Winning Secrets: How Adecco makes employee experience a shared priority and measures its impact

To drive the success of employee experience initiatives, leaders and managers actively support and participate in them with genuine enthusiasm, says Betul Genc, SVP and Head of Adecco ASEAN.

An HR solutions expert, with over 5,100 branches and more than 33,000 passionate full-time employees globally, Adecco is focused on helping companies hire great people and candidates finding awesome jobs. In Singapore, the team has successfully helped over 1,400 people into exciting new careers each year.  

At the third annual edition of Employee Experience Awards - Singapore in 2023, Adecco Personnel won the bronze award for 'Best Rewards and Recognition Programme'. 

To celebrate this milestone, we catch up with Betul Genc, SVP and Head of Adecco ASEAN, (pictured above) on how the involvement of leaders and managers helps foster a positive organisational culture and team dynamics.

Q How do you ensure your employee experience initiatives are aligned with your business objectives?

At Adecco, we are committed to making the future work for everyone. Our driving force is to provide unwavering support in helping individuals find and maintain gainful employment, enabling them to support themselves and their families effectively. To achieve this mission, we employ a three-pronged approach.

• Firstly, we collaborate with leaders to establish clear directions and objectives for our employees.
• Subsequently, we empower our colleagues by granting them autonomy to share feedback on the organisation.
• Lastly, we actively listen to our employees' voices through engagement surveys and take decisive actions to cultivate a positive workplace culture.

Q Can you provide examples of how the organisation has invested in the employee experience?

As a people business, one of our priorities lies in reinventing the way we work to provide our employees with better work-life balance. To do that, we aspire to improve two areas, digital transformation and building a positive work culture.

Digital transformation

At Adecco, we implemented a one-stop self-service system where all HR related information are hosted on our HR Xchange (intranet). Some of this information includes our HR policies, system and claims user guides, employee benefit processes and award nomination forms. Additionally, we have also launched a new global HRIS system which enables seamless global HR transactions for all employees across the world.

Finally, we have upgraded our leave system which provides data analytics and an integrated payroll system so that employees can have a hassle-free experience when applying for leave of absence as well as retrieving of pay slips. Moving forward, we will digitalise claims management and employee self-service systems to enhance our employees’ experience

Positive work culture

At Adecco, we value our employees by creating a culture of transparent communication, encourage innovation, and empower them to make decisions. This not only drives top sales and revenue, it creates positive impact on our employees, improves wellbeing, and enhances collaboration.

To encourage engagement across The Adecco Group’s multiple eco-system brands in Singapore, Adecco organises activities for our employees such as monthly townhalls, kick-off meetings, dinner & dance, and a family day where we celebrate achievements and success as an organisation. To engage our Millennial and Gen Z employees, we utilise gamification to encourage and challenge them to continuously seek self-improvement.

Adecco is constantly refining our benefits and remuneration packages to ensure employees are rewarded fairly in the organisation. This year, we have enhanced Adecco’s insurance coverage and increased flexi-benefits credits for all employees in Singapore.

Q What are some of the key challenges that you faced in implementing your EX initiatives, and how did you overcome them?

Most businesses’ primary focus is on driving growth and achieving target revenue. There is a need to educate multiple stakeholders about the significance of employee experience and job satisfaction, which will keep their teams motivated and aid employee retention. Implementation of EX initiatives involves a substantial financial investment where careful budget management and optimisation are essential to ensure effective allocation of resources. Despite the challenges, prioritising employee satisfaction can have a positive impact on overall engagement and retention, contributing to the long-term success of the business.

Q Do you have processes to measure the effectiveness of your EX initiatives, and what metrics do you use to evaluate success?

At Adecco, we utilise quarterly engagement surveys to measure employees’ satisfaction level. It is an anonymous employee satisfaction survey where colleagues are encouraged to provide feedback and comments about the organisation ranging from engagement, diversity and inclusion, health and wellbeing, transformation, and change.

There are in-person focus group discussions every quarter where select employees will gather and have group discussions about the effectiveness of Adecco’s EX initiatives. It is a safe space for open sharing of feedback where it helps HR with the evaluation of EX initiatives and encourage innovation.

Q Finally, what role do leaders and managers play in driving a beautiful employee experience, and how are they held accountable for the success of these initiatives?

To drive the success of employee experience initiatives in an organisation, it is crucial for leaders and managers to actively support and participate in them with genuine enthusiasm. Their involvement helps foster a positive organisational culture and team dynamics. The responsibility for the success of these initiatives lies jointly with leaders, managers, and the HR department.

To ensure accountability, the achievement of these goals is integrated into the key performance indicators (KPIs) during objective and goal-setting exercises. By making employee experience a shared priority and measuring its impact, the organisation can strengthen its commitment to enhancing the overall work environment and employee satisfaction.

Read more interviews on why organisations have won trophies for their HR practices - head over to our Winning Secrets' section!

All photos / Provided by Adecco Personnel