At the recent Employee Experience Awards, where Software Solved won gold for ‘Best Company to Work For’ and silver for ‘Employee-Centric SME’, I was asked if I thought there was a difference between employee experience (EX) and HR.
The answer is yes! They are completely different…
Employee experience is culture, it’s an employee-centric way of thinking where leaders consider the impact that decisions will have on employees’ feelings. It considers all of the touch points an employee has with the company; the employee lifecycle (see the image below). Whereas traditional HR covers a few areas such as recruitment, onboarding, and performance reviews.
EX covers so much more. It is the physical workspace and facilities, corporate communications, the tools and resources employees can access, the company’s purpose and values, and perhaps most importantly leadership.
EX shouldn’t be confused with employee engagement, engagement is the result of employees having a great EX.
Three ways Software Solved has developed exceptional employee experience:
1. Integrity
Our company values are the basis of everything we do; inclusive, authentic, creative and passionate. They are:
- An important part of our recruitment process
- Communicated to new starters
- Part of performance reviews
- The basis for peer recognition
- Considered as part of promotions
- Discussed at exit interviews
2. Mastery
We give our team a high degree of autonomy and freedom over their work and ensure employee’s voices are heard. In our recent staff survey 97% of the team felt that employees have a voice at Software Solved, something our employee forum are integral to.
3. Alignment
We share our strategy and vision with the whole team and regularly provide updates against it in our All Hands meetings and our monthly in-house Gazette. The line managers and People Team work hard to make sure individual objectives link to the departmental strategy and more importantly, that the team understand why these objectives are being set.
The importance of great EX cannot be understated. It strengthens culture and employer brand, and impacts turnover, engagement, performance and customer satisfaction. If you are looking to assess and develop a fantastic employee experience, the PEARLtm model is a great place to start.
Discover more about our culture at Software Solved.
