How to create a happy workplace employee experience during the coronavirus crisis

Marlies Pellikaan

Organizations with happy employees are more successful, more productive and more creative. Absence and staff turnover are lower and the organizations is a more appealing prospect for new talent. Sounds good, but how do you create a happy workplace during the coronavirus crisis? employee experience expert Heleen Mes is here to provide some tips.

How to create a happy workplace employee experience during the coronavirus crisis

As a partner at the HappinessBureau, Heleen gives masterclasses about happiness at work. Her mission? To help every employer deliver a world-class workplace. According to Heleen, this can be achieved by creating a positive employee experience.

What is employee experience?

The sum total of all of the experiences that employees or potential employees are exposed to within an organization, from the moment they join to the moment they leave.

According to Heleen, a positive employee experience is more important now than ever before, because the way companies treat their employees in times of crisis speaks volumes about their ethics. So get started on your Employee Experience Design today. Wondering how to go about it? Heleen tells us more…

Employee Experience Design

A positive employee experience doesn’t just happen. You need a foolproof design with a strong emphasis on culture, the physical workplace, leadership, technology and the employee journey. The goal? A happy working culture with an energetic workplace, agile leadership and smart technology for every stage of the employee journey. To achieve success, you need a design that is empathetic, unique, surprising and simple. In short, a custom design.

Download the Employee Experience Review

Discover how employees around the world are experiencing different parts of the employee journey and how this affects the employee experience.

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Let’s get started!

Your goal, vision, standards, values and target group need to be at the forefront of your design. These three steps will help you to get this right:

  1. Discover: understanding leads to insight. Listen to your employees and find out what the problem really is. What do your employees need right now? What do they think and what do they want? Using personas based on research and data will help you here.
  2. Design: creation leads to ideas. Don’t think for your target group; instead, think with your target group. Co-create the solution. 
  3. Deliver: delivery leads to reality. Create a prototype for your solution. But take care! Keep learning and keep testing — has your solution actually made your employees happy?

 

Checklist: 5 tips for Reboarding Employees

Are your employees still working at home or at the office again? Or a combination of both? We are happy to share practical tips for reboarding employees.

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Enhancing the employee experience: seven design errors

A word of caution before you begin — here are the seven common mistakes that people make with their Employee Experience Design:

  • Trying to get from the problem to the solution too quickly. Take the time to identify and acknowledge the underlying problem.
  • Approaching things from your own perspective. Test the ideas against your persona.
  • Handing down the Employee Experience Design from HR. Involve your employees in shaping the design.
  • Letting experts do the thinking for your target group. Listen to your employees.
  • Failing to distinguish between the impact and frequency of experiences. Make a distinction.
  • Copying your design from other organizations. Be unique.
  • Creating a design that’s all about “fun.”. Make an impact.

Employee experience during COVID-19

Right now, almost fifty percent (!) of employees state that they would base decisions about whether or not to remain with a company on how their employer responds during this crisis. So just like we said, it is now more important than ever before to focus on creating a positive employee experience. The organizations that are currently sending their employees survival kits, flowers, packed lunches, equipment to make working from home easier and other little touches are the ones that have figured it out.

Technology to improve employee experience

Instead of focusing on creating a “new normal”, let’s all work together to make a “better normal.” A future in which the aim is not only to create a safe work environment but also one that is pleasant and positive. An environment in which we truly listen to each other. Let’s make COVID-19 the best thing that has ever happened to Employee Experience Design. Will you join us?

Want to find out more about Employee Experience Design?

Thank you, Heleen, for this interesting webinar! Are you keen to find out more about Employee Experience Design, crisis management, leadership and being a good employer? Each week, Effectory hosts a free webinar covering a topic that is relevant to the times we now live in.

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