Dive Brief:

• A new scoring method developed by digital experience vendor Nexthink measures the quality of the digital experiences employers provide to their employees, Nexthink announced Tuesday in the launch of its first data analysis using the method — and large employers did not fare well.
• Nexthink's Digital Experience Score measures several categories that affect employees' digital experiences including: collaboration, productivity tools, workplace devices and business services and applications. The firm's analysis found larger companies (those with more than 50,000 employees) fared worse than companies with fewer than 20,000 employees. For example, on a 10-point scale, companies with fewer than 20,000 employees had average scores of between 6.7 and 7 points, while large companies over 50,000 employees scored a 5.8 on average.
• Large organizations with more than 50,000 employees scored the lowest across four of the five measured categories, Nexthink said. Across the board, organizations scored lowest on their use of devices, with an average score of 4.3 compared to averages of 8 for productivity and collaboration tools, 7.2 for security and 7.5 for web browsing. Nexthink reported issues just with logging into workplace devices: Nearly one-third (30%) of reported log-on times took longer than 40 seconds.

Dive Insight:

Research shows that the process by which an organization handles the digital transformation can depend on several factors, including employees' own experiences with digital tools and devices, the organization's resources and the flow of communication between team members at the organization.

The human factor can be equally important in determining employee experience, however. A white paper by Deloitte Digital found companies that focus on the "human experience" are twice as likely to outperform their competitors over a three-year period. Deloitte developed an algorithm to measure this metric that combined customer, partner and workforce experiences. Companies are focusing on the human touch because of its value in attracting, retaining and engaging talent.

Retention continues to challenge employers, with more and more workers willing to leave their current job for one offering better pay, benefits and other advantages. ExecuSearch Group's 2019 Hiring Outlook found that 66% of professional employees don't plan to stay in their current job for the long haul, and more than 80% said they'd leave their jobs for better development opportunities. Improving the digital experience may be a key part of making employment propositions more attractive both to new recruits and those considering job-hopping.