Discover the Power of Humanity at Work
Discover the Power of Humanity at Work
People and organizations alike are struggling to stay on top of today’s rapidly changing business challenges. Endless disruption, information overload, and the collapse of personal and professional life boundaries have contributed to a volatile reality. Employees are overwhelmed and burning out, managers are struggling to keep their teams motivated, and organizational leaders are being called to rethink and reimagine their people practices.
With the rise of remote and globally-dispersed workforces, who we are “in the office” is increasingly who we are “at home.” For that simple reason, company culture and the day-to-day employee experience matters more than ever when it comes to attracting, engaging, and retaining employees. By embracing a more human approach to work, organizations can truly understand and develop their employees, teams, and managers, as well as promote a culture of high-performance and self-fulfillment.
What can organizations do to achieve this? Below, we offer three simple strategies that any organization can use as they embark on the journey of creating a better world of work.
3 key strategies for an employee experience that people love:
Put simply, there are three major ways that leaders can set both employees and the organization up for success in today’s world:
1. Understand employees by listening to them and taking meaningful action to address their feedback
2. Build high performing teams by humanizing and reducing friction in the performance management process
3. Develop people by amplifying employee performance through continuous growth and development
Understand employees
Making the effort to truly understand your employees is key to employee engagement - a key indicator of employee motivation, trust, and loyalty, as well as overall organizational health. Employee engagement has proven effects on employee performance, retention, and innovation.
Most organizations will benefit from conducting an employee engagement survey. Employee engagement surveys are nothing new, but not every organization is conducting theirs effectively. The survey needs to ask the right questions, measure the right factors, and be designed in such a way that the findings are actionable. We’re all human and exist outside of the workplace, so to engage employees, you have to recognize their holistic humanity and listen to their needs.
Build high performing teams
Traditional annual performance reviews rarely motivate employees to do exceptional work. Outdated approaches to performance management contribute to feelings of disenchantment that can lower employee engagement and, ironically, lower performance.
If building a culture of high performance is a priority, consider redesigning your performance management process to incorporate continuous feedback, multi-source feedback, and a focus on developing future performance rather than hashing over past performance. Also ensure that your company’s performance reviews are agile and responsive, especially given the instability of today’s world of work. Being adaptable means that your employees can have a more thoughtful performance review experience, instead of feeling burdened by rigid processes that don’t acknowledge their humanity outside of work.
Develop people
A work environment that embeds learning into the day-to-day experiences of employees will not only see measurable improvements in performance, but retain employees longer. As a matter of fact, one of our surveys found that “lack of growth” was selected by 1 in 3 employees as a top reason for leaving their company at time of exit.
By incorporating manager training, consistent coaching, meaningful conversations, and increased access to growth opportunities, organizations can dramatically improve the employee development experience. Conversational micro-learning can also be a powerful tool for driving behavior change in managers looking to strengthen the skills they need to guide their employees. By empowering your employees to learn and grow in the ways they find most meaningful, you are showing that you recognize their needs and support their full selves.
The big picture of humanity at work
Adopting a human-centric approach to employee engagement, development, and performance management is essential for amplifying the experience and impact of your employees. The best organizations use modern HR technology and people sciences to create a culture of high performance. By unlocking insights into how your people think, feel, behave, and learn, you can untangle the many touch points throughout the employee lifecycle and identify opportunities for meaningful change.
Ready to create a better world of work? Download our Humanity at Work ebook for three toolkits for improving employee engagement, development, and performance management, complete with real-life examples, templates, and more.