It’s the Employee Experience that Matters Most

For many employers in Iowa, the last three years have been brutal. If your business was fortunate enough to survive the pandemic, you likely faced a barrage of challenges from supply chain issues and labor shortages to skyrocketing wages and high inflation costs. Any one of these issues can be difficult to navigate but add them together and it’s no wonder many business owners are struggling.

The fact is that the world has changed. What was expected of employers three years ago is different than it is today. People — workers — expect more (more pay, more benefits, more flexibility), they want to work less, they want their work to matter and most importantly, they wanted to be valued for their contribution to the organization. And while this tends to be the case regardless of age or industry, the problem is that many employers can’t keep up with all the changes due to a lack of time, money, staff and resources.

We know the complexity of running businesses, managing employees and generating a profit all while trying to stay relevant to customers is tough. We’ve spent our careers working at private clubs (country clubs, golf clubs, etc.) across the country where members pay extraordinary amounts of money just to walk in the door. It means their expectations are extremely high, sometimes unreasonable, but we have to aim to meet and exceed those expectations on a daily basis.

Finding + Retaining Engaged Employees Who Provide Standout Service

The only way we can survive these high expectations is by having a team of employees who are loyal, engaged, enthusiastic and working together to create outstanding experiences every day. The team has to thrive, not just survive, so we prioritize our employees over everything else (profit, customers, etc.). We call it People First and it means you view your employees as precious assets who need to be nurtured and supported, not as cogs in a machine or tools used to build a profit.

We’ve witnessed how this mindset and philosophy changed what we were able to accomplish, and time and time again, we’ve seen how creating an upbeat work culture and a thriving team of loyal employees not only leads to profitable and booming organizations, it changes people’s lives! We’ve created a place where people (employees) are proud to be part of, they give their best every day and they love what they do.

The world today is different because people think about work differently. Today, what matters most is the employee experience. It’s about how employees feel every time they are at work. Do they feel respected? Appreciated? Cared for? If the answer is no, they are probably just showing up until they find work opportunities elsewhere. If you want to have loyal, hard-working employees now, you have to create upbeat company cultures and positive employee experiences consistently.

How do you do that?

It starts with a shift in the way employees are seen. It starts with talking to current workers about how they feel and what they enjoy (and don’t enjoy) about working at your company. It starts by recognizing that today, it isn’t all about money and how much employees are paid. Sure, that’s part of it, but it doesn’t hold the weight that it once did. You can’t throw money at people and expect it to be enough. You have to train, care, invest in and support employees more than ever before. It takes everyone in your organization working together for a common purpose and with the intention to treat each other well.

It's about seeing employees’ needs, feelings and frustrations and recognizing that they are human beings first and foremost. They are people, not things. We have to evoke feelings of pride, passion, purpose, camaraderie, teamwork and value for our employees and avoid making them feel disrespected, unappreciated, undervalued, frustrated, stressed and alone. It’s the feelings that matter more than the work or the pay and they are crucial for attracting and keeping employees.

If you want your business to survive labor shortages, rising costs and turbulent times, you must put your people first and prioritize creating upbeat employee cultures and positive work experiences for everyone in the organization. Learn more at threeandjackie.com.

Watch the entire recent Top Five webinar on the employee experience below:

 

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