There was a point in my career, probably 18 or 20 years or so ago, that I would have argued vehemently that creating a workplace culture that engages employees was vital to sustaining a profitable business. I believed in my heart that it was an imperative. At the time, I was an HR leader working at an organization where my CEO really believed (and invested) in the value of people not only as employees but as human beings with lives beyond work. For me, it was the perfect place to practice HR. While my CEO was pragmatic in how he …
Employee Engagement: it’s time to demand better answers
One of the things that makes me crazy about the work of employee engagement is the sloppiness we allow around how we define and approach it. As I talk to leaders within organizations who are currently spending enormous sums of money on measuring and attempting to improve engagement, they struggle with basic questions like “How do you define employee engagement?” and “How does employee engagement drive your organization’s success?” If we can’t clearly define this work and why it matters, how can we ever expect to make a huge impact, let alone be taken seriously? We have to do better. …
Getting started with employee experience design
The reason I’m so bullish about the concept of employee experience design is that EX is proactively actionable, whereas traditional employee engagement practices are largely reactive. Organizations can intentionally design the employee experience to improve engagement and performance. By using the design process of discover, define, develop and deliver, you can design and co-create an experience for your employees that will feel positive and affirming to them. Over the past two months, I’ve been writing a series of posts titled How to Design the Employee Experience. If you have been wondering how to get started with employee experience, you should …
Designing engaging employee experiences
Over the past year or so, the phrase “employee experience” has barged its way into conversations about human resources and employee engagement. The more you see the phrase, the easier it is to dismiss as simply a new buzzword; repackaging the same old HR stuff under a new label. Don’t make that mistake. The employee’s experience of work drives their engagement and that engagement level drives their performance. If we really want to find ways to sustain higher levels of employee engagement and performance, we need to design the work experience to be more engaging. The importance of employee experience design …