How to Still Prioritize the Employee Experience in a Customer-First World
by Arina Smith Business 24 June 2021
When companies are expanding, it is important to offer top-tier products and services.
This is especially true given consumers’ changing expectations about online business. Most businesses tend toward a customer-first mindset, which is very reasonable.
But you should not forget about the workers who make your business possible. It is also crucial to prioritize employee experiences.
Oftentimes, companies get too caught up in improving customer and user experience. When this happens, they may underemphasize the importance of their workers.
Support your employees with sound policies. Provide encouraging management strategies. Offer reliable global payroll if expanding internationally. These things are vital to your employee experience.
Below, we provide tips and tactics to ensure that you are supporting your workers. These approaches can help to cultivate positive employee experiences.
After all, without hard-working employees, no business can thrive.
Be Explicit About “Growth”
Growth is a critical part of retaining high-quality employees. From day one, you should be clear about growth opportunities and expectations.
Consider the following questions about the ways that your company defines growth:
- Does it mean a more prestigious job title?
- Does it imply a larger paycheck?
- Does it entail more professional autonomy?
- Does it require honing new skill sets?
You should make your employees aware of the types of growth that your company wants from them. Do you provide formal professional development programs?
Successful businesses provide clear and reasonable markers for success. This helps employees to define clear professional goals and strive to achieve them.
When workers are unsure of the expectations around growth, they will feel unsupported. Employees’ experiences are better when everyone understands growth in the same way.
Offer Opportunities for Growth
Obviously, defining “growth” is not enough. Successful businesses provide plenty of opportunities for employees to achieve that growth.
It is up to individual employees to work toward their own professional development. But your company should provide as many opportunities for growth as possible.
How you define “growth” will influence the professional development opportunities you provide.
Some examples of growth opportunities include:
- Inter-departmental rotations
- Webinars and online training
- Community service
- Job-related events
- Conferences
- Professional skill workshops
- Specialized projects
- Mentorships
When employees have diverse experiences, they feel supported. Investing in your workers is important for your company’s success. It helps you to draw on the different strengths that employees bring to the table.
For instance, one employee may prefer to host a web conference. Another worker might do well with a specialized project. Presenting as many professional growth options as possible is ideal.
Promote Informal Conversations and Interactions
When employees are working from the same office building, they get to know each other. This type of informal chatting can fall by the wayside in a remote work context.
It is vital to have employees who are connected by more than just an international payroll interface. Find ways to promote informal conversations between workers.
Growing a thriving business is not only about the bottom line. In fact, businesses that place profit above all else are often weaker.
When employees know and trust one another, they work better as a team. Provide opportunities for your workers to talk with each other.
Set up virtual meetings in a casual setting. Include time for unstructured conversations.
Some examples include:
- Virtual break rooms or coffee houses
- Voluntary employee meetings with no set agenda
Don’t just schedule these informal meetings within departments. Allow employees to chat with those who serve in other parts of the company. This helps to create a business culture in which everyone is familiar with each other. Positive employee experiences like these are invaluable.
Check-In on Them Individually
Employee support is important at the group level. But this type of large-scale support is not enough.
Employee support is most effective on the individual level. Checking in with each employee individually allows them to feel heard. They can discuss their specific challenges and success stories.
This also helps your company to use its human resources in the best ways. When you know your employees on a one-to-one level, you can learn about their unique talents and skills.
Provide Access to Digital Global Payroll
When you’re operating with an international team of remote workers, payroll can be a hassle. Make sure that your employees have access to a user-friendly international payroll interface.
While this might sound like only a logistical concern, it is not. Having great employee experiences involves convenience for workers, as well as your customers.
Research shows that usable technology helps to cultivate positive employee experiences. Companies that do not offer a convenient way to work risk losing out on great workers.
In other words, employee experiences are the job of both human resources and IT. This is especially true when employees do remote work.
Allow Experimentation
Growth and innovation can be threatening to those who are in leadership positions. Business leaders often go with what they know, rather than try something new.
But this is not a good strategy for prioritizing employee experience. The best work happens when people feel autonomy and ownership over their jobs.
Forcing employees to adhere to outdated or arbitrary standards will make them resentful. If there are good reasons for a particular company policy, explain them clearly.
If there are not good reasons, look for ways to innovate. Allow your employees to try new things.
Workflow and productivity are not standardized processes. Everyone has different strengths and habits. Allowing your employees to experiment will create an exciting and productive work environment. When workers have autonomy, they will be more effective and much happier.
Employee Experience and Customer Experience Are Related
The business world is often customer-focused. But excellent employee experiences are crucial for thriving companies, as well.
When you focus on employee experiences, you incentivize high-quality workers to stay with your company. You also ensure that any customer-facing employees will represent your business well
These strategies can help you to focus on the employee experience in a customer-focused world.
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