Employee experience is the 'magic key' to business performance, WTW says

Dive Brief:

A new study has revealed "a compelling and predictive link" between employee experience and financial performance. According to the Willis Tower Watson (WTW) research, organizations with strong employee experience enjoy better return on assets and equity, as well as improved revenue and profitability.
Employees at high-performing companies feel inspired by the company's mission; are able to achieve career aspirations; trust senior leadership; and have a sense of drive through strong customer focus and innovation, WTW found. "The fact that so few organisations do this well suggests it is hard," said Stephen Young, global practice leader, Willis Towers Watson Employee Insights, said in a statement. "But it is the ultimate magic key to unlocking high performance."
Other elements of employee experience, however, had little effect on an organization's financial performance. These include a basic understanding of work goals; support from local managers; and organization of work through scheduling and internal structures, efficient processes and workplace flexibility.

Dive Insight:

WTW's findings add weight to the idea that employee experience is a business imperative.

Last year, research from the IBM Smarter Workforce Institute and the Globoforce WorkHuman Analytics and Research Institute concluded that organizations that score in the top 25% on employee experience have nearly three times the return on assets as those in the bottom quarter. A good employee experience can do so by boosting productivity and reducing turnover, according to recent research from coaching platform BetterUp.

And while CEOs are increasingly viewing talent professionals as strategic partners, many employers still have a way to go.

WTW noted that, among other things, trust is central to a positive employee experience, but only 21% of HR leaders in a recent study from Achievers said they believe their employees trust company leaders. "Companies today often fall short of building a culture of trust" because they rely too heavily on surveys and other top-down tactics for feedback, Emily Foote, then-VP of customer engagement at Bridge, previously wrote for HR Dive. "Leaders need to ask for feedback and then prove its use by changing their behavior accordingly. Showing employees the courage to receive negative feedback encourages that behavior down the ladder, too," she said.