Excellent Employee Experience. Better ROI than Marketing. FACT.

Employee Experience is a massive business opportunity. Way too big to be left with HR.

Companies with excellent employee experience are almost twice as successful as those with low "engagement". So why do most companies only pay lip service to the fact their people are their most valuable asset? And why do they continue to invest so heavily into brand and marketing when customers are far more likely to trust employee ambassadors than they are to believe slick, shiny BS marketing messages?

"Engaged" employees are more attentive and vigilant. They are 57% more effective, have 48% fewer accidents, and make 41% fewer mistakes. Absenteeism and illness are significantly lower in engaged organisations, while disengaged employees are 87% more likely to resign. Improving employee experience can solve the terrifically expensive recruitment and churn challenge.

Look at the data. Creating cultures where people thrive has clear business benefits.

So why, then, does the latest Gallup poll find that only 20% of employees are engaged at work and 67% are not engaged at all?

Why would two-thirds of employees feel uncomfortable about recommending their company to a prospective employees? Why, In 2020, are a staggering 79% of working British adults experiencing work-related stress? 20% higher than two years ago.

Why does 56% of the workforce report that job demands had increased and 85% of the workforce say their well-being declined,?

Why are 40% of the global workforce considering leaving their employer this year?

40%! This is not a pretty picture.

Connected, Respected Employees

What is this thing engagement? The earliest employee engagement research was done by William Kahn in 1990 who defined it as: “When people express themselves physically, cognitively, and emotionally.”

There have been many, many alternative definitions since then, in fact there seems to be some confusion about what the word really means. It seems a little ambiguous, vague and while bandied around a lot in the world of HR, seems wooly across the rest of the business. It can mean spanning rational and emotional commitment, going above and beyond the call of duty, presence, positive attitude towards the company, energetic involvement, passion and harnessing potential.

But whichever definition you choose to run with, there is a clear story to be told.

Employees are most fulfilled, productive, creative, innovative and brand-loyal when they feel their contribution to the company is respected.

Humans are the best they can be when we are rewarded for their work, when we feel connected to colleagues, when we understand and buy into company purpose and mission, and can see how our daily time and toil contributes to progress.

Purpose Better than Posters

Shared purpose is a powerful engagement lever. Sticking that purpose on posters positioned around the workplace is not enough.

Once a company decides its purpose and values, everyone in the business needs to “walk the walk”, including leadership.

The unfortunately truth, however, is that although many leaders may talk about the importance of their people, they find it challenging to let go of the safety of the “command and control” mechanistic organisational view. All too often, employees are treated as little more than the fuel that keeps the machine running. 

The terminology says it all. “Human Resource?” Wouldn’t it feel nicer to talk about people ? And while we’re at it, how about dropping the confusing “engagement” word and tell a human story about fulfilment, motivation and connection?

Motivation Drives Sales

Meanwhile, brands continue to spend vast amounts on media campaigns and increasingly smart ways of getting cleverly crafted messaging in front of customer eyeballs..

Stop for a second. According to the latest Edelman Trust Barometer consider that people (AKA customers) trust what “people like me” (AKA workers) have to say about a business far more than they trust marketeers.

Employee evangelism drives trust, and therefore sales and loyalty, better than any other form of marketing.

Investing in strategic employee experience programmes increases the chance of employees doing your marketing for you… across social channels, digital platforms and face-to-face when they talk to potential customers, partners or employees.

But beware. Don’t be rushing into any old employee ambassador programme. Customers can smell phoney piggy lipstick from a mile away. And if they see it they will call it. On social so everyone can see..

Authentic advocacy comes from the heart - from employees that have a good experience at work. If employees are genuinely proud of how the company operates, how it nurtures and respects colleagues, they will become evangelists. If they can hold their head up high about what the company does and how it behaves, they will be proud ambassadors.

Stories Drive Change

Companies have to move beyond traditional marketing to earn trust and loyalty.

Employee experience, driven by powerful internal communications, should be core to every organisational transformation strategy and even more so in complex, multi-brand global corporations.

But before that can happen, leaders have to commit to a clearly defined “ North Star” that everyone can see. How do they REALLY want the customer experience, the employee experience to feel? Is it a workplace where a “can-do” attitudes reign, where people feel rewarded and recognised, where trust and transparency is expected and incentivised? Is it a place where accountability and transparency get more than lip service and the quest for work-life integration is genuine?

Driving behaviour change is hard. Culture change is never driven by fear and mandate. It is driven by passion, purpose and excitement. Strategic communications is at the core of success.

It’s time for organisational story tellers and HR professionals to team up to make a real difference. Together, they should co-design communications frameworks that generate, and share, stories that show progress, and lead to motivation and loyalty

To drive lasting success, companies need commitment from the very top, and to ring fence appropriate levels of investment over realistic timescales. 

And… knowing what we know, doesn’t it seems sensible to refocus a proportion of the massive media budgets onto new more effective ways of doing things?