Bridging Experience And Engagement

Organisations have long realisedthat annual engagement surveysare passé, and that having a list of scores to various questions is not going to help them navigate the uncertain terrain in a nimble VUCA economy.

- Kalpana Bansal

Engagement surveys are essentially a point-in-time opinion survey -and human beings are fickle creatures. Their opinions vary with time, and often have little to do with the internal workings of their mind. All too often, their expressed opinion and observed behaviours may be at loggerheads with each other.

Employee experience is all about perceptions. It is a long-term strategic approach that aligns culture, values, behaviour, and processes. Employees view interactions in organisations as a series of experiences and form memories that reinforce beliefs or attitudes and shape their behaviour. Since there are multiple variables in the organisation that can impact the behaviour:

High employee engagement is the desired outcome of an ongoing journey of employee experience.

Employee experience is an employee-centric way of thinking organisation decisions pivot around employees' feelings about all aspects of workplace- physical, emotional, and mental.

Employee experience is a design thinking effort that requires a Cultural shift. Leaders and managers alike need to start thinking about organisation processes and interactions with the employee at the centre of their attention.

Employee experience has many touchpoints, and HR is not the custodian of employee experience. Most touchpoints of employee experience are with line managers, customers, vendors, and processes that are beyond the purview of HR. HR can only 'design for an experience, but not control the experience'.

Investing time and effort