Fresh research from the world’s leading employee experience thinktank, Leesman, reveals a series of mission critical drivers organisations need to deliver if they are to foster outstanding workplace experience.
‘The Workplace Experience Revolution’ is the result of analysis across 401,362 global employees’ workplace experiences. Drawn from 3,100+ workplaces across 458 organisations in 90 countries, it is the largest global study of its kind ever undertaken. The unprecedented findings reveal a series of business-critical factors on which employee sentiment hinges and the elements that drive them, making it essential reading for executive leadership teams as well those in real estate, workplace design and management of employee experience.
Leesman’s vanguard report examines the business to consumer societal shift that has reset employees’ expectations of the Employer to Employee relationship and how employee expectancies of workplace infrastructure and services is being impacted. The study uncovers what this expectation shift means for organisations trying to get the best out of their employees and their real estate and so maximise organisational performance at a time when many global economies are flatlining.
The study uncovers an interdependent set of employee sentiments and maps how these emotional responses cluster in distinct groups: ‘seeing’, ‘feeling’ and ‘doing’. Further analysis reveals a a core group of five critical work activities and eight workplace features that determine the sentiment expressed in each of these clusters. These ‘sentiment super-driver’ components are the key actuators of outstanding employee experience. An outstanding workplace delivers on all three sentiment clusters and failure in any one was shown to limit or undermine overall employee sentiment.
Doing
This relates to whether the workplace supports getting the work done – and if the workplace provides an enjoyable environment to work in, makes it possible to share information and knowledge with one’s colleagues and enables employees to feel productive.
Seeing
Does the workplace have a positive impact on corporate image and sustainability? Corporate image is one of an organisation’s most important assets. What people think of and how they see the organisation not only impacts its attractiveness towards potential customers, clients and collaboration partners, but is also crucial in attracting and retaining the best talent.
Feeling
This comes down to whether the workplace supports pride and the culture of the organisation. Culture is important, and an employer’s approach to workplace strategy will reflect the extent to which the organisation values its employees. This is undoubtedly why in employees’ eyes, pride sits together with culture – a workplace that employees are proud to welcome visitors to will certainly mirror pride in the organisation itself.
Aligned to these groupings is a ‘workplace experience framework’ that has been developed by Leesman to identify the prime factors that affect overall employee sentiment. This includes: the workplace, expectations, needs, requirements and preferences, behaviours, processes and organisational structure and dynamics.
Dr. Peggie Rothe, Leesman’s Director of Insights, said: “The identification of these three distinct sentiment clusters gives leadership teams an incredible opportunity to focus attentions on the mission critical components of employee experience. In turn, it should allow workplace design and management teams to highlight to clients the areas in which careful and considered investment will deliver maximum return.”
Tim Oldman, Leesman CEO, added: “This research reaffirms that the best workplaces in the world consistently offer a specific type of workplace experience—a participatory space where infrastructures are crafted, immersive and user-centric. And in a time when employers are being bombarded with the latest must-have workplace strategies, this research isolates the employee signal from industry noise to reveal a non-negotiable list of employee experience components which leadership teams should ignore at their peril.”
To download ‘The Workplace Experience Revolution’ report in full click here
Rebecca joined the HRreview editorial team in January 2016. After graduating from the University of Sheffield Hallam in 2013 with a BA in English Literature, Rebecca has spent five years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past she has been part of the editorial teams at Sleeper and Dezeen and has founded her own arts collective.
