Anywhere work - 2023 employee experience survey report
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Anywhere work - 2023 employee
experience survey report
RESEARCHContents
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Foreword 3
Survey respondent profile 4
HR technology selection and policy creation 5
Unreliable and inconsistent communication methods plaguing HR professionals 7
Company culture lacking clarity and cohesion, which impacts engagement 9
Limited segmentation impacting mission-critical communications 11
Trouble retaining top talent 12
Conclusion: the message is clear 13
About Simpplr 14
2Foreword
In today’s increasingly remote and hybrid workplace, a sense of belonging, and
making people feel supported and inspired, is vital. And as we discovered in our
Anywhere Work - 2023 Employee Experience Survey, helping people feel these
positive emotions has presented some significant challenges for companies, and for
their HR teams, in particular.
In fact, we found that 79% of HR executives feel that this shift has made internal
communications more challenging than it was before.
The challenge that the shift to remote and hybrid work has made
to internal communications
Answers Answers (%)
A little more challenging 52.6%
Very challenging 27.0%
About the same as before 20.3%
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
How so? We’ll explore the specifics here, including:
• Unreliable and inconsistent communication methods
• Company cultures lacking clarity and cohesion
• Limited segmentation, targeted, and personalized communications
• Trouble engaging and retaining top talent
Overall, answers from respondents came back to this observation: companies
are finding it harder to keep employees engaged. As each year passes, and
workplaces continue to evolve and expand, employees that are not tended to
will leave. This makes long-term talent retention take on an almost mythical
quality. It’s begun to feel like an impossible task.
The struggle is rooted in the increasingly remote and hybrid workforce that
companies are creating or have had thrust upon them—either way, they’re
ill-equipped to manage it. Combine this with a lack of clarity around how to
engage and inspire a workforce, and we have a recipe for a people disaster.
This report details insight from our HR respondents around the realities of
these struggles. But first, let’s review a bit about those respondents to frame
our understanding.
3Survey respondent profile
We surveyed HR executives at more than 600 medium-to-large companies regarding
how they feel about their ability to effectively communicate, connect, and engage with
employees who work anywhere and everywhere. The respondents shared candid
insights around everything from technology purchases and HR policies to communication
methods, employee engagement, and retention struggles.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
4HR technology selection and policy creation
The majority of HR executives who responded to our survey lead the charge
when selecting the employee experience technology their companies will use.
Every respondent has played some role in selecting HR tech to purchase, with
most in charge of making these decisions.
The rest were consulted on these decisions, demonstrating they have power to
affect real change in their organizations—and that they strive to provide the data
to support impactful employee experience decisions.
The responsible in making HR technology purchasing decisions
I’m the decision-maker
21.6%
I’m consulted on purchase decisions, but not the sole decision-maker
78.3%
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Regardless of their technology selection roles, these HR executives are largely
in charge of creating and enacting HR policies within their organizations, with
66% having overall responsibility for the employee experience. The rest of
the participants were either consulted on policy decisions (23%) or spend
part of each day interacting with employees in support of these policies.
What is your responsibility when it comes to creating and
enacting HR policies for your organization’s employees? 10.3%
I have overall responsibility for the employee experience
23.5%
I’m consulted on HR policy decisions
66.1%
My day-to-day responsibilities include interacting with employees
5So, with so much experience sourcing technology and interacting with employees
around policies, we should see survey answers that reflects employee engagement
—yet, we don’t.
Over one-third of respondents acknowledge ineffectiveness in their intercompany
communications, or they identify it as a trouble spot. And although many profess
proficiency in this area, asserting that their communications are effective and engage
employees, respondents’ answers to other questions indicate otherwise.
This question on its surface hides a nuanced understanding that lies beneath.
Do you feel your intercompany communications are effective and engage 1.8% 0.8%
your employees?
Yes
Somewhat effective 36%
61.8%
Not at all effective
I have no way of measuring employee engagement with Inter-company content
Let’s peel back the layers and see what’s really inside.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
6Unreliable and inconsistent communication
methods plaguing HR professionals
More than two-thirds of respondents (67%) report that they don’t have a single
effective internal communication channel to share company news, ensure compliance
with new policies, or to help ensure employees understand the company’s goals and
objectives.
The internal communications method that is most effective...
8.5%
Intranet
11.6%
32.6%
Email
Having managers relay information 19.3%
SharePoint/Google Drive/MSFT 360 or other cloud-based 27.8%
storage solutions
We use a mixture of these tools
Of that number, nearly 12% use cloud-based technologies like Microsoft SharePoint™
or Google Drive, and almost 9% rely on managers to relay information, playing a
modern version of the telephone game.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Most organizations gamble on email as their go-to for company communication,
with one-third of respondents saying it’s their most effective form of communication.
But how reliable can it really be when more than 66% of respondents note that email
is not an effective form of communication?
Almost one-fifth of respondents use a mixture of methods to communicate and
connect with their employees. Based on data we’ll discuss later in this report, these
methods have proven to be unreliable and inconsistent.
As we continue to follow that thread of creating consistent communications for
employees, we have around 28% who label the intranet as their most effective
communication medium—solidifying its ranking as an HR favorite, second only
to email. Why, then, aren’t more HR professionals using it for employee
communications?
7As we can see below, 92% of these professionals have a web-based IC system
or intranet available for use.
Does your company have a web-based internal communications system or intranet 4.67%
2.83%
Yes
No
No, but we use email and other forms of peer-to-peer
communications apps like slack
92.5%
The trouble lies with the technology itself, as we’ll see in the sections that follow.
HR leaders are unable to efficiently communicate critical information to everyone,
and without that capability, creating a cohesive culture is next to impossible.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
8Company culture lacking clarity and
cohesion, which impacts engagement
Clear and coherent communication is essential to the work environment—which
certainly impacts employee engagement.
HR leaders shared that making sure that critical communications reach everyone
is the biggest challenge they face when attempting to communicate effectively
with employees. And when part of your team doesn’t get critical information, the
resulting problems can have a domino effect, which often lead to frustration and
isolation, causing employees to disengage.
What are the biggest challenges you face in communicating effectively with employees?
Ensuring critical communications reach everyone
Ensuring content across our internal
communications is up to date
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Ensuring employees
engage with the content
Making sure employees
feel connected
to the
organization
9This ties directly to the next item on HR’s list of effective employee communication
concerns: ensuring that employees engage with content. But people can’t engage
with what they can’t find. And with outdated content mucking up the works (which
is the next challenge on HR’s list) the chances for effective communication are up
against significant odds.
And finally, the coup de grâce, which is inevitable considering the other failings
—HR leaders fear that employees won’t feel connected to the organization.
And really, how could they? Remember, more than a third of respondents (36%)
feel their inter-company communications are only somewhat or not at all effective
and engaging—even if people do see them.
Do you feel your inter-company communications are effective and 1.8% 0.8%
engage your employees?
Yes
Somewhat effective 36%
61.8%
Not at all effective
I have no way of measuring employee engagement with Inter-company content
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
More than a quarter of our HR leader respondents said that they found it easy to
uphold company culture in a remote or hybrid work environment. But is that just
wishful thinking? After all, 33% report it as difficult or very difficult and a small
amount admitted they weren’t sure they’re doing it well at all.
How difficult or easy do you find it to uphold your company culture 1.3%
in a remote or hybrid work environment?
14%
Difficult
Very difficult 37.5%
19%
Not too hard
Easy 28.1%
Not sure we’re doing well at all
10 And this difficulty is compounded by the inability to segment critical communications.Limited segmentation impacting
critical communications
When asked about their experience with tailoring and communicating need-to-
know company information specific to individual departments or business units
via communication channels, most found it challenging, or hadn’t attempted this
level of segmentation at all.
Nearly half have made an effort to send specific information to individual business
units manually via email or another ad-hoc channel, and almost 14% have sent the
same info to everyone all at once, leaving it to each employee to determine what’s
relevant to them and what isn’t.
What is your experience with tailoring and communicating need-to-know
company information to specific audiences within your org structure, i.e., 7%
13.6%
information specific to individual departments or business units (HR,
Marketing, Accounting, etc.)—via your communications channels?
It’s not very easy 40.5%
38.8%
It’s a challenge—we have to send specific info to individual business
units manually via email or other ad-hoc channel
We are able to do this very easily with our existing technology
Everyone gets the same info all at once and determines
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
what’s relevant to them and what’s not
Most critical communications are time-sensitive, and sending them out en masse
when they’re irrelevant to a portion of the recipients is counterproductive. When
everyone is left to determine if a message relates to their scope of work, it’s possible
for mistakes to happen, and essential information can easily get ignored.
Personalization, and even further, tailoring it to each employee, is an imperative
step in effective communication. Many HR professionals are occupied with retaining
top talent and they aren’t able to see how personalizing communication can inspire
exceptional employees to stay—which was the goal to begin with.
11Trouble retaining top talent
It’s no secret that retaining top talent is a challenge in today’s modern workforce.
According to Pew Research, roughly one in five workers are very or somewhat likely
to look for a new job in the next six months. HR executives are well aware of these
stats, and focus on starting the employee relationship off right with robust onboarding
materials. The process for getting this material to these new hires might need some
work, however.
The biggest retention challenge respondents identified was ensuring employees
feel heard, and can also hear what management is communicating to them. This is
where personalized communications can work wonders, particularly because they
can help a distributed workforce feel recognized and important.
The biggest challenges for employee retention
Mean indicates the average ranking each item received. Because “1” is the highest ranking,
the item with the lowest mean is the one that was ranked most highly.
Difficulty onboarding new employees makes it harder to retain them
Ensuring employees feel heard and hear
what management is communicating to them
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Making sure remote and hybrid-work employees
feel connected to the organization
Making sure employees have all the tools
they need available to them, ensuring
the employees know about these
tools, and have been effectively
trained to use them
Getting consistent
feedback from
employee
It’s vital that you don’t let the talent that you recruited fall through your communication
cracks. If they feel unheard, they’ll inevitably move on to a company that has its tools
and processes in order—one where they feel more connected without having to
struggle and fight for it.
12Conclusion:
the message is clear
The results are in, and the message is clear: organizations need modern communications and
engagement monitoring capabilities to stay current and relevant in the marketplace.
Long-term retention of talent is entirely possible, but it requires new tactics that take advantage
of today’s tech advances and create engaging communities and information hubs that show
how much you value your employees’ time—and how well you know them.
Today’s workforce must be inclusive of everyone, and people need to be supported and encouraged
to flourish in an ever-changing workplace—wherever and however they work. And this needs to
happen soon. Employees are already considering that next job at another company.
Simpplr can help. With a better way to develop a sense of community, more effective communication
and connectedness, organizations are seeing retention and engagement results that can transform
the employee experience. Organizations also use the Simpplr adaptable AI-powered employee
experience platform to deliver personalized experiences that inspire and engage their employees.
Wherever people work, Simpplr enables employees to simply flourishTM.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
13About Simpplr
Who we are Benefits
Simpplr is the leading AI-powered employee → Designed for the way you work
experience platform. Organizations use
our forward-looking, adaptable products to → Ready to use in weeks, not months
deliver personalized experiences that inspire
and engage their employees. Wherever → Built for business users
people work, Simpplr enables them to
flourish. → Unified, engaging experience across
mobile and the web
Trusted by more than 500+ leading brands,
including Zoom, Snowflake, Moderna, → Powerful integrations
Eurostar, and AAA, our customers are
achieving measurable productivity gains, → Secure and scalable platform
increased employee engagement, and
accelerated business performance.
ANYWHERE WORK - 2023 EMPLOYEE EXPERIENCE SURVEY REPORT
Simpplr is headquartered in Silicon Valley,
CA with offices in the UK, Canada, and India,
and is backed by Norwest Venture Partners,
Salesforce Ventures, and Tola Capital. Learn
more at simpplr.com
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