Employee experience 2020: 4 key aspects for high-performance. Research by Willis Tower Watson shows a strong employee experience can boost the bottom line.

A great employee experience makes a big difference.

Businesses focused on a strong employee experience consistently outperform their peers by a margin of two to four percentage points across key business metrics, according to research by Willis Tower Watson. Conversely, companies delivering less effective employee experiences regularly underperformed their peers by up to 10 percentage points. 

“Our breakthrough research shows that companies with a strong overall employee experience outperform their sector peers on top-line growth, profitability growth and returns on assets and equity, not only in the short term, but over the long term too,” said Stephen Young, Global Practice Leader, Willis Tower Watson Employee Insights.

In their research, Willis Tower Watson tapped into all aspects of employee experience, from local conditions such as training opportunities, immediate supervision and teamwork, to aspects of organizational functioning, such as senior leadership effectiveness, customer focus and company competitiveness. They found four key aspects of the employee experience that were unique in the high-performance group. 

Employee Experience 2020: 4 Key Aspects for High-Performance

The four key aspects for strong employee experience that emerged from Willis Tower Watson’s research include:

  • Feeling inspired by the company’s mission and purpose
  • Being able to achieve one’s potential and career aspirations
  • Having a deep sense of trust in senior leadership
  • Having a sense of drive through strong customer focus and innovation and agility in meeting marketplace demands.

“The most significant change comes through a transformation of leadership mindset — inspiring your organisation around your purpose, driving agility and innovation to be ahead of the market, helping your people achieve their potential and building a culture of leadership trust,” said Young “The fact that so few organisations do this well suggests it is hard. But it is the ultimate magic key to unlocking high performance.”

Transforming the Employee Experience in 2020

Each of the four aspects Willis Tower Watson identified has something to do with communications and strengthening the relationships between employers, employees and the company itself.

Here are our four suggestions for transforming the employee experience with improved communications:

  • Remind employees about the company’s mission and purpose. If it’s only briefly mentioned in an employee handbook they likely skimmed, they could probably use a more-enthused refresher. 
  • Connect with employees through one-on-one conversations. Learn about their career aspirations and then discuss how their current position and potential advancements could help them get there. 
  • Open up communications with senior leadership. If it only happens one-way when senior leadership implements huge company changes, it could be time to reconsider communication strategies. Including employees in discussions about company changes before they’re finalized can increase their job satisfaction and loyalty to the company.
  • Keep employees in the loop. Give them progress updates on where the company is in terms of reaching quarterly and annual goals. Let them know how the company is innovating processes to maintain strong customer focus and meet marketplace demands. 

Streamlining communications goes hand in hand with cultivating a stronger employee experience and those employers who are up to the task stand to benefit from a better bottom line.

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