Editorial
In most organizations, employee experience practices are still in their infancy. EX is seen as an activity or project owned by human resources. However, given the importance and relevance of EX in creating an environment where talent can successfully contribute to sustainable business, a more intentional approach is warranted.
In order to build a more robust EX practice, it’s critical to first understand the evolution of EX from activity to capability and the steps involved in establishing EX as a strategic imperative.
Establishing EX as a Capability in the Organization
In reality, most organizations are not ready for a fully-fledged EX capability. Beyond the lack of an allocated budget and business buy-in, various misconceptions about the value of EX still exist. Some see it as a data-driven and technology exercise. For others, it is limited to incorporating design thinking principles into HR processes. Regardless of the level of sophistication of the organization, there is bound to be some confusion about EX, where it should be positioned, where it should report, what investment is required, and what value it should bring.
I recommend building the EX capability in a systemic and structured manner for EX to deliver the intended impact. To do so, the figure below demonstrates five different transitions that EX will go through to shift from merely a nice-to-have activity that makes a short-term impact towards a fully-fledged strategic capability that delivers long-term value.
EX as a Portfolio Within HR
Incorporating employee experience deliverables into HR jobs or roles is a good start to building the EX capability. This means that someone in the HR team needs to have dedicated time allocated as part of their job to focus on EX activities. Usually, this function is incorporated into specialist HR roles within Organizational Development or Employee Value Proposition teams.
In reality, most organizations will review the available skills in the team and then give EX responsibility to individuals interested in it or where an overlap of transferable skill sets exists. Individuals who take ownership of the EX activities will also have other day-to-day responsibilities, and EX will only be one of their key focus areas.
At this stage, EX initiatives will predominantly be driven as projects with a clear scope, desired outcome and set timelines. For each project, additional skills, such as those related to design or technology, can also be insourced from other individuals or teams where there are skill gaps.
This model already has significant value; however, EX will be limited to focusing on a few targeted projects, given resource constraints and lack of capacity. This will be good enough for some organizations, and EX can operate successfully as a portfolio. At this stage, it is more critical to deliver short-term results in order to illustrate the potential value of EX than trying to stretch the EX focus too broad.
However, as the demands on the EX portfolio increase, it is time to shift towards EX as an independent team.
EX as an Independent Team in HR
As the focus and interest in EX expands, the next stage is to establish EX as an independent team within HR. This means creating or assigning roles with EX as part of their full-time responsibility. The size of this team will depend on the scope of your EX focus and available budget, but it is essential to establish a diverse set of skills within the team. The team will take responsibility for EX as a subset of the people strategy, and at this stage, EX will have its focus areas within the context of the broader people strategy.
At this stage, the team will not possess the required skill set for a robust EX capability. As such, they may require collaborations with teams such as marketing, IT and Analytics. At best, these teams could allocate some capacity to spend with the EX team or, at a minimum, agree to designated project work.
As the scope of the EX team increases beyond HR-owned practices such as onboarding and performance, it is time to consider incorporating EX as a cross-functional team.
Example from practice
Every time I've developed an EX team, my first team members usually had some background in human behavior, some HR experience, and a solid overview of processes. I started my team by transitioning one of my talent team members into this area as part of her career growth. Then, over time, I merged the Benefits and EVP teams into one Employee Experience and Insights team, reporting directly to me as the CHRO. When you have a team, your EX initiatives will become a blend of projects, such as a "Talent Acquisition Technology Project" and business-as-usual processes, for example, "Monthly EX Insights and Reporting."
EX as a Cross-Functional Team
As the team matures and increases its scope and responsibilities, it is crucial to bring more dedicated cross-functional skills into the team. Previously, these individuals spent some of their time allocated to EX, but at at this stage, they must transition to have a more dedicated EX focus. At this stage, the EX function should also evaluate the best-fit reporting line, develop a charter for EX activities in the organization, and start formalizing the EX strategy in alignment with the broader people strategy.
During this stage, EX will exist as a combination of specific projects, business-as-usual activities and some value drivers that have been elevated to a more strategic level. Raising the activity level and focus to a strategic level is paramount for longer-term, sustained success, and creating visibility of the EX agenda and impact should be a priority.
Once the EX team's scope and objectives go beyond the HR-related strategic goals, it is time to shift EX into a shared capability.
EX as a Shared Ownership Capability
The last evolution of the EX team is to become a fully-fledged capability that operates strategically and across several domains. At this stage, the head of EX is a C-suite leader in the organization, budgets are allocated specifically for EX-related initiatives, and EX is frequently discussed in executive forums. At this stage, you'll have multi-functional skills and capabilities assigned to the EX team full-time. Usually, these functions have a shared reporting line between various executive portfolios such as HR, IT, Digital and Operations.
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For example, the Head of EX can report to the CHRO but also have a dotted line to the Chief Digital Officer or the Chief Information Officer. The function will also be co-funded by all these different areas, and the leaders will take joint responsibility for delivering on the strategic EX mandate. When the function reaches this stage, priority setting is crucial, and you need regular rhythms to ensure everyone is aligned with the EX mandate and work.
Wrapping Up
Establishing EX as a strategic capability requires an intentional approach that balances progress with acceptance from the business. To date, only a handful of organizations have achieved this level, yet they are already reaping the rewards — an employee experience that drives competitive advantage, creates a destination for top talent, delivers on the people promise and drives business impact. Next, we’ll deep-dive into the expertise that underpins a robust EX capability and highlight different strategies to gain access to these skills.
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