The term “Experience Economy” was first used by B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore, in a Harvard Business Review study, describing the booming demand from buyers for superior customer experiences (CX). To provide meaningful experiences, companies needed to understand their customers and build trusted relationships. This was achieved with the collection and analysis of the experience data. Today, the experience economy has further evolved, extending to the experiences companies create within their workplaces.

Work-life balance refers to free time, self-care, time with family or for hobbies and interests. Anyone can and should take measures of their own to create work-life balance, but it’s going to be hard to achieve without a supportive or accommodating work environment.

Further, Bersin claims that at the moment, 40% of Americans believe they have to sacrifice work-life balance in order to have a successful career. They haven’t been proven wrong yet.

According to BCG’s report on gender diversity in SEA, much work has to be done. The higher up the leadership chain, the fewer women you find. Only 12 percent of CEO and board-level positions in SEA are held by women and this pattern repeats in other parts of the world, according to the study. 

Efforts taken to understand how women’s communication strategies can help or hinder their fortunes at work have mostly led to the same finding: Many women fail to speak out when they are overlooked for promotion and lack confidence to voice out whether they are actually happy in the workplace. By not speaking out, they fail to get higher positions, better pay or the opportunity to make a difference to their engagement at work. 

For HR Managers, the art of attracting Millennials - the generation born in the early 1980s to the mid 1990s - is certainly nothing new. By offering flexible working hours and incorporating technology into the workplace, firms have been able to satisfy these ‘gig’ employees for years now. However, what many firms have yet to prepare for is Generation Z - the generation born between the mid-1990s to the early 2000s.

Industries are being disrupted and talents are becoming more mobile. They are expecting better experience and personalised recommendations to improve their journey with the company. 45% of employees reported that they would be likely or very likely to look for another job outside their current organisation within the next year (SHRM). 

We all know that teams who are happier and more engaged are 21% more productive and 59% less likely to look for a job with a different organisation. People are organisation’s number one asset, so keeping them happy should be organisation’s number one priority. 

Here are my 3 tips to leaders to ensure a happier workplace.

We often hear the term ‘corporate culture’ in our office or corporate life. Companies around the globe, especially in South East Asia are focusing on building strong workplace and corporate culture. 88% of employees believe organizational culture is an important aspect of their work life. Gone are the days when the conventional workplace ethics and consulting methods work. Now is the time to adopt a more dynamic workplace culture.

A well-defined employee retention methods will have a positive and significant impact on the turnover rate of your organization.

According to the Leigh Branham, the Strategic Planning Consultant, more than 70 percent of the managers tend to think that it is the pay that causes an employee to leave. On the contrary, about 88 percent of the employees tend to leave respective jobs not only because of pay but also other factors that may include:

• Employees often feel the workplace or job doesn’t match their expectation before joining the firm.
• A mismatch between the job and the skills held by the employee.
• Minimal coaching with no feedback for the same.
• Minimal advancement or growth opportunities.
• Employees feel devalued or unrecognized.
• Minimal work-life balance that causes stress.
• Loss of confidence or trust in the senior leaders.

Today’s workforce looks less and less like it used to. 95% of TAFEP’s 2014 survey said that they work in multi-generational teams, that has members aged anywhere between 18 to 70.

Let’s face it – humans were not built or meant to be robots. We were not made to be repeating the same things over and over again. Rather, we were meant to innovate and improve processes as time goes by.