Why Investing in the Employee Experience Is More Important Than Ever

BY Stephanie Reed | April 25, 2024

“We’re coming to times where promotions are not going to be as available. How can I make you feel happy here on a day-to-day basis, especially when a year may come where you may not see that next step?” This is the question Ashley Collado-Jaime, people operations manager at Medidata Solutions, posed to From Day One’s audience in a webinar about investing in the employee experience.

With tighter budgets and fewer resources, people leaders face the challenge of creating more holistic and sustainable strategies, and more of them recognize measuring ROI goes beyond the scope of using metrics alone.

Deborah Thomas, chief people officer at Somos, Inc., shared a similar approach to providing support and gathering feedback using focus groups, surveys, exit surveys, and more to understand the employee experience: “We engage employees in solutioning with us, and as we’re building these experiences, we leverage their voices every step of the way.”

Employee engagement and satisfaction equally predict potential long-term success. More business leaders will consider investing in initiatives, with measurable and immeasurable results for key talent retention.

Quantifying the Benefits

Moderator Rob Catalano, chief engagement officer at WorkTango, a platform improving the employee experience and boosting retention using engagement software such as employee surveys, inquired about effectively requesting investment in experience initiatives.

“Given the significance of today’s workplace where maybe it's hard to find those levels of investment, how do you approach the next steps? How do you approach securing a budget?” Catalano asked.

Collado-Jaime says that survey metrics prove what strategies deliver results. The participation numbers must justify requesting additional investment in employee experience programs. When retention rates declined in groups with lower participation, the numbers correlated.

Catalano of WorkTango led the conversation with Collado-Jaime of Medidata Solutions and Thomas of Somos, Inc. (photo by From Day One)

“It goes back to the data looking at our retention rates compared to who was being recognized,” Collado-Jaime said. “We saw that with our retention rates within lower participating groups. Something is missing here and people aren’t feeling as appreciated.”

Thomas builds on presenting numbers as evidence, discussing the effectiveness of benchmarking, and using employee survey metrics. By revealing how Somos financially exceeded its peer organizations, Thomas could request investment in DEI and other employee engagement initiatives. 

Sustainability of the Employee Experience

Investing in the employee experience has implications for the business, employees, and leaders.

As companies continue to set goals amidst increasing financial constraints, open communication, engagement, and recognition are critical to meeting modern-day business goals. “There is a big wellness and burnout issue in organizations today for a lot of the things we just described, asking people to do more with fewer resources and higher expectations,” Catalano said.

Collado-Jaime discussed Medidata Solutions’ quarterly manager roadshows to assist hiring managers in developing programs to boost team engagement. These roadshows incorporate training webinars and open communication channels. Feedback from the hiring managers throughout the process helps HR leaders improve programs and make new development and retention strategies.

At Somos, Inc., the success of its career pathing program relies on testimonials from leaders. Based on employee survey data revealing that teams wanted to hear directly from their leaders instead of HR, Thomas shared how their recognition program revealed an opportunity to promote engagement through leaders fostering performance appraisal discussions within the program.

Catalano noted how both companies adopted a more holistic experience inclusive of employees and leaders alike. This approach and leadership perspective helped build stronger, more engaged teams, thus cultivating a more sustainable business.

The Qualitative Benefits

The panelists discussed the usefulness of employee experience initiatives, irrespective of whether they can be proven ROI. Collado-Jaime emphasized that an employee with a positive experience allows that company to promote it as a specific experience that other companies may not offer.

Thomas used DEI as an example of an initiative with benefits not easily proven ROI. She recounted Somos, Inc. celebrating Holi as a cultural recognition of their South-Asian employees and saw 75% of their participation. The quality of their experience is immeasurable through a business-oriented lens.

The employee experience is pivotal to a sustainable business and yields more effective results than short-term cost-saving initiatives and measures. “We can have AI, technology, and all of those things,” Thomas said. “but ultimately people make those things happen.”

Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, WorkTango, for sponsoring this webinar. 

Stephanie Reed is a freelance news, marketing, and content writer. Much of her work features small business owners throughout diverse industries. She is passionate about promoting small, ethical, and eco-conscious businesses.

RELATED STORIES

Navigating the Future of Business With Resilience and Innovation

When Amy Letke, national practice leader, HR consulting at Marsh McLennan Agency talks about innovative HR strategy, she points to one of her clients as a perfect example. This company has a workplace with harsh conditions that most of us would find unattractive. It’s a meatpacking company where employees often find themselves working in below-freezing temperatures and less-than-competitive pay. Yet its attrition rate is remarkably low.The client told her, “We’ve invested in our people, we’ve conducted leadership training, we’ve had to reorganize. We’ve [also] had to go back to our leaders and say, ‘You’ve got to like your people, to talk to them, and be compassionate to their needs.’” Letke shared this story in a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One’s D.C. event. By offering a holistic benefits package and engaging not just the employees, but also their families with a welcoming company culture, this organization convinced workers not only to stay, but to thrive in a very tough job.In a dynamic business environment, adaptation is essential to stay competitive. Organizations face unprecedented challenges and opportunities, demanding a blend of resilience and innovation. Letke offered an enlightening presentation on how to navigate and excel in this landscape, with insights, strategies, and actionable advice to thrive amid evolving industry trends.Workplace Challenges in 2024Letke says employers face three major challenges this year, each of which offers opportunities to be more effective with your HR benefits strategy. First, is attracting and retaining talent. The second, she says, is getting more done with less. And finally, the third is the rapid technological advancement happening.Covid prepared HR teams to deal with rapidly changing circumstances, she says. “HR teams have to be resilient. And we always are renewing and invigorating ourselves.” She offers several hallmarks of a resilient HR structure, including a coaching for leaders, a handbook that addresses time off and other work policies, up-to-date job descriptions, and a readiness to handle tough conversations, among others. By consistently analyzing your infrastructure and making sure the latest trends and policies are incorporated, you can stay ahead of any challenges coming down the line.Creating an Effective StrategyIn addition to staying on top of trends and keeping HR infrastructure updated, it’s also about attitude and company culture. “When we become a leader, we’ve got to realize what we’re signing up for,” Letke said. “It means we have to be compassionate, caring, [and] we have to listen.” This sometimes requires training, she says.Amy Letke,  National Practice Leader, HR Consulting at Marsh McLennan Agency led the thought leadership spotlight in D.C.Resilient infrastructure can create a resilient culture with exceptional supervisors. These leaders give the frontline workforce the support that they need and can often make an organization more attractive even when the pay is not as competitive due to budget cuts in a challenging economy. It also means that leaders should be held accountable for employee turnover, as their attitude and care should be driving the culture that inspires retention and loyalty.Workers satisfied with every element of the employee experience are happier and feel more successful, appreciated, and have a greater sense of belonging, Letke says. These elements include pay and compensation, purposeful work, culture, and flexibility. “This list shows how we as leaders can deliver care throughout our organization,” Letke said, and should be a guiding principle behind HR strategy.Having an Effective Benefits Strategy“Offering good employee benefits is just basic, everybody expects it,” Letke said, especially post-pandemic. So she encourages leaders to be more creative with their benefits strategy in order to stay competitive. A recent Marsh McLennan study showed that one in three employees would forgo a pay increase in return for additional well-being offerings for themselves and their families. “Being able to support your employees’ well-being is something we are seeing as an emerging trend, so thinking about those benefits is a way you can differentiate your company from others,” she said.Letke identifies four key areas of focus as opportunities to be more effective with your benefits strategy:Personalization: Give employees choices.Segmentation: Understand the different segments of employees and their needs. Centralization: To curb spending, there will likely be a centralization of tech platforms and human support options for HR teams. Empathy: Be there for your employees.A comprehensive benefits program incorporates the needs of every generation in the workforce, whose needs can look quite different. For example, Gen X might want remote work, flexible scheduling, caregiving benefits, and retirement planning, while Gen Z might prioritize student loan repayment, financial planning assistance, and training and development.Many workplaces have multiple generations represented among the workforce, so “managing to the needs of these generations is critical,” Letke said.Ultimately, HR success is about cultivating a mindset of innovation, Letke says. If HR has become a “check the box” compliance function, you’re doing it wrong. “Our job is to lead, inspire, and help others understand the impact they can make on the employee experience,” Letke said.Intention, compassion, and empathy is how winning organizations do it. A holistic approach to leadership that includes every element of an employees’ experience – both at work and at home – can make for a sustainable, forward-thinking, and highly attractive workplace.Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Marsh McLennan Agency, for sponsoring this thought leadership spotlight. Katie Chambers is a freelance writer and award-winning communications executive with a lifelong commitment to supporting artists and advocating for inclusion. Her work has been seen in HuffPost and several printed essay collections, among others, and she has appeared on Cheddar News, iWomanTV, and CBS New York.

Katie Chambers | May 09, 2024

How to Keep a Hybrid Workforce Engaged and Productive

As of February 2024, more than half (54%) of employees in the US who can work remotely adhere to a hybrid schedule, and 27% are exclusively remote, according to data from Gallup.Yet many employers remain suspicious of remote and hybrid arrangements, fearing lack of productivity, weakening engagement, sagging performance, and lost opportunities for employee collaboration and innovation. Hoping to understand employee movements outside of their offices, some employers have invested in employee-monitoring software, capturing everything from hours worked to keystrokes.Yet privacy is a major concern for workers, and invasive employee monitoring can feel like Big Brother is breathing down their necks, rupturing trust and putting workers on guard.“It’s really important that we think about [employee productivity] insights not as a mechanism to scratch an itch of curiosity, but a mechanism to provide continuous improvement as it relates to the way that we work together,” said Gabriela Mauch, head of the productivity lab at workforce analytics software platform ActivTrak.Mauch understands why the itch is there. “This conversation started three or four years ago when [companies] abruptly transitioned from being a fully in-office organization to a fully remote organization,” said Mauch. “So many of us felt the pain of lacking visibility into the time worked and schedule adherence that are critical to running the business.”Yet many employers are asking the wrong questions, misinterpreting data, and failing to trust their workers to spend their time efficiently. During a recent From Day One webinar on engaging a hybrid workforce, Mauch and her colleague Sarah Altemus, ActivTrak’s productivity lab manager, talked about how employers can better and–more responsibly–use employee productivity data.Speakers from ActivTrak discussed the topic "How to Get Hybrid Right: The Cornerstones of Success" (photo by From Day One)Employers are susceptible to misuse of employee productivity data, and not just because they may want to obsessively monitor every click of a worker’s mouse.There is plenty of room for misinterpretation. For example, working long hours doesn’t mean someone is more productive or engaged, it could mean that they’re overloaded or barreling toward burnout. Likewise, a light schedule may not indicate laziness or disengagement, it may be a sign of underutilization. “These can quickly become attrition risks,” said Altemus.This has been a common struggle for employers, according to Mauch. “While we maybe had clear expectations of how we expect people to work, what we managed to struggle with is whether people are working too much or disengaging.”So some employers have responded by grabbing at details they hoped would illuminate those patterns. But a closer look doesn’t always make things clearer, and good information can get buried in the minutia of massive data reports. Shrewd interpretation of data at a higher level provides a more accurate picture. “The right information can help your managers act as coaches and provide guidance without infringing upon the comfort of your workforce who want to make sure that they still have those critical levels of privacy,” said Mauch.Altemus encouraged employers to examine productivity data at a higher level, in the form of general activity logs. “Think of it as just a glance around the office that you would otherwise get if you were in person,” she said. “How many employees are working today? How are productive hours tracking relative to goals? Is engagement and productivity trending up or down? Are there teams that are at risk of burnout, disengagement, or misalignment?”Better information can help managers categorize working time as productive or unproductive and make sure workers are actually signing off from work at the end of the day–not burning the midnight oil until they burn out. It can help managers avoid proximity bias that favors in-office workers over remote or hybrid workers for promotions and raises. And it can help leaders make the most of face-to-face time and office reconfigurations.To this end, Altemus recommended clear expectations. “The success of a flexible workforce requires clearly delineated responsibilities and communication protocols,” she said. And it needs a performance management strategy.Employers don’t set arbitrary guidelines for guidelines’ sake, said Mauch. “At the end of the day, the intent of company policy is not just to ensure that people are following it, the intent of the policy is to optimize productivity, take care of your employees, and retain them.”That’s when activity reporting becomes invaluable, she said: When you stop trying to answer the question, “Did people badge in and did people badge out?” and instead answer “Does my hybrid policy fully maximize my ability to engage and reach my productivity goals?”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, ActivTrak, for sponsoring this webinar. Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza is a freelance journalist and From Day One contributing editor who writes about work, the job market, and women’s experiences in the workplace. Her work has appeared in the Economist, the BBC, The Washington Post, Quartz, Fast Company, and Digiday’s Worklife.

Emily McCrary-Ruiz-Esparza | May 01, 2024

Why College Prep for Teens May Become the Next Workplace Benefit

Employers offer a wide variety of benefits for the working parents of young children, from onsite childcare and paid leave to fertility and conception benefits, but what about support for parents of older children and teens? During the teen years, “There's a massive emotional strain between parents and teenagers that folks are way too familiar with. There's financial uncertainty,” said Jonathan Murray, head of Empowerly for Employers. And “college prep is a major source of stress for these parents and has a significant impact on workplace productivity.”Murray ticked off some compelling statistics from a survey of 1,000 working parents that Empowerly commissioned to explore the value of an employee benefit for college prep. A full 95% reported that they are nervous about their teen's future when it comes to college prep. Fifty percent of them said that college prep was a constant stress and 88% of the 1,000 parents said that they use time at work to help their teens with college prep. One in four of these parents admit to using from six to 15 hours a week.“It’s not surprising that parents are looking to employers to provide help, and looking to employers to provide college prep benefits,” said Murray. “It's the number two benefit that was requested by parents of teens,” after financial well-being, he said.I interviewed Murray and Theresa Shropshire, an enrollment expert and college consultant for Empowerly, about the compelling reasons for employers to support their workforce during these critical years in a From Day One webinar titled, How Employers Can Ensure Continuity of Care for All Families.As a working parent of a teen who just went through this process, I can attest that the high school years and the college prep and application process are unlike what I experienced myself as a teen college aspirant. The competition and pressure for teens to perform at a high level academically, athletically and even socially is astonishing. The private college counseling industry has boomed as overwhelmed parents seek to navigate these unfamiliar demands.Shropshire described the types of services college prep companies such as Empowerly now offer, which range from the familiar, such as helping students craft compelling college application essays, to the less well-known, such as helping students choose everything from courses, extracurricular activities, and selective summer programs beginning as early as eighth grade. “A lot of the parents that I speak with are actually first generation in the U.S. Or maybe they went to college outside of the U.S. The process here is very, very different. It’s not all about grades and test scores.”Journalist Jeanhee Kim interviewed Jonathan Murray and Theresa Shropshire of Empowerly during the From Day One webinar (photo by From Day One)Many of the services save parents’ decision-making time, such as counseling parents and teens on how and when to take advantage of early action, early decision, and regular decision college application options as well as evaluating and comparing costs and financial aid packages when a fortunate student is deciding among multiple college acceptances.While college prep is an emerging employee benefit, Murray described how the realization that teens need more support is beginning to permeate society. He pointed to the recent partnership between New York City and TalkSpace, the mental health app, to deliver free mental health care to teens from age 13 to 17.“It really hits to the heart of what benefits are truly for,” said Murray. “They’re the ability for an employer to step in and help their individual employees or their employee families with these large problems that impact them, impact their families, impact the organization, and impact the communities.”College prep services like Empowerly not only help teens, Murray says. “There’s benefits for the parents, and then downstream, that benefits employers and communities.”There are different options for employers as well, says Murray. He described tiers of benefits that begin at no cost to either the employee or employer. Empowerly would partner with employers to offer no-cost access to college prep resource materials, such as samples of successful college essays. Options then level up to one-on-one consulting between the employee and college prep service at a cost that could be borne directly by the employee or by the employer.He emphasized that Empowerly would work with employers to craft plans that satisfy the employers and provide real benefits to employees. “We can provide ROI on it. It’s just so highly bespoke based on the needs.”Editor's note: From Day One thanks our partner, Empowerly, for sponsoring this webinar. Jeanhee Kim is an independent journalist who has worked for CoinDesk, Crain’s New York Business, Money magazine and Forbes Asia.

Jeanhee Kim | April 30, 2024