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For organizations to get the most out of employee experience (EX) and optimize their digital workplaces, they must learn how to listen to their employees and implement a strategic framework and supporting workplace technologies for each stage of the employee lifecycle.
So, what is employee experience and why does it matter? Find out in this in-depth guide.
Table of Contents
- What Is Employee Experience?
- What Are the 7 Employee Experience Stages?
- The Business Impact of Employee Experience
- What Are the Top 5 Employee Experience Challenges?
- Best Ways to Improve Employee Experience?
- 1. Understand Individual Motivations
- Employee Experience Workplace Technology
- How to Measure Employee Experience with Surveys?
- The Pivotal Role of Employee Experience in the Digital Workplace
What Is Employee Experience?
Employee experience, often abbreviated as EX, encapsulates the journey an individual undergoes from the moment they consider joining a company to their eventual exit or retirement.
It's a holistic view that combines the physical, technological and cultural environments that influence an employee's day-to-day life at work. Think of it as the user experience (UX) in the world of products, but for employees.
Related Reading: Digital Employee Experience (DEX) vs. Employee Experience
What Are the 7 Employee Experience Stages?
Employee experience includes everything a worker does, sees, learns and feels throughout their tenure at a company. And these experiences are broken down into seven stages, often referred to as the employee journey or employee lifecycle.
The seven employee experience stages include:
1. Attraction or Recruitment
This is the pre-hire stage, when candidates read company review sites and look at how employee experience directly affects current employees. It's at this time that companies should consider how long it takes to hire, the rate of offer acceptance and the quality of the talent they attract.
Questions to ask: Are your job descriptions clear and accurate enough to catch the eye of exceptional candidates? Is the interview process streamlined and engaging? Do interviewees understand the next steps in the process?
2. Hiring
At the hiring stage, companies select applicants that will give them a competitive advantage and relay employment offers.
Questions to ask: Did leadership’s top choice accept the role? Did prospective employees have any further questions or clarifications about the position or company?
3. Onboarding
This stage includes initial orientation and training for the position. New hires learn about the systems, tools and processes they'll be working with. This stage is also a chance for them to meet colleagues and learn about the collaboration process.
Questions to ask: How quickly does leadership effectively onboard and train new candidates? How does the company communicate culture?
4. Engagement
During the engage stage, business leaders build upon employee skills and strengths. Employees should feel like they fit in with the company culture and have a connection to the brand. Employee recognition and performance management often pop up during this stage, and it's one time (of many) when employee experience directly ties to business outcomes.
Questions to ask: Does the employee work well with others within the team? Does the person communicate effectively with direct managers? What areas require more training and development?
5. Performance
By this point, an employee should be fully established within their role, be able to perform all job duties and meet expectations. Performance management at this stage might look at ways to optimize communication, prioritize tasks, collaborate with team members and more.
Questions to ask: Does the employee struggle to meet expectations, and if so, why? Does the employee require different tools or training to complete job duties? Does the employee show active participation in company culture?
6. Development
Employees don’t want to stagnate in their careers — they need opportunities for growth. Learning and development might include in-house training to learn new skills and move up the corporate ladder or outside educational opportunities.
Questions to ask: Does the employee show an interest in learning new skills or attaining a higher position? Has the employee asked about new educational opportunities?
7. Departing
Sooner or later, employees leave. They may retire, move to another organization or face a significant life change. Or, the company may decide the employee — or the role the person occupies — is no longer needed.
Questions to ask: How does the employee convey their experience during the exit interview? Do they offer a two-week notice or leave immediately? Do they continue to act as a brand ambassador once they leave?
Related Article: Employee Journey Mapping: How to Get Started
The Business Impact of Employee Experience
Happy, engaged and satisfied employees contribute positively to a company’s bottom line. Yet, only 43% of companies actively measure employee experience, according to BambooHR.
The benefits of a positive employee experience include:
Improved Employee Retention
The biggest benefit of employee experience management is employee retention, said Dave Sayce, founder and CEO of Compare My Move. Research from McKinsey backs this up, showing that people with a positive employee experience are eight times more likely to stay with a company.
“If your employees feel happy and valued in their workplace, they will be more likely to remain in your business for a longer period,” said Sayce.
Employees also want a workplace where they feel they fit in, align with the culture, understand their roles and responsibilities and can achieve work-life balance. A targeted employee experience strategy allows organizations to achieve these ideals.
Greater Talent Recruitment
People, both customers and employees, talk. And word gets around. Employees who love their experience with a company will tell other people about it — people who could become future candidates or customers.
Having that type of positive word-of-mouth reputation comes with a lot of benefits, especially in regard to talent recruitment. A business known for excellent employee experience will likely see more people apply to open positions and attract top industry talent.
Increased Employee Engagement
Do you measure your employee engagement? The McKinsey study shows employees with positive experiences have 16 times the engagement levels of employees with negative experiences.
Employee engagement refers directly to an employee’s emotional commitment to a company, its goals and the employee’s role within. Workers who feel connected and committed to a company are more likely to love their jobs, bond with their teams and put in the effort to achieve company successes.
Increased Workplace Productivity
A positive employee experience leads to increased employee engagement, and higher engagement leads to increased productivity. In its research, Gallup showed that businesses with top employee engagement levels saw 18% higher productivity rates than businesses with poor employee engagement.
It makes sense: employees who love their jobs and the company they work for are more likely to work harder to contribute to the company’s overall success. They’re also more likely to collaborate with teammates, breaking down knowledge silos and completing projects faster.
Improved Customer Satisfaction
An exceptional employee experience will lead to a better customer experience. Why? Because happy employees are not only in a better mood, they are also more invested in the company’s products and services.
A study from Glassdoor revealed a link between customer experience and employee experience, showing companies that perform well on employee experience metrics tend to perform well on customer experience metrics. The study suggests that improvements made to drive employee satisfaction and happiness will have a direct impact on customer satisfaction.
Increased Company Revenue
Businesses may not realize it, but unhappy workers cost a lot of money. A good employee experience, on the other hand, can have a positive effect on the bottom line.
Consider, from Gallup data, that happy, engaged employees lead to:
- 23% higher profitability
- 28% reduction in theft
- 81% reduction in absenteeism
- 41% reduction in quality defects
- 64% reduction in safety incidents
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Related Article: Pinpointing the ROI of Employee Experience
What Are the Top 5 Employee Experience Challenges?
Crafting a developing and maintaining a successful employee experience strategy involves overcoming a number of challenges. Some common issues companies might face include:
Mismatched Values
Today's employees aren't just looking for a paycheck. According to LinkedIn's latest Workforce Confidence Index, 82% of US professionals say it's important to work for a company where the culture and values align with their own.
This alignment between company and employee values lies at the core of employee experience. When there's a mismatch, it can lead to dissatisfaction, decreased engagement and high attrition rates.
Inadequate Tech & Tools
In today's digital age, where geographic location no longer limits who you work with or for, employees expect seamless interfaces and user-friendly tools to complete tasks efficiently. The absence of the right tools, or inefficient tools, can hamper productivity, cause frustration and negatively impact the employee experience.
Lack of Employee Autonomy
Empowering employees with autonomy is about trusting them to make decisions in their roles. And many people got a taste of that autonomy when temporarily forced to work from home. Now, however, with some companies moving back to in-office work, it opens up new employee experience challenges.
Poor Feedback Processes
Employee feedback is a key part of the employee experience. It allows workers to make quick performance adjustments, boosts employee engagement and helps cultivate a sense of purpose in the workplace. In fact, Gallup found that employees are 3.6 times more likely to feel motivated to do outstanding work when their managers provide daily feedback (compared to annual feedback).
Unfortunately, with teams dispersed across locations and timezones, it's become a challenge for workplaces to ensure employee feedback gets the focus it deserves.
Ineffective Onboarding
The onboarding process sets the tone for an employee's time at a company, and can make or break an exceptional employee experience. If this process is hasty, unclear or lacking in support — or downright nonexistent — new hires might feel overwhelmed, underprepared and alone.
Data from Gallup shows, however, that only 12% or US employees feel their company does a good job of onboarding. And 20% said their onboarding was poor or nonexistent.
Best Ways to Improve Employee Experience?
Despite the proven benefits of a positive employee experience, only 13% of employees are satisfied with their experience, according to Gartner.
It’s not too late to refine the employee experience framework within your organization. The steps below outline the best ways to understand your staff and ensure employee satisfaction.
1. Understand Individual Motivations
When employers think about motivating employees, they often break it down into rewards (bonuses, promotions, etc.) and penalties (disciplinary action, pay cuts, etc.), said Ahmad. But every employee is motivated differently.
To help understand those motivations, he recommends two methods that assess individual employee needs:
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs
Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs is a motivational theory based on a five-tier model of human needs, including:
- Physiological
- Safety
- Love and belonging
- Esteem
- Self-actualization
The concept argues that needs lower down on the hierarchy must be satisfied before one can attend to needs higher up.
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory
Vroom’s Expectancy Theory states that individuals act when they expect positive results from their actions. As such, one chooses their actions based on the expected outcomes. This theory, when used as a management strategy, breaks down into three steps:
- Valence: Leaders must understand what employees value.
- Expectancy: Leaders must determine what resources, training or supervision employees require.
- Instrumentality: Leaders must ensure they fulfill promises of rewards and that employees remain aware of rewards.
“Regardless of what theory or approach you adopt,” said Ahmad, “remember that a major chunk of the employee experience depends on how you have kept them motivated throughout their tenure with you.”
2. Establish Effective Communication
“Communication is key to a great employee experience,” said Sayce. Communication, he said, allows employees to understand their roles clearly and where they stand within the company.
Organizations must make it a priority to establish clear and frequent communication with staff regarding roles and responsibilities, pay and benefits, internal structural changes, product updates, company successes and anything else that impacts workers.
Sayce added that listening to employee feedback — and implementing it where necessary — is also an essential part of this communication strategy. “If employees are providing feedback that’s being ignored, this will negatively impact their employee experience.”
Set up an open-door policy so that employees feel comfortable coming forward with questions or concerns, and keep the lines of communication open by holding regular team meetings and one-on-one check-ins.
3. Streamline Policies and Procedures
We’ve all had a job with a series of complex policies and procedures scattered all around the organization, said Ahmad. Employees have to learn various applications and software, and frequently switch from one to the other.
“The organizational hierarchy is also often unclear with conflicting instructions at times," said Ahmad, “or the actual job role turns out to be different from the formal job description.”
All of this has a negative impact on employee experience. Not only does it make life harder for the employee, but it brings about confusion in terms of what to do and how to get it done.
Ahmad recommends streamlining all HR-related matters, with a manual that acts as a single reference point. When creating this manual, he said, identify protocols that add little to no value — but cause confusion and distress — and eliminate them.
4. Create a Safe and Healthy Culture
Employers often focus on short-term measures to fix employee experience-related issues, said Ahmad.
“They learn of an experienced and productive employee resigning and they want to offer them a pay raise to make them stay,” he said. But this short-term solution does not identify the root cause of the problem. “This is reactive and not proactive.”
Instead, Ahmad recommends business leaders put time and energy into making the company culture safe and healthy. Leaders can do this by:
- Establishing comprehensive new hire onboarding and training
- Providing opportunities for socialization and collaboration
- Setting clear boundaries and expectations
- Establishing diversity and inclusion initiatives
- Celebrating team and company successes
“Such a culture cannot be faked, and it has to reflect in every single action and word of the leadership,” said Ahmad.
5. Promote Employee Wellness
Many companies look to improve the employee experience with wellness programs — focusing on both physical and mental health.
Others set up employee resource groups (ERGs), which promote social activities, diversity and bonding between employees, as well as work-life balance and mental health. It’s not unusual for employees to lead these groups themselves.
Wellness programs and ERGs might include initiatives like:
- Free or discounted gym membership
- A parental support group
- Free healthy food in-office
- Financial planning workshops
- A monthly employee movie club
- Discounted mental health counseling
6. Praise Employee Performance
No one wants to hear only the bad from their boss — they’ve made a mistake, missed a deadline, arrived five minutes late, etc. While it’s important to address problems when necessary, employees need to hear the good, too.
Look for ways to appreciate the effort and impact of each individual employee. Ask for peer feedback and recommendations. For instance, allow employees to nominate one another for employee of the month.
Focusing on team wins and individual achievements is especially helpful for remote teams, who often lack a feeling of community with their colleagues and leadership. Publicized praise is great for team bonding and improves the working relationship of everyone involved.
7. Focus on Career Development
According to research from Reworked, only 11% of companies named learning and development as one of their top three priorities despite the fact that this area is exactly what employees are looking for in terms of a positive employee experience.
Employees don’t want to stagnate within a role or company. They want the ability to learn more, take on additional responsibilities, move up the corporate ladder and earn more money.
According to a LinkedIn report, the number one driver of a great work culture is opportunities to learn and grow — followed by a sense of belonging, organizational values and support for wellbeing.
Communicate with individual workers to understand their motivations, career aspirations and what their paths might look like at the company. Offer training and development programs to help employees reach their full potential and facilitate mentorship programs so that employees can learn from more experienced colleagues.
8. Don’t Forget Pay and Benefits
Gallup data shows that 64% of employees named pay and benefits as critical factors in taking a new job. Today’s workers know they’re in a job seeker’s market, and as such, they’re willing to wait for better opportunities.
Employee expectations around benefits are evolving, too, with many job seekers looking for:
- Flexible work: 88% of workers look for positions with flexibility in hours and location.
- Generous PTO: Today’s workers prioritize work-life balance and want the ability to schedule time off without taking a hit in pay.
- Health benefits: Employers need to offer more than the basics for medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Unlimited vacation time: 68% of job seekers look for unlimited vacation time when choosing positions.
- Student loan assistance: Employers can help workers bogged down by educational debt while also taking advantage of tax breaks.
- Free daycare services: Covering daycare costs can lift a large strain on working families.
9. Hire a Chief Experience Officer (CXO)
A dedicated leader for shaping and refining the employee experience can make the world of a difference. Enter the Chief Experience Officer (CXO). This role is not just about overseeing HR or traditional corporate functions. Instead, the CXO is focused on creating an end-to-end employee experience that aligns with the company's vision and goals.
The CXO understands all the touchpoints in the employee journey, from recruitment to retirement, and works to optimize each one. As a result, they cultivate and maintain an organization that's a preferred place to work, attracting and retaining top talent in an increasingly competitive market.
A CXO acts as a bridge between management and the workforce, ensuring both voices are heard and valued. With this kind of leadership position, companies can invest in the well-being, growth and satisfaction of their employees, which in turn can lead to increased productivity and business success.
Related Article: Has Qualtrics Quantified the Connection Between Customer and Employee Experience?
Employee Experience Workplace Technology
Establishing and maintaining a positive employee experience framework can be a complex task. Ahmad suggests looking for technology that centralizes and streamlines employee experience efforts.
“It’s important for your organization to have an easy to use one-stop solution to deal with all operational needs without undue stress,” he said.
Listening Tools
Active listening is essential to understand employee sentiment. Digital listening tools, such as engagement surveys, feedback platforms and sentiment analysis software, provide real-time insights into employee feelings, concerns and aspirations.
Predictive Analytics
Predictive analytics harnesses the power of data to anticipate future trends and patterns. In the context of employee experience, that might mean identifying which employees are likely to leave or determining the future training needs for various departments.
Collaboration Platforms
In today's age of anywhere work, collaboration tools are indispensable. Look for a system that makes communication and task management easy for all team members. The ideal platform will also track working hours (if needed), maintain cloud-based records and offer integrations to other commonly used platforms.
Learning Management Systems (LMS)
Continuous learning and development is a cornerstone of the employee experience framework. LMS platforms offer courses and training programs designed to help employees expand their skillsets and progress in their careers. These platforms have the benefit of allowing individuals to work at their own pace, with some even offering personalized, AI-powered learning recommendations.
Wellness Apps
Holistic wellness is a growing priority in today's workplace culture. Digital platforms and wellness apps that focus on various aspects of well-being — be it mental health, physical fitness or emotional balance — play a crucial role. By integrating these apps into the employee experience, organizations can promote a healthy work-life balance amongst employees.
Personalized Onboarding Software
The employee journey begins with onboarding. Personalized onboarding software ensures that every new recruit gets a tailored introduction to the company, its culture and its tools. This kind of personal touch can help workers feel supported in their new roles and set the tone for a positive, long-lasting relationship.
AI-Driven HR Chatbots
Artificial intelligence is making waves in employee experience, too. AI-driven chatbots can provide instant responses, guiding employees on topics like company policies, common procedures and technical troublehsotting. Employees feel immediate support without delays and managers have more time freed up to focus on business performance
How to Measure Employee Experience with Surveys?
A big part of improving employee experience comes down to active listening and gaining an understanding of your employees' needs. And one way organizations do that is by leveraging various types of surveys.
Here are 9 types of employee experience surveys:
Candidate Reaction Surveys
The recruitment stage of the employee experience is not only about assessing candidates, but showcasing the organization's culture and values. Candidate reaction — also called candidate feedback surveys — capture the experience of potential hires and provide insights on communication clarity, the interviewer's approach and interview logistics.
Onboarding Surveys
Onboarding surveys are given during the early stages of an person's employment and are meant to gauge the effectiveness of the onboarding process. They assess the clarity of job roles, training quality and the new hire's comfort level within the team and broader company culture.
Training Feedback Surveys
Every training session or professional development course is an investment in talent. But how effective are they? Training feedback surveys gather participants' views on the relevance, applicability and delivery of the session. They help organizations understand and iterate on course content, the trainer's approach or expertise and the structure of the training itself.
Performance Surveys
Performance surveys are a staple of performance management, providing leadership an opportunity to offer feedback on worker contributions and areas for improvement. Beyond the traditional top-down review, these surveys might incorporate peer reviews, self-assessments and more.
Employee Engagement Surveys
Employee engagement surveys, typically done annually or bi-annually, measure employee satisfaction and commitment to the company. They delve into various facets of the workplace, such as leadership effectiveness, collaboration among teams, available tools and technology and more.
Pulse Surveys
Pulse surveys are short, frequent surveys aimed at capturing real-time feedback on recent changes or specific issues. Their periodic nature allows management to quickly address concerns and adapt strategies in a timely manner.
Employee Benefits Surveys
Employee benefits surveys gauge how important and relevant current benefits are to staff. Whether it's health insurance, retirement plans or wellness initiatives, these surveys provide valuable feedback that can help companies learn how to better attract and retain talent.
Always-On Surveys
Always-on surveys are, like the name suggests, always "on" or available to employees, giving them an avenue to voice concerns, share ideas or offer feedback. This open channel captures real-time sentiments and fosters a culture of transparency and open communication.
Exit Surveys
When an employee decides to leave the company, exit surveys offer valuable insights into their reasons for departure. Whether it’s related to job satisfaction, growth opportunities or workplace culture, these insights can guide future retention strategies.
The Pivotal Role of Employee Experience in the Digital Workplace
While the focus here is on the broader employee experience, it's worth reminding the reader that one key to delivering positive employee experiences is understanding what an effective digital workplace looks like.
The employee experience, with its vast and multifaceted scope, is a part of organizational success that can't be overlooked. It's more than a buzzword — it's a reflection of how employees feel, interact and grow within a company. By investing in a robust employee experience strategy, businesses can boost their productivity and retention rates and nurture a culture that thrives on collaboration and innovation.
Editor's Note: This article has been updated on Sept. 13, 2023 to include new data and information.
