Increase in labor competition leads to greater investment in employee experience
Sixty-three percent of respondents say challenges due to the shift from in-person to remote and hybrid work has led to a willingness to invest more in EX.
In a tight labor market, there’s more competition than ever for qualified workers. So it’s probably no surprise that many businesses are turning their focus towards employee experience (EX) initatives. The 2022 State of EX report, released recently by software company, FOUNT, and consulting firm, TI People, finds that 81% of EX professionals say increased competition for workers has led to greater investment in EX. Moreover, 63% of respondents say challenges due to the shift from in-person to remote and hybrid work has led to a willingness to invest more in EX.
However, despite the newfound appreciation for EX initiatives, teams have faced challenges with implementation. Some 70% of respondents say they don’t have sufficient data as to the causes of employee displeasure, despite the fact that most EX teams run employee surveys at least annually. This apparent conflict may be the result of a lack of appropriately targeted questions, a press release on the survey suggested.
Michelle Webb, the Executive Director of Employee Experience at TEKsystems, a FOUNT customer, notes in the press release, “Whether you are surveying to get a baseline on the entire experience or diving into a specific moment of work, if your data doesn’t get to the root cause of why employees are struggling to be productive or why they feel disengaged, the EX effort will fall short.”
The survey notes it’s especially important to demonstrate the financial benefits of improving EX, something that 85% of EX teams struggle with.
“The upheaval of post-pandemic work life has driven many organizations to reevaluate their employee listening strategies to be more responsive to their workers’ expectations,” says Cofounder and CEO of FOUNT, Christophe Martel, in the press release. “Given our experience working with early adopters of advanced EX practices, we expect to see more global brands extend their existing survey capabilities to dig deeper into what causes friction for their employees and focus their data collection activities on things they can actually fix.”
So what can HR or EX workers do to bolster EX initiatives? There are four guiding principles suggested by Martel. First, break EX initiatives into smaller efforts that are targeted in specific areas, rather than starting one broad, overarching initiative. Second, ensure appropriate investment is going towards EX. Third, get other departments and senior management on board, since they often have more sway with employees than EX or HR professionals. And finally, make sure you’re demonstrating how EX initiatives will help your organization’s bottom line.