In a context of a tight job market, human capital is becoming rare, valuable, and strategic! For HR departments, development, employee retention, and employee well-being are major issues to meet their need for security and prospects, their aspiration for a balanced life, and their search for meaning.
According to the National barometer 2023 on the employee experience, Published by Parlons RH and UKG, these organizations have well come to realize the need to pay as much attention to the experience of their employees as they do to that of their customers (we speak of «symmetry of attention®*»).
But, The employee experience, in all its aspects, is intimately linked to the daily relationship with the local manager. and the impact of management choices on the working environment. The 2023 edition of the barometer confirms that Managers are an essential component of the employee experience in the company.
The Symmetry of Attention® is the key principle of a well-thought-out employee experience
According to the principle of the Symbiosis of Attention®*, the quality of the relationship between a company and its customers is symmetrical to the quality of the organization’s relationship with its employees. In other words, Employees are just as valuable as customers and deserve the same level of quality of listening and service.
As Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, pointed out: “sIf you take care of your employees, they will take care of your company”… and therefore of your customers!”
In the logic of the Symbiosis of Attentions®, it is appropriate to draw a parallel with the evolution of the expectations of the employees. Like customers, they have new needs, uses and behaviors which can be grouped under the acronym BIOPRAU (Bavard, Impatient, Omni, Shareholder, Responsible, Autonomous and Unique).
Today, many studies show the relevance of the Symbiosis of Attentions® in establishing links between performance, motivation and the well-being of employees :
➕ of productivity According to one study conducted by the University of Warwick (United Kingdom), happy employees are on average 12 % more productive (13 % according to the University of Oxford).
➕ of loyalty A satisfied and happy employee is naturally less likely to leave the company.
➕ of commitment Teams that feel a strong sense of belonging are more motivated in their work.
➕ of presence According to a study Harvard/MIT, Employees who are happy are 2 times less sick and 6 times less absent.
➕ of creativity According to the same study, people who feel good in their company are 55% % more creative.
With the Symetrie des Attentions® approach, investing in a good employee experience seems therefore to be the ideal formula for satisfying the end customer… In other words, “a happy employee – a happy customer”!
French companies seem to have well taken note of these issues, according to the results of the survey. National barometer 2023 on the employee experience Let's talk about HR/UKG.
The employee experience policy, a HR practice on the rise
© 2023 Parlons RH / UKG
According to the barometer, 66 % of the companies have implemented a collaborative experience approach (vs 25 % in 2019). The momentum already well underway during the health crisis has further increased and accelerated after the pandemic.
The study shows that The practice of a policy related to the employee experience is strongly linked to the size of the company. We go from 59 % «practitioners» (organizations that have established a collaborative employee experience policy) in SMEs (10 to 249 employees) to 74 % for groups with more than 5,000 employees.
Almost all sectors have exceeded the 50 mark % in implementing an internal employee UX policy. Only industry and construction still have room for improvement…
«66 % of the companies have implemented a collaborative employee experience approach (compared to 25 % in 2019).»
Improving the employee experience is a strategic issue for talent management
The current talent shortage situation in companies reinforces the enthusiasm of HR departments to implement a collaborative employee experience policy. to attract, engage and retain these talents.
© 2023 Parlons RH / UKG
The respondents of the 2023 barometer seem to have well integrated the The strategic and even economic dimension of the employee experience.
Indeed, this is what can be translated in the evolution of the objectives related to the employee experience:
- the «business» objectives (overall performance of the organization, quality of service to the customer...) are declining;,
- the «HR» objectives (attractiveness, reduction of turnover, image employer…) are progressing For the most part, two of them even appear in the top 3 below: employee engagement and improving the quality of life at work (QVT).
Valuing the employer brand, taking care of it the onboarding co-workers, give meaning to their work, know their intrinsic motivations, promote autonomy, practice feedback… all these levers involving human resources will enable companies to improve the employee experience in order to foster engagement.
A gain in HR maturity in companies that value the employee experience
© 2023 Parlons RH / UKG
Two symbolic elements of the care taken in the employee experience emerge from the responses of companies regarding what is being implemented: for three-quarters of the «practicing» organizations, the taking into account feedback (78 %) and attention paid to well-being at work (76 %) They are at the forefront in their employee experience policy.
This policy essentially requires listening to feedback from the field. It also implies an interest in what employees experience on a daily basis, and therefore in their well-being.
So, it’s not surprising that the establishment of a system for listening to employees’ expectations ranks 3rd in the ranking for «practitioners».
If we can affirm that HR has matured in companies that value the employee experience, it is because it is clear that in nearly 6 out of 10 cases, «Practicing» companies have understood the dynamics of the employee experience: listening to act.
In other organizations, only certain measures are present, for example the organization of a Collaborative management. There is still room for improvement… but the momentum seems to be in place.
The manager, the essential driving force of employee experience management
« 58 % of the companies that practice it prioritize management in their approach to employee experience.»
© 2023 Parlons RH / UKG
According to the barometer, Among companies with a employee experience policy, nearly 6 out of 10 involve management in the process. (compared to 4 out of 10 for the «non-practitioners»). This figure confirms that management is taking an increasingly central place in managing the employee experience, as a target and as a channel.
More specifically, 43 % of the «practicing» organizations involve managers in the design and implementation of their employee experience policy. 1 in 10 companies even decentralize the management of the process to them!
While 48 % of the companies that practice it still consider the manager to be simply a relay of the employee experience policy, Two-thirds of them rely on them for field listening.
In fact, Managers' feedback tops the actions implemented to gather the voices of employees, This includes companies that do not yet have a user experience policy.
In this capacity, the Symetrie des Attentions® mentioned above invites managers to consider their own behavior (exemplarity), their attitude of listening, the attention given to their teams, in order to individualize the relationship with each employee, understand their intrinsic motivations, and identify their engagement levers.
«The manager is the pivot of the employee experience. Faced with the challenges of recruitment, retention and engagement, he is the cornerstone of the company’s response, embodying it on a daily basis in his interactions with the teams. »
Véronique Crouzier, HR Director at Crédit Mutuel Arkéa
The manager experience, the poor parent of the employee experience
Managers are also and above all... collaborators. They have been particularly affected by the health crisis and its consequences on their work. The hybridization of work modes. Most of them had to reinvent their profession, reorganize their teams, and support their employees in difficulty while themselves facing difficult situations…
Despite this, the barometer shows that The management community remains the «poor parent» of the employee experience. Only 39 % of the «practicing» companies have put in place a specific mechanism to measure the employee experience of managers, and two-thirds of the «non-practicing» companies admit that they have no such mechanism.
The 2023 edition of the study nevertheless highlights how the manager experience is an integral part of the employee experience, and how important it is to create a culture of collaboration. The involvement of managers is fundamental in the attention paid to the experience of their teams.
« Managers must both absorb, disseminate, and illuminate the company’s directions and carry the individual energies. This is a responsibility at the heart of engagement; that is why we must take care of them. »
Hervé Baron, Senior VP HR at McDonald’s France (webinar « HR: help your managers face the high turnover rate »
If managers are to relay the employee experience policy, it is necessary to pay them special attention, especially by providing them with the necessary resources. more autonomy and recognition for their key role in the success of the employee experience. Trusting and valuing management’s actions are powerful factors of satisfaction, serving a better manager experience.
The main points to remember
⬜ The momentum supporting employee experience policies continues to grow and has even accelerated with the health crisis and the changing economic context.
⬜ The main takeaway from the 2023 edition of the national employee experience barometer is that the manager is an essential component of the employee experience, as an actor and subject.
⬜ For a quality employee experience, synonymous with a successful customer experience (Symétrie des Attentions® principle), it is necessary to start by taking care of the experience of its managers!
* Symétrie des Attentions® is a registered trademark of ADS Holding SAS
