Employee experience is more important than ever, playing on the minds of many leaders as we start to transition through the pandemic, and look out to the other side. Up until recently, companies have sought to differentiate themselves by investing in great employee experiences — think nap pods, “bring your dog to work day” and free lunch.

But without a physical office space the employee experience needs to be re-imagined and reset. There is now an opportunity to create a more meaningful and lasting emotional connection between the employee and their employer.

Globally there are big concerns about the mental and physical wellbeing of employees as sustained homeworking continues, and our research shows the same.

“I worry about people’s home ‘set up’, or if they are living alone, or with no green space. Some people have difficult conditions, potentially in a flat with 6 people with no space to work or working from home with kids. Also not everyone has good technology where they work.” Director of Strategic Relationships, Engineering

Zoom fatigue is real and there is a genuine worry about employee burnout. Microsoft measured brainwave activity in 12 people doing video meetings and found, “brainwave markers associated with overwork and stress are significantly higher in video meetings than non-meeting work, like writing emails.”

It found 30/40 minutes is the limit for good concentration over video; and in a day of back to back meetings a stressed state begins after 2 hours. Giving employees freedom to take breaks, turn off their camera and work flexible hours will help feed into a more positive employee experience. Plus, 41% of global knowledge workers say control over their work-life balance has the most positive impact on their ability to innovate and problem-solve (Google Cloud Future Productivity).

Creating a brilliant hybrid experience for employees will be critical in maintaining engagement and productivity levels. And with 50% of HR and Business leaders ranking employee experience as their number one initiative in 2020, the future of work is truly the future of worker wellbeing (2020 HR Sentiment Survey). Research continues to show that people do their best work when they have convenient, easy access to collective knowledge; and the right tools and information they need to do their jobs.

To make sure they do businesses must spend time and money developing new skills. According to the McKinsey Future of Work report, by 2030, more than 10 million UK workers might be under-skilled in digital, decision-making, communication and leadership. Companies will need to craft their talent strategies with the same degree of care and attention as their business strategies.

There are clear opportunities for businesses to help employees emerging as highlighted through our research:

People need help to recreate the office environment at home.

“I get distracted very easily — especially when there is nobody else around to pressure me into working harder.” Audit Manager, Not-for-profit

New skills are required in this digital environment.

“You definitely need to adapt your communication for a digital world. And you need good facilitators online, it’s hard to include everyone and manage different personalities through a screen.” Product Manager, Fashion

Communication styles must evolve.

“Sometimes I do feel like I’m talking into an abyss. Never felt that before when talking to a new group of people. You can’t read body language at all” Customer Services, Finance

Employees would like to keep the perceived feeling of control.

“People are working longer at home, but they’re getting a stronger work and home balance. People are starting earlier, finishing later but breaking the day up to make it more palatable for themselves. I really hope people are able to maintain that.” Business Development Director, Fintech

L’Oréal and ING have successfully created compelling employee experiences.

L’Oréal has introduced a branded learning initiative Learning Never Stops, which encourages and promotes all types of learning. The topics address distinct needs of L’Oréal employees and include successful strategies for remote working, remote team management, stress management, and employee wellbeing.

ING recently appointed a Head of Employee Experience who set out to understand the key experiences that affect employee engagement, collect data to measure this and re-design the touch points and moments that are broken for employees. Employee satisfaction has increased by 20% and manager satisfaction by 30%. A continuous listening programme has been implemented to help identify moments of truth and typical pain points that can be fixed to improve the overall employee experience.

Businesses must ensure the basics are taken care of (equipment, an ergonomic space, freedom to take breaks and access to decision-makers) along with fostering the right mindset and skills to collaborate in new ways. But if both things require investment, how much money will businesses be able to set aside given the pressures to reduce costs as we head into a global recession? The answer: they should invest plenty. Lack of engagement cost companies an estimated $7 trillion in lost productivity in 2017 reinforcing the importance of investing in your people (Google Cloud Future Productivity).

Some large companies are even appointing people into specific roles to look at how to solve the challenges faced from this new world of work.

“This crisis has challenged us to reimagine how, when and where work gets done. We need to thoughtfully determine how our organization will evolve and address the needs of a distributed workforce because this touches on every aspect of our values, culture and business strategy.” Workplace Strategy Director, FMCG

People are more engaged and committed when they are allowed to work in a way that suits them. The challenge is finding a balance. Everyone is human, everyone is individual, so leaders must balance what’s right for the business alongside what’s right for everyone’s individual newfound sense of flexibility. Unfortunately one-size-fits-nobody and leaders need to find a way to deliver an employee-centric hybrid experience whilst maintaining engagement and productivity to ensure continued business effectiveness.

Chapter 3: Short-term decisions with long-term consequences>>

Natalia Walters is a consultant at Fluxx. Stay tuned with all that’s Fluxx by following us on LinkedIn or signing up for our WTF Newsletter.

Are you curious as to how Fluxx has helped companies such as Condé Nast, Mars, Thames Water, HSBC, Addison Lee Group and many more? Learn the secrets for sustained, repeatable innovation models, from expert practitioners. Get in touch now Natalia.Walters@Fluxx.uk.com. Equally, if you have any thoughts on the piece above, I’d love to hear from you!