Top 5 Employee Experience Themes Influencing the Post-Pandemic Workplace

"There is a direct correlation between enviable workplace cultures and better business performance."

Author: Susan Rader Page leads organizations to build better cultures and designs strategies that build high-performance organizations. Susan stresses increasing individual capabilities while simultaneously keeping constant focus on the development of critical overall organizational culture. She is currently Head of Employee Experience at Global Blood Therapeutics, a CSHRP member.

Heads of Employee Experience are one of the hottest talent commodities these days. There is a direct correlation between enviable workplace cultures and better business performance. If you thought the war for talent was heated pre-pandemic, crank your dial up ten notches. Employees want to know organizations are committed to making work safe, enjoyable, and productive. Below are five areas where employee experience professionals can positively impact the post-COVID work environment:

1)  Flexibility: Offering employee flexibility will be table stakes for attracting and retaining talent. There is no argument that employees across most industries can be productive while working remotely and interchangeably (split between office and home). Employees are looking for organizations to be bold, articulate their philosophy, and ensure parity across all employee groups. Encourage your firm to prioritize uniformity in these experiences and move away from leader-driven policy. Many companies are leaning towards three categories of workers: Office-Based, Works Interchangeably, and Remote (Includes Field-Based Employees). Recommendations include asking employees who work interchangeably to spend 1/3 to 1/2 of their time in the office. Changes in employee classification could require approval through an executive, and the business may need to absorb additional incurred costs.

2) Manager and Leader Capability: We would never expect an analyst to be successful as a CEO in 365 days. Why would we think that our leaders and managers have all the answers related to managing and leading across a distributed workforce? One of the main concerns with the Future of Work relates to the bias lurking in the shadows. Whether conscious or unconscious, we could see the possibility of managers promoting people visibly present OR granting more growth and development opportunities for in-office employees. We must invest in curating tools and resources that show managers what good looks like in the new normal and focus leaders on rewarding contribution versus time spent on projects. We believe learners desire more development in the flow of work. Therefore, we can curate resources and tools leveraged on-demand. Why not use the power of social learning and solicit a simple NPS score for every offering, small or large, that asks, "Would you recommend this tool or training to another colleague?" We should also measure facets of bias via our informal employee listening sessions along with our annual engagement survey. 

3) Define the Why: There is a wave of excitement from many C-Suite leaders and Employee Experience professionals around returning to the office. They speak about how they cannot wait to see their employees flourishing in their NEW normal and seeing smiles and authentic connections made every 5 seconds. We don't doubt this will happen, AND we think once the wave of returning to work and getting in all of the much-missed activity we have been yearning for diminishes, reality will sink in. Who doesn't like the array of sweatpants and sweatshirts we have lived in the past year? Some of us even own a "dressy" hoodie/sweatpants combo for more formal Zoom interactions. Kidding aside, we need to define the "What's In For Me" as we return to the office. It might not seem critical right away, but it will become essential as people settle back into those long commutes, juggling calls from kids' schools or URGENT phone calls from our parents trying to navigate the complexities of our NEW world. We must make sure we can eloquently articulate the office's purpose and why employees should balance coming in AND working from home. Bond with your internal marketing colleagues OR engage with an external partner to brand your return-to-work campaign, making it fun and clear WHY people should want to come to the office. For us, it will be an opportunity to reinforce social cohesion AND collaboration.

4) Keep Well-Being Front and Center: Many families have been in therapy since the pandemic hit. We were a family deeply committed to physical and mental well-being and had no idea how fast and furious this pandemic would hit us. Many companies doubled-down on their commitment to health and well-being this time last year and saw tremendous positive feedback from employees. Along with this strategy came a commitment to leading with empathy and understanding. There was also an acknowledgment that employers needed to find ways to take care of their employees AND their families' well-being. Work closely with your Head of Total Rewards and feel lucky for her progressive and innovative thinking. We have instituted about every support framework you can think of and continue building on our offerings. We recently added a monthly credit for all employees to choose how they spend this allocation. That could mean your massage is covered, your laundry service, or even your ukulele lesson! It's simple, as long as it is improving overall health, it gets reimbursed.

5) Expedite Your Digital Transformation: Who remembers that trick question at the start of the pandemic asking, "Who Is Driving Your Digital Transformation?". The choices were your CHRO, your CTO, or COVID? At that moment, we all became aware that overnight, we could implement Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and four other digital platforms previously gated over the next three years. Although we still have not arrived at a winner in each category, we are exponentially more proficient with these tools than we were pre-pandemic. We must continue to drive our digital agenda forward. Our new standard for most meetings will be a split between in-person attendance and video-conferencing. Our organization is committed to configuring our meeting space to optimize in-person interactions AND provide an inclusive environment for collaborators outside of the office.

No organization will get this 100% right out of the gate. My advice to all of you is to take a stance and practice rapid course correction. Let's stick together as professionals, stay connected, share best practices and continue to learn from one another as we re-imagine the future of work!