In professional settings, we talk a lot about streamlining workflows, ensuring that key project information is all organized in one place. That’s an important task, and one that optimizes business performance, but workflow platforms aren’t the only communication tool that companies need. No, equally important are employee experience (EX) systems that prioritize staff communication, and that can be used to provide continuity between every phase of the employment process.
Understanding The Employee Experience Arc
Employee experience, also referred to as employee lifecycle, is a way of describing the full scope of an individual’s employment with a company, from recruitment and onboarding through development and growth and up to and including their ultimate exit.
Businesses need to understand and engage with employees across this entire arc, but project management tools, though they enable some communication, aren’t designed for such tasks. EX platforms, by contrast, are much more aligned with new HR technology, supporting relationships, collecting feedback, and more.
Onboarding And Engagement
If we’re to talk about EX platforms as streamlining internal communications, training, and overall connection, then the best place to start is with recruitment and onboarding, since that’s the beginning of the employee lifecycle. As important as the tools are under normal conditions, though, they’ve become increasingly valuable during the pandemic. EX platforms enhance the onboarding process for remote workers, help them feel connected to the broader company culture, and give them access to critical information, all in one place. Given that many remote workers, especially those who have started new jobs during the pandemic, cite difficulty connecting with coworkers and finding key information and procedures, EX platforms extend a welcome while also ensuring new staff have the tools they need to succeed.
Day-To-Day Convenience
Clearly, EX software has significant value for new staff, but these systems support far more than just onboarding programs. In fact, because they aim to streamline every stage of the workplace experience through clearer communication, they can actually make a big difference in everyone’s day-to-day lives, but especially for those in management. After all, how many times a day do supervisors at various levels have to stop what they’re doing to respond to routine questions or requests for information? The simple answer is all the time, and it’s a distraction and a hindrance that can make it feel like staff are stealing time from their supervisors’ other projects.
By investing in a comprehensive EX platform, management-level staff can free up a significant amount of time by centralizing a huge amount of institutional information. This is especially vital for those tasks that only happen a few times a year, such as formatting and transmitting the annual report, as well as for data- or code-heavy systems. It can also free up a lot of cognitive space for more important activities.
A Joint Mission
There are many reasons that businesses have been reticent to adopt modern EX tools, especially during the pre-pandemic period. One of the primary reasons, however, have been resistance to employee demands that seemed expensive and unnecessary, especially by younger staff. Those in positions of power often couldn’t see the benefits of these tools, viewing them as the sort of platform they might offer customers, but which weren’t necessary internally. What these same leaders failed to see, though, was precisely how CX quality relies on great EX.
When businesses show up for their staff by meeting their operational needs, helping them develop a strong company culture, and enabling constant, ongoing communication, they give their staff the tools they need to serve customers more thoroughly. It’s a full-circle approach, and one that’s helping top companies thrive. Now it’s time for more to get on board.
