Working in the Brand Economy

Editorial: The experience of work and experiential workers: mainline and critical perspectives on employee experience

“…One of the novel academic cornerstones of research in this topic area is due to Pezet and Poujol (2020), who theorise the experience of work as an alternative to the Marxist and humanist approaches to work, although they recognise ample value in those strands of research. Indeed, recent research has adeptly utilised Marxist analysis to show the pernicious consequences of detachment at work, revealing negative emotional and well-being effects for workers in organisations that fall short on the experience front (Shantz et al , 2014).…”

“…Furthermore, the personal development agendas, which companies promote to their employees to sustain a mutually beneficial relationship, often offer a reductive and convenient picture of employees' hopes and demands from organisations. The employee experience approach to HRM complements, and in important ways potentially supersedes, relatively more conventional humanistic approaches and Marxist approaches, which significantly, if implicitly, shaped theory and practice surrounding work and workers to date (Pezet and Poujol, 2020). There is, thus, a pressing need to explore the dynamism of employee experience, which is an ongoing negotiated and situated process that can offer emotional dividends and mental satisfaction insofar as denoting a robust concordance with employees' life projects (Pezet and Poujol, 2020).…”

“…In academic and practitioner circles, employee experience has emerged as a hugely resonant notion, and the cutting-edge research from scholarship and practice increasingly centres employee experience management at the heart of human resource management (HRM) (e.g. Maylett and Wride, 2017; Morgan, 2017; Pezet and Poujol, 2020; Plaskoff, 2017; Whitter, 2019). In the contemporary world of work, employees have a strong focus on the nature and quality of their experiences as workers in organisations, seeking to capture meaning and satisfaction on the job and pursuing a strong fit between work and wider personal priorities and projects.…”

“…The employee experience approach to HRM complements, and in important ways potentially supersedes, relatively more conventional humanistic approaches and Marxist approaches, which significantly, if implicitly, shaped theory and practice surrounding work and workers to date (Pezet and Poujol, 2020). There is, thus, a pressing need to explore the dynamism of employee experience, which is an ongoing negotiated and situated process that can offer emotional dividends and mental satisfaction insofar as denoting a robust concordance with employees' life projects (Pezet and Poujol, 2020). We thus argue, in this special section editorial essay, that there is a significant benefit to exploring employee experience further, and relatedly, we submit that it is useful to consider workers as experiential subjects within contemporary work contexts.…”

“…Experience-oriented consumption trends are mirrored in workers' relations with their employers as well. Organisations often attempt to distinguish themselves as employers of choice through the experience of work they offer (Pezet and Poujol, 2020), with the experience economy operating in a symbiotic relationship vis-à-vis the brand economy. As knowledge-based production and service logics push organisations into a perpetual war for top talent (Michaels et al , 2001), strategic HRM priorities only intensify the pressures for employer branding (Backhaus and Tikoo, 2004; Edwards, 2010; Küpper et al , 2021).…”