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Employee Experience: Public Issue

Yet, positive employee experience is of key importance, as we should treat employees as customers. What were the other issues presented at the Human Capital 2018 conference organised by Blue Events with Deloitte as a partner of the event? In an employee lifetime, there are three phases, whereby each of them naturally influences how the employee feels in the company, how his/her expectations are fulfilled and what impressions an employee will retain if he/she leaves the company.

“The first critical moments come usually in the first three weeks, when the employee can feel strongly about any discrepancy between the expectations he/she might have gained in the selection process, and reality,” Pavel Šimák, the director of human capital advisory services practice at Deloitte, explained.  You all may know it: you come to a new job and although the company has known about your arrival months in advance, it has not managed to prepare any tools, laptop or access to the company systems. No wonder this can make one feel put off.

Another problem is an inconsistent or lacking career management system, where the company itself does not know in whom it wants to invest, how to manage career growth at different positions or what its key people and teams are doing. And what is the last drop to finish with? An unprofessional and inconsistent process of managing employee exits. “Companies often do not realise that bitterness and unpleasant feelings that an employee may experience at such moments may be easily ventilated to the outward world,” Pavel Šimák points out. Here comes the most important aspect: at the time of social networks and online communities where people share experience, any such publically shared opinion may influence the reputation of the given company…

Well-being: Personal Well-being and Happiness at Work

Life cycle is connected with well-being, ie feeling well at work. According to Deloitte research, well-being is of key importance for 92% of respondents, which makes it one of the strongest trends in the area of human capital. There is a new generation entering the labour market who are not concerned only about material benefits, for them doing meaningful work is extremely important – for example, they are very much concerned about the issue of the burn-out syndrome, which used to be a taboo just a few years ago,” Bára Riedl Černíková, Deloitte Chief Happiness Officer, explained.

Do you know what makes up “well-being”? In addition to financial aspects, such as salary and other bonuses, it includes mental aspects such as wellness programmes, social relations and physical aspects – these include health days, fruit deliveries to the office, fitness membership cards, or other sports and social events. However, benefits may paradoxically become a stumbling block. “Employees get easily used to getting fruit in the office on Wednesdays but it won’t increase their level of happiness. As soon as the fruit deliveries are interrupted or terminated, employee dissatisfaction increases. Such a benefit is rather counter-productive,” Bára Riedl Černíková states. Therefore, benefits aimed at personal development – mental health care, information about the burn-out syndrome and how to prevent it – are most meaningful.

The most important thing is (not) to burn out …

Who is threatened by the burn out syndrome?  There are three groups that are most likely to suffer from the burn-out syndrome. First, graduates who start to realise during their first work experience that they received different information during the hiring process or expected that they would utilise different knowledge than they do in practice. Thus, there is a huge discrepancy between expectations and reality. Another group vulnerable to the burn-out syndrome are mothers returning after maternity leave – for them returning to work is a great stressor. And lastly, the burn-out syndrome may threaten anyone who has come to the phase when he/she thinks the time is ripe to find a new job. Here, an unbiased person may help by providing a different perspective on the period of time these people are going through and by helping them view their situation critically and objectively. However, the most efficient strategy is to prevent the burn out syndrome.