Creating a positive employee experience (EX) in South Africa is not a one-department job. It is a team sport. Perry Timms, a leading voice in People and Transformational HR, makes this point clearly: workplace culture requires consistent, collective effort from every part of the organisation. Specifically, leaders must set ambitious goals and invest deliberately in shaping a culture where people can perform at their best.
The typical employee journey involves around 50 touchpoints. Each one has the potential to positively or negatively affect the overall experience. The goal is to build genuinely engaged employees who go beyond the minimum. According to Gallup, organisations that prioritise EX see measurable gains in productivity, sales and profitability. In short, EX is a business decision, not an HR nicety.
Why EX Ownership Has Moved Beyond the HR Department
Historically, HR drove most employee experience initiatives. However, the shift to remote and hybrid work changed this fundamentally. Beth White, CEO of MeBeBot, highlights how EX ownership now extends across IT, Operations and management. As a result, organisations that confine EX to HR alone are missing most of the levers available to them. Breaking free from rigid departmental boundaries is therefore no longer optional.
However, expanding EX ownership across functions introduces new risks. Nayan Leadership identifies four common pitfalls that damage EX team performance: overlooking diversity and inclusion, ignoring skills gaps within the team itself, neglecting ongoing team development and failing to define clear roles. Each of these, in isolation, can reduce productivity and engagement. Together, they can derail an EX initiative entirely.
Shakil Butt, of HR Hero for Hire, adds an important warning. He cautions against treating EX as simply a rebranding exercise. In practice, EX is a holistic discipline. It encompasses engagement, wellbeing, employer branding and the messages an organisation sends through every interaction. As Butt puts it, drawing on by Michael Jackson’s famous phrase: it is fundamentally about “the way you make me feel.”
How to Build an Effective Cross-Functional Employee Experience Team
To build impactful EX initiatives that actually work in South Africa, organisations need cross-functional teams that bring together IT, Operations, Business Information, HR, Marketing and Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC). Each function contributes something the others cannot provide alone. For example, IT optimises technology; Operations streamlines processes; HR manages talent; Marketing shapes communication; and GRC ensures compliance. Together, these perspectives produce an EX that works for the whole organisation.
Selecting the right team members matters as much as the right structure. Atlassian recommends considering not just technical skills but also personal qualities and past collaboration experiences. In practice, diverse teams that include people with different working styles and perspectives solve problems more creatively and produce better outcomes for employees across the organisation.
Change Management: The Missing Ingredient in Most EX Initiatives
Change management is one of the most underinvested elements of any EX initiative. Dedicated change management professionals guide employees through organisational transitions and reduce resistance to new ways of working. Effective change management involves assessing organisational readiness, addressing concerns early and creating participatory decision-making processes. Without this, even well-designed EX initiatives fail to land.
What Strong Employee Experience Leadership Looks Like
To elevate EX across South African organisations, leaders must allocate real resources, elevate the roles within EX teams and secure visible buy-in from the top. Moreover, Julian Birkinshaw and Jordan Cohen make a practical point: leaders and employees both need to eliminate low-value activities to free up time for EX work. By delegating effectively and focusing on what adds genuine value, organisations create the capacity to invest in employee experience consistently.
Ultimately, employee experience in South Africa must be a collective effort. It transcends departmental boundaries and requires every stakeholder to take ownership of their part. Collaboration, strategic resource allocation and visible leadership support are the three foundations on which every successful EX initiative is built. Organisations that get this right create workplaces where people genuinely want to stay, contribute and grow.
If you want to know whether your employee experience is future-fit, Torque’s Future-Fit Assessment gives you an honest picture of where you stand and practical steps to improve it immediately.
Torque’s Future-Fit Assessment – Employee Experience (alchemer.eu)
