Every company invests in employee experience, even if leaders aren’t really aware of it. Essentials like work environments, benefits and training all play a role, but great employee experience can only be achieved with deliberate action.
We know that good employee experience leads to better employee engagement and that, in turn, can benefit business performance. As a recent study found, businesses that employees rate positively tend to significantly outperform those with less favourable reviews. The best way to push your business forward? To invest in your employees!
With that in mind, we’ve compiled a handy list of five companies doing great things for their employees and discovered how that has boosted business too.
You probably saw this one coming. When it comes to employee experience, it would be tough not to include the company that first made work in tech seem like great fun. But beyond offices that look more like playgrounds, the free food and on-site gyms, the company offers opportunities for employees to bring their own passions to Google’s unique culture.
For example, workers are encouraged to spend 20% of their time at work doing something outside of their usual role and all are encouraged to collaborate with transparency. That creates an experience where everyone feels valued, and no one feels limited. According to research from the University of Warwick, dedicating resource to EX has led to a 37% rise in employee satisfaction for the tech giant.
John Lewis
At this company, employees know how vital they are to the wider business. That begins with one simple word: partner. Employee experience at John Lewis is centred around a sense of community and shared responsibility. Its culture is such that all employees know they can be part of the solutions to the business’ problems and are empowered to be part of the bigger picture.
Feeling like your work means something is a huge part of great employee experience, and John Lewis does that exceptionally well. When you know you can make a difference, you’re more motivated to engage and do just that.
BT Consumer
At BT’s Consumer division, all the things we know make for a great employee experience seem to be in place – that might be why they were named the sixth best company to work for in the UK in 2020. The values of ‘personal’, ‘simple’ and ‘brilliant’ are present in every interaction employees have with the business, helping to shape decisions at every level.
Plus, every employee plays a role in bringing those values to life. There are opportunities for learning, space to make important contributions and rewards for those who do. Vitally, management recognises the need to build positive interactions too. At BT Consumer, 86% of staff agree that managers talk openly and honestly and that’s not an easy thing to achieve.
Patagonia
Known for a bold approach to business that puts values above all else, Patagonia follows the same route when it comes to employee experience. A long-standing policy that employees must surf when the waves are good and a company-wide understanding that employees are the ‘ultimate customers’ shows how much of a focus employee experience really is.
Patagonia’s founder, Yvon Chouinard explains, “If you care about having a company where employees treat work as play and regard themselves as ultimate customers for the products they produce, then you have to be careful whom you hire, treat them right, and train them to treat other people right. Otherwise, you may come to work one day and find it isn’t a place you want to be anymore.” It’s great advice for anyone hoping to improve their own employee experience.
DRPG
We’re not one for blowing our own trumpet, but we know a thing or two about employee experience and, at DRPG, employee experience is great. That’s why we made the top 20 in the UK’s best companies to work for last year. We believe anything’s possible and that’s true of every member of every team. It’s something we reward too.
Most importantly for employee experience, we invest in our employees and encourage them to keep learning on the job. Our Academy learning platform shares our values with new joiners from day one and encourages everyone to move forward within the company. 89% of staff agree that working here provides experience that is valuable for the future, whatever that might bring.
We’re incredibly proud of that, and a whopping 96% of staff are proud to work here too. That’s employee experience done well.
When it comes to employee experience, we never stop learning. Find out more about ways to improve yours, the latest trends and what they mean for the future in our latest whitepaper, Workplace experience. To find out how we can help you implement tried and tested solutions to improve your employee experience strategies, get in touch at anythingspossible@drpgroup.com
