JANUARY 4, 2022

How To Improve The Employee Experience

The workplace is rapidly evolving. Employees’ needs are constantly changing. What worked last year may not work next year, and many of the companies that come to us for help and support haven’t taken the time to adapt to this reality.

One struggle we see with many of the CEOs we work with is balancing equity with equality. Leadership can no longer give all employees the same thing, because everyone is at a different starting point.

Companies with the best employee experience meet people where they are. Here are three ways to think about adapting to this new reality.

Understand The Impact of Stress on Productivity

Because of the pandemic, mental health challenges and invisible disabilities are on the rise, with nearly half of black (49%) and white (48%) adults reporting that the pandemic negatively impacted their mental health.

Employees bring the stress of daily uncertainty into the workplace, and if they are ill-equipped to cope with it, performance and culture will suffer.

Getting staff to report honestly about their mental health is difficult, yes, but a free survey app isn’t going to cut it. To find solutions, you need real people connecting with real people.

Continually Evolve to Changing Needs

If the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that even if we understand our employee’s needs, we should hold that understanding loosely.

Total compensation used to be the main concern for job-seekers. Today, that’s changing. Rapidly.

Health benefits, specifically employee assistance programs, continue to rise in importance. Employees are seeking holistic benefits packages, to include support such as short-term counseling.

We are also seeing more demand from employees for more supportive work environments. If someone can’t show up as their authentic selves, they won’t bring their best to work each day. When employees feel psychologically safe, and have a sense of belonging, the work culture can enable healthy communication, individual growth, and organizational effectiveness.

Learn more about creating an inclusive culture with our Racial Equity Bootcamp.

Provide Support Throughout The Entire Employee Life Cycle

How is a new hire onboarded? How are people let go? A promotion doesn’t automatically qualify someone to manage others.

In our experience, our clients who think about the full range of Human Resource issues using a lens of equity, are far better able than their competitors to create rewarding employee experiences.

Take an hour today to think about whether you are using the lens of equity to create fair and equitable hiring, on-boarding, talent development, policies and procedures, benefits and compensation, employee relations, organization design, change management, training, culture building, and yes, even employee separation.

Learn more about improving employee experience

OAIB’s major area of focus is industry-leading, equity-focused training for the entire company, including Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging (DEIB).

We can help you uncover and address unconscious bias, microaggressions, race in the workplace, cross-cultural communication and understanding, emotional intelligence, inclusive leadership, organizational design, neurodiversity, abilities/disabilities, talent management, performance management, and more. Contact us for more information.