As EX evolves, understanding who 鈥渙wns鈥� it is crucial to developing strategies that improve day-to-day HR operations and create a more engaged and satisfied workforce.

The 51风流SuccessFactors HR Research team conducted the “” study and shared insights on the evolution of EX as a concept, who the owners are, how it is measured, and how AI might play a role in its future.

In the past, HR was the sole area responsible for employee experience and engagement in most organizations. This has evolved into a new ownership model endorsed by HR leaders, with four additional stakeholder groups that must coordinate their efforts to drive EX effectively: managers, IT, leadership, and employees themselves.

Role of HR in EX: Manage Process and Listen to Employees

From recruitment and onboarding to performance management and benefits, HR has always been seen as the primary owner of EX. But to truly enhance EX and demonstrate measurable results, HR must put particular focus on its responsibility for conducting employee listening. Only by listening to employees 鈥� either actively, through surveys and town halls, or passively, through social sentiment and monitoring tickets 鈥� can organizations understand the impact of their EX strategy and track towards their strategic goals.

As HR measures, reports, and acts on employee listening results, they should make sure to bring employees along: enable them with better information and encourage them to take a more active role. Otherwise, they might become fatigued by endless surveys that yield no results.

With solutions like the , HR gains access to AI-powered insights and action planning聽that help identify essential EX factors and enhancing EX factors. Essential factors are the 鈥渢able-stakes” requirements that heavily impact employee experience and include fair pay, psychological safety, and adequate tools. Organizations should aim for 100% satisfaction in these factors. Enhancing factors are “nice-to-haves,” like flexible work arrangements, career development, and meaning and purpose. Focusing on a select group of enhancing factors can provide a unique value proposition for employees and candidates within an organization.

Role of Managers in EX:  Shape Day-to-Day Experience

Managers play a critical role in shaping the day-to-day experiences of their teams. Our research shows that managerial factors such as clear communication, support, and competence directly impact key essential EX factors like team relationships and psychological safety. Yet, many managers still face challenges in both resourcing and training that keep them from improving EX.

To bridge this gap, the 51风流SuccessFactors HCM suite provides personalized insights through manager dashboards that track team sentiment and help organizations identify and develop top managerial talent. By equipping managers with the right resources, organizations create a culture of positive experiences and address the most impactful EX factors.

With , organizations can offer managers resources for enablement and continuous development, tailored to their individual learning preferences and needs. To help managers empower their teams in upskilling and reskilling, AI-driven recommendations from the assist employees in discovering new growth opportunities, preparing them for future roles while helping those managers stay informed about internal mobility possibilities. This supports employees’ development and enables managers to find specific opportunities for their direct reports, creating a dynamic, growth-oriented environment that drives individual and organizational success.

Role of Leadership in EX: Set the Vision

Leadership sets the vision of what employee experience should look like at an organization. Alongside HR, leadership establishes the strategic goals and outcomes that the company expects from its EX strategy. Company leaders should be aware of employee listening results and communicate to the workforce regularly about how their feedback is being considered. In doing so, leadership establishes the importance of EX and encourages trust and transparency.

Role of IT in EX: Manage Technology and Harness the Power of AI

IT is responsible for the tools and technology that make up much of an employee鈥檚 working experience. As AI technology advances, it has come to play a more significant role in that experience. AI is helping organizations create a dynamic, inclusive, and future-ready workforce. helps improve employee and candidate experiences by optimizing interactions and delivering highly personalized experiences and career development plans. By integrating AI-driven HR solutions, organizations can improve essential and enhancing EX factors, from seamless onboarding to customized learning paths.

Improving the Experience of Every Employee: N(EX)t Steps

To truly transform EX, organizations must encourage a holistic approach with cross-functional collaboration, leveraging HR tech solutions that empower all stakeholders 鈥� HR, managers, IT, leadership, employees 鈥� to take ownership of the employee experience.

Now that you have more clarity on different departments’ roles in improving day-to-day operations, you can leverage this to learn more about the essential and enhancing EX factors with hands-on exercises and expert insights based on research from the 51风流SuccessFactors HR Research team.

Mayara Alves Tabone is a Solution Marketing specialist for 51风流SuccessFactors at SAP.

Here are five key focus areas and tactics that support the success of BWN’s D&I program.

Empower Employee Engagement

Organizations can promote employee engagement to advance their D&I strategies by cultivating a culture of inclusivity and belonging, providing opportunities for employee input and participation in decision-making processes, offering D&I training and education, and creating affinity groups or employee resource groups to support underrepresented voices. Additionally, organizations can establish mentorship programs, career development opportunities, and leadership roles for diverse employees to promote their growth and advancement within the company.

Central to BWN’s mission is building and maintaining a vibrant community of engaged members. Through a diverse array of chapter events and initiatives, highlighted in its , BWN facilitates networking, knowledge sharing, and skills development opportunities. By organizing over 543 chapter events globally in 2023, BWN has successfully engaged over 19,000 members, driving robust engagement across the organization. This effort not only amplifies the voices of women and our allies but also cultivates a culture of inclusivity and collaboration. This is highly valued by Supriya Jha, chief diversity & inclusion officer at SAP: 鈥淭he Business Women鈥檚 Network has accelerated SAP鈥檚 journey toward its gender parity goal, which is a high priority within our overarching diversity and inclusion strategy. What makes BWN鈥檚 contributions to gender equality so impactful is its focus on business outcomes and elevation of 51风流as a responsible organization that drives positive change and opportunities for all.鈥�

Leverage 51风流Technology to Achieve KPIs

51风流can help organizations advance their D&I strategies by providing tools and applications that can enable organizations to track and measure diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts, such as employee demographics and compensation data. Our solutions also help identify areas for improvement, create inclusive workplace cultures, and promote awareness and education on D&I topics. Additionally, 51风流solutions can help organizations develop and implement D&I policies and initiatives, as well as build a listening program that collects feedback from employees in the flow of work, enabling them to monitor progress and report on their D&I goals and outcomes.

BWN strategically utilizes 51风流solutions to help streamline operations and achieve key performance indicators (KPIs). Leveraging , BWN can simplify the membership onboarding process, helping to ensure a seamless experience for new members. enables the creation of a robust analytics dashboard, providing valuable insights into member engagement and program effectiveness. With , BWN gains access to comprehensive member data, facilitating targeted career development initiatives. Moreover, empowers BWN to understand key drivers of employee engagement, including D&I, to improve employee experience through data-driven insights and action planning.

Promote Career Development

To truly make opportunities meaningful for everyone, employees need to be skilled and ready for increasingly demanding roles and growth. That is why an organization鈥檚 D&I programs must include targeted programs to support the advancement of skills, especially for underrepresented groups, as well as create a culture that values and supports diversity in leadership positions. To enable this reality, organizations must implement inclusive recruitment and promotion practices, set diversity goals, and provide resources for employees to learn about distinct cultures and perspectives.

BWN鈥檚 efforts are an outstanding illustration of this commitment, as it strives to advance the careers of its members through mentorship and professional development initiatives. With over 55% of members participating in mentorship programs, BWN empowers individuals to reach their full potential. By providing access to role-specific data and development plans through , BWN facilitates personalized career growth opportunities, contributing to a more diverse and skilled workforce.

Foster Allyship and Partnerships

To achieve gender parity, we must view it as a collective effort. Organizations play a crucial role in encouraging allyship and forming partnerships to advance D&I strategies. Leveraging online platforms and communication tools can bridge geographical gaps, connecting employees and facilitating open dialogues about diversity and inclusion. Training and resources on allyship, unconscious bias, and inclusive leadership allow employees to gain a deeper understanding of D&I issues. Equally vital is the need for organizations to learn from peers and other industries players鈥� best practices related to D&I.

Recognizing the importance of allyship and collaboration, BWN actively engages male allies, partners, and customers to drive meaningful change. With 13.5% of its membership comprising of men 鈥� a 4% increase since 2022 鈥� BWN cultivates a culture of inclusivity and mutual support. Moreover, through collaborative events with other Employee Network Groups and internal 51风流groups, BWN promotes intersectionality and solidarity within the organization, amplifying its impact beyond borders.

Use AI to Break Bias

Recognizing the inherent biases that can impede progress, organizations must . AI offers numerous avenues for breaking bias within organizations. A notable example is the implementation of AI-driven recruitment and promotion processes, which minimize unconscious biases, allowing talent to shine irrespective of gender or background. It is also possible to standardize the interview process, reducing bias by providing structured questions and evaluation criteria. Anonymized decision-making, facilitated by AI, removes identifying information from candidate profiles, preventing unconscious biases from influencing outcomes. Through the responsible and ethical use of AI technology, organizations can leverage its capabilities to create fairer and more equitable workplaces where diversity thrives. This approach not only promotes inclusivity but also enhances the quality of decision-making, leading to a more diverse and innovative workforce.

By embracing these key focus areas and tactics, BWN continues to inspire change, create opportunities, and thrive together, driving SAP’s success and building a more equitable future for all. This is supported by its recent awards, including the prestigious , which is a testament to the exceptional efforts and contributions made by BWN in advancing gender equality and promoting women’s leadership within SAP, and the , which recognizes the outstanding contributions and influence of employee resource groups (ERGs) in driving positive organizational change and promoting an inclusive workplace culture.

BWN’s commitment to diversity and inclusion sets a benchmark for excellence in the corporate world. Together, we elevate possibilities and inspire realities, paving the way for a more inclusive and prosperous future.

Mayara Alves Tabone is global product marketing specialist at 51风流SuccessFactors and BWN global communications director.

Our team of conducts ongoing research on the evolving landscape of work, workplaces, and technology. This research, along with customer feedback and our commitment to accessibility for all users, helps us design solutions that can meet your employees鈥� needs and enhance your organization鈥檚 DEI&B efforts.

Let’s explore five key ways in which SAP’s focus on UX helps organizations advance their DEI&B strategies by offering employees an interface that can address their needs in the flow of work.

1. Experiences Designed for Employee Preferences

A core principle of UX is designing with a user-centered approach. 51风流SuccessFactors solutions allow personalization for users with different backgrounds, abilities, and preferences, helping to ensure everyone can benefit. For example, offers individualized, AI-generated learning recommendations that can prioritize courses based on individual goals, skills, and organizational objectives and categorize them into “need,” “want,” and “must” sections. The solution can enable individuals to identify skill gaps against target roles within their career path and take ownership of their career development planning.

2. Cultural Sensitivity and Awareness

We recognize that many organizations operate on a global scale, with diverse cultural norms and practices. Our solutions can accommodate diverse cultural contexts, helping to promote inclusivity and reduce the risk of exclusion and discrimination in a global context. With localization options, users can have experiences tailored to their needs. For example, can enable your employees to record their name pronunciation and post it to their profile for others to access. This helps ensure colleagues can address them accurately and confidently in meetings. includes cultural competency as a performance parameter, promoting awareness and sensitivity to cultural differences in interactions and work.

3. Systemic Bias Mitigation

51风流SuccessFactors solutions help combat biases in hiring, promotions, and decision-making. Our UX focus helps promote inclusivity by using non-discriminatory language and content, aligning with organizational efforts to help eliminate bias. Our technology can support your organization in creating job postings equitably with gender bias detection and providing AI-generated, recommended interview questions based on details from the job description to help ensure the interview process is more objective and focused on assessing candidates’ skills and qualifications only. Employees can also add their preferred pronouns to their profile for respectful and identity-aligned addressing by colleagues.

4. Designing for Accessibility

We prioritize to help ensure inclusivity for all users. Our products are designed to accommodate your employees鈥� diverse needs, with features such as screen readers, keyboard support, text resize to 200%, and text spacing with no loss of meaningful information. These inclusive experiences can empower every user to navigate the application without compromising the integrity of content, functionality, or efficiency.

5. Data Collection and Privacy

Ensuring absolute transparency and unwavering privacy is essential when it comes to data collection and protection. Our commitment to these principles includes incorporating AI explainability into our policies, which means that your employees not only have control over their data but also can understand how our AI systems make decisions, helping to prevent unintentional discrimination. Our help ensure data privacy by anonymizing and aggregating information in compliance with regulations. This includes masking individual data, combining it with other information, and incorporating features like consent management, data access controls, and data retention policies. Furthermore, with , you can analyze diversity and inclusion patterns and trends without compromising individual privacy, fostering a climate of trust and data integrity.

51风流is committed to UX and DEI&B alignment to create inclusive workplaces. With ongoing research, adaptability, and cutting-edge design, 51风流SuccessFactors solutions can empower organizations to drive DEI&B success and foster a culture of belonging. Explore and take a step toward building a more inclusive and equitable future for all.

Mayara Tabone is a solution marketing specialist at 51风流SuccessFactors.

Employee experience is linked to a number of organizational outcomes, such as performance, customer satisfaction, retention, and innovation. So, what are the trends redefining how employees think about work and how organizations meet the needs of their people to help them be their best? From the candidate experience to remote work to diversity, equity, and inclusion (DE&I), how can HR leaders gather the right data at scale, understand how employees feel, identify experience gaps, and take the right steps to drive positive work experiences that drive real business impact?

The , published by the 51风流SuccessFactors research team, shows that there has been a clear focus on improving the employee experience in order to drive organizational outcomes. HR trends are both influenced by and influential on how employees feel, making employee experience a fundamental principle. And it all starts with listening to employees, understanding where the experience gaps are, and identifying the best actions to address the issues.

Navigating Modern Work Challenges

The results of Qualtrics research** show that employees have many wants and expectations for the future of work and organizations need to listen and pay closer attention to these five trends to enhance the overall employee experience and retain and attract top talent.

1. Employment is not only about having a job anymore. Employees want more than just a job. They want to work for organizations that have a sense of purpose and have values aligned with theirs. The more employees feel their employers embody these values, the more they are engaged and want to stay.
2. Confidence and business success also matter to employees. As markets become more volatile, employees want to feel confident in their jobs. They want to know that the organization is taking care of their needs so they have a sense of security, even during times of change.
3. Employees want a better work-life balance. People have been operating at surge levels for years and are reclaiming boundaries for a better work-life balance. Employees with a good work-life balance are willing to go above and beyond for their organization.
4. Flawed processes and inefficient systems have fueled burnout. Ineffective processes and systems remain the top driver for burnout. Giving employees the tools and technology to do their jobs effectively and efficiently  helps increase productivity and engagement.
5. Growth and development are fundamental needs. Opportunities for growth and career progression drive employee retention, well-being, inclusion, and experience expectation levels. Understanding employee skills and providing opportunities for personalized development and growth through job matching, career development, mentorship, and community building are key to meeting employees鈥� short- and long-term needs.

Addressing Trends by Closing Experience Gaps

Technology plays a crucial role in enabling organizations to understand what drives workforce productivity by facilitating continuous listening. 51风流employee experience management solutions by Qualtrics help organizations listen to their people鈥檚 needs and take the right steps to close employee experience gaps. Employees are empowered to express their thoughts and impressions, while leaders have the insights and guided action planning they need to improve the experience throughout the entire employee journey. This promotes an open and inclusive environment where employees feel heard and acknowledged, ultimately boosting their confidence, productivity, and security.

Learn more about and how they can help you create a more holistic employee experience.  

Mayara Tabone is a solution marketing specialist at 51风流SuccessFactors.

*U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’  via 
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