Ready, set…EX! Blog series part 2
The business case
We know a thing or two about designing and measuring a great Employee Experience (EX). In this series, we pull together top tips to help you overcome common hurdles encountered by HR teams starting out in EX. This week we’re looking at business cases and how to build them.
Your organisation’s EX is kind of a big deal. We’re talking about everything from people programs and communications to the physical environment, processes, technology you use every day – even how your people think about the external market (and their place in it). Because it unlocks people potential, EX is seen as an HR initiative. It’s not. Yes, HR teams are the architects of people and culture, but other teams own individual components that make up the experience (IT own technology, Facilities own environment etc). That means for EX to take off, you need buy-in from every discipline. And that means building a business case.
Get the right people in the room
Remember when you decided what commercial value your EX program was going to add? The people who have control (or influence) in those areas are your stakeholders. You don’t need to engage all of them right away, or in the same way. But you do need to map them.
Don’t wait for C-Suite diary space to get started, either. You don’t need permission to start building a business case (although it does help to get senior buy-in ahead of time if your data gathering includes surveying employees).
Link to commercial metrics
You already know that your EX will positively impact your organisation’s strategy and its drivers. Your business case has to clearly link the two if you want buy-in and budget. We can help you figure out the right metrics and analytics to use, and how to make the link between designing that new innovation space in the office and, say, your Net Promoter Score. But you don’t need to bring in external resource right away. If you work in HR, talk to your colleagues in brand, marketing and customer relationship management – or even finance. Chances are they’ll have the information you need, and be willing to share it.
The trick is knowing what to ask for. Have a hypothesis ready (what commercial outputs do you think your EX program will influence? What are their measures of success?) but don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Last but not least, put the focus on profits
This is the hard part. If you’re an HR professional you live and breathe people and wellbeing. Most business leaders don’t. Don’t get us wrong, your organisation’s directors and senior leaders very likely care about their teams and their workforce as a whole. But the phrases, “investing in people” and “employee engagement metrics” aren’t the ones that are going to get them to splurge on EX. Performance metrics will. Start speaking the language of sales, revenue and commercials and they’ll start listening. Even better, if you’ve completed the step above, you’ll already have the stats to back you up.
Want to know more?
Get in touch to talk diagnosing, defining, designing and measuring the right employee experience for your business.
