According to an article by Forrester, forecasters are warning that it’s going to be a chilly 2024 when it comes to employee experience investments / EX.
The report states that;
- Organizational DEI investments will fall from 33% in 2022 to 20% in 2024.
- Employee engagement and culture energy will decline again.
The advisory firm predicted an “upcoming EX recession”.
Does that mean you should just ignore the employee experience in 2024 all together?
No! Not unless you want to spend time hunting and retaining top talent.
Why does employee experience matter in 2024?
“More than a third (39%) of employees who have been with a company for less than six months plan to leave within the next 12 months, a 6-point increase from last year. Some are even “boomeranging” back to a previous job.” (Qualtrics, The 5 employee experience trends redefining work in 2024).
This matters because top talent is the key to operating efficiency and scaling. The faster new team members can onboard and be effective in their roles, the faster an organization can deliver on customer experience and innovation.
What does a great employee experience look like?
Sounds great, but what does the ideal employee experience actually look like?
- Employees feel supported and valued: Company culture is key to a great employee experience. It’s all about being part of a community where employees feel supported but also feel like they contribute to the whole.
- Team members have opportunities for learning and development: With 87% of millennials saying ongoing training is important to them, ensuring your employees have easy access to training is everything.
- Teams know what to do and how to do it: No one likes to be a burden on their team. That’s why ensuring employees have everything they need to get the job done with minimal fuss is vital to a great employee experience.
McKinsey suggests 9 elements to get right in creating a great employee experience; people and relationships, teamwork, social climate, work organization, work control and flexibility, growth and rewards, purpose, technology and physical environment.
To summarize?
- The social experience has trust, connection and psychological safety at it’s core.
- The work experience has clarity, efficiency, and growth at its core.
- The organization experience refers to technology and culture.
What does a business need to get employee experience right?
Taking the above elements, getting employee experience right isn’t about investing a ton of cash into team trips. It’s about having a few fundamentals in place.
For example;
- Do you team members know each other and feel comfortable communicating?
- Do your team members feel that they are trusted and can trust each other?
- Do your team members have clear responsibilities and processes that enable them to work efficiently?
- Do you team members have the opportunity to embark on employee training and to learn and grow?
- Are you teams aligned to the purpose of your organization?
- Are your employees equipped with the technology that enables them to perform in their roles?
What does great employee experience have to do with SOPs?
The more your team members feel empowered in their roles, the better the employee experience. 
Additionally, from the way you communicate to how you manage Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), employee experience has a direct impact on how your people view — and talk about — your brand. And the better reputation your brand has, the better your ROI. 
But what does it take to engage employees so they can’t wait to come to work each day? And how do you drill down on employee experience to boost productivity and revenue?
It’s simple: create the best procedures possible and make their every-day easy to love.
Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) can contribute to a great employee experience by providing clear and consistent guidelines for employees to follow, which can help reduce confusion and errors.
SOPs can also ensure that all employees are aware of the company’s policies and procedures, which can help foster a sense of accountability and ownership among employees.
Additionally, having SOPs in place can make it easier for managers to train new employees and ensure that they are performing their duties correctly.
Overall, SOPs and processes can help create a more efficient and organized work environment, which can lead to a more positive employee experience.
A quick SOP checklist for the ultimate employee experience ✅
It’s no coincidence that how you communicate and equip your teams has a direct impact on the type of employee experience they have.
The moral of the story? Standard Operating Procedures can help employees feel supported, autonomous, and well-trained.
Here’s a quick rundown of what you need for SOPs that check all the boxes:
- Clear and simple language: Dense, jargon-packed SOPs are way too common. Stand out from the crowd by making it easy for your employees to get straight to the point. Ask yourself, ‘If my life depended on it, would I need this word/sentence/paragraph?’ If not, drop it.
- Engaging visuals: Today’s workers are part of the 8-second attention span generation — so these days, 100-page SOPs just won’t cut it. Look for creative ways to up your SOP game, like digitizing content, making it super snackable, and adding video, gifs, and images for extra visual punch.
- Regular updates: It’s all very well creating beautiful streamlined SOPs — but if they’re out of date, you’ll end up with a lot of frustrated employees. Designate sections to subject matter experts in your teams, remind them when updates are due, and encourage employees to check in once the changes are live.
FAQ's for creating SOPs and process for employee engagement
How to keep SOPs and processes up to date?
To effectively ensure accountability in keeping the SOPs up to date, it is beneficial to incorporate the following practices.
Firstly, it is helpful to establish a system where the event for reviewing and updating SOPs is automatically synced with everyone’s calendars. This eliminates any excuses such as forgetting or not being aware of the task. By setting this event directly on everyone’s calendar, it becomes a shared responsibility for each team member.
To further strengthen accountability, it is recommended to assign ownership of specific SOPs to individuals within the team. For instance, the person overseeing the Product team can be assigned the responsibility of maintaining the SOP for rolling out new features to users. By delegating ownership, there is a clear point of contact for each SOP.
Should I involve my team in the process?
The answer is yes, yes, yes!
To involve your team in the SOP documentation process, consider implementing the following steps:
1. Assign Ownership: Allocate specific SOPs to each team member based on their responsibilities. For instance, the person in charge of your Product team can own the SOP for rolling out new features to users. By assigning ownership, individuals become accountable for keeping their SOPs up-to-date.
2. Schedule Regular Reviews: Create a recurring task for team members to review the SOPs they own. Setting this on their calendars ensures that they remain aware of their responsibility to keep the SOPs fresh and accurate. It also eliminates excuses such as forgetting or not being aware of any changes.
3. Collaborative Updates: Encourage team members to actively contribute to the improvement of their assigned SOPs. Every few weeks or once a quarter, give them the opportunity to make updates and share any insights or suggestions for improvement. This collaborative approach ensures that the SOPs reflect the latest best practices and evolving workflows.
4. Training and Support: Offer training and support to team members who are involved in the SOP documentation process. Provide resources, workshops, or one-on-one sessions to help them understand the importance of SOPs, learn best practices for documentation, and address any questions or challenges they may face.
How learning in the flow of work boosts employee experience
🐳 Whale Deep Dive
Learning in the flow of work is all about offering employees quick and easy access to snackable learning content on the go.
Imagine your employee is about to write a sales email, but the queries start rolling out: ‘What’s the best wording for this again? How do I structure my email? What are our company taglines?’
Answering all those questions = a lot of wasted time for your employee and their colleagues.
But there’s a better way. With Whale’s Chrome Extension, your SOPs are instantly accessible as soon as employees open different tools. So, next time your employee goes to write that sales email, they’ll have all the information they need at their fingertips, with no digging necessary.
Now that’s what we call an awesome employee experience. 
Use a smart knowledge and training platform to make your SOPs shine
It sounds like a lot of work to get your procedures up to scratch — but with the right tools, it can be simple.
From having ultimate control over your visuals to checking who’s engaged with what, the right knowledge and training platform makes it easy to create, manage, and view your SOPs for the ultimate employee experience.
Whether you’re onboarding employees or showing seasoned teams how to run new procedures, your SOPs have a huge impact on the employee experience — and once you’ve got it right, your teams (and your bottom line) will thank you for it.
Ready to create smart SOPs your employees will love?
