Creating a Positive Employee Experience

In our latest book, The Decisive Manager, we devoted an entire section to Creating a Positive Employee Experience. The book was written in a question-and-answer format and, no surprise, the first question we answered was: What is the employee experience and why is it important?

We shared some practical ideas of things managers can do to ensure the time the employee spends in that organization is as profitable and as productive for the organization while ensuring the employee learns, grows, and feels valued by the organization.

Here are three of the great ways to create a positive employee experience for the staff members you have worked so hard to attract and hire into your organization.

1.        Monthly Feedback Sessions.  Get your team together and talk about:

• What went well this past month

• Where the team fell short

• What should be on the agenda for the next month

• What the team can do to help things go better.

2.         Quarterly check ins. Do this with each team member to:

• Ask how they are (and really let them know you care and want an answer)

• Ask what is challenging them

• Ask what is encouraging them

• Ask how you can help them be their best

3.        Individual Development Plans (IDPs). Create one for each team member and:

• Let your team members know IDP’s are a way to plan and monitor their progress

• Work with your team members to capture their career goals and aspirations

• If available, involve your Learning and Development professionals for their expertise

• Make the IDP a living document that you refer to and update as often as necessary

When you invest your time and energy into ensuring that your valued team members have the best experience possible in your organization, employee satisfaction and higher retention will follow.

Keeping employees motivated and engaged is an ongoing process in any organization. Making sure your valued staff members know that you want the hours they spend working for you, whether in the office, hybrid, or from home, are productive. However, how productive your staff is may not be as important as how valued they feel while doing their jobs, and that’s where putting some thought into the employee experience pays off.

When people feel they belong at an organization that cares about them as a human being and not just as an employee, it can make a difference in how hard they work and how long they stay. In The Decisive Manager, we share that belonging is part of something called emotional compensation which is based on providing universal human needs.

Bottom line—happy and engaged employees are more productive and stay longer. What’s wrong with that?