The post-pandemic Employee Experience

As the business world continues to settle into a post-pandemic mindset, questions continue to be asked over how to deal with the new employee experience (EX) that emerged as a result of the pandemic.
 
Bain’s new report entitled The Working Future: More Human, Not Less explores the new working world in great depth, and among its key points is that, ultimately, the relationship between employer and employee “is changing radically”, and that despite business leaders being aware of the need to change how they think about their workforce, they struggle to identify which actions will truly make a difference.
 
Components of the new EX
 
Before contemplating what actions to take to improve EX in your organisation, you need to first understand what EX means for your employees. Willis Towers Watson, who run an annual Employee Experience Survey, define EX as “the sum of all the moments that matter between an employee and an employer”. Karen Toora of PwC writes that there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to employee wellbeing, as different organisations have different priorities and needs.
 
There are, however, common themes that run across many organisations, both large and small. John Brownridge of Deloitte argues that as well as issues around physical, mental and financial wellness, people want to feel connected to their organisation. This is something also identified by McKinsey, whose 2021 Great Attrition Survey found that 51 per cent of respondents who left their jobs did so because of a lack of belonging, with 54 per cent not feeling valued by their organisation. This is on top of issues such as the hybrid workplace and mental wellbeing.
 
How to implement a new EX?
 
Identifying what is important to your employees is one things but actually implementing actions that will contribute to tangible change across your organisations is another matter. Lucy Pringle, a Senior Manager at KPMG UK, argues that until you look at data, it is impossible to know what to prioritise to boost overall employee satisfaction. Data is also seen by AT Kearney as playing a key role in the new business world. Steven Berger and Kristen Etheredge believe that data will be “mined” by HR for analysis and insights on employee needs, and furthermore that new tech tools will transform HR and internal and external communication.
 
Others argue there is more to it than simply mining data. Anjali Chaudhry and Al Rosenbloom from Dominican University set out their three key actions for employers as recalibrate expectations; re-establish commitment; and rebuild capacity. Bhushan Sethi and Jean-Francois Marti of PwC deepening the connections with employees that many have felt have not been there, organisations should use design thinking for their EX solutions. They see this as a process of open listening and dialogue which brings about change “with your employees, not for them.” Design thinking is also seen as a key part of the ‘recipe’ for the new EX in an HBR White Paper on EX in Asia-Pacific, with James Root, Hong Kong partner at Bain & Company and chair of Bain Futures, arguing that using design thinking for greater personalisation and customisation of employee relations is the direction to head in.