Top 3 High Impact, Low Effort Initiatives to Improve Employee Experience in 2023

As employers grapple with evolving employee expectations and not-so-subtle whispers of “quiet quitting” being spread across social media platforms, it’s clear that even the most seemingly well-run workplaces are in need of a readjustment.

But the more we learn about shifting employee preferences, the more we realize that improving their experiences won’t necessarily require a herculean effort. In fact, there are plenty of small actions that employers can take right now that have the potential to boost employee satisfaction and ultimately transform their entire workplace culture for the better.

On that note, here are our top 3 high impact, low effort initiatives that can be leveraged to improve employee experiences in 2023:

Formalize 1:1 Meetings Between Managers and Team Members

If you think that quiet quitting is little more than a temporary performative trend among rebellious Gen-Z TikTok users, think again. According to a recent study by Gallup, so-called “quiet quitters,” or disengaged workers, currently make up at least 50% of the American workforce.

While this figure should naturally be a cause for concern, the good news is Gallup’s research also finds that quiet quitting is, more often than not, a symptom of poor management, and can likely be reduced by making small changes to how managers treat and interact with their employees. More specifically, the company suggests that management can begin increasing satisfaction by having one meaningful conversation with each team member per week, for around just 15-30 minutes per employee.

“Managers need to create accountability for individual performance, team collaboration and customer value,” Gallup writes. “[And] employees must see how their work contributes to the organization’s larger purpose.”

Incorporate Modern Background Screening to Avoid Toxic Hires

Another proven recipe for poor retention is a workplace that tolerates workplace misconduct and toxic interactions between team members, be it threats, violence, bullying, or sexual harassment.

Recent research uncovered a wealth of evidence to suggest that the cost of a toxic workplace culture may be much higher than most employers would expect. More specifically, the data found that good workers are 54% more likely to quit when they work with a toxic employee, and that overall team performance can drop by up to 40% in a toxic environment.

Going forward, employers can rework their hiring process to ensure that it inherently avoids the introduction of another toxic hire, and one of the easiest ways to achieve this is to incorporate modern background checking solutions, like employee misconduct and online screening solutions.

Today, organizations can compliantly identify behaviors that are or could lead to employee misconduct from candidates' publicly available online information and activities. Our AI powered solution at Fama, can be customized to an employer's code of conduct to only show instances of possible misconduct while also filtering out protected class and/or irrelevant information. Adding online screening is a low cost, fully EEOC compliant solution to identify misconduct that is easily integrated with an employers current screening provider and ATS.  With this new resource employers can be proactively when it comes to issues like fraud, threats and harassment and avoid poor-quality hires in 2023.

Develop a Strategy for Communicating Your Organization’s Purpose

With broader societal issues increasingly on the minds of almost everyone today, whether it’s racism, inequality, or climate change, one thing we’re learning is that employees are much more likely to stick with organizations that are willing to take an active stance on issues that concern them the most.

In a recent Gartner report covered by Harvard Business Review (HBR), 53% of employees surveyed said they wanted their organization’s leaders to take a stand on societal issues they view as important. Perhaps even more importantly, 70% said they feel personally included when they know the company is working to actively address societal initiatives.

To meet this expectation, employers might consider engaging in employee activism by holding regular meetings to discuss emerging concerns, as well as how the organization might address them. To take it a step further, you could even go the route of Griffith Foods, who according to Gartner has its employees develop their own “purpose plans,” which involves identifying intersections between their own purpose and that of the company, and taking individual action whenever possible.

The bottom line is that employee expectations have changed dramatically in the past two years, and it’s clear that the ongoing retention crisis isn’t going to solve itself. And while you may not be able to completely transform overnight, implementing any of the above solutions can significantly improve employee experiences, and help cultivate a workplace culture of which everyone across the institution can be proud.