Second only to hours spent sleeping, time spent at work accounts for the next largest portion of your life. It is estimated using traditional metrics* that we spend roughly 90,000 hours of our life working. But if only 5% of hours worked are ‘milestone moments’, that leaves an incredibly high 95% of ‘business as usual’ moments. Once we have accounted for the milestone moments there’s not too many other ‘moments’. Or are there?
What are milestone moments?
The conventional employee work-related milestones include hiring, onboarding, performance reviews, promotions and retiring (or exiting the company). These moments are not only important to employees, but to employers as well, as they offer a chance to recognise and celebrate the contributions of their people. Company milestones examples include anniversaries of years operating, big wins (awards or industry recognition) and end of year celebrations (financial or calendar).
Current thinking isn’t as restrictive and broadens it to ‘Moments that Matter’. Gartner’s HR-focused definition is ‘the moments that impact an employee’s organisational experience most significantly throughout their day, year and career.’
Moments that matter
This wider concept acknowledges companies have a HUMAN workforce rather than just workers. Understanding that your employees are humans with lives outside of work is key to enhancing the employees’ feeling of belonging. It allows celebrations or acknowledgements for the person AS a person not purely work related moments. This may include birthdays, marriage or a new family member. It’s important for employers to acknowledge events (positive or negative) and help their employees navigate them.
Jacob Morgan extrapolates this idea further into specific, ongoing and created moments. This allows us to see it’s not only big moments that are worthy of recognition, but being mindful of the possibility of ongoing moments of importance.
How does this relate to Employee Experience?
It wasn’t long ago that employee engagement was the talk of the town. Much like other concepts, this is evolving. Enriching your people’s experience helps give more meaning to their work which also improves engagement.
There is a cross-over from the concept of moments that matter that feeds directly into that of employee experience (EX). Gallup says “The employee experience is the journey an employee takes with your organisation.” Having well defined moments that matter can help your EX.
With nearly one-third of our lives spent working, it’s safe to say that our jobs greatly impact our quality of life and general wellbeing. That’s why we believe every company has a shared responsibility to make sure their people are happy, or at the very least engaged, in the work they are doing.
Creating personalised experiences
Some moments that matter may be more universal in nature while others are quite personal. One way to make moments count is by personalising the employee experience regardless of their type. Take the time to understand each employee as an individual and recognise their unique strengths and contributions to the company. It’s important to ask and not assume what is preferred as far as recognition. Some people may want certain things celebrated and others are happy for moments not to be acknowledged, or not done so publicly.
Where possible, customising the way in which moments are celebrated is equally important. Rather than a blanket approach, employers should tailor their approach to match the individual employee’s preferences.
With options galore, the many companies operating in this space can ensure gestures are received with the same intention they are given. In the current economic climate gift vouchers may be well received, whereas previously this may have fallen short.
A culture of recognition and celebration
Ingraining recognition and celebration into the company culture can also help create a great working community. This alone can be a factor in people wanting to work for your company. A culture of recognition also encourages employees to reach out and acknowledge their peers too. A genuine ‘thank you’ takes no time or cost and can make someone’s day, helping them feel valued as a person for their contribution.
Unsurprisingly recognition is a big driver of employee experience, engagement and feelings of being valued. It too needs to be genuine and specific. Let your people know exactly what they did well rather than just thanking them for doing their work.
In summary
Like the majority of life there is no one-size-fits-all approach that will work for all your people, and nor should there be. Moments that matter can sometimes be very emotional and personal; customisation is therefore the name of the game.
Creating personalised journeys makes the employee feel valued, gives them a strong sense of belonging and provides meaning to their work. Incorporating this into your culture helps change the equation from 5% of ‘milestone moments’ to ongoing moments that matter. You have a HUMAN workforce who are all unique and deserve to be recognised and celebrated as such.
*This is representative of a 40-hour work week with 2 week annual leave working ages 20-65. This of course does not represent everyone and possibly even less so now with flexible working arrangements.
For more information about how Humanico can help your company embrace it’s uniquely HUMAN side, get in touch with us below.
