In June, we gathered our Future of Work Research Consortium members (virtually) to share insights and ideas about the future of People Experience – something many of us are re-examining in the light of the past year and the likelihood of a hybrid future.

A primary insight was the importance of personalisation and the way in which customer service experiences have influenced the expectations employees now have of their experience at work. Employees want to feel that their role, compensation package, ways of working and career path are tailored to them – but this needs to be achieved within the context of what the business needs. More work needs to be done to understand where experiences need to remain consistent to meet business requirements and where it can flex to ensure employees have autonomy and choice. Delivering on these different experiences will require a range of approaches from employers, and a deep understanding of how people experience works at an individual level. This has huge implications for people processes, which will have to start evolving from the administrative to the interactive.

One area that many may have overlooked is behaviours. All of our behaviours have changed over the past year, but are all the new habits we’ve acquired positive ones? And are we still rewarding outdated behaviours that no longer have the same significance or impact? Redefining how we measure and reward behaviours is crucial to making new experiences stick.

Finally, we started to explore the fundamental characteristics of people experience – the points of continuity between old and new. Both were based around connecting people to the organisation and to each other, through shared moments and meaningful interaction with their managers. Managers were seen as especially pivotal, with more senior support needed to help them inhabit their role as connectors.

Are you interested in reshaping your people experience? Then you may be interested in the Future of Work Research Consortium, led by Prof. Lynda Gratton. Contact Anna to learn more.