If you’re a Chief Human Resources or Chief People Officer, then you can request to join a brand new community I put together called Future Of Work Leaders which focuses on the future of work and employee experience. Join leaders from Tractor Supply, Johnson & Johnson, Lego, Dow, Northrop Grumman and many others. We come together virtually each month and once a year in-person to tackle big themes that go beyond traditional HR.
If you think your organization is doing enough to make people stay because you’re offering better perks, nicer offices, and faster technology, you’re wrong. It’s not working, and it’s evident in how the endless upgrades and engagement surveys still keep coming up.
Loyalty is fragile, trust is rare, and passion at work feels like an endangered species because we’ve been treating employee experience like a checklist instead of what it really is. It’s the single greatest lever leaders have to shape human connection, performance, and loyalty in the modern workplace and we’ve completely misunderstood how to harness it.
In today’s Leadership Spark, we break down why the traditional approach to employee experience is broken, and what it really takes to create an environment where people genuinely want to belong.
Backed by research from 252 organizations and 150 senior executives, we reveal the three crucial pillars of a magnetic employee experience: culture, technology, and physical space.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
Why Engagement is an Outcome, Not a Cause
Most leaders are still asking the wrong questions. They want to know how to boost engagement scores or implement another round of workplace perks. They view engagement as a cause when it’s actually an outcome. When you chase the outcome without fixing the environment, you create a workplace that looks good on the outside but feels hollow on the inside.
The real power comes from designing the employee experience itself: how people feel when they show up, how they connect with others, and how supported they are to actually do great work.
This episode is sponsored by Workhuman:
These days, it feels like there isn’t much good to go around in the world of work. But Workhuman knows when we celebrate the good in each of us, we bring out the best in all of us. It’s why they created the world’s # 1 employee recognition platform — and they didn’t stop there, combining rich recognition data with AI to create Human Intelligence, so you can get uniquely good insights into performance, skills, engagement and more.
To learn more about how you can join their force for good, go to Workhuman.com, or check out their own podcast, “How We Work,” which explores the trends, issues, relationships, and experiences that shape our workplaces.
The Human Side of Technology at Work
Technological advancements may be everywhere but many organizations still have it misunderstood. We love to talk about AI, automation, and the future of work when we think about technology. But if you walk into most offices today, employees are still struggling with outdated systems, clunky processes, and broken tools.
You can have a strong culture, a beautiful new office, and at the same time be hemorrhaging talent because your technology makes daily work feel impossible.
When technology fails, it’s not a tech problem. It’s a human problem. Frustration, disengagement, lack of flexibility… It all stems from the tools we give people to get their jobs done.
Listen to the episode here on Apple Podcast & leave a review!
Your Physical Space Is More Than a Building
Physical space plays a massive role too, but not in the way most companies think about it. Your office isn’t just a building. It’s a symbol. Just like superheroes have logos that stand for who they are, your physical space represents what your company believes in.
When people walk into your environment, they immediately feel whether they belong, whether they’re inspired, and whether they matter.
Imagine living your entire life in just one room: the kitchen. You eat, sleep, shower, entertain guests, all in the same space. It sounds ridiculous, yet that’s exactly what many organizations do when they design bland, rigid workplaces.
And here’s the truth that a lot of leaders still aren’t ready to hear: work and life are no longer separate. They’re one. You can’t have a miserable work experience and a thriving personal life anymore, they bleed into each other.
That’s why building a thoughtful, human-centered work environment is the foundation of a successful, sustainable business. If you don’t have that foundation, you’ll feel the repercussions in your team’s performance and overall outcomes.
How to Build a Company People Want to Stay At
If you want to build a company people want to stay at, here are a few non-negotiables you must consider:
- Focus on designing experiences, not chasing engagement scores.
- Treat technology as a human empowerment tool, not an afterthought.
- Build physical spaces that symbolize belonging, mission, and values.
- Acknowledge that work is life, and lead with that reality in mind.
Understanding these shifts is the only way to win. If you won’t, don’t keep wondering why you can’t hold onto your best people, no matter how many perks you throw at the problem.
If you’re serious about future-proofing your leadership and your organization, this is where it starts: with an employee experience worth fighting for.
Tune into this episode of Leadership Spark to hear the full conversation and get the insights you need to start making the shift today.