What’s Your Employee Experience?

HR Leadership Trends Lean Toward More Social Experiences – What’s Your Employee Experience?

I read something the other day that made an impact on my thinking…a full glass of water symbolizes a grown adult. Your glass starts out empty and as you grow and learn new things, your glass fills up. When it reaches the top…you could be considered a grown up. You’ve learned all the basics of being an adult and the necessities to survive on your own.

But, we both know that even when your glass is full, you can continue to grow and learn, right? So, how does that work when your glass is full? Envision your glass now widening. It starts to expand horizontally…allowing you room to add more water.

Some people just stick with that grown-up glass of water, while others continue to expand their glass to allow more and more water to be added.

When I think of great leaders, I envision their expanded glass, because they never stop learning and growing.

Most things in life evolve, and leadership is no different. Over the past few years, we have seen major shifts, and most of that has revolved around the changing of a generation. But, let’s talk specifically about Human Resource leadership. What trends are emerging so far this year, in the HR department?

• Moving from Individual Back to Team
  
  For the last few years, we have seen more and more businesses move to virtual work spaces. Big companies were moving from large offices to more of a virtual work force. But just as recent as last month, we heard companies like IBM, and before them Yahoo, calling back workers to a traditional office work space.Could it be that leaders found it harder to manage virtual workers, or did businesses lose that team environment that produced brilliant ideas? Whatever the reason, HR leaders who have been focusing on hiring virtual workers, may be moving back to traditional hiring practices.
   
• Social Impact

  One of the biggest trends we’re seeing is the need to serve and create a bigger impact through volunteering and giving programs. HR leaders will need to ensure socially impactful programs are in place and available to employees.Leadership Coach, Diana Gabriel, shares that sustainable leadership is about being socially and environmentally conscious. While that encompasses several layers of framework, one piece of that tells us that employees want to feel like they are making a difference in their community, their lives, and in the lives of others.HR leaders will be charged with creating goals that matter!

• Focusing on Employee Experience

  One thing we’ve learned from the millennial generation is that the work experience they need and want is much different than that of generations before them. Have you noticed a new title in the HR department? Chief Employee Experience Officer… it’s not just some fancy name but a new way of designing the employee experience.Focusing on ways to be more productive but not with traditional processes that we’ve used in the work place for years. We love the way Emplo describes the difference:“Being a chief employee experience officer focuses on people and their experiences, rather than on processes. HR officers are evolving from process developers into designers and experience architects; it’s a powerful role! But, with big power comes big responsibility.You must rethink every aspect of work: the physical environment, human interaction, recruitment processes, communication, and employee evaluation. These factors impact how employees perceive their workplace.”

All three of these Human Resource leadership changes involve social and environmental aspects; teamwork, making a difference, and employee experiences. Are you including these three experiences into your work force? Is your business preparing for the future?

“In ice hockey they teach you to skate not to where the puck is, but to where it is going next.”
Ashish Nanda, Robert Braucher Professor of Practice, Harvard Law School