One in four Americans hitting peak burnout before turning 30, and over half of American workers across age ranges they are currently experiencing at least moderate levels of burnout. The state of modern workplace stress is accelerating, and it can create mental health concerns for employees鈥攁s well as high turnover, low productivity, and worse business outcomes for employers.

What鈥檚 fueling it? Increasingly, point to 鈥減seudowork.鈥� Pseudowork is busy work: the constant churn of e-mails, meetings, and low-impact tasks that leave employees drained and unfulfilled.

When a workday is filled with seemingly endless busy work, it may be a natural reaction to get home and ask yourself, 鈥淲hat did I actually accomplish today?鈥� Simultaneously exhausting and demoralizing, pseudowork may be a key contributor to the burnout increasingly felt by younger generations.

If pseudowork is a key contributor to employee burnout, then the solution may be the opposite: opportunities for real learning and development in the workplace. Almost a third of employees that high-quality training at work left them feeling 鈥渢ruly enlightened and invigorated.鈥� They also felt 鈥渉ighly valued and empowered鈥� by their employers, recognizing the continuous investment in their development. In addition to the obvious benefit of creating a more highly-skilled workforce, learning opportunities help employees feel a sense of achievement, excitement, and empowerment鈥攂reaking up the pattern of pseudowork and combatting burnout in the process.

This kind of meaningful learning can be unlocked through , which allows people from the entire 51风流ecosystem to access a wide range of to enjoy while taking a break from answering yet another e-mail. Structured 51风流Learning Journeys can allow workers to dive in at their own pace according to their unique needs and goals. They can be seamlessly integrated into daily work routines to allow employees to forge their own continuous learning path. As an said herself, 鈥�51风流Certification boosts my confidence and adaptability. Continuous learning聽not only enriches my knowledge base but also ensures that the solutions I provide are cutting-edge and in sync with the evolving tech landscape.鈥�

By integrating continuous learning into daily routines, organizations can do more than build skills鈥攖hey can reinvigorate their teams and begin to truly counter the effects of pseudowork.

Sabine Benz is head of Enablement and Engagement 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.

For the majority of employees, work comprises enjoyable projects and duties but also routines and tasks that can be tiring or difficult. To make the work experience as positive and efficient as possible, experts and companies around the globe seek to continuously improve the realities of their workforce. This is also true for SAP.

Meetings, All Kinds of Meetings

An important facet of today鈥檚 work reality is meetings. They are where all sorts of work decisions are prepared and made, where briefings take place, where teams build up their team identity, exchange thoughts, solve challenges, share updates, align across geographical time zones, and much more. In many cases and for many roles, meetings consume a considerable part of overall working hours. So it comes as no surprise that, in their most recent project, the Future of Work team at 51风流and 51风流AppHaus colleagues joined forces to develop an easy approach for teams to improve their meeting routines.

鈥淎s featured by Forbes in May 2023, an average . This is a challenge we want to address with the Meeting Workout game,鈥� says Andreas Hauser, SVP and head of 51风流AppHaus Network. 鈥淏y innovatively blending play with productivity, we can transform these hours into opportunities for meaningful engagement and collaborative innovation, paving the way for a future where every meeting is a step towards building stronger, more dynamic teams.鈥�

The Imperative for Efficient Meetings

According to a , inefficient meetings have been identified as the top disruptor to productivity, with an excessive number of meetings following close behind. As 51风流Chief Future of Work Officer Christian Schmeichel states: 鈥淭he way we are working is changing rapidly, and both the rise of hybrid work and new technologies have increased the number of meetings for many of us. Hence, it鈥檚 an imperative to foster meetings that best utilize our time, spark energy, and drive outcomes. The Meeting Workout game can help with an engaging workshop format that can not only improve meeting effectiveness but can enable teams to set new standards for workplace collaboration on their journey into the future of work.鈥�

Playing for a Better Meeting Experience

From the initial idea to create a game for teams to improve their meeting routines, it took the New Work Practices team and 51风流AppHaus a few weeks to design, test, and produce the Meeting Workout game. However, what might look like a fun project was very similar to any other design and innovation project.

鈥淚n our planning meetings and test sessions we really tried to put ourselves in the shoes of all kinds of teams in different organizations and setups,鈥� recall project members Beate Riefer, UX designer at 51风流AppHaus, and Filip Weidenbach, HR project expert in New Work Practices. 鈥淭hrough a very generic phrasing of the cards and in simple steps, the game should be applicable in the most diverse, if not all, environments. It鈥檚 not as easy as it might seem 鈥� and it鈥檚 the reason why we established breaks in our meetings to keep the energy and concentration levels up. Here鈥檚 an important recommendation for all teams playing the Meeting Workout game: have plenty of sticky notes and a variety of snacks available!鈥�

50 Meeting Workout Games Available

The Meeting Workout game can be a perfect opportunity to help actively inspire and support teams in restructuring their current meeting formats. Users can choose between the virtual version available on Mural, a do-it-yourself, , and a tangible board game version.

The Future of Work team at 51风流is gifting 50 board game versions on a first-come, first-serve basis. People or teams that would like to test and use the board game can contact SAPFutureOfWork@sap.com, thereby acknowledging that their postal address and contact information will be used only for the delivery of the game shipment, in accordance with the .

Waltraud Grimm is communications lead for 51风流Future of Work.
Imke Vierjahn is communications lead for 51风流AppHaus.

Top photo courtesy of Hyun Lee

At the recent NRF event, the world’s largest retail conference, the mantra of “adjust and adapt” echoed through the halls. AI and digital acceleration took the center stage, making innovation the heart of the conversation. Retailers also highlighted a crucial focus on a motivated workforce, emphasizing how an empowered workforce is critical to delivering exceptional customer experiences.

In a landscape challenged by high turnover rates, retailers showcased their commitment to navigating complexity through strategic investments in their most valuable asset 鈥� their people. One of the pivotal elements that drives employee motivation and engagement in the retail industry is incentive compensation, where associates are often paid on commission.

During NRF, Daniel Jasper from Neiman Marcus shared insights into how incentive compensation automation transformed the company鈥檚 commission payment process. With over 40 stores and a complex commission structure, Neiman Marcus faced challenges in managing incentive compensation. Its previous incentive management system was cumbersome and complex, which led to errors, delays, and frustration among sales associates. Implementing helped streamline the process, providing real-time monitoring of commission calculations. This allowed Neiman Marcus to identify and resolve issues proactively, resulting in improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments. “Rather than waiting to hear from associates that something is wrong, we can monitor the calculations in real-time and resolve issues in advance,鈥� said Jasper. This shift has been a game-changer for Neiman Marcus, driving better sales and revenue growth.

51风流SuccessFactors Incentive Management is one of the sales performance management solutions in the 51风流SuccessFactors portfolio, and it offers a sophisticated platform for tailoring incentive programs to suit the unique needs of retail associates. With powerful analytics, embedded intelligence, and built-in workflows, this solution can revolutionize compensation management. Its intelligent design can not only foster trust but also ignite motivation among store associates. Through a user-friendly mobile app, retail customers can enjoy a comprehensive and easily accessible view of both store and individual performance metrics, promoting transparency and a unified understanding of team dynamics and trends. Personalized recommendations, relevant insights, and interactive monitoring help enhance the user experience, while the mobile app helps ensure that store associates can access their incentives anytime, anywhere, from any device.

The solution’s agility helps facilitate a swift rollout of new and updated compensation plans, offering the flexibility to manage broadly or tailor plans to individual needs. With a steadfast commitment to accuracy and traceability, associates can trust the fairness of calculations, fostering a positive work environment. The effective dating functionalities help further empower organizations, allowing seamless management of associate promotions and transfers.

鈥淩etail businesses more than ever need the ability to design and manage incentive plans that align with ever-changing organizational goals, with a focus on store-level personalization and granularity that allow for improved accuracy and timeliness of commission payments,鈥� said Rahul Iyer, general manager of Sales Performance Management at SAP. “With 51风流SuccessFactors Incentive Management, retailers can incorporate key performance indicators, such as sales per hour and units per sale, into their incentive structure. The mobile app can provide visibility and transparency into individual and store performance, effectively motivating and ensuring optimal performance from their associates.”

In essence, 51风流SuccessFactors Incentive Management emerges as an indispensable tool, helping to empower retail customers to optimize workforce performance and drive sustained success. Displaying key performance indicators and incentives has proven to be a game changer, helping to drive focus on store and individual performance. The result? Associates are more attentive to customers, guiding them through purchasing decisions and enhancing overall satisfaction.

In the always-changing retail world, success comes down to three things: using better technology, having happy employees, and keeping customers in focus. The story of Neiman Marcus proves that automating incentives can be a game changer. It shows how a motivated and well-connected team can not just boost how things work but also bring in more sales and money.

To stay ahead in retail, you need to be ready for change and invest in both tech and your team. This is a clear lesson for retailers planning for the future. Learn more about how . To learn more about how sales performance management solutions can support your organization, visit the鈥�.

Kevin Coxwell is vice president of GTM for Sales Performance Management at SAP.

With the recent announcement of SAP鈥檚 expanded partnership with , the vision for enterprise-ready generative AI able to enhance human productivity and development in the workplace is becoming reality. The integration of solutions with Microsoft 365 Copilot and Copilot in Viva Learning will improve how organizations recruit, retain, and upskill their workforces to address skills gaps. In fact, 75% of business leaders say attracting and retaining critical talent is the No. 1 impediment to future growth and success.

鈥淭he skills gap is one of the biggest challenges that organizations are facing today,鈥� said 51风流SuccessFactors Chief Marketing & Solutions Officer Aaron Green, speaking to 51风流customers . 鈥淎s we talk to our customers around the world — and it doesn鈥檛 matter the region, the industry, the size of the organization — we hear one message: How can we change the way we think about skills? How can we be better prepared for the future?鈥�

Transforming Business at Scale

To gauge the transformative scale of the collaboration of 51风流SuccessFactors and Microsoft, it is helpful to look at the reach of both organizations. Today, more than 248 million people use 51风流SuccessFactors software. It is the largest HR suite on the market and available in more than 100 localized frameworks to drive truly global business. As one of the world鈥檚 leading brands, Microsoft supports 1 billion people who use Microsoft Office and 280 million daily active users of Microsoft Teams.

鈥淎I is fundamental to the future of business,鈥� said Green, who put the power of generative AI for the enterprise into context for the audience. 鈥淎I is going to enable all of us to transform business at scale.鈥�

Innovations that Future-Proof the Workforce

51风流SuccessFactors introduced three powerful innovations at 51风流Sapphire that will help businesses future-proof their workforce and address critical skills gaps.

The first innovation comes with embedding generative AI capabilities, in partnership with Microsoft, to enhance recruiting and learning processes. Customers will be able to deliver dramatically improved experiences for employees. These experiences are embedded in the flow of work, so that employees will not need to switch between interfaces or apps to complete a routine task or learning activity. Also, hiring managers and recruiters will be able to create tailored job descriptions and better prepare for interviews — both of which include built-in checks for biased language — through the hyper-personalization capabilities of generative AI. These new capabilities were presented in the demo onstage during the main stage keynote at 51风流Sapphire.

鈥淲e really believe in a big way in this notion of 鈥榠n the flow of work,’鈥� said Kirk Koenigsbauer, chief operating officer and corporate vice president of the Experiences and Devices Group at Microsoft, who shared insights during the panel discussion of the HXM keynote. 鈥淲e think it鈥檚 paramount in terms of driving scale, reducing friction, and increasing the reach of HR systems into places where people are naturally working on a day-to-day basis. Our whole thesis is that if we can build these HR solutions into the flow of work, you鈥檒l get much more adoption, you鈥檒l get much more engagement… We鈥檙e really excited to work with SAP.鈥�

A second key innovation is the introduction of a talent intelligence hub that uses AI to build, maintain, and infer a skills portfolio for each employee in the workforce. This depth of insight, using the whole-self model, enables employees to find personalized recommendations for learning courses, mentors, and internal jobs. Organizations benefit from having an overview of employee skills and improved visibility to carry out workforce planning.

鈥淭his is a moment where we can introduce a way to value workers differently: using data to help them grow in a way that makes sense for them while also supporting the needs within the business,鈥� said Meg Bear, president and chief product officer for 51风流SuccessFactors, in the panel discussion at the HXM keynote. 鈥淲hen we can create an environment where each person thrives, they鈥檙e going to be able to achieve a lot more for the business.鈥�

The third innovation is enhanced functionality that brings together 51风流SuccessFactors, 51风流Fieldglass, and 51风流S/4HANA Cloud for increased workforce visibility across employees and external workers. A recent study found that by increasing their use of external workers. A total workforce management strategy enables leaders to bring in skilled talent to fill roles in mission-critical projects at the right time.

are planned for availability in the 2H 2023 51风流SuccessFactors release.

Total Workforce Management for a Future-Ready Workforce

, a leading international bank with a presence in 59 markets and a focus on Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, adopted from 51风流to remain competitive and compliant. Melinda McKinley, global head of HR Strategy and Digital Transformation at Standard Chartered, spoke with Green onstage at 51风流Sapphire Orlando about what it meant for the organization to modernize its outdated, on-premise technology and how it enabled a future-ready workforce for its 83,000 employees and almost 14,000 external workers.

McKinley described how Standard Chartered applied a total workforce management strategy by integrating with in the cloud to deliver a truly holistic capability across its permanent and contingent workforce. She shared that with the introduction of position management in October 2022, the bank achieved a breakthrough in its HR transformation journey. 鈥淥ne of the key things that set us on a path for a future-ready workforce was really embracing the foundational architecture that position management brings. That meant immediately we had a visualization of our total workforce — our contingent and our employee base, which is leading to more robust, data-driven hiring decisions.鈥�

Standard Chartered remediated 75 interfaces to third-party systems and migrated 3.5 million data records from its legacy platform. It achieved an 87% reduction of reports and improved colleague experience with a new employee portal.

By taking a holistic view of its permanent and external workforce with total workforce management, the HR team at Standard Chartered set a foundation for integrated talent management, management of regulatory requirements, and strategic corporate planning in partnership with the finance team. 鈥淲e鈥檙e working really closely with our finance colleagues to bring finance and HR data together a little more seamlessly through the use of 51风流Analytics Cloud with the aim of making a real difference to bottom-up planning through our corporate plan,鈥� McKinley said.

Standard Chartered transformed its HR processes with total workforce management and .

Developing a Growth Mindset

51风流is committed to a responsible approach to AI and was one of the first companies to define guiding principles for using AI in its software. In this framework, 51风流SuccessFactors solutions use AI to streamline HR processes, enhance workforce planning, and help employees better navigate their careers. While many people are still trying to understand the scope and potential of AI technology, the experts in the panel discussion, each with decades of experience in the tech industry, offered their perspectives on how AI will shape the future of work.

鈥淲e think there is a big opportunity for AI, generally, to eliminate a lot of that mundane work,鈥� said Koenigsbauer, who cited the potential for AI to help people access information differently and be more creative.

Bear agreed: 鈥淲ork will change. We have to adapt as organizations and equip our workers with an understanding that this is an opportunity. Companies that embrace these shifting dynamics, that develop ways to improve because of them — those are the organizations that will grow and thrive.鈥�

.

鈥淧roviding a great workplace experience for our employees is a top priority,鈥� confirms Yoav Ventura, co-founder and managing partner at AKT Global. 鈥淭he sudden shift from hybrid to fully remote work during the COVID-19 pandemic and the expansion of our workforce to include both on- and off-balance-sheet talent forced us to rethink how we manage and engage with our people.鈥�

As part of this rethink, AKT Global implemented the solution to help build a digital communication and knowledge management platform that gives each employee a digital workspace, providing a personalized overview of relevant information, insights, and actions.

Thanks to the extensive library of design and functionality widgets available in the 51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone solution, AKT Global was able to build a custom homepage for the new workspace in just a couple of weeks, bringing together business information that previously was siloed. Next, the company conceptualized and mapped out detailed knowledge base articles (KBAs) that make it easier for employees to find any information they need. The ability to create and update KBAs also empowers people to share their expertise while working remotely.

The digital workspace is integrated with the company鈥檚 51风流SuccessFactors solutions for core HR and talent management. It serves as the first port of call for communicating with colleagues, exchanging information, reading the latest company news, signing up for virtual events, completing onboarding and training, and submitting HR queries. And, with native integration to Microsoft Teams, project and work collaborations are integrated too.

鈥�51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone is helping us to constantly improve our organization鈥檚 effectiveness and engagement by creating one space where employees can find everything they need to get their work done and to be productive,鈥� says Ventura. 鈥淭hey can easily communicate and collaborate with each other no matter where they are based. Employee exposure and engagement with HR and company communications has increased by 50%, and we鈥檝e seen a 20% efficiency improvement within the first few months alone.鈥�

The digital workspace also empowers managers with the insights they need to become better leaders. The integration between 51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone and AKT Global鈥檚 People Management Digital Coach solution 鈥� Global Winner of the 51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone Innovation Challenge 2021 鈥� means that the digital workspace can nudge managers to take positive actions towards their team members. For example, an employee鈥檚 upcoming return from maternity leave, pulled from the 51风流SuccessFactors Employee Central solution, would trigger a nudge to her manager on how to welcome her back and re-onboard her for a smooth transition back to work.

Ventura concludes: 鈥�51风流SuccessFactors Work Zone helps us to bring our global remote workforce together as one team as we continue to grow and helps us create the right workplace experience for employees, keeping them informed, engaged, and productive.鈥�

Edith Krieg is part of 51风流Reference Management and Content.

With approximately 4,600 employees in Australia and 182,000 worldwide, Veolia ANZ has extended its sustainable business commitment to both customers and workers. The company鈥檚 COVID-19 crisis response team in Australia and New Zealand began using this past year to stay connected with workers and address their challenges.

鈥淚t鈥檚 critical that we constantly communicate with employees to understand their challenges and act quickly to address their needs,鈥� said Alexandre Moreau, chief people and safety officer at Veolia ANZ. 鈥淲e needed a quick and easy solution to keep people connected, whether it was managers and their teams or customers. Qualtrics helped us make sure that our people were okay and receiving the support they needed.鈥�

Sustainability is in Veolia鈥檚 DNA. The company鈥檚 business portfolio includes providing environmental solutions across water, waste management, and energy. With operations and treatment facilities nationwide, it serves customers of all sizes 鈥� from local cafes and food chains to industrial facilities. One of its business units helps municipal water customers provide safe drinking water for their communities and industrial clients to more sustainably manage water in their operations, while its energy division helps companies build energy resilience and become carbon neutral.

Listening Translates Employee Feedback Into Engagement

As a designated essential service during the pandemic, Veolia ANZ provided the same level of support for customers despite significant challenges, including social distancing, schedule disruptions, and lockdowns. During the height of the crisis, it needed even more flexibility to respond to highly changeable situations. For example, workloads increased in the health sector because of pandemic-related activities. Meanwhile, some employees were working remotely, while others had to be in the field. The company used XM solutions from 51风流and Qualtrics to stay in touch with employees.

Kate Moonen, head of Marketing and Digital Experience at Veolia ANZ, was part of the company鈥檚 pandemic response team. Speaking during , she discussed how short, but targeted surveys helped the company stay in touch with its diverse workforce that includes truck drivers, machine operators, engineers, lawyers, and sustainability experts in urban and remote locations.

鈥淲e really wanted to understand that our people, particularly essential workers, were feeling supported,鈥� she said. 鈥淒id they have enough PPE equipment to do their jobs safely? What were their concerns about their mental health and well-being? Based on that feedback, it helped our team formulate what we were going to communicate and what actions we needed to take to continue to support our people.鈥�

Initially, the team was surprised at the high employee engagement levels with the surveys. Over time, the company rolled out new activities based on the feedback. These included regularly scheduled, anywhere, any device communications with senior leadership through live webinars and question-and-answer sessions. In response to employee requests, executives also sent short video messages that employees could watch on their mobile phones, with personalized stories from company leaders about their lives outside of work and how they adapted to the changed working environment.

鈥淧eople felt they wanted to take the opportunity to be heard,鈥� said Moonen. 鈥淲e would often share regular communications with them about what came out of the latest pulse and what we were going to do about it. If you鈥檙e asking people for their time, it鈥檚 critical to demonstrate what you鈥檙e doing with that feedback to meet their needs.鈥�

Continuous Dialogue Through Employee Surveys

Just like any aspect of sustainable business, employee engagement is not a one-and-done effort.

鈥淲e鈥檙e seeing strong employee engagement every time we roll out a new survey,鈥� said Moreau. 鈥淚nstead of waiting a year to connect with employees, Qualtrics has given us a more agile response tool with a quick pulse check that our people appreciate and we can rely on for updated feedback to make better decisions. We want to know how people are feeling in a fast-changing business environment.鈥�

Go Digital for Fast Action

Moreau said companies should be explicit about what employees have shared and how they鈥檙e taking action. Even if there isn鈥檛 an immediate answer, people appreciate the transparency.

Moonen also advised employers not to overthink the survey process.

鈥淪ustainable business is all about agility,鈥� she said. 鈥淐ollecting the feedback and acting quickly is far more valuable than spending months iterating questions. Digital technology gives us the ability to constantly evolve and adapt as customer expectations, market conditions, and employee experiences shift.鈥�

Future of Work Is in Employee Experience

In the wake of the pandemic, many employees yearn for a greater sense of belonging. They want more help with their individual career goals and to have pride in their workplace. Getting the employee experience right is part of every organization鈥檚 transformational journey to sustainable business.

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Employees and teams across the company have engaged in purposeful ways to respond to the current crisis and show how living the purpose goes beyond revenue and profit. Focusing on mental health, well-being, skilled workforces, and promotion of social and inclusive entrepreneurship, our purpose does not only meet the United Nation Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs), but also allows for taking care of the people we care for most.

Among others, 51风流employees in the Nordics and the UK have developed various ideas on how to support each other during the pandemic 鈥� as colleagues, customers, partners, or volunteers for people in need. Whether for internal, local, or international use, their help as well as their creativity knew no boundaries.

Driven by the urge to strengthen his local community Ottershaw, 51风流employee Mark French drew from his experience and technical know-how and set up a website that connects people in need with supporting neighbors and volunteers. Thanks to , every resident can either sign up easily for help or participate by collecting prescriptions, do essential shopping, or providing telephone support and information.

Another example of limitless dedication has been arranged by another 51风流colleague who supported the idea of his long-time friend and graffiti artist Keith Hopewell (). SP:zero wanted to create a collaboration piece in form of illustrations with artists all over the world, demonstrating the growth of the virus under its title 鈥淪pread art, not the 鈥楻rona.鈥� Soon they realized that financial help could be drawn out of this collaboration too.

鈥淚 came up with the idea to sell the prints and donate them to the UK hospitals that have been supporting us,鈥� Jago Livingstone explains. Under the name 鈥淣o Toys Allowed,鈥� he designed an to provide easy access to their charity donations. The results have been astounding: more and more artists became involved, having its peak at 163 participating artists from 21 countries across all continents.

51风流employees in the Nordics and Baltics have used their creativity to promote health, well-being, and inseparability despite social distance. Twenty-two 51风流colleagues from a Presales team delivered a themed video as contribution from the Nordic Customer Solution Advisory to an upcoming event on the topic 鈥淲e Rise Up.鈥� The video reveals a personal story on how they handle the current situation and on how each and every individual 鈥渞ises up鈥� together for colleagues, customers, and partners.

鈥淏ecause that is what we do in challenging times, that is in our DNA,鈥� Gitte Winther Bruhn says, summarizing the essence of their idea and showing once again that everyone can act purposeful even with the simplest actions.

By now, you probably know the elevator pitch: By bringing together experience data (X-data) with operational data (O-data), decision-makers can understand not only what is happening with their business, but also why. It鈥檚 all about closing the experience gap for customers.

Ever since 51风流acquired Qualtrics in January 2019, it has made experience management (XM) a key growth catalyst for the Intelligent Enterprise strategy and is on a quest to make every company understand and apply the power of X+O. But don鈥檛 the same principles apply to SAP?

What few may be aware of is that 51风流has launched its own XM journey. The print was still fresh on the acquisition when Christian Klein, then chief operating officer and now also co-chief executive officer, put SAP鈥檚 Transformation Office to work on ways Qualtrics software could be used to improve its own processes. The goal: to create a world-class XM practice at SAP.

Turning insight into action through experience management at SAP is a multi-year journey, but much has been accomplished inside the company over the past year, and the team from the Transformation Office has even more ambitious goals for 2020.

To find out more, 51风流News talked to Oliver Staudenmayer, program manager for the company鈥檚 TopX Experience Management program and head of Employee Experience Management at SAP, and Christian Koenig, operation expert and project lead for TopX XM at SAP.

Q: What is the goal of the Best Run TopX Experience Management Program?

Staudenmayer: Our goal is to actively design and improve experiences that our customers, partners, and employees love and enable them to run at their best. Ultimately it means transforming SAP鈥檚 internal processes by using new technologies and trends.

Q: How did you begin?

Staudenmayer: After the closing of the Qualtrics acquisition at the end of January 2019, we wanted to move fast to show benefits of combining O-data and X-data. But before we could forge ahead on the many promising use case ideas, we first had to set up one consolidated platform, establish a process for incoming X+O ideas, and build a governance model for compliance and legal requirements 鈥� for example for GDPR and data privacy.

Second, we had to by educating employees about how to 鈥淟isten, Understand, and Act.鈥� Qualtrics software is not just a research tool or data collection exercise, it requires us to follow up and act based on the input. After laying the foundation, we now need to put even greater effort into education.

Despite the large number of requests, by July 2019 we were able to select the top 10 use cases. Several are already live and some were moved into 2020 because of the steep learning curve. But this is merely the beginning, and we are already working on additional uses cases.

Q: Where did the top 10 use cases come from and how were they evaluated?

Koenig: Some ideas came from the field while others came from the Transformation Office. We scored each use case by asking: (1) Is it a strategic fit? (2) Is it a true X and O use case, rather than just X data? (3) Can it improve our top or bottom line? (4) How much effort is involved? A matrix depicting impact versus effort helped us identify the quick wins and choose the top 10.

Q: What were the most promising use cases?

Koenig: That鈥檚 hard question to answer, because great use cases are still rolling in, but here are a few:

• For customers, Net Promotor Score (NPS), which is conducted quarterly, indicates on a scale of 1 to 10 how likely a customer will recommend 51风流to others. Customer NPS is one of SAP鈥檚 main KPIs and is reported in our Annual Integrated Report.
• For products, 51风流S/4HANA Cloud integration means customers can give direct feedback to help product engineers improve the user experience. Experience data helps developers gain insight into what users are thinking as well as whether functions, features, and design choices are actually hitting the mark.
• For employees, MyTeam Dashboard is a tool available to team managers at 51风流to support their HR-related management tasks. Based on 51风流Analytics Cloud, data is collected from managers to find out how helpful the dashboard is during compensation rounds and to identify training needs for managers to support them in their roles.
• The Feedback Catcher enables any employee to give feedback on whatever they like. It will be installed on the computer and on mobiles, and employees can give feedback on anything they like, whether it鈥檚 the purchasing process, online conferencing, cafeteria food, bicycle stands, etc.

Q: Do you think that Experience Management solutions from 51风流(Qualtrics) will change the way employees work in the future?

Koenig: The solution alone will not help us to become the experience management company. This is a journey that doesn鈥檛 happen overnight. The good news is that there is a great deal of interest in the topic and goodwill among employees. Every transformation requires a cultural change, and to become an experience company, we need to focus on the third imperative of 鈥淟isten, Understand, and Act.鈥� Acting on the feedback, showing results and transparency are key to a successful XM program.

Q: What plans do you have for 2020?

Staudenmayer: We have big plans to deliver what we are calling our 鈥渇lagship鈥� use case that seeks to integrate experience data across all four Qualtrics pillars: Customers, Products, Employees, and Brand. The goal is to achieve a holistic view over how employees are experiencing the processes across a company and then provide management with the data to act on it. The idea is that happy employees leads to happy customers 鈥� a goal that applies to every company, not just SAP.

Q: Speaking of experience management, what鈥檚 your experience been as project lead?

Staudenmayer: The good news is that there鈥檚 a great deal of attention on how XM can be applied in our daily work with customers, employees, and products. People are working together very constructively across SAP, focused on the larger goal of getting the use cases launched, so it鈥檚 been very exciting to be a part of this journey.

So what lies ahead for a sector under pressure to limit carbon emissions and create a different future for hydrocarbon-based businesses?

To start, there is no point in visionary planning for 2030 or for worrying about efficiency and productivity in the oil and gas sector unless steps are taken to prevent catastrophic climate change in the same time period. El-Molla is keenly aware of the need to address this issue 鈥� now.

We are focusing on gas in the interim as we work to fill 40 percent of our energy needs through wind and solar by 2030,鈥� he says. In addition to meeting the demands of the domestic market, the Minister鈥檚 vision is to help Egypt become a clean energy hub for the region. Thanks to a clear strategy and massive efforts undertaken by the Ministry since El-Molla鈥檚 appointment in 2015, that long-term goal has every chance of success.

This ongoing strategy for sustainable economic reform along with the discovery of the offshore Zohr gas field in the Mediterranean are behind the that Egypt will be one of the top 10 global economies in just 10 years 鈥� ranked number seven, ahead of Russia, Japan, and Germany.

Provide an Outlook

El-Molla spent 24 years in various operational and executive positions at and recalls turbulent times during the early part of the decade when two revolutions were followed by a period of instability and insecurity for Egypt鈥檚 120-year-old oil and gas sector. The Ministry is responsible for securing refined products for the entire country and for maintaining and ensuring production through joint partners. But during that time it was facing the practical problems of shortages and a decline in production.

Stability returned under the current President, Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who realized the need for someone with El-Molla鈥檚 experience to lead necessary change.One of El-Molla鈥檚 first steps was to reach out to partners, vendors, and suppliers.

鈥淒uring difficult times it is easy for investors and multinationals to just shut down and leave,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t鈥檚 critical to keep them engaged. They need to feel confident that their investments are protected, and that the government is a stable, reliable partner.鈥�

The next steps were more difficult.

Modernize for Change

Becoming the regional energy hub requires massive changes, so the Ministry created a comprehensive modernization strategy that addresses key areas such as production performance, refining and distribution, and enterprise resource planning (ERP). But the core area for overhaul was human resources (HR) development.

The Ministry is a fragmented organization comprising different holding companies, joint ventures, public sector entities, and investment groups. More than 240,000 people are part of it, but they were not connected to each other.

鈥淭he last organizational change was 20 years ago,鈥� El-Molla says. 鈥淲e need to communicate our vision of change, we need to connect people to the vision, and we need the right people to make it happen.鈥�

Pulling it together requires one global system, one consolidated balance sheet, and mostly importantly, one team. The Ministry first created an intranet to facilitate unified updates and messaging and get buy-in from employees. El-Molla knew from previous experience that people often feel threatened when new systems are implemented; they only accept change once they realize the system will help them work more efficiently and save time for more fulfilling tasks.

Together with his team, El-Molla then identified key competencies and announced internal openings for subject matter experts and core business disciplines such as finance and administration. Out of 3,000 applicants, they selected 700 motivated and ambitious individuals and then whittled that group down to 400. Those selected were sent abroad for on-the-job training and given mid-management roles upon their return, ready to fast-track the organization into the future.

鈥淲e now have the most diverse, highly qualified, dynamic team to take us to the next level,鈥� says El-Molla proudly.

With the right people in place, El-Molla can focus fully on the modernization process, which requires the right technology. was his first choice not only because he was familiar with it from his Chevron days, but because he believes it is the right ERP solution for preparing a national industry to work more efficiently with minimum losses at higher productivity rates.

El-Molla believes in leading by example. The modernization program at the Egypt Ministry of Petroleum will not only set an example for the nation; as it begins to show results, it will help unlock the potential of the entire region by improving the economy, empowering people, and creating sustainable sources of energy for generations to come.

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