Personalising the employee experience key to attraction and retention

Three years since the arrival of Covid, and the impacts have been many and varied. In the world of work – mostly for those with desk or office-based jobs – remote and hybrid working have become increasingly the norm, with many employees now voting with their feet if a workplace doesn’t offer at least a hybrid option. We speak to HR leaders in global companies to understand the current employee landscape, and how to attract and retain staff.

The shortage of skills remains one of the key challenges for Irish and global businesses. And with almost full employment in Ireland, the challenge of attracting and retaining skilled employees is not going away, says Laoise Mullane, director, people and organisation, PwC.

“Over half (56 per cent) of Irish employees say that they are likely to switch to a new employer in the next 12 months,” says Mullane. “While an increase in pay is a main motivator for making a job change, wanting a fulfilling job and wanting to truly be themselves at work round out the top three very important things employees are looking for; 45 per cent of Irish employees prioritised being able to choose where they work.”

Changing expectations

Most people have reassessed their work-life priorities since the pandemic, with many citing hybrid working, career advancement, learning opportunities, wellbeing, inclusion and sustainability as key considerations. That’s according to Geraldine Casey, chief people officer at AIB.

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“We have responded in an agile way by adopting flexible hybrid working arrangements for our people, making progressive enhancements to our family-leave offering, focusing on skills development and maintaining a leading position on inclusion, diversity and sustainability, all while continuously promoting a deep sense of wellbeing and connection across the organisation,” says Casey.

A 2022 report indicates that while pay is typically the main motivator for an employee looking to change jobs, the second and third motivators include the experiential factors of finding their job fulfilling and being able to be themselves at work, says Gerard McDonough, partner, people and organisation, PwC.

“In light of this, organisations can benefit from taking an employee experience approach to workforce transformation,” McDonough adds. This approach follows a bottom-up method, putting employees, their views and experience at the heart of decision making. This results in solutions to problems that are engaging and responsive to the specific needs and wants of an organisation’s employees.

“By understanding the daily experiences of people, what their pain points are and what matters to them, companies can identify solutions and put in place initiatives that are tailored to improving their working experience.”

Sneha Patel, chief human resources officer, PepsiCo Ireland, says the company is also seeing changing expectations globally. “To call out a few, there is a greater desire for flexibility (be it in work approach, benefits etc); increased focus on mental health and wellbeing as a whole, increased desire and expectation to work for a purpose-led company (ie with strong diversity, an equity and inclusion agenda, and sustainability initiatives); greater emphasis on working for a strong and unique organisational culture; and a company focused on career growth and development for the future.

“All of these factors coming together impact and shape the overall employee experience to create that healthy environment and relationships, and what attracts and will continue to retain employees. One example post-Covid is hybrid working, which is the expected employee experience, with an increase of flexibility.”

Attracting and retaining

Niamh Graham, senior vice-president, human experience at Workhuman, says businesses need to ensure that attraction and retention is an important part of the culture’s ways of working, and part of a strategy for attraction. ”

The workplace needs to cater to the person but also the collective,” she says. “It’s the collective and the individual. If you think of how people like to work – they like to work in teams, have the social aspect; how we work has shifted.”

The war for talent is real and there is lots of competition out there. Graham says mobility is massive and tenure has decreased significantly. “Before Covid people stayed two, three or four years. Now it’s closer to 18 months. Jobs don’t have the stickiness and loyalty that you would have had before.”

While some companies and industries may never be able to go hybrid, due to the nature of their work, it is important to accommodate flexible work arrangements where possible, says Andrea Fouché, director, human capital, Deloitte. This starts with leadership behaviours and attitudes towards accommodating diverse needs of employees – and building an inclusive and engaged work culture is a key step in enabling flexibility.

“More than half of respondents say they research a brand’s environmental impact and policies before accepting a job, while one in six say they have already changed jobs or sectors due to climate concerns, and around a quarter of respondents say they plan to do so in the future. Therefore, an organisation’s cultural worldview on employee health, climate concerns, as reflected by their sustainability, flexible working and wellbeing policies, have a major impact on attraction and retention.

Churn it off

The cost of all this churn is high, says Graham. “The number of employees looking to change jobs is no longer a blip, an aberration, an outlier or a fluke. It’s a trend. In Ireland specifically, 37 per cent of people were looking for a new role (up 1.4 times since 2019). Underlying that number are the same sentiments from the last few years: employees underpaid, undervalued and prepared to quit their jobs to find better experiences elsewhere.”

According to a recent report, employees in the UK (40.8 per cent) and Ireland (37.6 per cent) are more likely to be looking or planning to look for a new job in the next 12 months than the other countries surveyed.

The cost of this attraction and retention is not insignificant, says Graham. “A 10,000-person organisation with an already engaged workforce can save up to $16.1 million in turnover costs annually by making frequent recognition part of their culture.”

Mitigating the risk of all these expectations

Companies can start by improving their hiring processes to ensure the right candidates for the jobs are being selected, says Priyanka Jaiswal, director of people, proposition and reward at Three Ireland and Three UK.

“By hiring the right people from the beginning, you increase the chances of long-term retention,” says Jaiswal. “Foster an engaging and inclusive work environment that is supportive and where employees feel valued and appreciated. This creates a culture of inclusivity, which plays a significant role in reducing churn.”

Jaiswal advises offering the right – and equal – opportunities to grow and develop. Employees are more likely to stay with a company that offers opportunities for growth and advancement; so, provide training programs, workshops, mentoring, and coaching to help employees develop new skills and advance in their careers.

“It is also important to ensure companies are providing fair and competitive pay, as well as benefits which employees value both in and outside work. Providing comprehensive benefits such as healthcare, retirement plans and employee assistance programmes can also enhance job satisfaction and loyalty.”

Engaging the employees

Employee experience is a critical insight for organisations to understand their people, what is important to them and what their pain points are, says McDonough. “The employment contract needs to be beneficial to both the employer and the employee; it is essentially a transaction in which both sides are looking to achieve mutually beneficial outcomes. In a tight labour market, where there is not an oversupply of talent, employees have the power to find an employer that best meets their needs.

“Taking an employee experience approach that puts employees at the centre of decision making provides the opportunity for organisations to tailor solutions and initiatives that best fit the needs of their employees.”

Employees want their employers to actively listen and help address their needs and concerns about the state of the world, climate change and the impact of work on their lives, including wellbeing and health outcomes, says Fouché. “Implementing policies and practices that tangibly turn the dial on employee wellbeing and sustainability will be key to employees feeling valued and engaged in their work.

“For these policies to stick, holistic organisational culture transformation may be required so that all workers, starting at the top, begin to unpick behaviours and cultural traits that don’t align with employee values.

Treating employees like customers

Like customers, employees need to be heard, so that their experience can be improved in a meaningful way, says Casey. “As we emerged from the pandemic, we took the opportunity to reassess our range of engagement and employee listening channels to include initiatives such as engagement with a designated non-executive board member and Speak Up (which enables employees to raise issues of concern).

“A key element of this was the adoption of a new employee survey. Direct feedback from our people enables us to focus on the issues that matter most. To build trust in the process, there is space to freely comment on any issues that our people are facing, provide suggestions, make observations and feel heard.”

Valuing employees

Patel says it is important that employees feel they are being genuinely heard, respected and appreciated. “This can come to life differently for each team member, across various cultural expectations, and within subgroups,” she says. “There are many ways to show employees how much you value them – from small acts of kindness, recognition programmes and financial incentives to simple gestures, like a genuine thank you, being acknowledged, listening, and taking action on that employee feedback or ideas.

“As humans, we all have different intrinsic motivational factors that drive us to feel valued and have a sense of belonging. One of the best ways to understand this within one’s own team is to simply ask.”