EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE STEPHEN MOORE
Maintaining a
positive corporate culture How can we maintain a positive and consistent employee experience, both now and in the future? Stephen Moore, Head of Asia, Pacific and Japan at Ceridian, looks at ways to keep employees engaged, despite the disruption.
I
t is estimated 2.7 billion people, or more than four-out-of-five workers in the global workforce, have been affected by lockdowns and stay-athome measures during COVID-19.1 What, in more ‘normal’ times, might have taken years was accomplished in weeks when many organisations transitioned workers to the world’s largest work-from-home environment. In New Zealand, it is estimated that 10 per cent of workers – 200,000 out of 2 million – started to work from home when the country entered lockdown at the end of March.2 Many have heralded working from home as the way forward, mainly because of advances in technology, which have made it easier than ever to stay connected. A University of Otago study of 2,595 New Zealanders working from home
during lockdown revealed 89 per cent wanted to continue working this way for at least part of the time post-lockdown.3 The lasting impact on workforce culture and employee engagement is still very much unknown. Maintaining a positive and consistent employee experience now and into the future will be essential to drive productivity, engagement and a positive workplace culture. While there is no golden formula, organisations can encourage and foster a strong culture, even with a distributed workforce.
Increase visibility
For employees to feel informed and connected, maintaining visibility is essential. At the height of the pandemic, many businesses hosted global employee town halls, knowing that going remote was going to be a significant change for many people and would be met with questions and some anxiety. Many companies are continuing to do these today. A well-defined and widely understood communication process can help create trust within the organisation and ensure employees are kept up to date on company information
and policies. It also creates a feeling of community and strengthens their loyalty to the company.
For employees to feel informed and connected, maintaining visibility is essential. Encourage two-way communication
It goes without saying, but now more than ever, organisations must be proactive and transparent in their communications as changes occur. They also need to prioritise and ensure employees’ voices and concerns are heard. Engagement analysis tools allow businesses to collect feedback and identify patterns and trends in employees’ emotional states. With this information, you can build action plans to respond quickly to employee concerns, as well as help reduce turnover, burnout and absenteeism. However, it is not just enough to ‘listen’ to how employees are feeling; leaders must act on the insights they receive from their workforce and communicate changes effectively.
1 https://www2.deloitte.com/za/en/pages/human-capital/articles/workforce-strategies-for-post-covid-recovery.html 2 https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12318950 3 https://www.otago.ac.nz/news/news/releases/otago737417.html
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HUMAN RESOURCES
SPRING 2020
