Delighting customers earns you loyalty
Enhancing the employee experience: Valuable lessons for organizational success
Employee experience has emerged as a critical factor in driving organizational success. During “The Exchange 2023,” a virtual event hosted by the European Contact Centre & Customer Service Awards (ECCCSA), three digital workplace experts from Unisys presented insights and strategies for building exceptional employee experience programs. In addition to sharing key lessons in employee experience management, Patrycja Sobera, global vice president of delivery for Digital Workplace Solutions (DWS), Davoud Pourhossein, global director of strategy and innovation for DWS, and Vera Faludi, director of EMEA service desk, explored how organizations can apply them to create a more engaging and satisfying work environment.
The impact of employee experience programs
Employee experience programs have a profound impact on various aspects of an organization. They contribute to higher employee satisfaction, improved productivity and better business outcomes. Investing in initiatives that enhance the employee experience fosters a positive work culture and helps retain top talent.
Building long-term client relationships directly correlates with the employee experience, too. Prioritizing trust and loyalty with clients creates a work environment in which employees feel supported and valued. Strong client relationships foster a sense of purpose and pride among the workforce, contributing to an overall positive employee experience.
XLA and XMO: Tools for measuring and improving the end-user experience
Organizations are increasingly recognizing the significance of employee experience in driving productivity and satisfaction. They also understand that innovative tools and strategies are crucial to measure and improve the employee experience effectively. One such tool successful enterprises rely on is experience-level agreements (XLAs), which offer a comprehensive framework for evaluating and lifting employee satisfaction.
Gathering qualitative feedback from surveys and quantitative data from other channels, such as device performance monitoring tools, provides valuable insights into employee needs and expectations. This data-driven approach enables organizations to identify areas for improvement and make informed decisions to enhance the employee experience.
Personalizing XLAs based on individual roles, departments and business initiatives significantly enhances the effectiveness of employee experience programs. Tailoring XLAs to specific employee needs ensures program relevance and alignment with organizational goals. Personalization demonstrates an organization's commitment to individual growth and development, leading to a more engaging and fulfilling employee experience.
To realize the most benefit from XLAs, it’s critical for enterprises to establish an experience management office (XMO) to centralize experience management efforts. An XMO serves as a hub for evaluating experience data, driving improvements and fostering collaboration among service teams. Consolidating and coordinating experience-related initiatives streamlines employee experience programs to achieve better outcomes.
How employee experience paid off for one client
In the webinar, Unisys shares a success story highlighting the importance of employee experience within a large U.S.-based healthcare organization. The health system faced various challenges following a merger that led to significant internal changes, including the integration of disparate technical systems. Unisys implemented a device experience management tool combined with best-practice incident management and journey analytics. These initiatives resulted in remarkable outcomes, including a reduction of 28,500 tickets and the reclamation of nearly 600,000 employee work hours (equivalent to 74,000 days) in improved productivity. Proactive identification and resolution of latency issues for 100,000 devices prevented them from becoming larger problems, creating a better employee experience. Moreover, the implementation saved the client $1.65 million in service costs. Reclaiming the extra time and expenses enabled the organization to focus on delivering excellent patient experiences, rather than responding to technical issues behind the scenes.
Putting theory into practice
Creating a remarkable employee experience is part of an ongoing journey that requires dedication and a people-centric approach. Applying the lessons learned from the webinar enables organizations to enhance their employee experience programs and foster a work environment that attracts, retains and empowers top talent. Investing in employee experience benefits individual employees and drives organizational success by improving productivity, customer satisfaction and overall business outcomes.
Organizations can develop an effective employee experience program by:
- Implementing XLAs to measure and improve end-user experience: Unisys' approach of using XLAs to gather workplace data from various sources provides valuable insights for enhancing the employee experience. Companies can apply them by implementing metrics and feedback mechanisms to measure and continuously improve their own employee experience programs.
- Establishing an experience management office (XMO): Establishing a centralized hub or “command center” such as Unisys' XMO empowers organizations to continually assess experience data and drive tangible improvements. This unified approach fosters collaboration, identifies areas for enhancement, and provides valuable insights to other service teams.
- Embracing personalization: Unisys' practice of customizing XLAs based on clients' business initiatives and employee personas ensures alignment and relevance. Companies can adopt this strategy by tailoring their employee experience programs to individual roles, departments and organizational goals, resulting in a more personalized and impactful experience for employees.
- Monitoring success and measuring impact: Sharing success stories that highlight the positive outcomes of an employee experience program can inspire and motivate employees. Additionally, tracking metrics such as reduced tickets, gained work hours, proactive issue identification and cost savings can demonstrate the tangible benefits of investing in employee experience.
- Providing growth opportunities: Unisys' focus on employee experience through training, mentorship and collaboration has resulted in increased engagement, internal promotions and talent retention. Companies can prioritize the well-being and development of their employees by investing in training programs, fostering a supportive and collaborative culture, and providing opportunities for career growth.
- Linking employee experience to client satisfaction: Cultivating trust and loyalty to create a positive work environment among employees helps organizations establish strong client partnerships. These relationships foster a sense of workforce purpose and pride, empowering employees to deliver outstanding customer experiences.
By incorporating these learnings into your employee experience strategy, you can create a more engaging, productive and satisfying work environment for improved employee satisfaction, retention and overall business success.
