As the world begins to unevenly emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic, people’s re-evaluation of their lives and work means employee engagement has been replaced by employee experience.

Employee experience is about the critical need for organisations to help people do and be their best. It is shaped by:

• The work we do.
• The teams we work in.
• Our direct managers and how they coach and support us.
• Our health and wellbeing.
• The digital, physical, and cultural workplace.
• How we grow and develop.
• How much do we trust the organisation.

Even before the pandemic, the work environment was already challenging. Many studies have shown that people felt overwhelmed. They had little time to concentrate, to spend with their families, and there was no time to learn something new.

When COVID-19 struck and brought with it additional issues — the transitioning to working from home, taking care of children and/or parents, and juggling personal and professional responsibilities, all while worrying about the danger of illness — it only added to an already complex situation.

Design for success

The objective of employee experience is for organisations to help people DO their best and BE their best.

Organisations can no longer leave it to chance for being successful. Intentionality and custom design will be crucial for organisational success.

Employees can do their best and be their best when there is:

1. Meaningful work, where people have the tools and autonomy to succeed, work well in teams, and have the time needed to create additional value for customers.
2. Strong management that will drive a positive productive culture.
3. A positive workplace where there are tools and processes to help us do good work and connect; there is the flexibility of hours and place to choose when and where we work; and a cultural work environment where people feel included and belonging.
4. Health and wellbeing that keeps employees, customers, and partners safe and well.
5. Growth and advancement opportunity.
6. Trust in the organisation where people are inspired by the organisational mission and purpose beyond financial goals; when there is transparency, empathy, and integrity of leadership; when there is continuously investing in people; and a strong focus on society, environment, and community.

Culture is employee experience, which drives a positive risk culture

The way you create an exceptional culture inside an organisation is to create very clearly defined rules of engagement that everybody universally understands and takes ownership of.

When we talk about employee experience, it really is culture – culture is employee experience.

And this is where we can build a positive risk culture on the foundation of a positive employee experience.

Risk culture is the way organisations identify, understand, discuss, and act on the risks the organisation confronts or seek out opportunities to increase their likelihood and extend their success. It is not separate from organisational culture but reflects the influence of organisational culture on how risks and opportunities are managed.

Practical steps to improve your risk culture

Here are ten practical steps you can take to improve your organisation’s employee experience and thereafter, your risk culture:

1. Transform service delivery so you can send problems to the right place and to the right accountable person.
2. Communicate openly, transparently, and honestly.
3. Embed your organisational mission and vision as an integral part of everyday work, not just words on a page.
4. Make business decisions from a people-first lens.
5. Help people stand up for what’s right, even if it’s not popular.
6. Help people develop continuously, regardless of their job role.
7. Create and provide great support tools and processes that will enhance or simplify your employees’ flow of work.
8. Empower your employees to be their authentic selves.
9. Create cross-functional teams.
10. Focus on human-centred leadership and management.

Above all, leadership is critical.

Without the right leadership mindset, capabilities, and behaviours, any progress in creating a positive employee experience and risk culture will be short-lived and unsustainable.

It’s a choice to make – Are you prioritising business-centred leadership, in which the business is first and people second, or enabling human-centred leadership, in which people come first and the business second?

Human-centred leadership drives positive outcomes

Only human-centred leaders and managers will take you where you want to go. And build a high-performing organisation that has a positive employee experience culture.

They will inspire trust in the organisation, communicate transparently, behave with integrity, are authentic, and model a positive culture.

Professional bio

As a Chartered Accountant with over 25 years of international risk management and corporate governance experience in the private, not-for-profit, and public sectors, Patrick helps individuals and organizations make better decisions to achieve better results as a corporate and personal trainer and coach at Practicalrisktraining.com.

He is also the co-founder of Skillsand.org, an organisation dedicated to helping people acquire in-demand job skills and preparing them for the future of work. The goal is to create a convenient learning experience that’s as easy as making any other purchase on Amazon.

Patrick has authored several eBooks including Strategic Risk Management Reimagined: How to Improve Performance and Strategy Execution.