Many organizations invest a lot into creating an amazing customer experience while neglecting the employee experience. A competitive salary and other benefits may attract employees but it don’t necessarily keep them engaged.

It’s important to create a company that offers a positive employee experience. It helps your workers to be happier and more involved in the workplace. According to a Gallup study, 65% of employees don’t feel engaged and motivated.

To boost employee engagement and retention rates as well as improve company productivity and profitability, you should provide a positive employee experience. Higher engagement in the workforce can lead to 23% more growth.

Don’t forget about your employees after hiring them

It’s not enough to onboard and assign tasks to your employees. You can have regular group or one-on-one meetings where you ask them to share any difficulties or challenges. This allows you to know what may be stopping them from putting in more effort and delivering their best.

According to Gallup Research, teams with high engagement can boast of a 41% reduction in absenteeism and 59% less employee turnover. Good employee experience helps to motivate and boost productivity. They also find it easier to remain loyal and committed to the company.

Embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI)

When you choose to embrace diversity, equity, and inclusion in your company’s hiring process, it’s important to map out strategies on how to engage various groups of people. You need to consider their unique needs and determine reasonable ways to cater to every individual.

It’s a good idea for an organization to employ people from diverse ethnicities, genders, races, sexuality, religions, etc. However, you should aim to give them a sense of belonging through employee benefits, fair compensation, mental health support, and any other form of support.

Create a space for employees to provide engagement feedback

Employee feedback can help to understand the viewpoints on the current employee experience in your organization. It helps to identify where you need to make changes and determine what your employees tend to value most and what they may or may not be satisfied with.

Two-way communication in the workplace allows employees to raise concerns and provide valuable input into the organization’s plans and strategies. You can collect employee feedback through surveys, interviews, review sites, suggestion boxes, skip-levels, etc.

Use employee experience software

You can streamline and automate the process with employee experience software. Any app or software that helps companies to effectively manage their employee engagement is called employee experience management software. They also show engagement statistics and analytics so you can make informed decisions.

With an employee experience platform, you get to understand everything that happens within the company. There are features such as help center, live chat, feedback management, KPIs, and analytics dashboards. They help to boost employee engagement, foster great company culture, increase employee retention, etc.

Recognize and reward good work

One in four employees says they need more recognition for their work. Many companies tend to overlook the importance of celebrations and rewards. This leads to employees feeling underappreciated and unrecognized. Then, they may eventually become disengaged and can decide to quit or resign from their jobs.

There are so many opportunities for recognition in an organization. You can celebrate first wins for a new employee, unique accomplishments, consistent results for a month or so, and any other action that deserves to be rewarded. You should create a culture of recognition and offer meaningful rewards like courses or promotions.

Implement employee development plans

Companies have to put employee development plans into consideration. It helps to improve the skills and knowledge of employees so they can perform better in their roles, build their skill sets and unlock their full potential. It also improves employee satisfaction, loyalty, and profitability.

Before creating employee development plans, you need to determine the skills gap in the organization as well as consider employee goals and the organization’s objectives. Some training methods include: on-the-job learning, mentorship, lectures, hands-on training, etc.

Create a pleasant work environment

According to Glassdoor, 77% of job candidates consider a company’s culture before applying or accepting a job offer. Since the pandemic, the future of work has changed and employees are increasing their expectations of employers. They prefer to commit to a work environment that feels relaxing and suits their lifestyle.

You need to make sure that your organization’s physical environment is clean, pleasant, well-lit,  welcoming, and comfortable for everyone. It’s also necessary to provide all the resources and tools required to perform at an optimal level. Make sure to build a positive remote work culture to assist work-from-home employees.

Provide options to work from home or on flexitime if necessary

Work flexibility has become a deciding factor when choosing an organization to work for. You should know that employees now expect more than just competitive salaries and incentives. They seek companies that offer flexible working hours, flexitime, remote and hybrid work.

There are so many reasons why organizations need to embrace flexible work schedules rather than the conventional 9 to 5. It can help to boost work performance, job satisfaction, and mental health, and it can also attract the best talent. Other work options may include part-time work, shift work, telecommuting, job sharing, etc.

Take employee well-being seriously

About 87% of employees expect their employer to provide aid for a healthy work-life balance. This is crucial for reducing stress and burnout in the company’s workforce. You need to invest in employee wellbeing to improve engagement, happiness, satisfaction, and overall motivation.

An organization should strive to be empathetic and compassionate when employees are going through tough times. They should also invest in employee health and wellness programs, good management policies, open and collaborative culture, positive work relationships, etc.

Written by an HR Future Staff Writer.