A widely used commercial concept, like the well-crafted programs in the travel industry, the notion of experience nevertheless struggles to take on its full meaning in HR support for employees. Perhaps it is time for HR teams to adopt a commercial vision of their profession capable of creating an engaging and loyalty-building talent experience.
Get out of a reactive posture
What manager has not been surprised one day by the announcement of the departure of one of his colleagues. The very famous “I didn’t see it coming” which, even today, gives the sensation that companies can only react to the actions of their teams. At the origin, a glaring lack of communication and an inability to see the warning signs of an evolution, which once started, seems difficult to reverse. Employees still lack good visibility regarding their professional career within the company where they work. A failure which often leads to shortening one’s adventure with one’s employer when an anticipatory posture on the part of the latter could change the situation.
87% of millennials consider professional development important when choosing a company. What can we say except that this is a sign showing that the talent experience goes well beyond the seductive arguments that are sometimes crudely summarized as teleworking. Offering internal mobility and simply listening to employees’ aspirations is just as “attractive”. But for this to happen, HR departments and managers must be proactive and receptive. Taking this step increases the chances of stimulating the commitment and even loyalty of your teams.
Leverage the travel industry
What if the talent journey within a company was ultimately a journey like any other? At the heart of the travel industry, the customer experience has often been reduced to a visit to an agency to choose their next destination. Today, this journey has radically changed to take place mainly on the internet. We have collectively become informed consumers before we even start a conversation. And in the case of contact with a travel agent, everyone will already have a clear idea of what they want. Such an approach applied to the talent journey could really change the destiny of employees within their structure. Companies cannot wait until the last minute to guide their talents; they must anticipate their movements as best they can to avoid finding themselves in a form of wait-and-see attitude.
Thanks to digital technology, human resources can go beyond simple talent management by establishing a form of transparency on the career paths of their employees. Concretely, a good talent experience does not consist of sending offers (job, training) only via dedicated internal platforms, but also of doing so by name to create interest more directly. Whether they are interested or not, their reaction constitutes valuable information to determine future actions. All the data collected is useful to personalize their support and best promote their skills. It is from there that it is possible to propose offers and missions which will allow employees to ask themselves the right questions about their potential and how to exploit it. A path which inevitably leads talents to be actors in their career while considering paths that they would not have considered without a personalized approach. By equipping themselves with the right tools and the right strategy, the ability of companies to empower their employees will have a positive influence on their level of commitment and loyalty.
For HR, we need to change the paradigm
We keep repeating it, but human resources are no longer simply a support function, but a business function which requires measuring the impact of each decision-making. A high level of responsibility, amplified since the Covid period, which can no longer be satisfied with “dad-style” management, poorly adapted to the vision that the younger generations have of work. With the consumerist approach gaining ground, companies are really expected to turn the corner by employees on their ability to offer a motivating professional future.
Furthermore, the marked emergence of “new” forms of work, such as the freelancer or the “slasher”, pushes or even obliges companies to redouble their efforts to keep their talents if they do not wish to face harsh competition from attractive offers from other companies. In a symbolic way, if it was customary to speak of a welfare state, today we can easily evoke the case of the welfare enterprise which carries on its shoulders the weight of numerous expectations, justified or not.