Employee experience (EX) has quickly become one of the most talked-about topics across HR and Internal Communications functions. This is for good reason; it can have a wide-sweeping holistic impact on employee (and thereby business) performance. But what does it actually mean, and where does IC play a role?
We recently attended a webinar hosted by Poppulo and VMA Group, where a panel of practitioners explored exactly that. A few things really stood out.
EX, who owns it?
EX covers the entire employee journey, from the moment someone is hired to the moment they leave, and every touchpoint in between. It’s broad, multi-faceted, and, therefore, gets a lot of debate going about ownership.
Let’s be honest – it covers the entire employee journey, so there’s not going to be one sole owner.
For example, HR may lead on wellbeing, whereas Operations shape the day-to-day reality of a role, and IT owns the tools and platforms people actually use to do their jobs.
IC? Well, we as communicators sit across all of it. It creates a significant opportunity for communicators to make a real impact, and take the reigns.
However, it will also require some proactivity and the ability to let go of traditional silos from all involved. This will enable a move towards a more collaborative, shared model where different parts of the journey are clearly defined and allocated to the correct stakeholders. But it’s also about keeping a core to EX too, an overseer – perhaps this is where IC could lie?
The strength of those cross-functional relationships will be the core of the quality and viability of your EX.
Automating it?
Automation is the new kid on the block. It’s taking over, but its arrival in EX could begin to make things a little uncomfortable. AI is already reshaping parts of the employee experience, for example, hiring processes are becoming increasingly automated and performance reviews following close behind. JPMorgan, Citi and IBM have all deployed chatbots to assist with employee evaluations.
However, 61% of managers and 72% of workers distrust performance management systems. And with over 65% of employees still feeling anxious about using AI tools in a professional context, there’s a trust gap directly associated with both AI and performance management systems (IoIC). Imagine how this could balloon if extended prematurely across the whole EX ecosystem.
AI is clearly going to be an inevitable part (and already is beginning to be) of EX. The key will be about how it’s implemented, and whether there’s enough human touch to maintain credibility and trust with employees.
It matters.
Investing in EX is being increasingly understood by the wider business as directly tied to retention, productivity and overall business performance. As one panellist put it: “You look after your people and they look after your business.”
EX is about creating and environment for your people to do their best work, and making your EVP a genuinely lived experience.
IC is uniquely positioned here. It overlaps with every stakeholder, touches every part of the journey, and has the skillset and wide overarching knowledge to help connect the dots.
The future of EX will need to be collaborative, and, whilst it will be increasingly digital, it must not lose that human touch, in order to be seamless for employees. It’s time for IC to step into that space with confidence.
