Connecting and Caring Have the Most Impact on Employee Satisfaction
QualtricsTM released their 2025 Employee Experience Trends, backed by feedback from 35,023 full-time employees from 22 countries, and 30 industries, from employers with 100-50,000+ employees. Of course, pay and benefits continue to be important, and the study noted that US medium to small businesses are struggling to stay competitive. But here are the most impactful approaches:
Have a human-centered, employee-centric approach when applying pressure to continuously improve and increase productivity. Though employees understand the pressures from the pace of change, strategic efforts, and economic conditions, they respond significantly better with continuous communication, dynamic learning and listening, and improved workflows, reducing the amount of effort needed to perform the same work and reducing confusion and surprises. Proactive communication and enhancements to improving processes and eliminating impediments to work is key to employee support when pressure is applied. If not, the consequences are 12 % pt drop in engagement, 14 % pt drop in intent to stay, and 13 % pt drop in wellbeing.
What to do:
- Automate workflows in the office and on the shop floor. But as you add robotics and AI, increase your human-centered approach to nurture connection to employees.
- Continuously seek understanding and multiple perspectives.
- Ask good questions on top of good questions!
- Make ideas and dialogue visible and spend more time on discovery (this will decrease the time needed to develop a solution, and it is more likely to be complete).
- Plan in shorter windows with less specifics and more direction. Build in success!
Candidate and Exit Experiences impact customers, branding, culture and leadership integrity. In fact, bookend experiences are what people remember. Job Boards like Indeed and Glassdoor are giving even non-selected candidates a platform for voicing concerns.
What to do:
- Review and incorporate our previous post: How to Use Distinctions to Enhance the Employee Experience (EX) and your Customer Experience too! | SHRM Portage County
- Identify the gaps in experience for those who leave early and those who stay.
- Focus on accelerating employee engagement, professional development, and productivity throughout their tenure.
Make workplace safety and wellness a core organizational value, as OSHA requires of all leaders (owners, all managers, all supervisors)! This is the most influential aspect of employee relations; this single focus can reap rewards far beyond your health and safety management. When employees feel that leadership prioritizes and cares about them, they are more likely to trust their leaders. This makes them more likely to act proactively, change behaviors, forgive mistakes, take direction, and advocate unprompted.
What to do:
- Visibly and consistently demonstrate full commitment to the employees.
- Be a consistent example and leader in thinking, behaviors, and decision-making involving employee safety and wellness.
- Maintain this approach, and employee-centric thinking, even during crucible moments and dynamic times.
As Dr. Benjamin Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist, one of the lead researchers say, “Trust is the glue that holds people within organizations together, but it is often harder to earn and maintain during times of disruption and uncertainty.”
Link to the Qualtrics report: Qualtrics XM: The Leading Experience Management Software
Lori G. Fisher, PMP, Social Media Chair
