RACA Journal June 2019 | Page 77

Industry Matters EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE ENHANCES EMPLOYER BRANDING By: Ravi Panthi, Human Resources Head – Africa, Wipro Limited The relationship between an employer and an employee is the most important aspect of the employee experience, which in turn is a major contributor to employer branding. A n employee experience is defined as what people encounter, observe or feel during the course of their employee journey at an organisation. In short, employee experience is everything an employee experiences at work — their interactions with their boss, their team, work-place infrastructure and a multitude of other things. The brand value of an organisation, as well as the environment within the organisation, will determine how favourable it is for the employer to experiment with new ways of working and growing its talent. Today, jobs are not structured as they were before and retaining talent is not just about providing them with nine- to-five jobs, but it’s about navigating and exploring new ways of working and creating a culture of hunger and appetite for learning among employees. Remember that while an employee is a specific individual, the employer is everything that surrounds this individual — from the physical facilities of the workplace to the emails that employees receive during the course of their work. Hence, every aspect of how an employer interacts with its employees is extremely important. It’s also important to keep in mind that the employee experience is the value proposition that an employer presents to the outside world. Employees communicate the values of an organisation beyond the workplace. Therefore, not focusing on the employee experience means that an organisation may be seen as a good brand, but a bad employer. UNDERSTANDING THE EMPLOYEE NEEDS An organisation that experiences a sizeable staff churn needs to take note of why their employees are not interested in sticking around, and why the organisation is losing out on its value proposition. In the age of social media, people communicate www.hvacronline.co.za THE LINK BETWEEN EMPLOYER AND EMPLOYEE Team managers need to constantly measure the satisfaction levels of their team members. very quickly and effectively and when an employer starts losing its value proposition, it may struggle to sustain its culture. This affects the organisation’s ability to attract and retain good talent. Successful organisations suit their employees’ needs and aspirations. When talent retention becomes a problem, it can quickly lead to an organisation developing a bad reputation. Employers must realise that an employee experience strategy forms a part of their business strategy and be an integral element of where they are headed as an organisation. They need to ask themselves what the bigger picture is and align everything to their overall business strategy. It comes down to knowing your employees, their needs and their culture. Then you have to align your organisation’s culture with your talent base. So, in order to create a successful employee experience, you need to know what a certain person would need in order to come and work for you, if you want to attract a specific talent. Continued on page 77 RACA Journal I June 2019 75