The dynamic scenario in recent times has brought forth new challenges in employee experience (EX) strategies. These challenges have come to the centre-stage post the hastily-made modifications (during COVID-19) to the process of how an employer and employee interacts. Earlier, as employers were more focussed on ensuring all employees were aligned with the goals of the organization but now, the approach needs to be different.  What has to be realised is that in order to build a strong employee experience strategy, people need to be at the centre. Anticipating change in the shorter and longer run along with focussing on the following elements will help strengthen the EX-strategy and build a strong and committed workforce and simultaneously help an organization grow: 

Cultural change

There has been a great cultural change in terms of employee composition at an organization. We’re seeing employees who come from different generations such as Baby Boomers, Generation X (GenX), Millennial and Generation Z (GenZ) are sharing the work space. Generation Alpha is also on its way to join work forces in couple of years. But it is GenZ who’re defining the norms of employee experience and encouraging collaboration. That’s how we see decline in top-to-bottom approach and increase in adoption of bottom-to-top approach where the employees are now expecting employers to deliver as well.

With the GenZ and upcoming GenAlpha entering the workspace, it becomes important to engage them creatively. Attempt must also be made to understand how the young generation perceives the workplace. It is now a common practice to have the new generation involved directly with the top management for initial couple of months or a year so that ideas are exchanged and to also make the new employees understand the mainstream business well. Cohesiveness among the generations is the key for effective employee composition and subsequent outstanding individual and collective output.

Purpose of recruits

It is important to look at how an organisation can link individual employee purpose with organisation goals. This is an important aspect that strengthens employee experience. Earlier it was a one-way mode of communication in which organizations directed the employees to align themselves towards the business goals. Now it makes more sense to hire potential candidates that have their professional goals matching with the organization’s business goal and this way they’re able to bring value and purpose post joining the company. With the Bottom-to-top approach taking over, it is now on the organizations to give existing & potential employees such challenging opportunities where the employees perform and gain satisfaction. This will provide a sense of accomplishment and prevent them from moving to other organizations.

Employee development

Having an increasingly competitive landscape for recruiting and retaining talented employees is a challenge faced by all organizations and hence, having a focussed employee development plan in place becomes an important factor in employee experience. In order to attract and retain top talent, an organization has to put in more effort in identifying critical competency among employees and in supporting and improving an organization’s employee developmental platforms. 

An even more important aspect here is having a focus on adapting to change. Skill development courses and customised career opportunities along with reward and recognition are some examples which help in employee development as now-a-days for a professional, such elements play an important role. When an organisation provides a personalised workplace experience, the attrition rates are automatically low even when the war to hire and retain top talent is going to continue in the near future.

Transparency

It is an important factor for the new generation where they expect the organization to showcase transparency in terms of business decisions and future plans across organization. While not all information is needed to be accessible to all employees, the managers and leaders driving the group goals and business decisions must uphold transparency. If the future plans and goals are not communicated accurately, the employee output will not be up to the mark. It is transparency that helps build trust in the organization. 

Employee Value Proposition

For an organization having a strong EVP is the key element to retain and attract new talent. The pillars of EVP include career growth, learning & development, reward & recognition and methods enriching employees’ life. These are the areas wherein new initiatives in line with the trends can be worked out. This will showcase how much an organization has to offer. For an employee, EVP plays an important role in decision making before taking-up a job offer as they’re all highly qualified candidates and they look out for ways in which a particular organization stands out beyond financial benefits and traditional perks.

To conclude, in an ever-changing scenario it is important to adapt and inculcate newer methods in the EX strategy. The COVID-19 pandemic has definitely changed perspective where we saw undoable things being done, technology adapted so rapidly in a tight time-frame of approximately 2 years and this has made organizations think really hard as to how they can engage better. Employee expectations have risen but no organization wants to let go of the opportunity to hire the right talent that has incredible potential hence, employers are adopting strategies to become attractive workplaces. 

For any organisation to grow manifold, it is important to not only focus on building a diverse workforce but also to capitalize on that diversity through inclusion and adaptation along with seeking and listening to the perspectives of employees who come with a wide range of viewpoints and backgrounds.