Why HR must transform to deliver omni-connected experiences

Technology is everywhere, but real connections remain elusive

Although our devices are always on, most of us don’t feel truly connected. Our research found that:

• Only one in six people feel highly connected to their employers and the people they work with and for
• Just one in five people are comfortable sharing problems or raising conflicts with colleagues
• Only one in four people say their managers respond to their needs, communicate regularly and treat all team members equally.

Technology is already helping people learn, collaborate and turn data into insight. Now, organisations must use technology to deliver omni-connected experiences that create value for employers and employees alike. This can deliver massive benefits, as companies in which people feel highly connected to each other, their leaders and their work achieve 7.4% higher annual revenue growth.

Read on to discover what omni-connected experiences are, and how you can deliver them.

Defining omni-connected experiences

Omni-connected experiences enable everyone across the organisation to build relationships, create value and impact, and progress in their careers – regardless of where they’re based.

It’s important to point out that omni-connected experiences don’t mean being connected 24/7. Quite the opposite. Employees who enjoy omni-connected experiences are actually better at disconnecting from work in a good way, so they can recharge and remain highly productive. In fact:

• Employees who benefit from omni-connected experiences are 29% more likely to have deeper trust in their organisation and team
• Where there’s greater trust, people are 35% more likely to deliver high-quality work and build stronger professional relationships
• Omni-connected experiences have a greater impact on staff retention than pay.

There’s clearly a huge opportunity here. But few organisations have seized it. Only 17% of the employees who took part in our research felt they were benefitting from omni-connected experiences at work.

Why this matters now

Culture and talent are already top of mind in the C-suite. For instance, organisational culture and the pandemic’s impact on culture were discussed in 53% of company earnings calls we analysed between January 2020 and April 2022.

Executives are right to be concerned, as the pandemic prompted many people to rethink their relationship with work. Amid the Great Resignation, many people are quitting their jobs and talent pools are shrinking. And now, the rising cost of living are taking a heavy toll on people’s resilience.

Leaders must be aware of these stresses and find new ways to support their employees. Right now, too many executives are unduly optimistic. Our research found that managers believe their people feel 2x more connected than they really are.

Four key actions

We recommend companies take four key actions to deliver omni-connected experiences:

• Instill modern leadership based on empathy, transparency and trustworthiness
• Foster a thriving culture with purpose, authenticity and psychological safety at its heart
• Enable an agile organisation by embracing new ways of working and giving employees greater flexibility
• Empower people through technology by ensuring people have the tools they need to maximise productivity.

Our own experience

We’re enthusiastic about omni-connected experiences, because we’ve seen the benefits for ourselves. Many of our people worked on remote teams long before the pandemic. So when the world went into lockdown, we knew how to help our people feel strong senses of connection, inclusion and belonging.

Our success was driven by three key actions:

• Meeting the needs of our people through our Net Better Off framework
• Listening to our people and performing external benchmarking
• Examining our ways of working and how our people connect with each other.

The work of being omni-connected and strengthening culture doesn’t stop. It evolves. As we embrace continuous change, we regularly take time to listen to our people, gauge progress and close any gaps.

Our clients’ experiences

Now, we’re applying our own learnings to help our clients across the globe deliver omni-connected employee experiences. Working with cloud-based open platforms like SAP, Workday, Oracle to enable companies to bring together data from across the organisation to unlock analytics-driven insights and AI-powered execution.

As an example, take our work with BHP – one of the world’s largest natural resources companies. To help attract and retain top talent in a tight labour market, BHP wanted to offer better employee and candidate experiences, while increasing diversity and inclusion.

To address these challenges, we supported BHP on its HR transformation. A key part of delivering better employee and candidate experiences came from consolidating 90 disparate HR systems into a single, self-service platform: SAP SuccessFactors. Change management was particularly challenging for BHP given it has 80,000 employees and contractors across the globe.

BHP’s multifaceted transformation journey and new robust technology foundation are paying off. HR is playing a much more strategic role within the business – improving company culture and gaining deeper insights into employees’ needs and desires. And at the same time, reducing cost to serve. To learn more about BHP’s story, listen to our podcast.

Making omni-connected experiences a reality

Omni-connected experiences are the next frontier in HR. They meet leaders’ goals for growth, speed, and sustainability, while addressing employees’ needs for flexibility, equity and meaning. To deliver these immense benefits, they must be envisioned and developed with trust at the heart and value at the core. Companies that embrace this opportunity stand to strengthen their culture, unlock people’s potential, and propel their businesses forward.

To learn more about omni-connected experiences and how we can help you deliver them, check out our report or get in touch. Meanwhile, thanks for reading.