We all know that we’re living in uncertain and challenging economic times. Supply chain pressures, input cost rises, staff shortages and rising pay demands, are putting pressure on every business. A slash and burn approach is totally counter-productive, to drive future growth you need a strategy that will see you through not just the short term challenges, but allow for future growth.
So what does this mean for HR managers and business leaders?
According to a 2023 Gartner survey*, the top three priorities needed to tackle the current challenges and meet the objectives of engaging and retaining talent are:
- Leader and Manager Effectiveness
- Organisational Design and Change Management
- Employee Experience
In the third in a series of three articles HR Now’s Becky Hill will look at all three priorities and suggest how Jersey HR Managers and business leaders can tackle them.
Employee Experience
What is the Employee experience? It starts right at the very beginning, from the moment somebody applies to your organisation until the second they leave. It’s about what they feel about being a part of your organisational culture, and therefore what they say about it to others and ultimately whether they will want to stay within it. Research by Gartner found that only 13% of employees are fully satisfied with their experience. The challenges of encouraging someone to feel a part of an organisation have increased with the rise in remote working and so to enable your employees to feel a valuable part of your business takes more intent.
What you need to Know
If your physical office is no longer the epicentre of your business, then the culture of your organisation is mainly being experienced through how you work together. Each employee might be working in a smaller group and therefore have fewer relationships than if everyone was in one office or place of work. Experience is about how people feel, the human emotional reaction to situations and so to enable people to feel connected, requires an emotional approach.
What you need to Do?
- To understand what you need to do, you first need to understand how your current culture is impacting your employees. This means more than just asking them if they’re happy with their working environment or feel valued. Ask them how they felt they were managed during the recent covid disruptions for example, and how they feel that might have been better dealt with. Do they have the right support and are they inspired? Does your team and your team leader enable you to do your work to you best advantage? These are the kinds of questions which can drill down to how people really feel about an organisation’s working environment, rather than just a top level immediate response.
- Look at your management team and identify those who can champion the cultural change and environment that you need. What about the others? Is it a question of increasing their skill levels?
- Communicate effectively. Listen and explain. If you need to ask people to not work from home for a specific operational reason then explain that clearly. Then follow up with further feedback opportunities.
- Use data. Automate the processes you can and collect as much data as possible. A good people management system will highlight for you when someone is failing to achieve their potential and taking more time off than usual, all while saving you time and better informing your decision making.
HR Now can assist you with assessing and improving your working culture. We can act as independent third-party expert advisors to review how your employees feel their working environment and culture meets their needs. Get in touch with us today: Email us: hello@hrnow.je or call: 01534 747559
Read the second in this series
* https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/what-will-hr-focus-on-in-2023