's recruiting and talent development strategy, which uses the strength-based approach. They focus on people's innate strengths, and create roles that leverage them. 

Gallup studies have demonstrated that individuals who use their strengths daily are three times more likely to lead a better life and are six times more likely to be engaged in their work. Also, it has proven that a strength-based approach can help improve sales, profit, customer engagement, employee engagement, reduced turnover, and safety incidents. 

When employees are encouraged to understand and apply their strengths, they are more likely to connect better with their customers. Moreover, Gallup studies showed that organisations with a strength-based approach grew 66% faster than those which didn't.

Like Peter Drucker, the father of management thinking, once said, "It takes far more energy and work to improve from incompetence to mediocrity than it takes to improve from first-rate performance to excellence." So, why not focus on the areas where your employees are innately already good?

Discover Your Employees' Superpowers at Work

Have you ever noticed that you lose track of time when you indulge in certain tasks, for example painting or cooking? This is one telltale sign indicating that you could be innately good at it, or that it’s a strength.

Another way to spot strengths is to look for activities you are naturally attracted to and indulge in. Take Kenneth, an art enthusiast, as an example. Suppose Kenneth finds himself able to pick up a new skill, such as video editing, within a shorter period than others. In that case, this could indicate that he is naturally good at editing videos. In other words, gifted individuals are rapid learners in that skill they are good at. 

For example, let’s say Kenneth was assigned to revamp the product packaging design. Initially, he may not have been confident, but it turned out that the client liked his proposed design idea very much. He then realises he could achieve it and wonders, "How did I do that?" This is a glimpse of excellence, and could be indicative of strength.

Satisfaction is another way to help identify your strengths. For instance, Kenneth feels a "kick" after presenting the new product design to the client and asks, "When can I do that again?" This is because his innate strengths form an intrinsic motivation that makes him feel energised and desire more. 

Smarter Ways of Enhancing Your Employee Experience

As Jacob Morgan, keynote speaker, futurist, and author of “The Employee Experience Advantage,” once said, “In a world where money is no longer the primary motivating factor for employees, focusing on the EX is the most promising competitive advantage that organisations can create. This explains why you should prioritise EX in your 2023 budget, as research shows that organisations that invest in its EX are four times more profitable than those that don’t.