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The EX Factor - Developing employee experience capabilities in the future of work
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School of Arts, Design and Architecture |
Master's thesis
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en
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70+9
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Abstract
Employee experience design (EX) is a growing practice among organizations to provide meaningful and people-centric experiences to their employees. EX capabilities can support the attraction and retention of talent and strengthen the competitive advantage of the organization.
Current shifts in the job market, due to technological advances and employees’ shifting needs, put pressure on the employer to adapt to these changes and develop their employer value proposition. This phenomenon is commonly referred to as the future of work. In this thesis, this is utilized as the contextual and conceptual framework to capture the specific consequences of the phenomena most important for the EX designer to consider throughout the design process.
As such, the thesis aims to investigate how EX practice is affected by the future of work. This thesis utilizes a single case study as the method for analyzing the EX process in a Finnish medium-sized enterprise in the calibration technology industry. The company had recognized the need to better understand the changing job market as well as the need to grow its EX capabilities, and thus, they commissioned this study to be conducted in collaboration with the company’s HR team.
The process of data collection included interviews, a survey, observations, and co-creating sessions with employees. The process focused primarily on how to enhance experiences in the employment part of the employee journey, not the recruitment stage, the offboarding, or the alumni stage of the journey.
The research provided the following conclusions. First, the future of work is more than a framework for this thesis. It is actually an essential building block of the EX design process itself; the EX designer must consider the larger context in which the employee, the team, and the organization operate, affected by the macro-level landscape of change, the future of work. Secondly, EX is a process that in itself influences the experience of the employee due to its collaborative and participatory nature. This puts further pressure on the execution of the design process, especially in small and medium-sized enterprises. Thirdly, EX can be utilized as a strategic tool to help profile the HR department within the organization. It is also necessary to examine the HR department’s strategic function and capacities in order to plan and execute the design process. In conclusion, increasing the EX factor is key for organizations to adapt to the rapidly changing needs of work, while providing the organization with a competitive advantage.