How Max Life drives Employee Experience for remote working employees
What we once valued as employee engagement has gradually given way to what we now call the “Employee Experience”. And indeed, it’s everything that matters in our day-to-day working lives to get the best out of us.
Given the challenging pandemic time and the future of work we keep referring to, it is the organization’s collective response to building positive experiences for employees at every possible touchpoint, now that everyone may not be under the same roof the way we used to be.
“Recent researches have indicated that organizations that are responding with compassion and agility to these circumstances are likely to have four times more engaged employees than others.”
Whilst much of the experiences are now enabled through digital and technology, organizations will need to align technology to address the following questions impacting employee experience:
- Are our employees feeling safe, secure, and cared for enough?
- How are we helping our people build relationships in the flexible and remote working era?
- Are employees feeling connected, to both the organization and one another?
- How are we helping employees efficiently use their time and energy?
- How is the work actually getting done?
Incorporating larger changes beyond the current crisis will take a little time, however, the key here is timely action, prioritizing small steps in the right direction than waiting for transformational changes to happen eventually. The responses to these questions will also require a deeper understanding of the challenges being faced and unique to one’s workplace culture. Therefore, the need to tailor our approach before getting carried away with benchmarking & implementing best practices from other organizations. Every workplace will have varied experiences, responses, and outcomes.
A critical area to invest in the future for organizations will be building and sustaining trust and credibility amongst employees and not just the employer
At Max Life Insurance, one of our core values is “Customer Obsession”, and truly in every way possible we are obsessed with the wellbeing and care for our customers. And that’s not enough; we demonstrate the same obsession for our employees as customers too. Every opportunity or interaction is seen as an opportunity to seek employees’ feedback to bring in simplicity and ease of navigation to get work done. This is helping us enhance Trust with our employees and all other stakeholders.
One of the most imperative forms of both engagement and experience will be helping each employee understand their individual strengths, contribution, and purpose in the overall performance and achievement of the organization. Connecting employees to something bigger than usual work will have a greater impact on many aspects of the business and help employees come through the uncertainty. And all this becomes possible with the organization’s bedrock of its Culture. Whilst much may be changing at a rapid pace around us, the organization’s core needs to remain intact. And, this will require a greater personal reach-out to employees demonstrating – ‘Each One Matters!’. An understanding of specific needs, personal journeys, and positive outcomes will not only build confidence but also get people engaged higher than ever.
Another important aspect influencing employee experiences is the organization’s readiness for reskilling its workforce for the future of work, keeping its core purpose in mind. And this is possible when organizations have decided their need to simply survive or thrive! Whichever the case, involving the employees in their learning & development path will decide on the experience we want to provide. There perhaps couldn’t be a better time for both the organization and it’s employees to consider alternate skills, expanded capabilities, and roles in line with need and ambition. Encouraging functional shifts will go a long way in managing the engagement of people.
Communication and listening channels will continue to grow and play a key role in deciding the overall experience of employees. Not only will managers be required to check-in frequently with their teams but also make the entire communication process joyful and fun. Building a sense of pride and belonging is ever more vital when we address the flexible future of work. Also, organizations will not be able to wait for employees to speak their minds through only structured programs. Increasing the frequency of communication may not help alone, the leaders will be required to play an enhanced role of connecting both in teams and one-on-one with a desire to listen and understand, make information readily available to their teams and inspire confidence. At Max Life Insurance, we have enhanced our internal communication strategy, bringing not only leaders but also employees to express themselves in a lively manner. Leaders do not hesitate in bringing forward information on business plans and performance, enabling employees to better understand the future of the organization and the role they play. It is important to mention here that whilst technology will play a key role in driving communication, it is the choice of tools that we enable that will have an impact on the reach to the last employee in the company.
And not to miss out on one of the most important elements of driving a positive experience is the way we relook at rewards, recognition and of course, celebration! Whilst, formal recognition programs will continue to play their part, driving our leaders to look for every opportunity to recognize and celebrate every achievement will be the difference between surviving and thriving. Many survey reports share the growing perception of isolation and loneliness building in employees during remote working. This is an opportunity glaring at leaders around the globe to be able to bring forth the smallest achievement and contribution of team members and build a sense of belongingness.
