By 7.5 min read

Employee experience and talent management are colliding, and how HR departments develop strategies to engage and keep employees’ matters now more than ever. 

We of course want to ensure we recruit the right people for the right roles, but as The Great Resignation gives way to a recession and the employee/employer dynamic shifts, organisations realise that they need to take a holistic approach to the entire employee journey to reduce attrition.

It isn’t just about making sure we provide a working environment that engages employees and satisfies their push towards continued hybrid working, we also need to consider how we can save on recruitment costs by increasing employee retention.

So let’s start by taking a look at what is changing, and why it matters for organisations.

 

What does modern talent management look like?

Talent management is a method of developing and retaining employees to ensure they reach their full potential while achieving the goals of the organisation.

In 2023 the talent shortage is real! Employers struggle to find the right people with the right skills, particularly since the Pandemic. Candidates who are in high demand can also afford to be selective (although the recession may change this).

Research from McKinsey & Company shows that employees are now looking for much more than money. The research explains that employees are looking for caring leaders. 35% of employees have quit as a result of poor leadership.

Employees also have sustainable work expectations, with career development and advancement opportunities on their wish lists.

This has meant that talent acquisition and retention requires a different approach – it’s all about the employee experience and working towards a bigger purpose. It’s not about management and profit alone.

These days, the top talent is also looking for employers who commit to a holistic approach to wellness. Companies that offer a good employee experience, flexible working hours, generous benefits, and perks are attractive employment propositions.

 

What is employee experience and is it taking the place of talent management?

Employee experience is a holistic approach to talent management. It takes a broader focus on the employee journey and focuses on creating a positive employee encounter.

HR departments need to understand both talent management and employee experience if they want to retain staff and engage them across 2023 and beyond. Successful organisations incorporate a balance of both. Talent management ensures that the organisation is hiring the right people that have the skills to achieve their goals. Employee experience creates an environment where employees thrive throughout the entire employee journey.

 

Evolving employee experiences policies should look to consider the following 8 pillars:

  1. Recruitment – The identification of potential employees, the selection and retention of employees, and the development of onboarding and off-boarding processes.
  2. Onboarding – The creation of a smooth and successful onboarding process that helps to ensure employees are well-prepared to start their jobs.
  3. Engagement – The implementation of initiatives that keep employees engaged and motivated, such as recognition programs and feedback loops.
  4. Technology – The use of technologies that enable employees to be more productive and efficient.
  5. Development – Training and development activities, performance management systems, and learning and development plans.
  6. Retention – The implementation of policies and practices to ensure employees are engaged and motivated and feel valued.
  7. Culture – The promotion of a positive workplace culture that encourages collaboration, innovation, and teamwork.
  8. Environment – The implementation of a positive workplace culture that promotes collaboration, innovation, and teamwork.

 

Talent management and employee experience: developing a successful employee management strategy

By understanding both talent management and employee experience, HR departments can create a successful employee management strategy that focuses on recruiting, developing, and retaining the best people. This will allow organisations to build higher retention rates and ensure that the organisation is staffed with the most talented people.

It’s no surprise that employee well-being and performance are key components of a new HR practice. Here are the two things we think you need to consider.

Graphic showing Kind Mind's thoughts on employee experience and wellness - lifted from text

 

We need a wellness-centric approach

The wellness of your people is directly linked to their day-to-day experience in the workplace. Investing in employee wellness can have a huge impact on their performance, resilience, and sense of belonging. With the right data point collected, you can figure out which interventions in the workplace have the biggest impact on your team.

Gallup says that Investing in employee wellness is an investment in the organisation. The costs of poor employee wellness can be detrimental. For example:

 

  • 75% of medical costs are the result of preventable conditions
  • The financial impact of struggling or suffering employees on businesses is huge – £17.6 million (USD 20 million) of additional lost opportunity for every 10,000 workers
  • The global cost of employee burnout is staggering: £284.7 billion (USD 322 billion) in lost productivity and turnover
  • The average cost of voluntary turnover due to burnout is estimated to be between 15%-20% of the total payroll

 

Employee wellness isn’t just about how a person feels and experiences their work day. It plays a role in how many sick days they take, their job performance, satisfaction, and ultimately how long they stay with a company. This is exactly why solutions like KindMind exist; to help you understand and improve the employee experience.

 

But keep in mind performance

Performance is directly linked to job satisfaction, motivation, and engagement. Employees who are performing to the best of their abilities will be more satisfied, happier, and more likely to stay with the organisation. Conversely, employees who are not performing to their full potential are likely to be disengaged and unmotivated, and may even choose to leave the organisation. 

Companies with an engaged workforce grow profits up to 3X faster and have a workforce that is 87% less likely to quit according to a Corporate Leadership Council study.

Employers need to create an environment that promotes employee performance. This means providing employees with the necessary resources and tools, setting achievable goals, and recognising and rewarding success.

Feedback on performance should be timely, relevant, and constructive. It should help employees identify their strengths and weaknesses and provide actionable steps for improvement.

Finally, it’s essential to keep track of performance and provide employees with an accessible and insightful way to track and measure their progress. This will allow managers to see how their team is progressing and take corrective action when necessary.

 

Lessons for our HR departments

It helps to look at examples of employee experience in action. When Deloitte examined the employee experience in government organisations. They found key insights that many HR departments can learn from, they were:  

 

  • Creating an engaged workforce is about removing pain points and distractions at work to create a better experience
  • Approaching employee experience through a customer lens can help transform the employee journey
  • Thinking of employees with the same value as a customer improves the employee experience and as such the overall business outcomes

One example outlined in the review highlights how focusing on specific issues of the workforce supports HR initiatives.

The key takeaways from this report on the new approach to HR are:

 

  1. Focus on specific issues the workforce faces – When Chris Cruz took on the role of deputy CIO for the State of California. The California Health Care Services’ IT department had a 34% job vacancy rate at the time. He reduced the numbers to 5%. To accomplish this, he focused on specific issues his workforce faced. Technology played a big role in the changes. Sweeping from adopting an aggressive telecommuting policy to providing training and access to new technologies. 
  2. Listen to the employees to create a better experience – Another lesson can be found by looking at Ford Motor Co. Felicia Fields, group vice president of HR and corporate services at Ford Motor Co., says, “Our mission is to make employees’ lives better by changing the way we think about work, feel about work, and the way we do our work differently.” To do this, the company launched a global listening tour to find out what is working and not working when it comes to its employee experience program.

 

How to switch focus from talent management to employee experience successfully

It seems that whilst HR is changing significantly, there is still room to develop and implement a game-changing policy that improves employee retention, increases productivity as a result and tackles your employer value proposition.  This will allow you to attract, hire, develop and retain top talent by improving the employee experience.

To make meaningful changes in an organisation’s employee experience, Deloitte explains it is imperative to include the technology in your company’s solution. The use of technology to support and help manage employee wellness and performance is a rising trend – and one that makes a significant difference.

Here at Kind Mind, we have written a guide to how wellness in particular is changing employee experience and how our software is tackling that change for business owners.

Want to Help Your People Feel Better, Faster?

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