The past couple of years have placed separate spotlights on the changing priorities of employees, such as wellbeing, flexibility, engagement, and purpose – changes that triggered global labor trends like the “Great Resignation” and “Quiet Quitting.” 

Tackling the various needs of employees have shown the cracks in the old system, which ushered in innovations in the way organization deal with their staff – out of the business-as-usual approach and towards a people-centered structure.

But that’s all in the past, and by 2023, employees expect organizations to be more systematic and prepared in dealing with their needs. Human resources, in particular, is expected to look at all the people needs that was highlighted before as one whole aspect of work – employee experience.

A survey by tech research and consulting firm Gartner revealed that nearly half of HR leaders around the globe said employee experience is their top priority for the coming year. The goal is to provide a positive employee experience that can attract talent and reduce attrition. 

And when you talk about a positive employee experience, it encompasses everything from onboarding, salary and benefits, support, engagement, wellbeing, flexibility, and more, which means it’s an HR task that needs close collaboration with the other departments.

While it does take the whole organization working together to provide a positive employee experience, HR can lay the foundations that can help the organization reach the goal, and it’s all about one aspect of people management that often gets neglected – open communication. 

Cultivating a culture of open conversations

The principle behind open conversations in the workplace is simple: Both management and people get to express or voice out their needs and sentiments, and both parties get to hear each other out clearly. It may sound too simple but this can be hard to pull off in an organizational setting. 

It can even more difficult when you consider the various studies that point out to the fact that most employees do not trust their own HR people, viewing them more as the “the company guys,” rather than “pro-people.”

And this is where the opportunity comes up. The Human Resource division can initiate projects that would open various channels for of communications that depend on the possible exchanges between management and people.  

For example, a suggestion box for ideas and concepts from virtually anyone would be a great way to involve your people in improving some of your products, services, and even processes. HR can also facilitate an annual townhall meeting to accommodate questions from the employees.

HR can also open a help line through email, messenger, or other messaging platforms, for employees who would like to disclose sensitive matters like office bullying, harassment, micromanagement, and other possible tough conversations.