The Power of Personalization: Transforming HR Experiences

Time for a Human-centric HR… What Does That Even Mean?

To me, it means to stop looking at people as resources to be “managed” and shift the focus to understanding the full 360-degree view of the human: their emotions, aspirations, and individuality, i.e., their full self.

Now, before anyone @s me on LinkedIn with the whole “we have a value which says you can be your full self,” let me pause you (How rude, I know, sorry).

I have worked with companies who brought me in to challenge their values and often showed them a mirror of what something like “you can be your full self here” really means… spoiler, it often means:

• Only if you conform to what we think “your full self” means.

• Don’t believe me? Have a look at your leaver’s data. I guarantee in that pool, there will be a large selection of people who were awesome for your business but didn’t conform to the parameters of what “you can be yourself” means:

• Often, they challenge the status quo.

• Challenge upwards to a narcissistic leader who didn’t like it.

• Didn’t fit into the cultural old normal of the business.

Do I sound bitter? I am, but with good intentions.

I have interviewed and immersed myself into many people’s work lives and heard far too many nightmare stories where they were told, “Our culture is great, you can show up as you are here,” only to end up in an anti-human-centric organization juggling poor mental health, severe anxiety, and a feeling of impostor syndrome.

I think the whole idea of values in a company is flawed, and there are better ways to do it, which will maybe come up in creating a measurement engine later on.

When I think about what HR 3.0 means, I instantly think human-centered and personalization, so let me clear up these first two terms:

• Human-centered: An approach that seeks to understand the wants, needs, and tasks of a human in a given circumstance.

• Personalization: To me, this simply means designing a product, service, or experience that can adapt and change to meet a set of wants, needs, and requirements.

If we collectively agree that the people experience is a collection of Services, products, interactions and experiences then we can reframe, take one click, and reframe what human-centric HR 3.0 looks like to:

1. What does a collection of human-centred products, services, interactions, and experiences look like?

2. How could we personalize the individual elements of this collection?

If we were to map this out, it would be:

(Note: My SPIES approach to People Experience: Subscription, Products, Interactions, Experiences, and Services. Don’t worry about the arrows; they will become clear in coming emails.)

This new reframe allows us to start challenging these elements with better-type questions, which will enable better design.

Pressure-testing the SPIES with these types of questions instantly takes you from the giant challenge of “we need a human-centric 3.0” to “we need a collection of SPIES that are human-centric and start to align to 3.0”:

• How might we personalize X?

• What would X want and need from Y product?

• What would X want and need from Y product in Z circumstance?

What does personalization even mean? That right there is a great question which we will get into now.

The Reality of Change

For me, applying customization to HR 3.0 can be summed up in three killer questions:

1. Is it collaborative? This is where a leader (or person of power, i.e., CPO) has shared a vision, but backers jump on board to support and shape the final product. Kickstarter is a great example of what this looks like. People can build on top of a core.

2. Is it adjustable? If you ever played on consoles as a child or even now as an adult, you will have done some form of adjustment. On Call of Duty, you can change the colour of your soldier’s uniform. Even on your smartphone, you can adjust settings to suit your taste. The core of these products stays the same; you just have a selection of levers and dials that you can change to make it feel more personalized.

3. Is it omnichannel? These adjustments need to be threaded throughout. There is no point in having these adjustments happen at one touchpoint and not be threaded through the rest of your people’s experience, both on and offline. If it’s not threaded, you often are left with an “Insta vs. Reality” moment (see below).

4. Is it personal? This type of customization is very personal and direct to you. It acknowledges your unique preferences in your personal and professional life as well as key contributions you make to both.

Here are some quick ideas and solutions from my back catalogue that you could apply pretty easily from tomorrow:

1. Personalized Onboarding Kits: We often ask at the interview stage, “So, X, tell us about yourself,” and then do nothing with the information. Why not capture this at the recruitment stage? Instead of a standard welcome kit for every new employee, HR could curate a kit based on the employee’s hobbies or interests. For instance, if an employee loves reading, include a best-selling book in their field or a journal. If they’re into fitness, perhaps a branded water bottle or a yoga mat.

2. Customized Workspaces: Mac or Windows, Desk or Standing Desk. Allow employees to design or choose elements of their workspace. This could be as simple as selecting ergonomic furniture, choosing plants for their desk, or even picking the colour of their workspace accessories.

3. Birthday and Anniversary Celebrations: Instead of a generic cake or card (if you even get that), HR could find out the employee’s favourite dessert or a hobby-related gift. For anniversaries, a handwritten note from the team or a small gift that aligns with the employee’s tenure and contributions can make a difference. Many HR functions are collecting data and yet are missing the massive opportunity of making it meaningful to the human and people experience.

4. Human-Centric Feedback: Why do we wait for people to join and embed into the business before we get into feedback approaches, often only when we need to, i.e., if something goes south or extremely well? We could move away from standardized annual reviews. Instead, have regular check-ins that focus on the individual’s well-being, aspirations, and challenges, driving continuous feedback and growth. The magic is in how, where, and when you capture this in the PX journey. I’ll get into this more in my free email course being released soon.

5. Mentorship Programs: What happens if you don’t have a mentor in the business who fits the specifics? Instead of assigning mentors randomly, match employees with mentors based on shared interests, career goals, or even personality types. This ensures a more organic and beneficial relationship or creates a PX that means you can stretch your mentor pool outside of the business and know your people won’t get enticed elsewhere.

Okay, so we know we can distil down from the big “we want HR 3.0” to “we want a portfolio of SPIES aligned to HR 3.0.”

From here, we know we can start to challenge each of these elements and ask what they look like when personalized and human-centric.