What was your first real job in your career?
You probably sat in a cubicle, worked 8-5, and hoped to one day climb the corporate ladder.
And chances are your peers all had similar experiences.
That’s no longer the case–employees are evolving, and there’s no longer a one-size-fits-all approach to work.
Employees have evolved over the years and will continue to change even faster in the coming years. With the changes of what matters to employees and what they’re looking for at work, modern employees are demanding changes to outdated workplace practices. They want things like remote or hybrid schedules instead of strict in-person schedules and the chance to collaborate and learn instead of just being told what to do.
Often, companies offer perks to appease their employees. Things like free catered lunches and on-site yoga may seem tempting and distract employees from the fact that they are still working like it’s 1980, even though they want to work like it’s 2021.
These perks are really just employee engagement boosts and act like band-aids. The perks boost the company’s employee engagement scores so that leaders think everything is going well with employees. When the engagement scores start to drop over time, the company introduces another perk and the scores go up.
But that’s not what employees are looking for.
Employees can see through surface-level perks and want real, lasting changes to core workplace practices.
As employees evolve, it’s a matter of employee experience and not employee engagement.
Employee experience changes the entire inner workings of a company to center around employees.
There are three elements to employee experience:
- Technological environment (30%). This includes all of the tools employees use to work, communicate, and collaborate. Employees want the freedom to choose and use tools that help them do their jobs well.
- Physical environment (30%). Employees want a welcoming and engaging physical space to work, whether that’s in an office or the freedom to work remotely.
- Cultural environment (40%). A company’s culture includes everything from organizational structure to leadership style and benefits. It’s how the company operates and how employees feel working there.
A true focus on employee experience considers all three aspects and continually evolves to meet employees’ changing needs. As employees evolve and continue to change, they won’t stay with companies that only put band-aids on issues instead of solving them.
Employees are changing, and that means leaders must also be changing. If we want to succeed in the future of work, we have to be willing to change our approach to leadership.
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Companies with better employee experiences have more engaged and productive workers, higher profits, and the ability to attract and retain talent. In today’s competitive talent landscape, companies can’t afford not to invest in employee experience. Download your copy and start creating better experiences for your employees and customers today!
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