Employee Experience, Evolved: An SAP Concur Podcast Conversation with EY About the Power of Employee Sentiment Data

Employee experience was considered a nice-to-have before the pandemic. But now, with so many organizations losing employees due to the Great Resignation, it’s become essential. Most organizations are being forced to address employee sentiment whether they want to or not. And it’s spurring many organizations to completely re-think their approach. 

Andrew Walker, Principal Architect on the Value Experience Programs Team at SAP Concur, spoke with Crystal Schoenhals, a Consultant for Travel and Expense at EY, about the growing importance of using employee sentiment data to create outstanding employee experience. 

You can listen to this episode on Apple | Amazon | Spotify | Listen Notes | Acast | Google or read the transcript. 

Reading the Employee Tea Leaves 

When it comes to creating positive employee experiences, Schoenhals said many organizations don’t know where to start. They’re also not sure what to prioritize. Yes, they may have operational data, but that’s a lagging indicator. They want to know… 

• How do you gather employee experience data? 
• How do you segment that data? 
• How do you make the data actionable and meaningful to truly affect positive change and build fantastic employee experiences? 

Oftentimes, there’s a disconnect between what an organization’s leaders think is important to their employees, and what is actually important to them. Finding out what your employees want and creating a true employee experience is not accomplished with a one-time survey; it’s an ongoing process that requires continually collecting and acting on just-in-time employee sentiment data and feedback. Walker notes that the collection of sentiment data and how you leverage it “has to be operationalized.” 

Schoenhals explains that for many organizations, the top reasons employees leave are: 

• Total compensation 
• Flexibility in work hours, time off, travel, flexibility of travel (ability to take personal travel when they have a business trip), technology, etc. 
• Benefits 
• Well-being 

If your organization is waiting to ask your employees during an exit interview why they are leaving, “that’s the worst point to collect data if you’re trying to make a change,” according to Walker. The opportunity to keep them from leaving has already passed. If you want to keep your employees, you must be proactive about finding out what your employees want and creating positive employee experiences to encourage them to have a long career with you. 

This means finding out where your organization currently stands versus where your employees expect you to be and closing that gap. It also means figuring out what type of action and effort will be required as each employee will have a unique answer to each question. 

Start Now. Don’t Wait. 

Walker and Schoenhals say there is no better time to start creating employee experiences than today. Yes, organizations research potential job candidates before they hire them. But the same is also true in reverse—job candidates research potential employers (their mission, values, policies, compensation packages, etc.). It’s hard to hire anyone if your organization does not have a good reputation as it relates to positive employee experiences. There’s no such thing as playing catching up.