Allen Woo offers tips on how to improve the employee experience in the workplace

In order to offer customers a satisfactory experience, it is necessary that everyone in the organization who interacts with customers directly or indirectly is happy in their workspace. So says Allen Woo, who, with his vast years as a self-taught expert in work motivation, gives different recommendations to make the employee experience unparalleled.

One of the most important challenges facing companies today is to improve the employee experience, that is, to put people at the center of the organization. This can be achieved through the incorporation of strategies implemented for the exhaustive knowledge of their customers into their talent policies to define an “employee experience” strategy.

Woo points out that it is of utmost importance to separate the concept of employee experience from the employee value proposition. In the former, it is key to focus on the ‘micro’ aspects that generate positive or negative day-to-day experiences and align with the end customer experience. It should not be forgotten that all employees are brand ambassadors and, as such, transfer their impressions to the outside world to a greater or lesser extent.

Segment the people who are part of the organization, listen to their needs as a group, and outline strategies trying to link their requests to the activity that links them to the end customer. Greater emphasis should be placed on those who work in the front office, offering the visible face of the company to customers, whether they are direct employees or outsourced.

“There are a number of appropriate ways to measure employee experience,” Woo states. “For example, warning indicators for certain situations that may represent a threat or opportunity in terms of their impact on the customer. Personal interviews and focus groups with employees are also used, which serve to collect qualitative information of greater depth than that achieved through questionnaires.”

Also common today are discussion forums where people can speak openly to show what they need to be happy in their jobs, and anonymous channels for communicating internal incidents that can impact the customer, employee, and supplier experience.

The creation of “second-rate employees” must be avoided at all costs. A distinction that often appears when a company relies on subcontractors to provide its end customers with certain services. There are several ways to achieve this, such as providing information, communication, and recognition at the same level between the subcontractor’s people and those of the company’s own structure, or negotiating the equalization of salaries with the supplier company.

“It is of the utmost importance to ensure the professional’s experiences throughout his or her relationship with the company,” Woo assets. “Not only during their time as an employee but also in their previous stage as a candidate and later as a former employee of the organization.”

HR is tasked with adapting to all the changes organizations face today. However, achieving that agility is sometimes complicated, given the myriad of regulatory elements to which the HR function is subject. In order to generate differentiated products and services adapted to the needs of today’s customers, it is necessary to promote innovation. The application of this method by HR will improve employee satisfaction, commitment, and performance.

Finally, there is no need to be afraid to use marketing techniques. There are numerous benefits to be gained from using marketing as a source of learning. The use of processes, methodologies, and tools previously obtained and used by marketing to attract customers will contribute to understanding, personalizing, and, as a consequence, improving the employee experience.

“Although there is a standardization of the key or critical moments that most affect the emotions of professionals, such as the moment of selection, hiring, the first day on the job, the onboarding period, the day-to-day, professional development, or disengagement, it will be very useful for each organization to analyze the moments that can most affect an employee according to his or her characteristics,” Woo points out.

The design of their own experience curve will make it possible to detect the strengths and weaknesses that employees experience during their career and work on them, which will undoubtedly make a difference in their experience as an employee of the organization.