029 - Lauren Gomes (pt.2) - People Experience as a Product
Jul 27, 2024
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Lauren Gomes, an experienced VP People, shares her innovative insights on treating employee experience as a product. She emphasizes the need for a product-led approach in People Operations, drawing on her experiences at ASOS and Booking.com. The conversation delves into structuring People teams for success, highlighting the roles of People Experience Design teams. Lauren also discusses the significance of co-creation and employee feedback in enhancing engagement and fostering a supportive workplace culture.
Operationalizing People Experience as a Product involves integrating product principles into People Operations to enhance employee engagement.
Establishing a structured People Experience Design team fosters collaboration across functions, streamlining processes and prioritizing employee feedback.
Viewing employee experiences as a continuous subscription product emphasizes the need for ongoing engagement to improve retention and satisfaction.
Deep dives
Understanding Product-Led P-blops
Product-led People Experience (PX) represents an evolving approach to managing the employee experience like a product. This perspective emphasizes that the journey of employees within an organization should be curated with the same attention to detail as product development in consumer-focused businesses. For instance, a startup like Tallow and Ash exemplifies this approach by actively involving customers in shaping their product offerings. The realization that employees are the customers of a company's internal processes aligns closely with the idea that the experiences created for them significantly impact overall engagement and productivity.
The Concept of PX as a Subscription Product
Viewing PX as a subscription product underscores the need for continuous engagement rather than isolated initiatives. This perspective highlights that employees' experiences should be consistently nurtured and improved to ensure long-term retention. Like a subscription service, where repeated value delivery is paramount, organizations must focus on providing ongoing positive experiences to maintain employee commitment. Through strategic touchpoints, such as performance reviews and feedback loops, companies can evaluate employee satisfaction and make necessary adjustments to their PX framework.
Creating Experiences Worth Sharing
To foster a thriving work environment, it is crucial to create experiences that exceed employee expectations, encouraging them to share their positive encounters. Utilizing a 'flywheel' concept, companies can focus on engagement, development, and delight to boost employee advocacy and, consequently, talent attraction. This cyclical growth model emphasizes the importance of momentary delights that lead to strong word-of-mouth referrals, enhancing brand reputation and attracting high-quality applicants. It reinforces the belief that a well-rounded PX, driven by authenticity and genuine care, directly correlates with business success.
Aligning People Operations with Business Goals
The link between people functions and overarching business objectives remains a critical aspect of effective Human Resources management. Leaders should understand the present challenges facing their organizations, focusing on immediate priorities while ensuring alignment with strategic initiatives. This approach involves balancing employee needs with business performance metrics, thus demonstrating the tangible value of PX efforts. Bridging this gap requires a comprehensive understanding of both operational efficiencies and employee engagement practices, fostering holistic growth.
Team Structure for Product-Led PX
Adopting a product-led approach requires thoughtful team structuring to enhance PX initiatives. A successful team should integrate various roles, such as talent acquisition and people operations, to ensure seamless collaboration across functions and eliminate silos. The implementation of a 'people experience design' team can streamline processes, allowing project management to focus on employee feedback and iterative design. By applying a structured lifecycle approach and fostering a culture of open communication, organizations can cultivate an adaptable and engaged workforce, ultimately leading to a more dynamic PX landscape.
This is part 2 of my conversation with Lauren Gomes, experienced VP People and pioneer of People Experience as a Product.
Inpart 1 we explored Lauren’s career and the reality of life in the People team in hyper-growth start-ups / scale-ups. In Part 2, we get much more practical and tactical focusing on defining and getting started with PX as a Product 🤘🏻
Meet Lauren 🌟 Lauren is a People Experience leader who honed her craft during ASOS & Booking.com’s remarkable hyper growth phases, before finding her home in scaling start ups. She’s known for growing and transforming People teams; embedding the concept of People Experience as a Product and accelerating the speed of cultural change 5x QoQ.
Operationalising PX as a Product 🚀 Lauren talks about the operational aspects of Product-Led PX, sharing her experiences and strategies for integrating product principles into People Operations. She emphasises treating the employee experience as a product and utilising employee / user feedback to shape the PX product to create impactful employee experiences.
Team Structure and Role Clarity 🏢 Lauren explains her approach to structuring People teams to support a product-led strategy. She details the differences between traditional people partner roles and her concept of People Experience Design teams. This structure emphasises the importance of dedicated roles for different aspects of people operations, from talent acquisition to employee experience, and the critical role of co-creation with employees.
Practical Advice for Implementing Product-Led PX 💡 For those looking to implement a product-led PX approach, Lauren offers actionable advice:
Visualize Work and Prioritize: Clearly define and organise your projects based on impact and alignment with business goals.
Align with Business Priorities: Ensure your People strategies are in sync with the company’s strategic goals.
Co-Create with Employees: Engage employees in the development process to ensure initiatives resonate and are effective.
I hope you enjoy listening to this conversation as much as I enjoyed having it!
Catch you next time! ✌️
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Support for this episode of the PX Espresso Hour comes from Sana- an AI company transforming how organizations learn and access knowledge 🤖🧠
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