Providing a great employee experience has been part of their initiatives for most progressive organizations even before the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the pandemic and The Great Resignation in 2021 drew attention to the employee experience. As employees began to quit en masse and head to greener pastures, organizations that were not investing enough in employee experience suddenly woke up to take the necessary steps in a desperate bid to retain and attract talent. At the same time, with no end to the pandemic being seen, organizations need to support their employees in every way possible if they want their businesses to grow.
So, as businesses move forward into 2022, what can we expect in terms of employee experience this year? Here are some trends to check out.
See more: Data Driven HR: The Key to Retaining Talent and Improving the Employee Experience
1. Ongoing Demand for Flexibility
Perhaps the greatest need of employees around the world is flexibility at work. The pandemic forced organizations to stay away and, eventually, hybrid. One of the positive outcomes of those experiments was that many people found the work-life balance they were looking for while ensuring that productivity was not compromised. This is also supported by countless studies. Now, if organizations wanted to call people in the office, most employees would be uncomfortable there. Further, with the threat of Omicron and possible future variants, employees are worried about their health and safety and are uncomfortable returning to the physical workspace.
While remote or hybrid work is not perfect, organizations will continue to experiment with different forms of job flexibility this year, they may want to isolate their employees and further fuel The Great Resignation.
2. Increased Demand for Physical and Digital Workspaces
Knowing that there will be some sort of flexible working this year, employees will demand superior digital experiences that will allow them to collaborate more efficiently in a personal or a virtual environment. However, studies have shown a large gap between what companies think they offer and what workers want in terms of digital experiences. For example, only 30% of respondents to the Qualtrics 2022 Employee Experience Trends study felt that their experience with their organization’s technology exceeded or greatly exceeded their expectations. Plus, only 55% said their company’s technology was better than other areas they worked in.
This means that employees are dissatisfied with their office technology. Consequently, to improve the employee experience, HR and IT leaders must work together to deliver the digital experiences that are valuable to employees.
3. Increased Focus on Corporate Culture
One of the biggest contributors to an enjoyable employee experience is the work culture. Work culture doesn’t just cover how many hours an employee works in a day. It is also about providing an environment that supports employee well -being, growth, and aspirations. People who have quit a lot in the past year are an indication of working conditions in many organizations. Last year, the Predictive Index report found that 63% of people with bad managers were planning to leave the company. People in many organizations are united to advance their rights. They also want to retrain and strengthen themselves as the business world changes at a very fast pace.
Plus, people want organizations to exceed their quantitative scores. They want to see environmental, social, and governance (ESG) and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I) initiatives. All of this will put pressure on organizations to re -examine their culture to keep their employees happy.
4. Increased Demand for Essential Benefits
While benefits other than salary have traditionally been part of the compensation plans of many organizations, the pandemic has created different employee requirements over the past two years. For example, a fixed salary at the end of the month is no longer deductible for a large number of employees, providing an increase in on-demand salary. Similarly, many women leave work to take care of personal responsibilities.
Thus, employees are asking for benefits that are important to them in today’s situation and requirements, and not the flashy or the coolest perks organizations offered before the pandemic. They want health care, child care, education, and the flexibility to care for their loved ones. As such, we can expect to see a significant increase in perks and benefits that enhance the quality of life of employees this year.
See more: ServiceNow Today’s Platform Addresses Hybrid Workplace Employee Experience Challenges
5. Increased Focus on Inclusivity
A great employee experience is incomplete without focusing on DE&I. Given the growing awareness of the importance of diverse workers in organizations, employees want to see better integration of minority and under -represented groups, whether from a particular ethnic group or the LGBTQI+community. While the last two years have seen more discussions, people want to see more action.
For example, according to the Qualtrics study, only 67% of respondents said that the actions of senior leadership showed that they were truly committed to building a diverse and inclusive company. In addition, people who identified themselves as non -binary/transgender viewed DE&I’s efforts in their organizations as less favorable in general.
In the age of The Great Resignation, if organizations need to retain valuable talent, they will need to redouble their DE&I efforts.
The effects of the pandemic were felt not only by employees but also by organizations. Consequently, if they need to survive and even thrive in these uncertain times, they need to focus on one real asset they have – their employees. By better interacting with them, creating a sense of belonging, and providing them with the right tools, organizations can navigate the pandemic relatively easily.
What steps have you taken to improve the employee experience in your organization? Let us know Facebook, Twitter, at LinkedIn.