Will 2022 be the Year of Employee Experience?

Lately I’ve been writing articles on critical topics emerging in the business world, like sustainability. But there’s another incredibly important topic many industries are confronting during the pandemic, and I think we’ve all seen the alarming articles about: the Great Resignation, aka the Great Attrition.

Against this backdrop, I think 2022 will be the Year of Employee Experience. Let’s talk about why, and what companies can do to prepare themselves.

I spend a lot of time with my customers talking about talent. Businesses are currently wondering where all the people who were in the job market went, because in the US at least, they’re struggling to hire talent. So they want to know where to look for new hires, how to attract the best talent, and how to retain the talent they have.

The fact of the matter is that it’s an employee’s market right now. Employees are in demand, so they’re able to negotiate healthy and beneficial working?conditions for themselves, with the goal of?working somewhere they feel they have purpose and value. This is an incredibly competitive time, and employees have the power of choice. And the reports suggest that employees are taking their time to make the right choice.

Your employees are one of your most critical and valuable assets, and they need to know it.

Employee Experience (EX) as a boardroom-level priority

Most companies I speak to are already treating EX as a priority at the highest levels. EX leaders sit on the board, or at the executive level, working directly with the CIO or CEO. I’d go so far as to say it ranks as high as customer experience now. This is great to see.

EX leaders are looking at everything. They’re working on how to recruit people in the right places for the right positions, and invest in the diversity of voices, backgrounds and experiences that we know has proven to contribute to innovation.

I’ve been reading a lot about equity fluent leadership, which is understanding the value of diverse experiences and different ways to approach people and organizations, then using those experiences to drive positive change in the workplace, the industry and the world. It’s vital for leaders to grasp this and to care about it, because our employees do. And in the end, leaders are employees, too. This is about our experience as well.

Once they’ve hired good people, EX leaders are looking at onboarding, but also they’re thinking long-term. They’re looking at equipping people with the tools they need to do the best work they can as soon as possible, for as long as possible. I’m talking for years, not for 24 hours in a day: burnout is vital to avoid.

EX everywhere and anywhere

There’s a whole new level of complication to this, too: the flexible hybrid work model we’re developing. When every employee was centered in business HQ, EX leaders could control the work environment. Companies could upgrade and secure device fleets with confidence, for example.

But now, more and more, employees are working from everywhere and anywhere. That means EX leaders need to have a grip on a wide range of unique work environments and experiences, and provide the support for employees to be healthy, productive, collaborative, connected with each other, and happy, wherever they are.

“Everywhere and anywhere” does still include the office. A lot of people still want to come into the office (though perhaps not every day), maybe to connect with teams in person, to get some privacy and work-life balance, or because they do their best work when the kids are not next door.

It’s interesting: when employees do come into the office, they expect a similar experience to what they have at home. At home, they want a similar experience to the office.

But what is the demarcation point between the two? It used to be an obvious split, but now it’s like different sides of the same coin, and EX leaders are very concerned with making sure they get the mix right, both for reasons of privacy and security, but also for the holistic EX.

The role of technology in EX

Working in the tech industry, I see customers conquering these hybrid challenges every day. Technology helps improve work on both the software, hardware and services level, upgrade employee environments, and connect people. It’s an incredible boon to flexibility, connectivity and innovation. We’ve seen that over and over again, in every industry.

Almost all companies I talk to realize that in the past couple of years, the path to resilience was in speeding as far along the digital transformation route as possible. Some companies were farther ahead than others; for some, it was a massive scramble to catch up, especially when they weren’t set up to be digital in the first place.

Now they know it has to be part of their lexicon. They have to know how to deal with technology, with transformation, with adapting. Maybe it was forced down their throat to start with, due to the difficulties of the pandemic, but now they’re understanding just how valuable it has been for their competitors, and how valuable it can be for themselves.

You know, it never really struck me – maybe because of my age! But right now, we’re beginning to work with younger people who had technology in the crib as digital natives. We’re working with one or even two generations of Millennials and Gen Z who are used to a constant cycle of adaptation – of replacing their devices every couple of years (if not sooner) because the next thing is even better, runs faster, does more, and works more seamlessly with one another.

And that extends past their personal use of technology to their work environment. That’s what they expect. It’s what they’re used to, and it’s what they’re determined to have. Technology is a critical part of an employee’s experience now, and yes, I’ve definitely heard stories of potential hires, particularly outside the tech industry, turning down jobs because they didn’t like the tech setup on offer at the firm.

2022: The Year of EX

Forrester reports that businesses see a 5x return on their EX investments. That means we’re talking about yet another win-win for business (much like the sustainability initiatives I wrote about recently). Investing in EX is a win for people, and a win for profit.

In 2022 (and beyond), companies will need to prioritize in investing resources in creating and maintaining excellent EX to attract and retain diverse, innovative, happy employees who feel like they have purpose and value.

The way I see it, there are several critical areas businesses need to invest in next year and beyond:

• Traditional incentives and initiatives: pay, benefits, and flexibility – it's important for employees to feel valued in many ways
• Social responsibility initiatives: diversity, inclusion, equity, sustainability, and good global citizenship and leadership are all increasingly important for EX
• Environmental initiatives: ensuring employees have the right environment to work in and the right tools to work with, whether in the office, at home, or anywhere in between
• Communication initiatives: organizations that take the time to talk to their employees, learn from them, empathize with them, and act on what they learn, will have an edge – every company is unique, after all, and so is every employee

2022 can be either your year of great attrition, or great attraction. It’s your choice. Once companies realize that something is good for business, they move fast. Strategizing and implementing strong, holistic employee experience is great for business – so it’s time to get moving.