Why we need employee experience now more than ever
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STORY
There's a lot of talk of leading by "putting people first" but what exactly does that mean and how do you actually go about doing that? By Jacob Morgan
It’s easy to create amazing employee experiences when things are going well, it’s much easier to do so when things are in a state of chaos and when global tragedies like COVID-19 have impacted the lives of so many people around the world
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he concept of employee experience isn’t new, I (and many others) have been talking about it for years. But what is new, is the value of employee experience and the importance that organizations are placing on it in a post-COVID-19 world. As a quick refresher, I define employee experience as creating an organization where employees WANT not NEED to show up to work each day, by focusing on three environments which are culture, technology, and physical space. This is about making core changes to the workplace practices of your organi| may 2021
zation, not just focusing on perks or benefits. The reason why employee experience has never been more important than it is now is because things haven’t been as tough as they are now. It’s easy to create amazing employee experiences when things are going well, it’s much easier to do so when things are in a state of chaos and when global tragedies like COVID-19 have impacted the lives of so many people around the world. How you and your company respond NOW is what the world will remember. There's a lot of talk of leading by "putting people first" but what exactly
does that mean and how do you actually go about doing that? Putting people first is a philosophy backed up by a set of actions that prioritizes the people of an organization above all else including shareholder value and profits, even if it means that leaders must make personal sacrifices. The first part of this is easy, but it’s the second part most organizations struggle with. A philosophy is easy...values are easy. These are just words and phrases. Anyone can say they value things like “doing the right thing, trusting others, delighting customers, collaborating,” etc. But how do these things come to life? There's a restaurant near where I live called "Ole’s
