The frenzy is everywhere; I witness it in my worldwide travels, from engagements with customers to interactions with solution providers. What is the evolving role of HR professionals in crafting the organizational experiences of tomorrow? It begins with the realization that Workforce Experience is the most important priority of the people function (HR) in any organization. Ahead of anything else. It should be your obsession, HR.
Along these lines, I’ve heard a funny little expression about HR “looking in the mirror,” like it will help us discover our true purpose or more clearly see our function in a new light. Rather than looking in the mirror and expecting answers to jump out at us, why not turn the proverbial mirror into a window through which you see your workforce?
Employee Experience must have purpose at the center. Purpose is what today’s workforce cares about when we choose where we work, for how long, and for what gain. Employees want to know and understand the mission of your organization, they want to feel personally connected to it, and it needs to align with their own values and guiding principles. If you connect those dots – if they truly connect, organically and not artificially – and you sustain and support that over the long haul, you have created an engaged workforce who will drive real and valuable competitive advantage. They will also TELL YOU what they need to continue to perform their best work for you; if you listen, this will determine where and how you need to evolve and transform your business to continue to meet their needs.
If you listen. I hope you caught that part. We can’t be a purpose-led people function if we don’t measure purpose. Designing HR processes based on workflows or that reek of compliance serve the HR function, not the workforce. Flip the script. Start with mindset and design with the workforce in mind; this is how you will transition to a purpose-led people function. Rather than measure cost per hire, measure the sentiment of the workforce. Rather than measure NPS, measure employee experience.
HR has never seen a more immediate opportunity to design a workforce experience that measures and delivers tangible impact to the business. It’s truly #ourtime.
Leading with purpose,
Jason Averbook
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jason Averbook is a leading analyst, thought leader and consultant in the area of human resources, the future of work and the impact technology has on that future. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Leapgen, a global consultancy helping organizations shape their future workplace by broadening executive mindset to rethink how to better design and deliver employee services that meet the expectations of the workforce and the needs of the business.
ABOUT LEAPGEN
Leapgen is a global digital transformation company shaping the future of work. Highly respected as a visionary partner to organizations looking to design and deliver a digital workforce experience that will produce valued outcomes to the business, Leapgen helps enterprise leaders rethink how to better design and deliver workforce services and architect HR technology solutions that meet the expectations of workers and the needs of the business. Contact us to get started.