Ask the expert: Talent management

What your business can learn about employee experience

Q Why should financial decision-makers focus on employee experience?

A Companies that create exceptional experiences for employees see exceptional results. Did you know that 43% of businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees agree that employee satisfaction is a top challenge? Unmotivated employees can have a negative impact on company performance. This is ever more challenging with increasingly dispersed workforces, and the cost of replacing skilled staff is more expensive than you would imagine. Consequently, these challenges can hurt a firm’s bottom line.

Q What results can business leaders expect to see when they focus on employee experience?

A When business leaders understand the importance of employee experience, they typically see a high rate of engagement along with a 17% increase in productivity. Leaders have also experienced a lower turnover in their staff, which improves the customer’s experience. Above everything, they will start to see growth in their bottom line.

Q What pain points do businesses experience when they look to address employee experience?

A Retaining talent is a significant challenge for businesses with fewer than 1,000 employees. As a result of this, businesses look to attract talented employees by investing in time-saving tools. Sixty-eight per cent of firms consider using technology to improve efficiency and productivity to be an important strategic objective.

Q How can technology contribute to employee satisfaction?

A For most of us, working from home has become the new norm and, with tech-savvy Millennials making up more and more of the job market, ensuring that our employees have the right tools and processes is critical. These workers expect businesses to provide technology that enables them to deliver their best work and are likely to look elsewhere if faced with labourious, manual tasks. To tackle this challenge, 67% of firms cited as a top objective enabling employees to focus on strategic work by reducing the time spent on mundane tasks.

Q As a business leader, what should be your goals for 2020?

A Investing in the right solutions can take the pressure off the employees and boost productivity. When asked about their overarching goals, many businesses cited objectives that are directly related to improving employee performance and the employee experience. About 69% of businesses cited gaining access to highly skilled talent as a top goal.

Adam Bazeley is a senior director at SAP Concur, with over eight years’ experience working with finance teams across the UK to solve their spend management challenges. Bazeley and his team ensure customers have the insight into employee spend to make better business decisions and comply with legislation, easing the burden of the travel, expenses, and supplier invoice process and enabling skilled employees to focus on strategic work by reducing time spent on mundane manual tasks.

SAP Concur drives a relentless pursuit of what’s possible into everyday travel, expense, and invoice processes — continuously developing new tools to automate and integrate them so your people get more done and you get more control. With SAP Concur solutions, you’ll move beyond yesterday’s tedious tasks to keep your business running at its best every day, from anywhere.