Deloitte’s x-factor elevates human experience to drive end-to-end business results

Work as we know it is being redefined, where this whole idea of “return to work” is really the “future of work” happening right now, just accelerated. Deloitte’s differentiated approach to experience is founded on the evolution from thinking of employee experience (EX) on its own to a more holistic “human experience” focused strategy. Based on the premise that human connections create loyalty and ultimately drive business results, Deloitte’s Workforce Experience (WX) advisory, assessment, and measurement services fundamentally target making human connections to create impact for its clients and drive results.

Customer and employee experiences need to be aligned toward a unified mindset, goals, and business outcomes.  This means getting the right information flows in place, eliciting strategic advantage and ensuring exceptional experience across the customer, workforce, and partnership ecosystem to drive loyalty, engagement, and growth.  Deloitte’s WX services and messaging are focused on improvements and optimization with an end-to-end perspective, embedding analytics, and improving the use of technology in support of these human experiences.

As the world shifts to digital experiences, we must also consider the personal, physical and organizational

While often technology dominates any digital transformation discussion, we must remember the ‘original’ trifecta of people, process, and technology and make sure all of these elements are considered equally.  As such, Deloitte’s Workforce Experience offering looks at 4 facets of experiences in the workplace:

• Personal: opportunities to create personal connections, including the use of data to develop engagement strategies that drive decision-making, performance, and knowledge sharing.
• Physical: Physical (and now virtual) environments that foster collaboration across teams and inspire creativity.
• Digital: technology that enables people to work with greater productivity, using emerging tech like digital associates, augmented and virtual reality, as well as having a tech roadmap that factors in workplace needs.
• Organizational: An organizational structure that rewards behaviors that reinforce the shared values across customers, partners, and employees.

There are inherent overlaps across these areas but HFS sees this approach as important, particularly as companies navigate workplace experiences in the ‘next’ normal with blended physical and virtual environments, using technology change agents as the glue that connects experiences across stakeholders, by making data and insights easier to access and decisions easier to make.

Paying off “human experience debt” requires filling gaps in human connection

Deloitte is putting its human experience methodology to work with clients across industries, with a unique focus on eliminating what the firm calls ‘human experience debt,’ where connective technology inevitably leaves us feeling less connected.   Deloitte uses employee surveys, experience maps, and ethnographic research (from its Bersin acquisition) among other techniques to get at the root problems and identify where gaps exist.  In many cases, the changes involve creating an EX function to work in parallel with the existing CX function, enabling employee insights to drive action and ultimately growth.

The Bottom Line:  Deloitte’s approach aligns business leaders for maximum impact

The impacts of COVID-19 have vastly accelerated the need to re-assess how companies engage with their workforce and their customers. For many companies this will be a giant cultural shift to become more holistically ‘human-centric’, but one that will surely create competitive advantage.  This is not just about improving engagement and productivity, but fundamentally about ‘unleashing people,’ enabling passion and creativity for a new world of work where different skills are required, and capitalizing on our unique capabilities as humans.  By embedding experience capabilities into their full suite of offerings, Deloitte has fine-tuned the ability to bring a holistic vantage point across the c-suite. Business leaders are readily recognizing that the missing piece to driving large-scale adoptions has been a focus on experience and the ability to bring technology and people together in a meaningful way. Deloitte is well-positioned to deliver on that promise.