As we adapt to a post-pandemic landscape, employees have new-found preferences and would consider leaving their jobs for, if not accommodated. How then, do employers navigate this new environment and design an experience for employees that will allow employees to feel like they want to stay? Going beyond minimising attrition rates, it is creating an optimal employee experience that will help companies in the now of work promote productivity, innovation and growth.

Syukri Sudari, Chief People Officer, Affin Bank Group shared, in his keynote address at People Matters EX APAC 2021, “We have to redefine the touch points across the talent lifecycle and introduce new processes to be able to create an awesome human experience.” 

Automation lies at the heart of this new revolution. It is not a choice but a necessity, Syukri  highlighted. 

Enhancing EX with automation 

The accelerated tech adoption has enabled Affin Bank to streamline all the processes, beginning with recruitment and allowed them to improve the overall experience, for not just employees but all the stakeholders, including recruiters and line managers. As automation makes work simpler, reduces inefficiencies, and adds more value to people, it guarantees a better human experience. 

This positive experience has been observed not only at the recruitment stage, but, as Tanmaya Jain, Founder & CEO, Amber by inFeedo shared, technology is helping create a ‘wow moment’ for employees at multiple touchpoints. For instance, even dealing with a manager change or a location change. 

Beyond automation, the tech innovation that happened much before the pandemic era, is today helping leaders to also listen to their employees' diverse experiences, capture their sentiments, and learn about the diverse challenges they are facing. 

Battling rising attrition with employee listening tools

What HR leaders really need is a crystal ball that can help them identify real-time if any employee is thinking about leaving, or if employees are disengaged. And if they are, also understand the reasons. 

Syukri shared, “Amber, the AI-powered chatbot is our crystal ball that helps us identify the different challenges people are going through and how they are feeling, even while working remotely.”

Amber chats with employees, analyses sentiments, preempts issues before escalation and proactively helps resolve matters. This enables leaders at Affin Bank to address the gaps much before they become uncontrollable. 

“The presence of such tools and technologies help people also feel that they are heard and valued,” added Syukri. 

Managing the transition to hybrid: Decoding the diverse challenges

Tanmaya highlighted, there are three sets of cohorts of employees who are struggling the most in the current working scenario:

1. Gen Zs

2. Working Moms

3. New hires. The people who have been onboarded during the pandemic. 

The lack of human connection, digital fatigue, burnout, and work-life imbalance, are only some of the many challenges employees are dealing with now. 

Tools like Amber are equipping leaders to capture these unique challenges of diverse work groups. With all the relevant information, HR leaders and managers can have personal dialogue with people and understand their context. Based on these human and personal interactions, driven by data, a more personalised experience can be created for each individual. 

It truly depends on the ability of leaders to make most of these available solutions and automation to redefine human experience at various touch points. With automation and human collaboration, the challenge of great resignation can be turned into an opportunity to hire even more aggressively.