CHAPTER 9
The Nine Types of Organizations
Organizations fall along different levels of maturity or focus when it comes to designing employee experiences. As my team and I spent more time going through the data, we noticed that a wide range of organizational categories emerged. When I first developed this concept, I had the simple idea of creating four types or organizational categories: those that were great at all three employee experience environments or those that were great two out of the three environments (there are three options here). Unfortunately things weren't so simple. Looking at the data I noticed that some companies scored poorly in all areas, others scored well in all three but not great, and then other organizations really excelled in one environment but ranked poor in the other two. All of these various combinations led me to expand this to a much larger category of organizations.
Based on these attributes there are nine types of organizations that I have identified:
- inExperienced
- Technologically emergent
- Physically emergent
- Culturally emergent
- Engaged
- Empowered
- Enabled
- preExperiential
- Experiential
As you read this you can determine where your organization falls along the spectrum, or better yet, you can actually measure your own Employee Experience Score based on the attributes discussed earlier.
INEXPERIENCED
The first type of organization is one that isn't actively investing in any of the three employee experience environments. InExperienced companies simply exist for the sake of existing. They try to make as much money as possible, and they operate the same way today as they did in the 1990s and 1980s (or earlier). You won't find many young employees at an inExperienced organization, and if you do, they won't be there very long. Hierarchies are the default structure, management operates based on fear and command and control, technologies are all outdated, and the offices are massive cubicle farms. These organizations rarely have a Reason for Being and instead have a standard mission statement, which talks about how they want to be market leaders. It's not surprising that these organizations have the greatest challenges with attracting and retaining talent, driving innovation, communication and collaboration, organizational design, and pretty much anything else that affects the people who work there. These are not very desirable places to work, and thanks to the use of social media tools, current and prospective employees are very much aware that this is the case. Although these types of companies also have the furthest to travel, they are also the ones who can reap the greatest rewards from their journey, provided they are able to get moving. Many companies, especially older ones, start out as being inExperienced. Examples of organizations in this category include Safeway, Caterpillar, Sears, and even the innovative Tesla.
EMERGING
Organizations that focus on just one out of the three environments are known as emerging organizations. They are on their way to designing employee experience hence their name. There are a few subcategories of emerging organizations, which are:
- Physically emerging
- Technologically emerging
- Culturally emerging
Physically emerging organizations typically spend all of their time and resources on designing beautiful places to work, sometimes to the point of extravagance, but this doesn't always have to be the case. You might see slides that employees use to get down to the ground level from upper floors, tons of amazing free food, expensive lighting fixtures, designer office furniture, and pretty much anything else that makes the office space look like it's too nice to sit in. I want to stress that this isn't a bad thing if the organization also takes into account the other two employee experience environments. After all, organizations such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Google, and Salesforce.com all have beautiful office spaces, but they also do an amazing job of investing in culture and technology. Organizations that purely focus on aesthetics will eventually find that the beauty of the physical space starts to fade as employees are faced with the reality of actually working there. If your organization does have a beautiful physical space but with an unpleasant culture and a set of tools that look like the equivalent of Tetris for Nintendo (great game but come on…), then you are working for a physically emerging organization. Examples of organizations in this category include DuPont, Hershey, and Macy's.
Technologically emerging organizations tend to offer the latest and greatest tools for employees, which can range from software to hardware. Everything is modern and beautifully designed. These organizations really pride themselves on how tech savvy they are. For example, you might find drones flying around the office, augmented and virtual reality setups, high‐tech conference rooms and touchable wall displays, the latest and greatest employee communication tools and videoconferencing solutions, the ability for employees to work with any laptop or mobile device they please, and even a smart office environment that can adapt to how employees work with mood lighting, auto climate controls, and voice commands. Again, all of these things are wonderful to have if the organization invests in the other two environments. Sadly, although these organizations might make you feel like you're in a real‐life video game, the employees who work there all sit in their cubicle farms while secretly hoping that they will get jury duty so that they can skip a few days of work. Employees here have very little emotional connection to the people or the organization they work with, and they are very much uninspired by their physical surroundings. Tools can take an employee experience only so far! Examples of organizations in this category include Visa, Kroger, and Freddie Mac.
Culturally emerging organizations tend to have a great vibe. Employees really like the people they work with, they feel supported, they have a sense of purpose, and managers are genuinely interested in helping them succeed. This is all tough stuff to accomplish! Remember that the cultural environment contributes 40 percent of the overall employee experience. Culturally emerging organizations are the equivalent of being in a relationship with someone whom you really like and perhaps even love but are not willing to marry. Employees at culturally emerging organizations tend to stay longer than employees at technologically or physically emerging organizations. But still, eventually employees become quite frustrated with actually doing their jobs, and the physical space makes them feel uninspired. The great news for culturally emerging organizations is that if they have indeed figured out the most difficult piece of the puzzle, investing in the physical and the technological environments will seem like a cakewalk in comparison! Examples of organizations in this category include MassMutual, United Airlines, and Four Seasons Hotels.
Next we have organizations that focus on two out of the three environments, which, depending on those combinations, I classify as engaged, empowered, or enabled organizations. Today this can be seen as quite an accomplishment and a long ways away from being either in Experienced or Emerging. You may notice that the words used to describe these organizations are all positive (as are the ones earlier) despite the fact that organizations might be lacking in various areas. Originally I considered using negative terms to focus on what organizations were lacking. But that's neither inspiring nor effective, which is why I took the more optimistic route, because even though many organizations out there aren't perfect, they are indeed trying and moving in the right direction.
Let's look at these three types of organizations in more detail.
Engaged
These types of organizations do a good job of focusing on the cultural and physical environments that create employee experiences. This means that they execute on all or most of the CELEBRATED culture (see Chapter 7) and the COOL physical space (see Chapter 5) attributes. Again, the cultural environment is the most challenging one to execute on. In engaged organizations you will find employees who have a sense of purpose, managers who act as coaches and mentors, a flatter organizational structure, and physical workspaces that are modern, are beautiful, and focus on creating multiple floor plans. The big challenge for engaged organizations is providing employees access to the right tools to do their jobs effectively. Although engaged organizations have gone quite far with how well they are able to execute on the cultural and the physical space, not having a great technological environment holds both of these other two environments back. For example, organizations that try to abolish annual reviews, offer amazing management training solutions, or enable real‐time communication and collaboration will find that these are not possible and are not as effective without being supported by great technologies. If you look at the physical environment, you can't enable flexible work, Activity Based Working, or any type of effective employee mobility without having the right technologies in place. Based on this it's not hard to see how poor technology can negatively affect both the cultural and the physical environments.
Remember, technology is the glue that holds the organization together, and it's what allows many of the themes discussed in this book to actually manifest. Engaged organizations struggle with trying to execute on employee experience simply because they don't have all the tools to do so. Examples of organizations in this category include Mars, General Mills, and Nestlé.
Empowered
If your organization has a great technological and cultural environment but lacks in the physical environment, then it is classified as being empowered. Empowered organizations can actually be extremely effective because employees love the people they work with and the company they work for, and they have access to technology that enables them to do their best work. Still, even in these types of organizations, the employee experience could be improved by investing in the physical environment that employees actually work in. As we saw in the first half of the book, the physical space is a crucial environment to invest in. In empowered organizations you will still find plenty of cubicles and closed offices that dominate the overall office design, which oftentimes can leave employees feeling a bit uninspired, unengaged, and unmotivated. In the case of Sanofi mentioned in Chapter 5, we also saw how having a physical environment layered with cubicles and offices reserved for executives can contribute to a strict hierarchy, thus negatively affecting culture. Remember that the physical environment is the easiest way for us to determine the values and vibe of an organization. The good news is that making changes to the physical workspace is probably the easiest thing (out of the three) to do. Not only that but also it can also be quite fun. Examples of organizations in this category include IBM, Disney, and MasterCard.
Enabled
These types of organizations are great at the physical and technological environments, but sadly, when it comes to culture, they are a bit behind the curve. This means employees have access to the best technologies and work in a beautiful office environment, but the work they are doing feels a bit empty. Many of the human needs of employees are simply not met. The cultural environment is the one that employees care about most, so when it's not being invested in properly, it can really have a negative impact on the employee experience. Enabled organizations are very productive and efficient almost like a modern‐day assembly line. Things just get done but at the cost of the overall employee well‐being. In these types of organizations employees come to view their jobs as simply a paycheck, one they're happy to receive and work for, but still just a paycheck. As a result burnout happens more frequently, and issues begin to arise with attracting and retaining top talent. Examples of organizations in this category include FedEx, USAA, and Pfizer.
PREEXPERIENTIAL
These are organizations that do quite well on all the employee experience environments but they aren't amazing at them. You can expect to see many of the attributes of COOL spaces (Chapter 5), ACE technology (Chapter 6), and a CELEBRATED culture (Chapter 7) implemented in the organization, which is fantastic. Employees at preExperiential organizations also tend to be quite happy, but when an opportunity comes along to join an Experiential Organization, they will likely make the leap! PreExperiential organizations also start to see a fair amount of the business value associated with investing in employee experience, but as we will see later on, it pales in comparison with what the leading organizations are seeing. If you feel like your organization is doing a good, but not great, job in all three employee experience environments, then you're working for a preExperiential organization. Examples of organizations in this category include Dow Chemical, IKEA, and Whirlpool.
EXPERIENTIAL
This is the cream of the crop. Only 6 percent of the 252 organizations I analyzed fell into the Experiential category. Ultimately these are the companies that are best at creating an environment where people truly want, not need, to show up to work. This is the ideal scenario for most organizations and the employees who work there, which means the organization has a great Reason for Being and has mastered COOL spaces, ACE technology, and creating a CELEBRATED culture. Experiential organizations are the ones that have mastered the art and science of creating employee experiences. As changes in technology, design trends, and workplace values and attitudes continue to change, the experiential organizations will undoubtedly have to adapt. I'll look at more of the business value in Chapter 11. The very best organizations were already listed in Part 2, but examples include Google, Airbnb, Accenture, Linkedin, Microsoft, and Cisco.
Figure 9.1 provides a nice and simple breakdown of all of these.
Figure 9.1 The Nine Employee Experience Categories
When looking at these nine categories, it's also important to note that organizations can easily move up and down this list and skip around from one category to another. This isn't simply a linear series of movements. It's quite conceivable that an organization can be classified as Experiential and then, as a result of inaction, slip down to Engaged and then return to Experiential.