Haven’t had a chance to read HR thought leader Josh Bersin’s report on the employee experience platform market?
We’ve got you. Read on for our top takeaways.
Takeaway #1
Employee experience (EX) is growing out from under the HR umbrella and becoming its own field of work.
Traditionally, Human Resources departments have been made up of compliance experts, payroll administrators, benefits coordinators, and hiring managers. In recent years, anything related to company culture, talent acquisition strategies, and people analytics got thrown into the mix.
But as the HR field continues to expand and evolve, we’re seeing a widening distinction between basic HR tasks (like payroll, benefits, and safety) and the ones that give businesses a competitive advantage (like culture, talent acquisition, continuous employee success conversations, and talent development).
“Employee experience solutions go far beyond the traditional functions performed by HR,” Bersin notes. Increasingly, EX is emerging as its own mission-critical business function — and ultimately, a new field of work.
Takeaway #2
As our professional journeys become more dynamic, technology has made our workweek longer and our toolkits more complex.
In his report, Josh Bersin poses the question: “Is it any wonder employees are overwhelmed and companies are spending more than $40B a year on wellbeing programs?”
When we look at the amount of technology in the modern workplace, though, we wonder how companies are only spending $40B. Tech has made our work bigger, better, and cheaper — and remarkably more complicated.
On average:
- Employees use 11 unique systems at work for communication, data management, and HR applications.
- Employees use 7 unique tools to share information across teams.
- 27% of employees say they waste an entire day of work every week on unnecessary emails.
- 40% of professionals now work 50+ hours/week.
Meanwhile, employees’ professional journeys have become much more dynamic. Until the end of the 20th century, it was highly uncommon for workers to change companies more than once or twice throughout their careers. Now, the numbers tell a very different story:
- Employees change jobs every 2.5 years on average.
- 33% of employees say what inspires them most about their job is related to either company culture or learning.
- Just 4% of employees cite getting a raise as their highest motivator.
Takeaway #3
Organizations must lean into the employee experience to win the war for talent.
The war for talent is at a historic high, and organizations need high performers more than high performers need them.
So to attract, retain, and develop top talent, companies must adapt to the new workforce’s dynamic lives and desires. Which means creating a top-notch employee experience.
It’s time to think about employee experience the way we think about the consumer experience, Bersin argues — and it starts with making work easier. “Just as Amazon, Google, and Facebook deliver a single, integrated, productive experience to consumers,” Bersin says, “we need a similar ‘user-centric’ architecture for employees.”
The solution? Employee experience platforms.
Bersin’s 5 Must-Have Features for EX Platforms
The main quality of an Employee Experience Platform (like WorkTango’s) is the ability to manage employee-centric, work-related tasks in one place.
Bersin argues platforms must be “intelligent, workflow-based, context-sensitive, and accessible from a workers’ device of choice.”
A winning employee experience platform must:
- Be easy to use
- Manage employee transitions and journeys
- Track the progress of all employee interactions
- Accommodate many modes of access (browser, app, voice, etc)
- Track and manage performance analytics
At its heart, an employee experience platform increases productivity while streamlining work. It automates processes and carries the burden of consistently completing administrative work. This frees up employees at all levels in the organization to focus on creative tasks, returning joy and meaning to work.
And when employees are free to bring their best selves to the job — that’s when work is working.
Like what you hear? If so, we should talk.
WorkTango
WorkTango is the employee experience platform built for the modern workplace.
