As a CEO it's not my job to improve employee experience

Wrong. My company's employee experience will make or break my startup and it will directly impact our business' success. Not caring about employee experience means not caring about shareholder value, the ultimate OKR for every CEO.

EX is fundamental for a good customer experience and employer brand

It's not just about who your employees (and contractors, freelancers, etc.) feel about working for you but also about how much they care about creating products and services your customers love, how they talk about you outside of work (in front of future potential customers and hires) and how likely they are going to stay working for you when times get tough.

A simple and measurable definition of employee experience

EX is simply the sum of all interactions your employee has with you in the capacity of their employer during their employee lifecycle from onboarding to off-boarding. It's like in Sims, everytime two Sims have an interaction, it results in either a plus or a minus.

How can I improve EX?

To improve EX, write down all the interactions an employee has with the company, both work and overhead related (HR, compensation, IT, legal, etc.) and determine which are the boosters and the killers of EX. Then emphasise the boosters and get rid of the killers.

The biggest killer of EX is wasting time on simple computer admin, according to a study from Automation Anywhere . Employees in the UK now spend an average of 3 hours per day on it. It's not hard to see how people are getting fed up with their job.

Next-generation tools are mandatory not a nice to have

You hired an experienced Head of People and think your job as CEO is done? Wrong again. The average HR department spends up to 80% of their day on admin, so they don't get to do the important strategic work they should be doing because there is not enough time.

Having a modern employee platform in place that automates people operations and puts employees in the driver seat is crucial. Not only does self-service free up time for admins but people prefer it, it's putting them in charge rather than asking others do do things for them, and waiting for them to do so. When was the last time you waited in the queue in the supermarket to have someone else scan your things?

You can do better

So don't just pick the same old HR software you have used at other companies. You can do better. You want to use the new, best HR software , that is ironically not optimising for HR, it's optimising for your entire company: your employees.

By doing so, you can free up time of your Head of People and help them focus on the strategic elements of HR: building a winning culture and attracting the best talent for your company. Here is to shareholder value.

Here are a few things you can do to improve EX

• Automate as much admin and overhead as possible. People hate it.
• Develop an adhocratic organisational culture. Remove hierarchies.
• Center your people stack (HR, pay, IT) holistically around employees, not tools, processes or department heads.
• Make internal processes as simple as possible. When things are simple, they are more robust, create less errors and people are better able to focus.
• Don't make people jump through hoops to get the resources they need, or take time off. Allow self-service and more autonomy.
• Provide growth opportunities tailored to your employees’ talents
• Encourage open communication
• Show appreciation for your employees' work

Continue reading on our blog: https://www.zelt.app/post/employee-experience

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