HUMAN RESOURCE SUPPORT FUNCTIONS IN EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE DESIGNS: KEY LESSONS FOR HR PRACTITIONERS IN NIGERIA

Authors: J. M. O. Gabriel, Ph.D. & C. S. Biriowu, Ph.D.

ABSTRACT

The majority of an employee’s waking time is spent at the workplace where they meet certain situations (positive or negative) that form their daily experience at work. It, therefore, behooves the Human Resource Management (HR) practitioner to see this as an important lesson and therefore put a design in place that would provide basic conditions for delivering performance from the workforce. Employee Experience, therefore, as a concept, refers to the totality of what an employee encounters and observes over the course of his/her tenure at an organization. This paper reviewed extant literature on the concept of employee experience EX. Its meaning, history, models, stages, importance, and ways to build it. The paper also espoused that EX represents the sum of the impression employee gather through relating with an employing organization throughout the life of such employment relationship. More so, that EX is used to keep a wider talent pool; employee retention; and to set up employees for success before, during, and after their tenure in the Organization. Lessons to be learned by HR Practitioners from positive EX building plans were equally accounted for. The paper concluded on the note that organizations must strive to build positive EX because a negative one results in employee low morale, absenteeism, presenteeism, low commitment/dedication, deviant behaviors etcetera; but a positive EX produces employees who are happy, committed, and willing to give extra-role behaviors which are necessary conditions for any organization to thrive and compete favorably.

Keywords: Employee, Experience, Human Resource, Support Function, Practitioners, Lessons.

REFERENCES

  • Assocham (2012). Assocham study. Retrieved from: http://www.assocham.org/prels/printnews.php?id=2633 (accessed: 12/05/2019).
  • Belk, R. (1975). Situational variables and consumer behavior. Journal of Consumer Behaviour, 2(3), 157–164.
  • Davenport, T., & Beck, J. (2002). The attention economy: Understanding the new currency of business. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.
  • Deloitte. (2017). Global Human Capital Trends- Rewriting the rules for the digital age. Deloitte University Press
  • Diener, E. and Biswas-Diener, R. (2008), Happiness: Unlocking the mysteries of psychological wealth, Blackwell Publishing, Malden, MA.
  • Fischer, CD (2010), Happiness at work, International Journal of Management Reviews, 3(5), 32-48.
  • Gardner, M. (1985). Mood states and consumer behavior: A critical review. The Journal of Consumer Research, 12(3), 281–300.
  • Gobe, M. (2001). Emotional branding: The new paradigm for connecting brands to people. New York: Allworth Press
  • Hirschman, E. C., & Holbrook, M. B. (1982). Hedonic consumption: Emerging concepts, methods, and propositions. Journal of Marketing, 46(3), 92–101.
  • Mason S. (2018). Employee engagement to the employee experience: Why HR should focus on the individual,retrieved from https://www.hrexchangenetwork.com/employeeengagement/articles/employee-engagement-to-employee-experience-why-hr
  • Morgan, J. (2017). The employee experience advantage: How to win the war for talent by giving employees the workspaces they want, the tools they need, and a culture they can celebrate. John Wiley & Sons.
  • Morgan, J. (2018). The technological environment in employee experience. Leader to Leader, 4(87), 28–35.
  • Morgan, J. (2019). The evolution of employee experience downloaded        from https://thefutureorganization.com/the-evolution-of-               employee-experience/ by 6:19am/January 30th/2022.
  • IBM/Globoforce Employee Experience Index Study, 2016 Retrieved From: http://www.globoforce.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/The-Employee-Experience-Index-Around-theGlobe.pdf (Accessed on 14th March 2019) 15. IRDA. (2012).
  • IRDA study. Retrieved From: http://www.irda.gov.in/ADMINCMS/cms/NormalData_Layout.aspx?page=PageNo129&mid=3.1.9. (Accessed on 29th March 2019)
  • Plaskoff,J. (2017). Employee experience- The new human resource management approach. Strategic HR Review, 16(3), 136–141.
  • Pine, B., & Gilmore, J. (1999). The experience economy. Boston: Harvard Business
  • Psichogios P. (2013), Aim for exceptional employee experiences, T+D, Association for Talent Development, 34-38
  • Reichheld, F. (1996). The loyalty effect: The hidden forces behind growth, profits, and lasting value. Boston: Harvard Business School Press
  • Schmitt, B. (1999). Experiential marketing. New York: The Free Press
  • WorkTrends (2016). The global sample for the IBM/Globoforce Employee ExperienceIndex Study (n=23,070). IBM Study.
  • Wright, T.A., Cropanzano, R. and Meyer, D.G. (2004), ―State and trait correlates of job performance:a tale of two perspectives‖, Journal of Business and Psychology,  18 (3), 365-383.
  • World Bank Group. (2012). World Bank Group study. Retrieved From: http://data.worldbank.org/country/india (accessed on 15/01/2019).
  • Yohn, D.L. (2018, June 2). 2018 Will be the year of employee experience. Forbes. Retrieved from https:// www.forbes.com/sites/deniselyohn/2018/01/02/2018-will-be-the-year-of-employee-experience/#1af202ae1c8f
  • Zelenski, J.M., Murphy, S.A. and Jenkins, D.A. (2008), ―The happy-productive worker thesis revisited‖, Journal of Happiness Studies, 9 (4), 521-537.
  • Zuckerman, M. (1971). Dimensions of sensation seeking. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 36(1), 45–52.