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UK tech demonstrates resilience amid virus crisis

Tech Nation and Dealroom published a report for the Digital Economy Council. It highlights that investors are still active in the tech space, despite the challenges posed by COVID-19.

UK digital tech companies are still attracting investors and are still recruiting. Most of them declared being optimistic about their ability to navigate the crisis. On the investment side of things the UK outperforms all of its European neighbours.

The report shows that British tech companies are resilient with tens of thousands of jobs advertised in cities across the UK in 2019 and the start of 2020, with salaries continuing to grow well-above inflation in almost all regions.

London leads the way and is a global tech leader with London-based companies raising $4bn since the start of January, more than Paris, Stockholm, Berlin and Tel Aviv combined. But other regions including Scotland are also doing well with Glasgow and Edinburgh leading the way.

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden said:

“The UK’s tech sector has shown resilience in these challenging times and the levels of investment in the year to date have consolidated our Europe-leading position.

“We have a vast pool of talent in the country’s digital and tech firms who have played a big part in supporting communities across the UK and beyond throughout the pandemic and I applaud them for their ongoing efforts.

“The government will continue to champion and support the sector as it navigates the months to come as we step up our Coronavirus recovery plans. We will back entrepreneurs, encourage innovators and help businesses make the most out of the opportunities the digital and tech world provides.”

 

UK’s position of strength

The UK’s tech sector went into the coronavirus crisis in February in a strong position. From January to the end of May, tech companies raised $5.3bn, compared to a total raised in the rest of Europe of $4.1bn. However, there are concerns that many of these deals were agreed in principle before the onset of the virus, which has reset expectations. Capital inflows in the second half of the year are unlikely to be as strong as those in 2019, itself a record year.

 

In April, the Government unveiled its Future Fund of £250m of matched funding for startups, so that tech companies which are typically loss-making could access support. Equity backed small businesses right across the UK are developing vital innovative products and services that have the capacity to help the growth of our economy in the months ahead as we emerge into economic recovery. Yet many of these businesses need further support and investment to withstand the impact of the coronavirus crisis to ensure that they can survive and successfully continue to build and commercialise their innovations.

However, startups are fragile businesses and recent data gathered from 200+ companies for the venture capital community shows that:

  • Two-thirds expected revenues to drop by more than a quarter

  • 39% of business to consumer companies saw March revenues drop by over 50%

  • A third of companies have slowed hiring, while almost a half have frozen hiring

  • Two-fifths of companies believe they have less than 12 months of funds

Gerard Grech, chief executive of Tech Nation: “Many businesses are adapting and innovating to support the fight against coronavirus, demonstrating the resilience and resourcefulness of the UK tech sector. Although we are seeing many tech companies closing key rounds of funding, the picture is being monitored closely at Tech Nation, especially across different parts of the country, where access to finance may not be as strong. These findings today confirm that the UK is well positioned to face the challenges that lie ahead and leave Covid-19 in a position of strength.”

Diversity up, Inclusion down – Business Impact & Solution

Let’s start with an existential question – why do we even exist as human beings?

An ultimate accomplishment is to have complete and unhindered self-expression. For most of humanity, this happens best in the context of love, respect and belonging since it makes us feel safe and courageous. We also know that the opposite of courage is not fear, it is conformity. And conformity suppresses creativity and self expression.

Honest D&I is an organization’s way of saying “I love you and I respect you” and leaders have the highest leverage and impact of anyone. For some time this has been a space where the answer to the question of being a company that believes in and practices D&I was “we think so”. It does not have to be that way anymore. People Analytics and in particular ONA (organization network analysis) is a tool companies can use effectively, at a relatively low cost in relation to ROI, to visualize, measure and constantly make increments. We will get to this a little later.

 

Diversity Doesn’t Stick Without Inclusion

As per HBR, “Diversity” and “Inclusion” are so often lumped together that they’re assumed to be the same thing. But that’s just not the case. I”‹n the context of the workplace, diversity equals representation. Without inclusion, however, the crucial connections that attract diverse talent, encourage their participation, foster innovation, and lead to business growth won’t happen. Numerous studies”‹ show that diversity alone doesn’t drive inclusion. In fact, without inclusion there’s often a diversity backlash.

As noted diversity advocate ”‹Vernā Myers”‹ puts it, “”‹ Diversity is being invited to the party. Inclusion is being asked to dance.”

McKinsey has been researching this domain for numerous years. The findings below emerge from their largest data set so far, encompassing 15 countries and more than 1,000 large companies. They have incorporated a “social listening” analysis of employee sentiment in online reviews and their findings highlight that companies should pay much greater attention to inclusion, even when they are relatively diverse.

Diversity – Key Takeaways:

  1. Likelihood of outperformance continues to be higher for diversity in ethnicity than for gender – a substantial differential likelihood of outperformance””48 percent””separates the most from the least gender-diverse companies.
  2. The greater the representation of women, the higher the likelihood of outperformance; Companies with more than 30 percent women executives were more likely to outperform companies where this percentage ranged from 10 to 30,
  1. companies in the top quartile for gender diversity on executive teams were 25 percent more likely to have above-average profitability
  2. despite the awareness, there is a widening gap between D&I leaders and companies that have yet to embrace diversity; the representation of ethnic-minorities on UK and US executive teams stood at only 13 percent in 2019, up from just 7 percent in 2014
  3. In 2019, fourth-quartile companies for gender diversity on executive teams were 19 percent more likely than companies in the other three quartiles to underperform on profitability””up from 15 percent in 2017 and 9 percent in 2015.

Diversity without inclusion is a story of missed opportunities. Here are some key takeaways from McKinsey’s outside-in research using “social listening,” focusing on sentiment in employee reviews of their employers posted on US-based online platforms. While this approach is indicative, rather than conclusive, it could provide a more candid read on inclusion than internal employee-satisfaction surveys do

Inclusion – Key Takeaways:

  1. While overall sentiment on diversity was 52 percent positive and 31 percent negative, sentiment on inclusion was markedly worse, at only 29 percent positive and 61 percent negative.
  2. For the three indicators of inclusion””equality, openness, and belonging”” their research found particularly high levels of negative sentiment about equality and fairness of opportunity.
  3. Negative sentiment about equality ranged from 63 to 80 percent across the industries analyzed. Negative sentiment about openness ranged from 38 to 56 percent
  4. Belonging elicited overall positive sentiment, but from a relatively small number of mentions.

HBR research finds that employees with inclusive managers are 1.3 times more likely to feel that their innovative potential is unlocked. And therefore employees who are able to bring their whole selves to work (i.e. who feel included) are 42% less likely to say they intend to leave their job within a year.

Societal Context

Let’s zoom out for a second into a wider societal context. Over 9 million people in the UK ”“ almost a fifth of the population ”“ say they are always or often lonely. The Brits may not be the only ones feeling this way. The overuse of technology is a cause of depression, social anxiety and a lack of meaningful connections. And if we add to this lack of feeling included at work, what kind of a society will we end up creating? This impacts everyone – our own partners, kids, parents. With only a handful of aware individuals (leadership), a world of good can be created in society.

Not only it D&I is right from a humane perspective, but data not only suggests that it makes a good deal of business sense; organizations with the D&I”‹ esprit de corps’”‹ position themselves for business success by attracting the right kind of talent and making them feel like they are in the right place. This spurs safety, feeling cared for and as a result the release of the creative genie out of the bottle for out of the box thinking, non-conformist thinking and exemplary performance. The stats are above to make the business case.

Using Organization Network Analysis for insights into D&I to track and report progress

For some time this has been a space where the answer to the question of being a company that believes in and practices D&I was “we think so”. With Organization Network Analysis (ONA), it does not have to be that way anymore! ONA can be used not only to measure diversity but also to measure network activity and analyze the immersion of different employees across the organization

With ONA, you can map and analyze patterns of interaction across relationship networks of every employee, so Diversity & Inclusion leaders can understand where differences exist in specific groups of employee’s networks in different hierarchies.

Even relatively diverse companies face significant challenges in creating work environments characterized by inclusive leadership and accountability among managers, equality and fairness of opportunity, and openness and freedom from bias and discrimination. However with the right tools, technology and data, you can measure the impact of your various D&I initiatives and make required improvements on an objective basis.

Puneet Sachdev is International Director, Human Capital at The Singularity Lab. The Singularity Lab is an integrated human capital consultancy, helping technology companies achieve exponential results by attracting and retaining top talent and creating high performing inclusive cultures based on data, design and technology. Learn more about our”‹ ”‹ONA solution”‹ for D&I.

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Mental Health in the workplace under COVID-19

Coronavirus is inevitably something which has affected us all. It has affected how we feel, how we work, and how we live. We want you to know that no matter how you are feeling during this time, you are 100% not alone. You are completely normal. You are acting like a fully functional human being reacting to threat, and we are all hardwired to do this.

So what is the hardwiring of humans that makes us feel anxious, irritable, and unmotivated during this worldwide pandemic? We explore what roles various parts of the brain have to play in our reactions to this threat. We are hopeful that by gaining an understanding of these functions, we can recognise and respond in ways that will work more effectively for us.

None of us really have any control over the coronavirus spread, or the economic situation. But we can act to help ourselves. We believe that through having structure and routine; acknowledging our thoughts and feelings; practicing mindfulness; becoming aware of our breathing; taking care of our physical needs; and considering our personal values, that we all might be able to take some steps towards improving our mental health during these times.

Below you can find our blog around Mental Health and how OK Positive can help with supporting you individually and your company.

Read the blog here

Coronavirus, Autism and Fintech

The Coronavirus crisis has led to the largest move to remote working that anyone has ever seen, with many companies switching to homeworking almost overnight. I have witnessed some surprising lessons on the power of neurodiversity in a crisis like this.

Autism and the fintech opportunity

When we founded auticon in 2011 we believed that diversity is a strength that enhances problem-solving ability. Neurodiverse people often excel at business intelligence, quality-assurance, test automation and complex software development projects. They have unique cognitive strengths: attention to detail, a systematic way of working, logical analysis, pattern recognition, error detection and sustainable concentration for routine activities.

Autistic individuals are equally capable of excelling in STEM subjects and many achieve degrees or advanced qualifications. However, in a recent survey of more than 3,000 technology leaders, IT outsourcer Harvey Nash and auditing firm KPMG found that 67% reported that a skills shortage was preventing their organisation from keeping up with the pace of change. Autistic people are often overlooked or not considered as a source of talent, with some studies showing that up to 90% are either unemployed or underemployed.

The fintech sector is one that could benefit massively from onboarding neurodiverse people with STEM related skills and above average attention to details.

Autism and homeworking

Prior to the coronavirus crisis, most consultants at auticon worked from client sites or from our offices.  That seemed to be the best way to make sure everyone performed at their best. Autistic workers like consistency in their office environment and routines. We employ Job Coaches to work closely with our consultants.  They suggest adaptations to work environment, smooth out any bumps and ensure that our consultants are set up for success.  They are also on hand to support our clients.

We had to change all of this when the coronavirus struck and on 23rd March, we matched our clients and transitioned all of our team to homeworking. Fortunately, everyone already had laptops and mobile devices, so we didn’t have to worry about the technology part of the equation. Our main concern was whether we could maintain productivity.

Overall, this has gone better than we hoped. Traditional managers at many organisations may worry that team members who work from home may not put in the same level of focus or be able to meet deadlines. We never have to worry about this.  Autistic people tend to be very direct and honest. If you ask them if they are being productive working from home, they will tell you the truth. (If they were watching Netflix, they will tell you that, too.)

auticon consultant, Kyle Walker says he actually prefers working remotely as for him, the most stressful part of his day was the bus journey to his client’s office.  With that out of the equation, Kyle is very happy and probably a little more productive on his client’s project.

The tech tools we used for remote communication, such as Slack, Zoom and Microsoft Teams, also work very well for us. Autistic people often prefer to interface via a precise text or email. Verbal or face-to-face conversations, which involve body language and emotional expression, can be more subjective and challenging. Some of our consultants who aren’t comfortable making eye contact in person found that they were able to do so on Zoom calls, giving them a new way to connect.

The Coronavirus challenge and opportunities

We have seen additional business opportunity during the coronavirus crisis. Going virtual has meant our global operation is working together more closely, leveraging a much deeper resource pool with specific technical capabilities in near real time. We are working across multiple time zones to assist clients with rapid deployment in a very cost-effective way. This global virtualisation may have taken us months or years to realise prior to the crisis.

Having a team capable of working very effectively from home is powerful. Beyond the current coronavirus lockdown, many organisations will rely much more on remote working and need to have a workforce that’s capable of doing this effectively. In auticon’s experience, hiring more autistic people is an answer. Not only does it bring more diverse thinking to a team but it is also an ideal way to make sure that you are staffed up with people who naturally excel at remote work.

Written by Emma Walker, Regional Manager ”“ auticon Scotland

Auticon provides a neurodiverse and agile workforce to improve clients information technology projects predominantly in areas such as Data Science, Quality Assurance and Cyber Security.

www.auticon.co.uk

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Time to secure our emails

In February I wrote about the growing awareness of cybercrime targeting the financial services and the industry’s need ”“ and I would say duty ”“ to help protect consumers and businesses against this invidious problem which has been growing year-on-year. Little did we know at that point what was coming down the line.

The current crisis in which we find ourselves ”“ with the public fearful of the pandemic and businesses having to enable staff to work from home ”“ have made both even more vulnerable to cybercrime. Cybercriminals are playing on not only people’s fears around the Covid-19 pandemic but also the unprecedented need for staff to work from home, stretching companies’ communications channels and security systems.

Regulators, including the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and The Pensions Regulator (TPR), have issued warning statements on cybercrime and scams, a clear indicator of the seriousness with which they take this issue and the extent to which it is a problem ”“ see FCA: https://www.fca.org.uk/news/news-stories/avoid-coronavirus-scams/.

Incidences of scams, like phishing and smishing’ ”“ i.e. when criminals use emails or text messages to impersonate individuals or organisations to trick people into giving away their personal and financial information or money ”“ are reported to have increased notably over the past few weeks as the Coronavirus has taken hold.

At the same time, the need for data and information, including that of a personal and confidential nature, to move outside of companies’ security systems, has increased the risks for businesses, including that their communications will be intercepted.

For the financial services industry, this risk has been exacerbated by the end of the tax year and the need to meet tax and investment planning deadlines, which has meant advice firms have needed to get client requests and information to platforms and providers in the most expedient way.

As you might expect, most communications are by email, particularly between adviser and client, because that is the most familiar, fastest and easiest channel to use.

As mentioned in my article in February, working with leading cyber security specialist Beyond Encryption, we have developed and launched a new encrypted email solution for the financial services industry, in particular aimed at protecting the communications between product providers, platforms, advisers and end clients.

So, to help financial advisers secure their email communications during the crisis, we’re providing two months free use of the Unipass Mailock premium service for our Unipass identity service users in advice firms. To take advantage of this, users simply enter a voucher code (2monthsfree’ via www.unipassmailock.com/) to get access and there is no automatic renewal and no payment information required to get started.

It is our way of helping the industry to tackle this particular issue which has been magnified by the current unprecedented crisis we are all experiencing.

I would add that in an industry where transmission of data is key, and emails are the primary communication channel and will remain so for the foreseeable future, now, more than ever, it is time to secure our emails.

Research – Why 4 in 10 businesses abandon banking applications?

A research by Scottish fintech Encompass shows that almost 40% of UK businesses have deliberately stopped an application for banking services in 2019 due to slow due diligence processes’.

200 companies took part in this survey which tool place after the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a £330bn rescue package to help UK companies through the Coronavirus situation.The results also show that companies plan to prioritise spending on cybersecurity over anti-financial crime compliance. Indeed, over 80% of firms said they were confident in their understanding of exposure to financial crime with the appropriate processes being implemented.

However, when looking at the data, just over 40% of them said they did not regularly put customers and suppliers through formal KYC processes and 60% of them hadn’t trained their collaborators on how to be compliant with the Fifth Money Laundering Directive (5MLD)

You can read the full research and more here.

How Fintech Will Shape The Future Of The Forex Market

Among mainstream investing opportunities that exist outside of the stock markets, forex trading has long been a popular option. Today, this market is the most liquid in the world, and handles a massive amount of trading activity. But it’s also a market that has evolved over the years with some thanks to technology ”” which makes it one to watch as we observe how fintech continues to develop.

The earliest sign of technology helping to expand the forex market, aside from the actual beginning of the internet age, was perhaps the emergence of smartphones and the accompanying apps. Home Business wrote a piece just two years ago covering mobile tech’s effect on the world of investing. Basically, the idea is that the connectivity phones now provide give investors unceasing access to financial markets, which in turn leads to greater liquidity and volatility. This is absolutely the case in the forex market, which traders tap into from all over the world at all hours of the day.

Alongside the involvement of mobile devices, investment markets have also seen the rise of a growing number of accessible tools and analysis that can simplify the trading process (and in some cases even make it easier to generate gains). For instance, the same article from Home Business pointed out that mobile algorithms and applications are now available, and can often provide automated glimpses of the best trading strategies. And regarding forex specifically, FXCM shows how readily available profit calculators can now provide near-instantaneous clarification of the profit and loss potential of any given trade. This enables investors to make mathematically strategic decisions far more efficiently than in the past.

These are all examples of tech’s increasingly large role in investments, and in the forex market in particular. And while they don’t necessarily fit into what we now think of as fintech, they helped to pave the way for some of the fintech-related changes we’re beginning to see in how the modern forex market actually functions.

For an existing example, we can turn to our overview of Fexco, which is currently one of the world’s most established fintech companies. Fexco includes foreign exchange sectors among the areas it provides services to, and specifically helps to facilitate cheaper and more reliable transactions. It does so, as we noted in the overview, via the PayDirect portal, which is certified for information security. In simple terms, this is an example of tech-based secure transfer enhancing the appeal of forex transactions.

In the near future, we may see more examples like this, including some that take advantage of newer and more innovative pay transfer technologies. Specifically, it’s become increasingly likely that banks and private companies facilitating forex trades are going to take advantage of the blockchain. Business Insider spoke about this last year, making a note that HSBC had already “settled $250 billion in FX trades” using the blockchain in 2018. That’s an almost shockingly large number that would seem to indicate that this method of transfer is well on its way to widespread use. And the blockchain, some would argue, is the very definition of modern fintech.

As we look forward, there’s no reason to suspect anything but a deepening relationship between fintech and the forex market. Traders will continue to use the devices, tools, applications, and algorithms made available to them to make smarter and more informed decisions. And the investments themselves will continue to be carried out via the most secure and efficient technological methods.

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Getting the Banking Balance Right

When we hear about the work that FinTech Scotland facilitates, it excites us at Verimatrix. It wasn’t long ago that our Scottish operation was a start-up called Metaforic, trying to find its way into the ”“ then emerging ”“ world of Fintech. The community that FinTech Scotland is building would have been valuable to us then ”“ just as it is highly valuable now.

Of course, the Fintech community in Scotland isn’t just start-ups. We have a proud and established financial industry – the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) ranks Edinburgh 7th in Europe and the top 30 globally.

It’s this mix, coupled with building the right community, that gives Scotland the right balance to build a strong and sustainable Fintech industry. Start-ups can learn from the experience and industry-reach of more established players. The established players ”“ now increasingly competing with the tech giants ”“ can benefit from the agility and fresh ideas developed on their doorsteps.

For Fintechs, another area to get the banking balance right is security. There’s no getting away from the need to secure your products and solutions.

 

When Fintech emerged as a sector in its own right, it had the luxury of playing on the edge of the financial space.  That meant, in most cases, Fintechs were out of the scope of financial regulation. Over time, this has changed for two reasons:

  • Fintechs are increasingly seen as partners of established players;
  • Regulation has caught up with the evolving finance market.

 

So, what does working in partnership with banks and other established players mean for your security needs?

First, it means raised expectation levels. Services that are sold or resold by banks come with an implied trust associated with them. That trust has been hard won over centuries and is easily lost. As a partner of a bank, you gain some of that trust, but you are also expected to maintain it.

 

Second, it means being able to demonstrate that you’ve meet your new partners’ security “check boxes”. Through any procurement or partnership discussion with a bank or large financial institute, there will be security hoops to jump through. Being ready for these hoops not only makes the process easier, it also demonstrates to your new partner that you are a credible organisation.

 

What has changed with regulations and legislation?

The biggest changes are the new open banking regulations ”“ requiring banks to open up their platforms to third parties. We see this in Europe through PSD2, and similar changes are happening around the globe. These changes can be seen as legitimising Fintech.

Of course, with legitimacy comes responsibility and Fintechs increasingly come under the scope of financial services’ regulation. Though this can be seen as adding short-term burdens to Fintechs, these regulations also offer mid and long-term opportunities. The regulations aren’t in place just for fun, they exist to protect consumers. For Fintechs to become long-term sustainable and credible companies, this is something they need to be doing anyway.

The open banking regulations have emerged in parallel to tougher consumer privacy legislation. In Europe, GDPR is certainly the buzzword; and just as with open banking, we see similar trends around the world.

Open banking regulations aren’t something to be feared, and neither is consumer privacy legislation. These changes in regulation are all about doing the right thing. We’d argue that rather than be a burden, the legislation actually gives Fintechs a framework to guide their security thinking.

 

Read more on Verimatrix’s thoughts on GDRP and PSD2

 

Where should you focus?

Balance is key. The security required by Fintechs shouldn’t become an overloading burden. It’s about taking sensible steps while allowing your organisation to focus on the fun stuff”” building exciting products.

Our first recommendation is to build a “security as usual” culture from day one. It’s hard to make the change later, so make it everyone’s responsibility from the start to consider security as you build your products and services. This makes it a low level, non-disruptive activity rather than something forced upon the organisation down the road.

The second recommendation is to choose the right security. Take the time to understand what your valuable assets are and then choose Friendly Security solutions to protect them. Friendly Security means security that is trustworthy, mature and proven; but is also low impact to implement.

This is where Verimatrix can help. Our Software Shielding products are designed to protect the code, data and services in any mobile app you develop, all the while being easy and straightforward for your development teams to apply. We take this to extremes with our recently launched ProtectMyApp service.

These are exciting times for the Scottish Fintech industry; and it is critical that the community Fintech Scotland is building up establishes the right balance for long-term success.

Scotland’s recruiters working with fintechs

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Scotland’s fintech scene is getting more and more exciting. The local fintech startups have been growing and multiplying at a fast pace, increasing the number of fintech businesses by 60% in numbers. Scotland is becoming a leader in the fintech industry, based not only on the number of fintech startups but their success rate and demand from the public for more fintech services. There is still a lot that can be done to help boost the industry across the nation and it seems like Scotland fintech scene’s big break is just around the corner.

The U. K’s fintech scene has been developing at the fastest across Europe, and now there are many prominent examples of highly successful fintech startups that are operating from the U.K. Just to cite an example, recently InsideTrade.co reported that Revolut has become the most valued fintech out there.

Core-Asset Consulting is now looking to expand its fintech offering, and it plans to do so by joining forces with the tech recruiters across the nation. Core-Asset Consulting is a firm that operates in Scotland’s finance, accountancy, asset management, and legal industries and has an impressive portfolio of clients. Over the last year, the company has become more proactive towards its approach to the fintech scene and has set out a goal to incorporate the industry as much as possible into its day-to-day activities. 

Exploring the potential of fintech for Scotland

This is an important move for all fintech startups and those thinking of getting into this industry because this means that the well-established companies are now seeing the potential that the fintech industry holds and want to become a part of it as soon as possible. It will not only help to create more opportunities for the new startups but it will also help with establishing the industry as a legit source of growth and income that holds real potential for the future of finance. 

Every major company in Scotland is either building a team of tech professionals or already has one up and going. Hundreds of new jobs might be appearing across Scotland, as the nation aims to become a tech hub. 

Core-Asset’s move was no coincidence either. When speaking with the media, founder and managing director of the company, Betsy William pointed out that the recent changes to contracting law made the company a great fit for smaller recruiters. The changes will directly affect the areas where small specialist tech recruiters do the most work. Because of this update, the demand for companies like Core-Asset will be increasing, hence the requirement to take advantage of the opportunity to make the collaboration between Core-Asset and fintech much easier. 

Another important development that made this decision easier for Core-Assets was the recently signed partnership between FinTech Alliance and Fintech Scotland, which will make making connections between different fintech across countries and within the U.K much easier. 

It looks like Scotland is creating an environment where fintech can develop at a much faster pace and well-established companies are trying to help out newer ones along the way.

There is a lot of potential in this industry and it could become one of the main sources of income from Scotland.

Designing your Employee Experience

Photo by Startup Stock Photos from Pexels

Blog written by Puneet Sachdev, Human Capital Expert from Singularity Labs

These days everything needs to have an X’ in it, isn’t it, especially in the tech world! Not too long ago, you would have struggled to find too many words starting with the letter X’.Today, we see X pinned to any number of products and expressions as a sign of some undefined cachet!

EX in one word – Empathy 

EX in one sentence – It is wider than employee engagement, it covers a wide range of activities that influence your employee’s perceptions of your company”“good or bad.

Airbnb

As the ex-Head of Employee Experience for Airbnb, it is Mark Levy who defined the expression ’employee experience’ and gave currency to the way we tend to emulate it today. He questioned “If Airbnb had a Customer Experience Group, why not create an Employee Experience Group?” And the rest is history! Mark has a background in Service Design that posits empathy and experimentation to arrive at innovative solutions. This was one of the key lenses that drove the employee experience philosophy. The internal experience of the employee will have a direct knock-on effect on the customer experience. 

The context today

The Millennial mindset is permeating the entire workforce. As this latest generation has established itself in the workforce, its expectations for workforce flexibility, use of mobile tools and enhanced performance feedback have spread to other generations. 

Employees are approaching the workplace as consumers. Individuals want the same experiences in the workplace that they have as consumers, such as having the use of simple, intuitive technology, the ability to rate and share opinions about products and services, and direct access to decision makers.

Today, the research has found that a number of factors shape employee experience, including: the formation and development of work-based connections and relationships, the design and ongoing use of employees’ physical work environments, and the tools and social platforms employees use to accomplish work-related activities

The components of an employee’s experience

  1. Physical – the interaction employees have with their physical environment. The workspace they find themselves in and how inspiring that is. The design of the workplace can impact mental states.
  2. Emotional – the interaction that employees have in the workplace setting and social settings with their colleagues, their line managers and the leadership. Feeling a sense of belonging within a community, being taken care of and respected are all important factors. 
  3. Mental – the quality of work, the mental stimulation, the flexibility to create and the caliber of peers makes up the mental component. 

Eventually it will all have an emotional impact, we are talking about an experience’ after all. The actions you as an organization will take (or not take) will vote for one or the other – we value and respect you or we do not. 

The aspects to consider in developing the employee experience 

Employer Value Proposition (EVP) – Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start, when you sing you begin with Do Re Mi and when you EX you begin with EVP!

The first expressions of employee experience begin when you define your Culture DNA – the vision / purpose, mission and values, values in particular as they set the tone for internal interactions. The employer value proposition is your people’ promise, and this shapes the employee experience your organization will deliver to your people. It is a key reason why you will attract the right people into your organization in the first place and will be the standard by which your employees and prospects will evaluate you as a leadership team and as an organization. You can read articles I have written about EVP here

On-Boarding – On-boarding is a high leverage opportunity to culturally integrate employees and set the standard for the employee experience new joiners will have. Making the new hires feel welcome and prepared for their jobs will create a lasting impression in their hearts and minds and setting them and the organization up for success. Organization’s with a robust onboarding process experience 62% greater new hire productivity, along with 50% greater new hire retention. 

Nature and Quality of Work  – a major component of employee experience is the extent to which individuals feel they can influence their work, build mastery and understand their work’s overall purpose. The sense of self-determination and autonomy. Employees want to know how the work they do fits into the team goals and how they contribute to the organization’s larger mission.  

Possession of relevant knowledge or expertise, access to additional information or experts as needed, and availability of timely feedback ”“ either from managers or automated systems””can significantly shape the employee experience. Role specifications, performance management, career development, feedback loops, leadership communication all become key processes here. 

Tools and Social Platforms – the design of the physical equipment that houses the software is key. Is it easy to access and use under daily work conditions? Software design can also have a lasting impact on satisfaction and productivity. Is there single sign-on? How may clicks does it take to get to the right screen? Employees expect intuitive and easy to use systems be it for booking leave or collaborating on a project. 

Increasingly, companies are using social platforms internally to support organizational innovation, expertise location and knowledge sharing, and to help employees connect to others across in different time zones. These social platforms provide a common environment where employees can find relevant insights and identify hidden pockets of expertise or emerging employee issues. E.g. Slack, Jira etc.

The Environment – experts assert that configuration and design of individual and team workspaces are a critical component of employee experience. Physical workspace design can also impact employee wellness, as properly designed ergonomics can reduce employee stress and limit physical injury. 

Social Impact – this is almost becoming a must have’ driven by the Millennial generation, and is a growing factor in considering and continuing work with employers. Not one to be overlooked. Installing ethical business practices and projects to impact the community organizations are a part and providing opportunities for employees to make a contribution impact this aspect. It enhances their sense of purpose and contribution adding to the employee experience they have. 

Business Strategy and Culture – an organization must consider each of these facets of employee experience in light of overall business goals and culture. The business goals and objectives of a start-up may be quite different from a multi-national, from a hotel chain. For a hospitality company, the need to provide high-quality guest services may serve as a guiding principle in the design of employee experience; for an oil company, the emphasis may be on occupational safety. Clearly defining these underlying tenets is necessary to designing experiences that not only match the needs of the individual, but are aligned with organizational priorities. 

Here is the thing, if you want to deliver world class to your customers, have your employees experience world class internally so they know what it feels like. Then delivering world-class will be the standard. 

Your Purpose Partners’ in the delivery of Employee Experience in your organizations

The HR team of course. In addition, enter Line Managers or the people managers as they are being called in many of the growing tech companies we consult with. They have the keys to the organization i.e. manage the workforce, budgets and various other organizational resources. Three key things to bear in mind here: 

1) Managers in your organization have an understanding of your employer value proposition, your employee experience philosophy and are empowered for it’s fulfilment. 

2) Managers have complete clarity on their role and the expectations and especially in their responsibilities towards their team members. For example how do they best on-board new team members, how do they performance manage, how do they recognize their team etc. 

3) Being educated and up-skilled on the different kinds of conversations they will be expected to have with their team and peers e.g. day one conversation, week one conversation, performance conversations etc. Manager conversations and behaviours are a critical factor that creates the experience of the rest of the workforce. 

How can you design your Employee Experience:

Use Analytics – tune into the voice of customer’. The customers being your employees. You can turn to traditional HR surveys or any other semi-structured processes you have in place to gather and analyze data. 

Create employee personas and map the journey – an employee persona is essentially a semi-fictional representation of a group of employees with similar traits, experiences and behaviors. They’re based on the data and insights you have into the individuals that make up your workforce and brings them to life by building a narrative around them.

Invest in key touch points where employee experience has the greatest impact – you have now created the personas and mapped the journey. Identify the moments that matter most to them through their lifecycle which will cover pre-joining, on-boarding, working as a part of a team, performance, career development, exit. Making changes to employee experience often requires investment. Use the data you have generated to prioritize and guide your decisions. Ask your employees, they will tell you. 

Here is a good article by Qualtrics that covers employee personas and journey mapping.  

Cross functional EX group – some organizations we have consulted for have used cross-functional employee groups very effectively to stay engaged with employees, to continue to generate insights via face to face conversations and other processes. 

The employee experience is holistic. It covers a wide range of activities that influence your employee’s perceptions of your company”“good or bad. Mapping the experience of employees is a challenging task and requires a lot of effort. But the prize is too tempting for you not to care.

Ready or not? Questions worth asking yourself:  

  1. How does your current employee experience affect the attraction and retention of critical job roles within your organization? 
  2. How could improving your employee experience increase productivity within your organization? 
  3. To what extent does your employee experience influence your customer experience?
  4. Who has primary responsibility for designing employee experience within your organization? How does a person or team bring others together to address employee experience issues? 
  5. What types of analytics are you using to evaluate the effectiveness of your employee experience?

This article has been an output based on my own experience, conversations and online research. IBM, Qualtrics and Deloitte have been very useful sources.   

Me and my colleagues at Singularity Labs specialise in designing interventions that solve People and Culture challenges and help creating engaging and High Performing Environments. We have worked across multiple industries and geographies and more recently with growing tech companies such as Nucleus Financial (Fintech) and Craneware (Healthcare Tech).

Resources:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jacobmorgan/2016/02/01/global-head-employee-experience-airbnb-rid-of-human-resources/#118986f77c4e – Mark Levy, Airbnb employee personas and journey mapping.  – employee personas and journey mapping, Qualtrics