Three ways to align employee experience to your purpose, brand and culture
An employee’s experience at work is now a significant factor in whether they engage with, or even want to stay at, their place of work. From the first interview right through to the last day in the office, it encapsulates every interaction an individual has at work. And, now more than ever, employees want to work for organisations that align with their common values.
For instance, did you know:
- thriving employees are three times as likely to work for an employer that has a ‘strong sense of purpose’, according to Mercer’s USA Talent Trends Survey 2018
- UK workers ranked ‘doing meaningful work’ as the most important happiness factor at work in 2019, found the Wrike Happiness Index, Compensation
- Deloitte’s 2016 Millennial survey revealed “56% of Millennials have ruled out ever working for a particular organisation because of its values or standard of conduct”.
Clearly, the better you can highlight and align your company goals with those of your staff, the better chance you have of promoting a positive employee experience, and attracting – and retaining – top-level talent.
So, how do you achieve this? By making sure the purpose, brand and culture of your organisation is clear and obvious throughout the employee experience.
Here are three ways to do that:
1) Highlight and promote your company vision
Every company’s vision is different and can depend on things like the industry you're in or the people making the decisions at the top. But, whatever your particular vision is, make sure it is reflected throughout the experience of your employees.
Employees should be able to see the policies and values the company promotes are echoed in their own working experience. This means going beyond a few slides in the onboarding process and incorporating key messages relating to brand or culture into everyday life so every part of the business buys in.
This organisational alignment can boost morale and productivity. At an individual level this relies on finding the right role and fit for the employee, so they feel connected to the company vision. And, on a broader level, it means ensuring you have managers who are bought into the company vision.
The more people appreciate those in senior positions are ‘living the brand’ the more likely there is to be ‘buy in’ when it comes to department, team or individual work.
2) Celebrate and share success
Employees are more likely to be productive, engaged and, ultimately, want to stay with the company if they see that what they’re doing is having an impact.
Championing recent success stories – both at an individual and organisational level – can help reinforce that they are part of something that is producing meaningful results.
Do this by introducing internal communications in which you share recent team wins or, for example, introduce a spotlight series where you highlight the work of a different individual/team each month across the whole business. Usually these successes will be related to the company-level vision so can help people feel connected to it.
3) Encourage growth and development
Some employers can shy away from helping employees grow and develop. They can see it as effectively training them up for a job elsewhere. But supporting staff and providing opportunities to develop their expertise can be a win-win for employer and employee.
Employees can see a firsthand example of a company culture built on growth and become more engaged and excited at work. Meanwhile, employers are able to provide a positive experience and, ultimately, help current members of staff become the best version of themselves – enjoying a boost to productivity and even profits in return.
This article is provided by Firstbeat.
Supplied by REBA Associate Member, Firstbeat Technologies
Firstbeat is the leading provider of physiological analytics for well-being and sports.
