Worker experience: The other experience worth our attention

There is one statistic we probably already know: Millennials (age 15-35) now make up the largest percentage of the U.S. workforce. If you observe any workplace today even without extensive research you can easily validate that statistic. Certainly, there is a great deal noted in what we read and what we listen to about how these workers come with an entirely new set of expectations for their workplace. With the influx of this generation into our workforce, “worker experience” is now becoming as important as one of our favorite phrases—customer experience. There is no doubt that the Millennials in the workforce today have high expectations regarding what their work environment should be like, bringing work values different than the previous generations.

A Forbes article written on Millennials in the workforce stated that 88 percent of Millennials prefer a collaborative work culture. Additionally, they want to work in a place where they can make a difference. They want managers who give them room for self-expression and give them autonomy. This may seem a little idealistic (or even unrealistic) to anyone who has been in the workforce a long time. Many longstanding employees view work as a place where they can advance and make more money. However, for the Millennial demographic, money is no longer the main driver. Meaningful work is.

So what does that mean for the credit union industry? Actually, a lot. If the term “worker experience” is becoming as popular as our attention to customer experience, then not only do we need to worry about providing the best tools to meet our members’ needs, we need to provide them to our employees as well. There is a driving importance for businesses to transform the work experience not only to make this new group of workers more likely to stick around, but to make work more efficient as well.

If the technology you have in place today does not allow for the expectations of the Millennial workers referenced above—the need to be in a collaborative environment and to be more involved in the planning, creation, and delivery of the work they are producing—you may be missing an advantage for both your employees and your members. Having the ability to give employees (of all ages) control over the messaging and content of communications sent to members delivers huge benefits for both.

We know that technology can streamline communications in a way that improves the customer experience. However, having the right technology infrastructure can also improve the worker experience by eliminating the frustration among marketing and business users, who complain that making even simple changes in customer communications they want to send can take weeks or months—and often requires a great deal of red tape and micro-management to get the job done. What’s more, Millennials choose to use more cloud-based technologies in their daily lives because manipulating hard to use, antiquated applications built when their parents were their age only serves to hinder the worker experience they are seeking. Giving today’s employees the ability to create and deliver relevant communications to members when they want them, and how they want them, puts the responsibility for all your credit union communications where it belongs—in the hands of those employees who are closest to the members’ needs.

We are in a world where everything is evolving daily and we are re-imagining everything in business including how we deliver our messages, how we create content and how we get people what they want when they want it. We have a new workforce that gets it. If we put the right technology in their hands and let them go to work, everyone wins.

Nick Romano

Nick Romano

Nick Romano specializes in business process reengineering for enterprises migrating to new document delivery solutions. His primary expertise is on implementing messaging and personalization strategies, workflows and ROI tracking. Nick ... Web: www.prinova.com Details