How to be an employer of choice

As an HR expert, you’ll be familiar with the concept of employee experience, even if your organisation has not yet embarked on this path. It’s a question of how to actively engage with employees from the moment they come into contact with your organisation and what you can do to develop their skills and passions to ensure their long-term loyalty.

The commercial benefits of this are obvious – an employer that invests in creating a positive employee experience will not only acquire top talent and build dedicated teams who drive up performance standards but also ensure an excellent service for its valued customers.

Here are some simple tips to help your organisation cement itself as an employer of choice as we head towards a new normal.

 

TIP #1: Supercharge your hiring and onboarding processes

Employee experience begins the moment candidates apply for an open vacancy. A hassle-free application process can make a world of difference to keep candidates engaged as they move through the recruitment journey, where special attention is paid to each touchpoint where they’re interacting with your employer brand and image. It’s also crucial not to overlook the onboarding stage as the prime opportunity for new starters to get a real feel for the workplace culture and values, making it all the more important to create an experience that is both smooth and unforgettable.

 

TIP #2:  Ask employees for their feedback

There’s no universal approach when developing a great employee experience, nor should you introduce new policies or initiatives without first gaining a strong understanding of what would be meaningful for each team member. Quality feedback can be gathered through regular pulse surveys through your HR system or alternative internal communications, where you can then access data about what workers want from their job and use this to inform your strategies to ensure their employee journeys are rewarding and productive.

 

TIP #3: Enhance or introduce flexible working options

With remote working having surged in the past several months, many employees expectations have changed in favour of adopting this style of working more frequently in future to help them achieve a better work-life balance. Offering flexible working options will be a key way to entice top talent moving forwards and will help your organisation to remain competitive in the changing economy. Plus, there are a multitude of other reasons to embrace remote working, from increased productivity and morale, to lower absenteeism.

 

TIP #4: Support continuous career development

More and more, the employee journey is taking on the characteristics of the customer journey in retail. Just as a consumer expects positive experiences at every stage in the path towards a purchase, so too do workers who want to fulfil their career goals. On-the-job training is fundamental to this, as it shows employees that you are willing to invest in their professional development to help them reach their aspirations. Similarly, regular performance reviews can help managers and employees to formulate an individual development plan with clear objectives to enable staff to advance in their roles.

 

Tip #5: Give acknowledgement and recognition

To feel appreciated is an essential human need and in the workplace, this translates to employees having a sense of really making a difference to the organisation and being a valued member of the team. In turn, this makes workers want to contribute more, achieve and exceed their objectives and ultimately, stay with your company. Whilst recognition from leaders is always welcome, it can also come to be expected over time, which is why the benefits of peer-to-peer recognition are extensive and this can be easily facilitated through online social recognition tools such as Access Applause.

 

Tip #6: Introduce the right perks to support wellbeing

Perks such as ping pong tables and arcade machines are great as ‘blow off steam’ style additions to the workplace, but you may be surprised by the benefits your people care about most. In a LinkedIn study, it was revealed that employees favour healthcare coverage, additional holiday allowance, parental leave and flexibility more than other ‘cool office perks’; with 49% wanting to see an increase in health and wellbeing benefits. By offering the right perks based on employee feedback, you can save money on underutilised benefits whilst creating a far stronger employee experience. 

 

 

As technology continues to streamline communication and people analytics, HR’s understanding of employee aspirations and frustrations will be needed now more than ever. By evidencing to your senior management team exactly what can be achieved by aligning your people, processes and technology to become an employer of choice, HR is in an ideal position to bring about real change to the employee experience both now and for many years to come.

For more ideas on how to create a positive employee experience based on the ‘new normal’, download our new guide.