Almost two-thirds (65%) of organisations put a greater focus on the employee experience in 2021 than two years ago, but only half believe their company has the right technology and processes in place to create great employee experiences, according to a new report released by Workforce Software.

The State of Human Experience in the Workplace report found that almost 40% of respondents with above average employee experience are at companies currently using workforce management (WFM) solutions – twice the rate of those with average or below average experiences.

The rise of remote work during Covid-19 is the most significant driver for focusing more on employee experience in 2021, according to more than half (54%) of respondents. Other drivers for an increased focus beyond the pandemic include major organisational change (31%), increased talent competition (27%) and responding to high employee turnover (25%).

Each of the top four strategic tactics taken by respondents to maximise the employee experience in 2021 involve technology – optimising self service to make data more accessible (61%), investing in technology to improve productivity (59%), creating spaces and processes to increase collaboration (54%) and adding or improving employee feedback or surveys (49%).

Workforce Software senior vice president for Asia Pacific and Japan, Nick Bailey encourages local business and HR leaders to particularly consider the following recommendations and plans outlined in the report when considering their own employee experience strategy:

  • Use the lessons of the pandemic and embrace remote work where possible
    Organisations should be looking at what worked for employees in the initial 2020 lockdown, and what didn’t work, and use the best to implement policies and processes that improve employee experience during this current phase, and beyond.
  • Focus on greater accessibility for employees
    With the shift to remote work, companies are taking actions to make it easier for employees to access their data on their own terms, to communicate with each other, to be more productive, and to provide feedback.
  • Keep process in mind, even when immediate need calls for new technology
    While it may be ideal to build processes and policies around technologies that enable remote work, companies have been forced to focus on the implementation of technologies that provide greater accessibility ahead of building out formal employee engagement strategies.
  • Identify productivity gains that align with experience improvements Improving productivity is the top objective of employee experience management in our survey and investing in technology to improve technology is a top tactic.
  • Use customer experience as an example Investments in customer experience find far less resistance than HR projects, but the core philosophy of experience is the same. Engaged customers are better customers, so it follows that engaged employees should be better employees.