As an HR, Operations or Internal Communication professional, you obviously want all your employees to be successful and reach their full potential. To do this, you will need to make sure they are motivated, feel involved, and do their best to help achieve the business goals. This is easier said than done, especially for organizations with many non-desk employees.
Aboutย 80% of the workersย belong to the deskless workforce.ย This group of employees is often difficult to reach as they do not sit behind a computer, do not have a business e-mail address, and often work across different locations.ย
It is obviously difficult to involve and motivate employees who you cannot reach. Furthermore, in many industries a large proportion of the non-desk employees are Gen Z or Millennial.ย This younger generation of employees highly values experiences that help them develop themselves, such asย following goodย onboardingย and having on-the-job training possibilities..ย
In order to help you build a business case within your organization and make employee experience an important topic of the business strategy,ย Iโll share 6 reasons to invest in the employee experience of your non-desk employees today.ย

Why should you invest in Employee Experience?
1. Higher engagementย
It feels a bit like stating the obvious, but having successful employees starts with engagement. Engaged employees are evenย 87% less likely to leave.ย
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2. Higher productivity and operational excellence
Employee experience has a major impact on the productivity andย operational excellence of an organization. It is therefore not surprising that committed employees have a positive influence on the productivity and financial success of your business. Organizations with engaged employees are generallyย 21% more profitableย than organizations with low employee engagement.ย
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3. More innovation and creativity
By offering your employees an employee experience platform, you can ensure that employees from different branches and groups share knowledge with each other. You can also make use of possibilities such as pulse surveys via which you gain valuable insights into points for improvement within the organization. Why not ask your entire team if they have ideas for improving a loyalty program for your hotel or retail organization? There is a good chance that you will receive tons of creative ideas!
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4. Higher customer satisfaction
Employees who experience a good onboarding process can get to work quickly and are able to work autonomously. Good onboarding shortens the employeeโs ramp-up time and by offering on-the-job training after the onboarding you improve the development and knowledge within your organization. This keeps your team motivated and satisfied. In other words:ย happy employees make happy customers!ย
Read more on how to motivate frontline employees.
5. Less absenteeism
If you involve your employees in your organization, it is also less likely that they will call in sick. Poor employee engagement costs a company an average ofย 7 days per employee per year. You don’t need to be a mathematician to see that that can be quite costly. Suppose you have an organization with 1000 employees. 1000 x 7 = 7000 days per year of sick leave because your employees are not involved and engaged.ย ย
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6. Lower recruitment costsย
Satisfied and committed employees contribute to a positive reputation for your organization. They are more likely to recommend your organization to others, which of courseย saves you a lot of recruitment costsย . In addition, you are assured that they will only recommend people who they would like to work with and of whom they believe they will perfectly fit within the organization. By offering a nice incentive (e.g. a dinner coupon or hotel stay) to employees who successfully recommend someone, you also ensure that they are extra motivated to look for the best people in their network. That’s a win-win situation!