Recently, we held a webinar across APAC with some fantastic panelists from Jollibee Group and Page Group to explore the evolving priorities of Employee Experience (EX). Crown’s Lisa Johnson, Global Practice Leader, Consulting Services, facilitated two sessions in total – a second for EMEA and the Americas.
Lisa introduced each session outlining EX priorities before Covid, and later explored how priorities have shifted in response to the pandemic. She finished with a few predictions for EX and Global Mobility. During which, the APAC audience, made up of 70 Global Mobility professionals, was invited to participate in four live poll questions:
What were your company’s Global Mobility Experience (GMX) priorities before Covid-19?
Source: ZOOM
In the first 3-6 months of the crisis, how would you describe your company’s response to instilling a caring culture and offering empathy and stability to employees?
Source: ZOOM
Have you added anything new to your Global Mobility program during Covid that supports mental health and well-being for relocating employees and their families?
Source: ZOOM
What type(s) of Remote Work options will most likely emerge as the corporate norm once Covid is managed?
Source: ZOOM
Caitlin Pyett, Crown’s Account Management Director, APAC, says it’s no surprise that companies continue to focus on the Employee Experience. “We were seeing lots of queries about Core/Flex or introducing flexibility to policies pre-Covid.”
“I am surprised to see most companies rated themselves so highly in their pandemic response. Most have already put in place virtual working/working from home/remote working arrangements which goes a long way to addressing employee stress in this area.”
Caitlin added: “The majority of participants have hybrid arrangements in place now. The benefits ensure that office-based interactions (face-to-face meetings, bonds with colleagues, immediacy of problem solving and the engendering of team spirit) are protected, whilst still offering the employee some flexibility – and acknowledging that in 2021, physical presence is not always required to get the job done. It’s a best of both worlds scenario.”
Lisa Johnson is pleased that the audience majority had positive experiences of their company’s response to instilling a caring culture, and offering empathy and stability to employees: “I am delighted that 58% of our audience said their company has added new mental health and well-being support for relocating employees.”
“The poll results reflect the reality that mental health has emerged as a topic no longer taboo in the workplace – ‘how are you, really’ became more common place amongst colleagues. During Covid, we found that our clients were shifting back from Do it Yourself approaches (providing information via automated, low-touch systems), to a more hands on, high-touch approach that included high levels of empathy and listening. Crown’s own approach to assignee care made this shift. A move is always a highly stressful event and doing anything during a pandemic adds to the anxiety.”
“The top two responses, ‘Better follow up and feedback from relocating employees’ and ‘Engaging with employees / customers across multiple channels’, were definitely pre-COVID priorities that many Global Mobility programs were able to tap into and benefit from during the pandemic’s peak when uncertainty was high. Especially when connecting with employees and disseminating information as it became available was critical.” Lisa added.
A big thanks to Lisa Johnson and panelists, Caitlin Pyett, Eloi Jacinto (Head, Global Total Rewards at Jollibee Group) and Greg Tadman (Regional HR Director at PageGroup) for joining the discussion. Events like these are invaluable and we hope our participants got a lot out of it!
If you want more information or have any questions about what was covered in the sessions, please get in touch with Lisa Johnson at ljohnson@crownww.com.
Our latest white paper further reveals what Global Mobility professionals anticipate in terms of the big EX trends and offers a 5-step action plan for improving EX within your Mobility program/team. Download it here.
