The Human Experience (HX=CX+EX) must be Grounded on #Trust!

We work with hundreds of companies every week, covering questions about learning and development, skills architecture, hybrid work, talent management and organization design. The most sought-after topic of discussion, though, is how to create magical experiences. I posit that HX=CX+EX; the last I checked most customers and employees are (still) human. But Trust underpins everything. Without Trust and Empathy there’s really nothing! The human experience is inexplicably, intricately interwoven with Trust. It’s just how we’ve built civilisations, starting with cavemen banding together for food security and safety - to our species colonising our solar system and eventually, galaxies, much further away! But back to our discussion on EX: every HR tech vendor—from HCM giants to learning providers, from payroll vendors to recruiting systems and from listening platforms to communication tools—tells us they are focused on improving the?employee experience. There’s no shortage of new terms being coined: Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs) and DEX.

Yet, the most recent?Gallup?study paints a sobering - back to Earth - picture. The decline in engagement that started in 2021 has continued in 2022, with the number of engaged employees now back at 2015 levels, hovering around an alarming 32%. To understand why this is going on, let’s look back on the changing needs in employee experience.

The Industrial Revolution: Physical safety concerns vs Sweating Assets (literally).

The concept of Employee Experience is not new. It has been around for centuries, since the early days of the Industrial Revolution. During this period, workers were treated as disposable commodities, with long working hours, poor (sometimes, even unsafe) working conditions and very low pay. Talk about ‘sweating assets’! Trade unions in the 19th century formed to address these issues and to provide more job security for workers. Did you know schools were originally created to find us a replenish-able, amicable work force? Think generations of (obedient) factory line workers..now that’s the ‘real’ backbone of the Industrial Evolution innit?

The Human Relations Movement: Satisfaction matters

The human relations movement emerged in the early 20th century in response to the mechanistic view of work in the Industrial Revolution. It emphasised the importance of social and psychological factors in the workplace and the need for better communication and collaboration among employers and employees, with a central focus on treating workers as humans.

The Rise of Employee Engagement: Having a friend at work

It wasn’t until the 1990s that employee engagement—the emotional and intellectual commitment to the organization—became a formal part of the conversation. Studies showed that engaged employees are more productive, have higher job satisfaction and are more likely to stay with the organization. In light of these benefits, companies worked to create support systems where people felt they had a “friend at work” and belonged to the team.

Digital Revolution: The Great Resignation (Great XXX) to Quiet Quitting

The digital revolution has brought about significant changes in the workplace, connecting us constantly to a stream of updates, emails, texts and pings and the (perceived) demand to be “always on.” Back in 2014, we wrote about “the overwhelmed employee” — referring to the never-ending influx of information and the barrage of new technologies that commanded people’s attention.

Exactly three years ago, in March 2020, the pandemic hit, and the physical health and safety of employees became the ultimate business goal. Engagement worldwide peaked as people came together to fight a common enemy, leaders listened empathetically and organizations aligned to provide a sense of community while employees worked remotely. The laser-focus on communication and transparency helped generate engagement.

Today: AI, flexibility, 4-day work week and pay equity

Now, we have all the issues over the years together, and it’s more than people can handle. Today, 81% of employees are at risk of burnout. CEOs are looking for productivity and efficiency and for workers to “do more with less.” Layoffs and inflation add to the stress; managers are overworked; employees get less and less ambitious and have begun “acting their wage.”

4-day week in Singapore – some workers want it, but are businesses ready?

The pandemic may have started the conversation around hybrid working, but since then, it has taken on a life as its own. Even with the world opening and physical distancing measures gone, office spaces aren’t quite as full as they used to be.?

In Singapore – as with many other countries around the world – employees haven’t been overly keen to return to the old way of working. As per a?Workmonitor survey?conducted in August 2022, over 40 per cent of Singaporean respondents claimed that they wouldn’t accept a job offer which didn’t allow for hybrid work. Almost 80 per cent also agreed that work flexibility was an important consideration for them.

A number of studies have helped strengthen the case for hybrid work. PwC Singapore & Prodoscore both reported an overall increase in productivity – during the pandemic – across their range of studied companies.

Along with this, hybrid work has proven to offer a better work-life balance and increased job satisfaction.?

Ranked the most overworked country in the world?as per a 2022 study, Singapore makes a strong case for the four-day work week. As compared to other countries, Singaporean employees work the longest hours per week and have the least amount of leave days.?

This also contributes to unhappiness at the workplace, leading to increased levels of stress and likelihood of burnout. A four-day work week could help promote a healthier work-life balance. With a well-rested workforce, companies might see improved productivity even with less hours being spent at the office.?In times of quiet quitting and general disengagement, companies can focus on key strategies to increase productivity, reduce stress and improve the human experience:

• Better jobs with AI and automation: Using AI and automation to free up time and create more value makes for more human, fulfilling, purposeful work (and activating life purpose). There are many examples e.g. Amazon (AMZN) has been working for at least the last year to hand over some of its recruiters’ tasks to an AI technology that aims to predict which job applicants across certain corporate and warehouse jobs will be successful in a given role and fast-track them to an interview — without a human recruiter’s involvement.? The technology, known internally as Automated Applicant Evaluation, or AAE, was built by a group in Amazon’s HR division known as the Artificial Intelligence Recruitment team and was first tested last year
• Remote and hybrid work: Offering flexible, employee- and team-driven approaches to remote and hybrid work is not just the right thing to do; it helps attract the right talent and keep the talent you already have. Dutch bank Rabobank, for example, approaches hybrid work as an ongoing design challenge: Leaders listen to employees, observe their behaviors and address evolving needs with agility.
• Schedule flexibility: For the 70% of workers who are “deskless” (meaning they can’t work remotely because they serve customers in retail, care for patients in a hospital or drive a truck, for example), having flexibility in their schedule can make or break the experience. Microsoft for example provides workforce management technology to empower employees to request schedule changes on an easy-to-use app, and to swap schedules and locations on short notice, a must-have for teams on the fields, servicing staff, call center agents etc.
• The 4-day work week: Results of a large-scale four-day work-week trial ?in?Singapore and Japan (https://tinyurl.com/45bmxmce) in which the work week was changed to 32 hours at full pay, have been overwhelmingly positive. The trial showed no reduction in productivity and big improvements in worker wellbeing and engagement. A new bill is now being proposed in the U.S. to make this a federal law for hourly workers. Meanwhile, many smaller companies saw amazing success with the?4-day work week. And it works for large companies, too: Panasonic, following a highly successful pilot program in Japan, now offers an optional 4-day work week to their employees.
• Pay equity: Today, with rising inflation and a slowing economy, a new issue has emerged: Pay is now the No. 1 concern for workers around the world, according to Mercer research. Furthermore, according to our research, making pay fair and equitable has a 13 times higher impact on employee experience compared to offering outsized pay and benefits. Without a doubt, the research shows that?pay equity?is a critical business issue. Microsoft, Schneider Electric and Accenture provide real-world examples of prioritizing pay equity as a business issue, not just a compensation project.

?This research on employee experience?irrefutably shows, that Trust is the (single) most important element in creating sustainable/magical/enduring/delightful/.. Human Experiences (nothing else matters as much) - we have Empathy perhaps a close second (but with cigar). When employees have autonomy over their location and schedule and feel they are paid fairly and equitably, they will Trust the company and leadership to put them first. This talks to the InfiniteGame. This talks about creating Trusting Teams. Simon Sinek quipped in his book (Leaders Eat Last) that some of the world’s highest performing teams (the Navy Seals) are such bcos they entrust each other with their own lives! It’s a given that Trusting Teams will do their best work, sustainably. We want to reward trends vs snapshots. Consistency over Intensity, always!