As we continue this fascinating series around ‘Future Leadership’ in partnership with PeopleSmart SAS, we bring you Terry Jones (Senior Director, Global Talent & Development at Palo Alto Networks) who looks at ‘Employee Experience’.
In this session, Terry discusses the main keys to providing a successful and engaging employee experience. Many individuals have experienced a workplace where their experiences make them want to stay for many years, and unfortunately, others may not have had great experiences. HR professionals believe that it is in fact employee experiences that dictate just how long someone wants to stay in a particular place of work. According to Terry, it is important for organisations to recognise that all employees want to feel unique in which this uniqueness creates a sense of inclusion, belonging and respect.
Firms must ensure that they are able to sit back and shift the mindset to thinking about the human side of the business and understand that every employee has their own unique desire, aspiration and balance in terms of work and life. Therefore the first step for organisations and leaders is to understand and accept that and ensure that they are creating a culture that gives people flexibility and choice in order to perform and grow in the very best way that suits them.
Terry explains how flexibility should be at the heart of everything a company does, from setting up its structure to where people are working. In order for this to happen, organisations need to be extremely inclusive, which comes down to listening to employees and empathising with unique situations. Again, this comes back to the culture of an organisation and what it stands for.
However, with this comes many challenges, therefore organisations need to ensure that they have that two-way deal of trust and respect for that flexibility and understanding of people’s uniqueness. Part of this is also recognising that people are at different stages of their careers and making sure that they have phenomenal experience within the organisations wherever they are.
Career development needs to be another key focus whether you have just joined the organisation and started the onboarding process. Organisations need to get that culture and leadership right and ensure that people’s time to productivity has accelerated so that these individuals are ready to perform to their very best in their roles.
Terry then goes on to explain the importance of career development at all stages, particularly within a remote situation where we can be extremely successful and productive wherever we are around the globe. This then opens up many possibilities for more lateral moves across organisations to do roles that individuals have never dreamed of doing before.
Therefore, in order to improve your employee experience, it simply requires recognising unique strengths and unique situations for each individual.
About PeopleSmart SAS
PeopleSmart provides innovative learning solutions, both virtual and in-person, to organizations in many countries, cultures, and languages, focusing on leadership and people development in the context of digital transformation, change management, culture change, and the increasing need for Emotional Intelligence.
We do this through a dedicated network of 65+ consultants working globally, providing a broad range of Consulting, Coaching, and Learning Services to a wide variety of industries and clients in over 20 languages.
PeopleSmart supports companies through transitions by offering practical, easy-to-implement, and effective interventions. And in our virtual offerings, our consultants use the latest, cutting-edge technologies and tools to provide rich and participatory learning experiences.
