Canadian HR Reporter

www.hrreporter.com 11 "The opportunity I see in 2021 and beyond is more to work across functions so the employee experience is consistent and positive, and this can be done by bringing HR activities to a shared objec- tive that ties to the desired employee experience." Not only do HR departments have to foster this new era, it's incumbent upon leaders to undertake internal changes to their own behaviours, according to Elia. "Perhaps the knowledge or the exper- tise or the experience that got them to this point in their career needs to be further augmented by emotional intel- ligence, relatability, connectedness, communication, that will help advance them to be an inspiring leader during this time of great change. Examples would be a series of questions that leaders can be asking themselves: Do the people you lead know who you are? Do they know what you care about? Do they know what's important to you, and why they ought to be following you?" "These are really good philosophical questions that can [help] a leader start to define what their objectives are as they grow, and even... [how] to lead in a time when fostering a caring and connected culture is important," she says. employee experience, and then even a reference point for those talented indi- viduals who might be looking at your organization. [Doing so] is going to posi- tion an employer very well to be competi- tive in that global war for good talent." With many workers considering changing employers, retention is even more important, and the employee experience factor plays a big role in this as well, according to Melanie Scheepers, associate vice president of human resources at Geotab in Oakville, Ont. "Employees have a lot of choice these days. They have choice on where they work, the job that they do — so, from an HR perspective, ensuring that your people have a positive employee experi- ence while being part of your organiza- tion plays a really big part in retaining your top talent. It's no longer just about money or cool perks: it's about the values, the culture, and the way the employee actually feels when they come to work. That's the difference between employees staying or looking for that next opportunity." HR opportunity This scarcity of innovative ideas pres- ents an excellent prospect for HR professionals to move things forward, according to Elia. While planning to create the great experience is important, it's best "to not overthink it," says Elia, and think strategically. "HR has the knowledge, certainly the perspective and insights to be able to create an experience. There are some practices that can act as a guidepost and they're fairly straightfor- ward. Number one would be to develop a strong employee value proposition, or EVP, that maps all aspects of an employee's experience to the organiza- tion's purpose." Positive outcomes While the importance of good employee experience cannot be overstated, its positive outcomes are tangible, according to the WTW research, as "transformative" organizations reported 2.7 times more productivity in workers who were 90 per cent less likely to leave the employer relative to peers. "It's about being a team that truly cares about its people; whether you're a line manager, whether you're an executive of the organization or whether you're part of the HR team, it's extremely important to listen to your people and to value their voice," says Scheepers. "Many companies talk a lot about being customer obsessed and at Geotab, we're not only customer obsessed but we also consider ourselves "It's mostly connections people have built between colleagues, their managers, their mentors — that is really what employee experience is." Ray Chaaya, Zurich Canada to be employee obsessed." "One of our big focuses during the pandemic was actually on our employees' mental health and personal wellbeing that's suffered quite a bit during the course of the past 18 months. We ended up giving all of our employees three wellness days off on top of their regular vacation that they could just take any time they needed that break," she says. CHRR

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