In 2021, a year after the pandemic, Salesforce adopted a ‘Success from Anywhere’ model across all its locations. The company drafted this hybrid work policy after several rounds of employee surveys and saw exceptional results. Salesforce was ranked as a popular place to work on Glassdoor’s ‘Best Places to Work in 2022’ survey in five different countries – the U.K., the U.S., Germany, Canada, and France.

If anything, the massive success of Salesforce’s policy proves that a company does not become a great place to work by location or solely the in-office employee experience. And we’d wager it never was in the first place.

Employee Experience Independent of Physical Location

By definition, the employee experience is the sum of an employee’s interactions with their company’s systems, policies, and people. Naturally, this includes an employee’s day-to-day experience at the workplace.

This alone may make the scope of employee experience seem very broad. But Josh Bersin’s pioneering work with Deloitte on employee experience says otherwise. The research showed companies with great employee experiences got five key things right:

• They provided employees with meaningful work
• They ensured hands-on management
• They offered a positive work environment
• They provided their employees with ample growth opportunities
• They convinced the employees to put trust in the leadership

None of the five factors are directly tied to a physical location or an office. And yet, they are the drivers of a quality employee experience.

1. Meaningful Work

Monster’s ‘The Future of Work 2022 Global Report’ showed that close to 42% of job seekers evaluated if a company provides a meaningful work experience before joining. And that is not limited to the job role. Today, more and more employees are paying close attention –

• autonomy at the workplace
• if their job role fits with their future career path
• the teams, time, and the impact of their work
• workplace flexibility.

Fail to provide the above, and you risk providing your employees with a bad employee experience. This has implications for employees’ work and life outcomes and an organization’s profitability.

2. Hands-on Management

According to Gallup, employee engagement varies by 70% on account of managers. That alone underscores the importance of a good manager for a positive employee experience.

Employees today want their managers to set goals based on their interests and skills, provide regular coaching and feedback in-person or virtually, and objectively consider their progress at work. Employees expect today’s managers to implement scalable performance management activities and provide mentorship.

But above all, employees want a reliable, approachable, and trustworthy manager who can push them when required to have a positive employee experience.

3. Positive Work Environment

According to research from Bersin and Deloitte, a positive work environment was –

• flexible
• had a culture of recognition and communication
• was inclusive and diverse.

Any employee will tell you their ideal workplace has the same characteristics. But how exactly do these help in improving the employee experience?

A flexible workplace allows employees to work from anywhere and at their pace as long as employees are productive. This helps employees choose their work hours based on their productivity levels, choose a work location of their choice, and allows employees to be accountable for their work. Most employees recognize this as their company’s implicit trust in them, show higher engagement, and report a better employee experience.

Similarly, a culture of communication, recognition, and inclusion, especially in a hybrid setup, ensures employees feel heard and valued at work. All of these are known drivers of a positive employee experience.

4. Access to Growth Opportunities

More employees are aware of their skill deficits and actively want to upskill at work. Yet, only 42% of employees receive upskilling opportunities according to Oracle’s ‘Back in the Driver’s Seat: Employees Use Tech to Regain Control’ Study.

Helping employees find projects according to their skills and career goals and providing them timely support, time, and resources for upskilling helps employees grow faster in a company. Besides, access to such opportunities shows employees that the company invests in employee growth and wants its employees to succeed. This fosters goodwill, boosts employee engagement, and pushes employees to report a positive employee experience.

5. Trust in Leadership

When employees spend most of their time at work, it is only natural to view their workplaces as extensions of themselves. Most employees want their workplaces to have a greater mission that they align with. And communicating such a sense of purpose and inspiring employees ultimately comes down to leadership.

When leaders are passionate and drive inspiration through communication, employees feel more purposeful and show high engagement at work. This results in a net positive employee experience. Similarly, when leaders are transparent and authentic, it builds trust in company management. This, too, ups the overall employee experience.

In Conclusion

The employee experience may have once been dependent on workplace location. Today, companies already provide the basic resources at their work locations to help employees do their jobs. To offer a strong employee experience, organizations must invest in quality tools to support productivity and collaboration.

Employee journey has become extremely essential to improve company culture in the long term. So, if you are looking to improve the employee life cycle, then you should consider ways to do so as well.

Employee experience today is more about ensuring employees have consistent, net positive interactions at work, no matter their location. Companies that ensure this have more engaged and productive employees and see better retention.

WorkInSync employee experience software ensures that human resources teams can adopt activities that allow engaged employees. To know more about the product and the features that it offers, get in touch with us.