Going deeper with EX will require data and lots of it. Assessing the indicators of impact, at all stages, is going to be crucial as the EX evolves. We need to keep company and people data together to in- form improvements to EX, both minor and major. Businesses world- wide also have an abundance of technology available to provide an intelligent EX enabled with tools and equipment that is geared up to provide a high-quality user experience. The design of any technology needs to be a major consideration. It’s one thing to introduce a sys- tem to help manage data or processes, it’s an entirely different thing to ensure it is well designed and is an enjoyable experience to use from the employee’s perspective. This is the change that is happening right now as HR and other functions start to empathize with employ- ees first, not last. How can we make things easier? Simpler? Seamless?
Enjoyable? Integrated? Connected? These questions have certainly not been high on the agenda previously within system implementa- tion, but they are now. Businesses have been counting the cost associ- ated with negative and cumbersome technology experiences within the EX. If it’s not good enough for your customers, it shouldn’t be good enough for your employees either. Companies are now chal- lenging themselves to deliver consumer-level experiences to employ- ees in relation to workplace tools and tech.
In my role as chairman of the UK Employee Experience Awards, I had the opportunity to visit River Island, the UK retail and fashion brand, which has recently launched its own internally designed app, River Island Virtual Academy (RIVA). As part of its mission to be- come a leading multichannel retailer, the brand has accelerated ef- forts on EX in recent years, including the successful scrapping of the annual appraisal, which was replaced by an approach centred on coaching and real-time feedback. This proved to be the catalyst to create a people experience team with a mandate to work more
holistically to develop the EX. RIVA is an initiative within the EX that provides a wide range of virtual learning experiences to staff at all levels, at any time. It includes podcasts, workshops, eBooks, vid- eos and tools to help people grow within their careers and life. This development complements and is aligned to their offline learning ap- proach and helps them deepen the learning experience on offer as part of its EX, but it’s not just improvements in the technology avail- able to staff that is helping develop the EX. Holistically, and strategi- cally, people analytics is coming into its own and is helping to elevate the EX in multiple ways and at multiple levels.
As introduced earlier in the book, one area of people analytics that has huge potential is ONA (organizational network analysis), which is a field that offers much promise especially for medium to larger organizations. The implications and uses from an EX perspective are vast. ONA is applied in practice by identifying and making sense of connections (and the value of them) within an organization. Who are the key influencers within a business? Who are the colleagues that help communication flow? How does decision-making, and its com- munication, really happen? How well, given the elements of HEX, are companies structured? The connection between people and im- pact has never been clearer and by harnessing the potential of this data through new technology, it is now possible to be more active around employee voice and actions. Surveys capture what people think. ONA captures what people do and how they influence their company. ONA software utilizes data that employees produce through email, social channels, communication flows, HR and pro- ductivity platforms, and surveys to visualize how things really work within an organization. This powerful map of the network then in- forms how we can effectively develop people and the organization, solving problems and designing solutions with employees directly.
Would it help a transformation programme if all the major influenc- ers and those who share the most information with colleagues were part of the co-creation process? Would it present the possibility to achieve smoother and well-supported change projects? This is the opportunity that ONA presents. Even smaller organizations can em- brace the concept of ONA within their business operations, and it will be easier to assess and establish what’s really going on with people and the value of connection.
Some scenarios where ONA can add immense value could be to support understanding about:
●
● The true impact and effect that turnover has on teams.
●
● The effectiveness and design of organizational structures.
●
● Use and impact of spaces and places within the company.
●
● Organizational silos, blockers or communication black holes.
●
● How people receive and utilize information.
●
● The key influencers within a business.
●
● High performance within context, and key drivers of individual and team success.
●
● Brand activism and advocacy and its relationship within EX.
●
● High-impact employee communities and networks.
●
● How and where innovation happens within an organization.
●
● The real strength of connection between people, teams and leadership.
●
● The impact of leadership on EX.
●
● Developing high-potential talent pools.
The applications can vary, but as I set out at the outset of the book, facilitating EX is about connection, community and context. ONA helps take our understanding to a much deeper level, and as a direct result, we can iterate, intervene and enhance the EX more powerfully.
We can also start to figure out the true value of employee-centricity and building a strong community, but in some cases, the value is immediately clear.
CASE STUDY Deepening the EX at Haidilao
Haidilao is rightly considered a Chinese success story and a phenomenon.
Zhang Yong, the restaurant firm’s CEO, has built up the chain from a small booth in Sichuan Province, with a philosophy for employees and management based on changing your life using your own hands. The famous brand has proved what is
possible when leading in a people-centric way – putting employees and customers first. The EX reflects a responsible, autonomous and trusted workforce that has been consistently delivering exceptional CX outcomes.
There are many examples of internationally successful restaurant brands, and while China has exported its cuisine to every corner of the world, unlike the West, there hasn’t been any one Chinese company internationalize its approach with any great scale and impact. Haidilao looks all set to change that and has been busy deepening its employee-centric approach. The brand has 60,000 employees and 360+ outlets, of which 31 restaurants operate outside of China.
The company generated 10.6 billion yuan (US $1.6 billion) in revenue in 2017, up 36 per cent from a year earlier. It has tripled in size since 2015 serving over 100 million guests in China and globally (Haidilao, 2018a).
Amazing CX, amazing EX
In researching the brand, I found that the best evidence of why it has been so successful in capturing an intensely loyal and passionate customer base comes down to one element – its employees. The ‘best’ customer experiences are often validated by personal experience. I visited two of its restaurants in Ningbo and Shanghai to talk to staff about how the brand has developed its own unique approach to EX.
Waiters dancing with fresh pasta at your table, impromptu traditional theatre and music, easy and seamless tech-enabled service, and surprise gifts are just some of the experiences that keep customers talking and coming back for more.
But that’s just the dining experience. The pre-dining experience is equally as impressive with a range of services available to customers, for free, including snacks, board games, manicures, hand massages, movie screenings and play zones for the kids.
At each restaurant in China, you will find a huge queue of people waiting to sample its famous hot pot and unique service experience. The usual wait time for a table is a few hours. The chain of hot pot restaurants is one of the finest examples one can find in China of a company led by deep principles and long-held beliefs about the experience they wish to provide to their customers.
It is known for its iconic and extreme focus on customers, and the way it does that, through its employees, has also captured some notable headlines. The company exemplifies the principle I highlighted earlier – human obsession. The business has one of the highest employee retention rates in the industry and management turnover is rare, according to a Frost & Sullivan industry report (Haidilao, 2018b).
An employee-centric philosophy
A profit-sharing scheme with restaurant managers is cited as a key factor in the organization’s success. The company allocates 3 per cent of a restaurant’s profits to reward managers (Huddleston, 2018). While reward is important, it is the philosophy behind it that matters more, and continues to have a holistic impact on the outcomes of the company. Alongside a very competitive compensation package, Haidilao provides free accommodation, free meals, drinks and refreshments in shared employee apartments where bills are also covered. There are also social spaces for employees to relax and arrange social activities. Employees also benefit from education and parental allowances. This attention to detail and focus on the experience for employees is almost unheard of and it’s been evolving for several years.
Deepening the EX is often associated with a real competitive and
philosophical desire to create even more of an experience for customers as a route to growth. The future will point to automation, AI, big data and robotics as very real business imperatives to improve efficiency and outcomes for
businesses, but EX will also take centre stage within organizational life. Certainly, AI and advanced technology is already present within the CX and informs many aspects of Haidilao’s business including restaurant locations, staff allocation, inventory and food safety. The chain is advanced in its use of technology to determine decisions, but all that is in service to people.
Leading with kindness
What struck me about the EX at Haidilao is the way employees express themselves about what they feel is most important about the EX. Employees felt that they were surrounded by friendly, nice and fun people. This, in turn, led them to feel happy and this was the experience they passed on to customers. Again, this is not the happy-for-a-moment type of happiness, but rather the result of a well-designed and cultivated EX. In the hospitality sector, given the constant contact with customers, you would think that companies would make this a priority. Helping their employees grow and prosper within a supportive and kind community is exactly what makes Haidilao stand out – there is genuine sense of happiness and people feel they are doing meaningful work, as it is treated as such internally. It’s an obsession with the human experience.
Structuring philosophy into EX
If you believe in autonomy and responsibility, how do you structure it in? If you stand for kindness, care and concern, how do you deepen this within a business?
If you believe in growth, how do you facilitate it for people? Haidilao understands that actions matter. There is no real business philosophy unless it is acted on, constantly. In structural terms, again Haidilao practises what it preaches.
Restaurant managers are given freedom to operate and experience very little interference from headquarters. In fact, the 300+ managers report directly to its HQ in what is a very flat structure (Cai, 2015). Decision making is pushed right to the front line and employees are genuinely able to take direct control of the CX through immediate resolution and response. This ranges from waiving payments to providing complimentary extras and surprises for guests. One example of this was a customer who received a free platter of fruit simply because of a slight spillage, which in fact was nothing to do with the service. The host who was delivering high-touch service noticed a mild reaction to something, and immediately sensed an opportunity to create a memorable experience for the guest. A deeper connection. The level of care in this instance was extraordinary and is primary evidence of how effective employee-centric approaches really are. You can’t fake this – everything behind and inside the organization needs to genuinely lead to this outcome.
Coaching and growing on purpose
In the context of a flat structure, trusted workforce and empowered employees, companies need to find new ways of ensuring that the people are moving and growing in a direction that benefits the individual and the business. This is the reason why Haidilao has opted to underpin its approach with a coaching style of development, which is a favoured method of development, alongside mentoring, within experiential businesses. It is an ideal fit in the context of greater transparency, accountability and always-on performance. Its
apprenticeship-style way of growing, selecting and onboarding new managers coupled with its own university to develop them is helping maintain its internal philosophy of growing from within. It is also a way of deepening the relationships between managers and employees as reward incentives are tied directly to the quality of talent coming through to open new restaurants (Ambler, 2018). Reward and incentives are tied to this experiential way of deepening, but scaling, the brand too, which makes for a powerful combination especially when you consider their recent business results and evidence on retention.
More generally within the workforce, each employee at entry level (non- managerial) needs to rotate jobs and learn how to conduct different roles within the company. This could be serving customers, preparing food in the kitchen, performing the pre-dining services and a variety of other jobs. In fact, as I found out directly, there are over 50 types of non-managerial roles. The employees I
met with highlighted that Haidilao allows employees to choose the kind of work they want to learn, trains them directly and gives them opportunities to practise.
Those who have learned and performed most of the job types can be considered as future candidates for restaurant management with the nomination and support of their shifu, which is the Chinese word for a mentor. The closeness of each team, the strength of connection across the HEX, and the human-centred leadership style of the brand’s shifu community is one of the reasons the outcomes at this chain have been so strong and why they are one of the most talked-about restaurants in Asia.