How the Pandemic Changed the Employee Experience

It’s a tight labor market, there are no two ways about it. People have more say about where and how they wish to work. So, if you hope to effectively recruit and retain talent, you must have a good feel for what kind of experience your employees are having. That’s particularly true in this pandemic-affected environment. Many organizations have people working from home or have crafted some form of hybrid workforce. Many employees are feeling anxious and uncertain about the future.

Therefore, it’s vital that you understand how the employee experience is changing and what you can do to improve it.

The Issue

One in four workers is mulling quitting their job after the pandemic. That’s significant, and it goes directly to the employee experience. In a Gartner survey of 214 human resources executives, some 64 percent are now prioritizing that experience. They understand that people are feeling unsure about job safety and work life in general.

What is Meant by Employee Experience?

At its essence, the employee experience encapsulates what individuals perceive, see, and encounter during their tenure with an employer.

How Important is the Employee Experience?

It’s very important, particularly in a business environment in which employees have the edge. Look at it this way: a great employee experience means heightened productivity, which favorably affects your bottom line. But this is also true: the annual economic burden of disengaged employees in this country is as much as $550 billion.

Flex Work

Even as some employees are returning to worksites, a significant number of organizations will permanently shift to remote work. For that to be successful, it’s important that employers institute a flexible work system. Why? To assure that employees have a good work and home life balance. Employees who do are more likely to stick with you and will be more productive.

Technology that Promotes Collaboration

Whether some or all your employees are working remotely, collaboration is key to engagement. However, rather than a mishmash of technologies – Zoom plus other communication apps – you need to focus on a single tool that employees can use for communication, such as Slack.

A Tool to Collect and Manage Data

More remote work means that employers must employ a variety of technology for data collection, employee monitoring, virtual attendance tracking, etc. But you don’t want to overwhelm your employees with all these bells and whistles, and you certainly don’t want to endanger personal data. So, you need a quality tool for data collection and management.

Prioritize the Culture

An employee engagement survey will give you a solid idea of how your people view changes to your culture since the height of the pandemic. For one thing, remote work has surely affected the cohesiveness of your organizational culture. Employees working onsite may be concerned about safety and such anxiety can certainly affect the culture. To promote a favorable employee experience, managers must establish tighter and more personal bonds with their employees, many of whom are scattered around the world.

Employee Wellbeing

Nowadays, employees are putting a greater emphasis on their physical, mental, and financial wellbeing. For instance, employees increasingly expect flexible work schedules and the inclusion of behavioral health in their benefits package.

In summary, as you know, the pandemic has done a number on the workplace. Everything is different, from the way your people think to the way they work. Therefore, organizations must do what they can – now – to improve the employee experience.

To accomplish that, you need employee experience insights. This is no time for guessing. To gauge and enhance the employee experience, unlock performance, and gain valuable insights, you need outside help. We recommend the leading global HR consultant Mercer.