How can an EOR help companies maintain a positive employee experience?
Author of The Future Leader, Jacob Morgan challenges HR professionals to re-think the way they view employee experience and employee lifecycles in their teams and organisations. No longer is an attractive salary the primary factor in an ensuring an employee’s satisfaction at work. Rather, taking the time to understand and improve on the ‘moments that matter’ to that employee is most likely to impact employee experience and satisfaction at work.
One of the key indicators of employee experience is whether they have positive ‘moments that matter’ and experiences at a company. Organisations that prioritise employee experience by understanding what matters most, are likely to have high retention rates- as employees are satisfied at work and want to stay with an organisation. Retention rates have recently become a ‘buzz topic’ due to the shift in the labour market, termed ‘The Great Resignation’, describing how roughly 57 million US employees have resigned from their jobs between February 2021 to date. It is likely that this phenomenon is not limited to the US, and organisations across the world need to pay heed to this concerning trend.
It goes without saying that there are multiple negative business impacts to high rates of employee resignation, which often stems from poor employee experience and dwindling engagement in their work. The resignation of employees, particularly top-performing employees, is not only detrimental to an organisation’s bottom line but can also have an impact on the organisation’s reputation as an employer of choice in the external market.
To prevent a decrease in staff engagement in their work or within their teams, HR professionals should shift their focus toward worker satisfaction to mitigate the rates of unwanted turnovers. This has always been a challenge for HR professionals, however, when required to manage a global workforce, it can become a daunting and seemingly impossible challenge. We are here to discuss the ‘why’ behind the importance of ensuring a positive experience for an engaged workforce and the ‘how’ of nurturing and maintaining engagement for your global workforce with the assistance of an Employer of Record company, such as Africa HR Solutions (AHR).
What is Employee Experience?
Employee experience refers to the way your employees feel when they come to work, and the aspects of work that matter most to them. Employee experience can be thought of as a broad experience of the benefits of employment and how these elements contribute to your employees’ well-being. Trying to offer a consistently positive employee experience can be challenging, as each employee may have a different perception of what is important to them, but it is essential for HR professionals to keep in mind that this plays a key role in the retention of their people.
This shows that employee satisfaction not only reduces unwanted employee losses, but can also boost an organisation’s profit margin in the market.
Touchpoints employers should focus on to improve Employee Experience
Employees can be thought to have a ‘life cycle’ in an organisation, which is a simplistic, yet useful way of describing their journey with an employer from onboarding to eventual offboarding. There are many elements that influence an employee’s experience throughout their lifecycle, and many ways that their experience can ‘go wrong’, particularly when operating on a global level. When considering expanding internationally into the African continent, prioritising employee experience is crucial to ensuring a successful strategic execution.
If you are planning to take on such an endeavour, your organisation will benefit from partnering with a trusted Employer of Record. At Africa HR Solutions, we assist organisations in providing the best employee experience while staying aligned with your company culture and the relevant legislation of the country. Let us talk about a few key components of employee experience, and how an EOR can support you in maintaining a positive experience during your expansion on the African continent:
The Onboarding Process: First Impressions Count The Most
The onboarding of a new employee marks the beginning of their ‘lifecycle’ and sets the tone for the rest of their journey with an organisation. It is important to consider both the practical and human elements of this task. Firstly, in covering practicalities, it is important to onboard the employee with the appropriate technologies and tools for them to do their work efficiently and effectively. However, it is also important to onboard them as part of an integrated team and ensuring they feel valued, welcomed, and part of your organisation and its culture. A positive onboarding experience is likely to have a lasting effect on your new joiner’s commitment to the organisation, their engagement and overall productivity. All these elements contribute to lower rates of attrition.
We can assist you to provide a smooth and efficient onboarding process
At Africa HR Solutions, we believe in first impressions. Since the onboarding process represents your employees’ first step on their journey, you want to ensure they start on the right foot. Obstacles to a smooth onboarding could include administrative difficulties, possible legal and tax risks, and frustration for the employee should it impact their employment start and subsequent payment date. By partnering up with us, you can expect a smooth onboarding in more than 44 countries in Africa within 2-3 weeks. Let us worry about the admin and practicality, whilst you focus on a positive onboarding experience for your new employee.
Company Culture
Company culture represents the unique set of convictions, behaviours, and values that an organisation and its employees experience as a foundation underlying the organisation’s purpose and values. A strong culture is important in aligning employees to a shared vision of where the company is going, the ways of working and adherence to company ethical codes. For instance, Netflix adopted an approach to creating a positive company culture through the “people over process”. In their company culture document, they stress the importance of core values such as judgment, selflessness, courage, communication, inclusion and integrity- and encouraged employees to adopt these values in their day-to-day work. In creating this strong foundation of a people-first approach, they can be more flexible, creative and successful in everything they do.
We support you in creating a consistent and compliant culture
As organisations increasingly embrace remote and global workforces, HR professionals need to become very deliberate in creating a consistent company culture for remote employees to align to. Should your organisation be expanding into Africa, your values need to incorporate ethical practice and compliance with tax and labour legislation within different African countries. Partnering with an EOR, such as AHR, allows for all employees to have a consistent experience of your company’s ethical values and compliance with local and international legislation.
Relationships at work
Your employees spend most of their day working (this relates to roughly 90 000 hours over a lifetime), thus it is essential for HR professionals/leaders to ensure that this time is meaningful and enriching for their employees. Developing positive relationships, not only with their peers but more specifically with their superiors, are paramount to employee experience, satisfaction and subsequent retention.
Allow us to handle the procedural relationship, while you focus on growing your people
HR professionals and leaders in a global organisation play many different and sometimes conflicting roles (including supporter and regulator), which can impact on the employment relationship with a colleague. In aligning with an EOR, HR professionals are free to support colleague’s growth and development, whilst we at AHR manage the tough, procedural stuff, such as compliance and governance.
Wage distribution and benefits administration
While salaries are not the only contributing factor to employee experience, they remain a very important element. A timely pay check goes a long way to ensure a positive employee experience. Your workers have personal obligations to meet, and should you fail to deliver their wage on time, they may question your level of investment and care in their wellbeing and are likely to seek other employment. Additionally, losing an employee due to a mishap in payroll is likely to be detrimental to your reputation in the market as a credible employer of choice, which may impact your ability to attract highly skilled professionals.
We provide accurate payroll services
To most HR professionals expanding to Africa, dealing with several currencies, labour legislation and tax regulations at a time can be exhausting and frustrating, with a high chance of error. This is a hurdle that could easily cause untimely pay cheque delivery and subsequent employee fallout.
We believe that regular and accurate payment is of paramount responsibility for any business owner/HR team, to ensure that the organisation is seen to be credible and trustworthy. As a leading Employer of Record service provider, we understand the importance of delivering error-free and timely payroll for your employees. We promise to handle your payroll to employees accurately, giving visibility of the process to all stakeholders. For instance, your employees have full access to their payslips, and we offer comprehensive reports of your payroll and expenditure.
Benefits administration
Employees want to know that their employer cares about and is willing to invest in their wellbeing. Attractive benefits administration such as PTO (Paid Time Off), medical insurance, pension plans etc. contribute to a better employee experience. When you onboard your employees for work in Africa, you need to ensure you are aligning to any mandatory benefits as per legislation, as well as ensuring they are covered with the best benefits packages on the market. Africa HR Solutions has already established relationships with insurance brokers across more than 44 countries in Africa and can offer you competitive quotes to ensure your employees are receiving the best cover. What is more, we will also manage the initiation and onboarding of your employee onto this cover.
Tasks and the nature of the work at hand
The nature of work can be defined as the type of labour an employee is expected to fulfil as part of their job. Providing your workers with a fair workload that meets ethical and legal standards and that does not leave them overworked at the end of the day helps considerably in ensuring employee retention.
We keep you informed
AHR stays on top of the latest legislative changes to working hours, compensation, leave etc. so that you don’t have to. We will keep you informed of any changes to legislation that may impact the tasks, nature or length of time at work so that your employees trust that you are managing them ethically and fairly.
Technology and equipment
How well-equipped is your company? As a business owner, it is your responsibility to provide your employees with the necessary tools to perform their duties efficiently. Having to work with computers that may not be from this century or cheap software is not only unpleasant but can also slow down or disrupt some of your operations. Ensuring to provide sufficient and efficient software and hardware ensures that employees feel they are set up for success is likely to improve their experience at work.
Best-in-class ancillary services
If you need to provide your team with laptops, phones or any other equipment, Africa HR Solutions has your back! Thanks to our best-in-class ancillary services, your employees get access to the tools they need to be at their best. We also offer support in finding facilities such as office rental and even pay for your employees’ internet bills when they work remotely.
It is not goodbye, just farewell: ensuring positive offboarding experiences
Earlier in this article, we talked about making a good first impression. Should an employee resign or be terminated, it is important to continue to prioritise employee experience. A smooth onboarding and offboarding process will determine how your company will be remembered and the reputation you may gain in the labour market as an employer.
Offboarding an employee can be tough, especially if there are issues associated with the offboarding/termination of an employee. Having employees in disparate locations can be a bit of an administrative nightmare with different offboarding forms and processes to follow. Not only can we support you in ensuring you remain compliant throughout the offboarding process, but we can offer legal support should there be any issues related to an employee. Bringing us on as your partner will ensure no costly mistakes that could damage your relationship with an employee or your reputation in the labour market.
If your employees’ well-being is your priority, contact us now!
During a global expansion phase, your employee experience can sometimes be overlooked due to resource-intense administration requirements. Partnering up with an EOR lifts the intense administration pressure from you, allowing you to focus on creating a positive employee experience for your current and future employees. Should you wish to learn about the ways Africa HR Solutions can improve employee experience within your company, be sure to call us so we can tell you more about our extensive range of tailor-made services for your operations in Africa.
