Mission

What is employee experience?

Employee experience (EX) has become a buzzword, but organizations can be sure it is much more than that. In short, employee experience is what it feels like to be in an organization. It’s where employees discover their value, worth, and employer appreciation. But it goes much deeper than that. So, let’s take a closer look.

The employee experience is how an employee experiences your organization through all touchpoints—such as what they learn, see, and do. Additionally, the company’s physical workspace, culture, and technology contribute to employee experience. And a worker’s experience, positive or negative, will ultimately determine whether they are engaged in the workplace and invested in an organization.

Therefore, the goal of those charged with delivering a differentiated EX is to create an optimal work environment so everyone, including the organization itself, can simply flourishTM, learn more about employee experience, employee journey.

To master employee experience, employers must listen to employees at each stage of the employee’s journey, from onboarding to exit. They should use this insight to identify what is essential to create tailored experiences that fit various employees’ needs.

 

Why is employee experience important?

Employee experience has a notable impact on numerous facets of an organization. It’s a domino effect as your employees’ experience will leak into and influence your organization’s performance. These experiences will be reflected in workplace engagement, attracting and retaining talent, and your bottom line.

Engagement

Employee engagement hinges on employees’ emotional commitment and sense of belonging to an organization and its objectives. Measuring engagement is crucial since it reveals how invested employees are and whether or not they will invest their time and energy into the organization.

Gallup reports, “engaged employees produce better business outcomes than other employees—across industries, company size and nationality, and in good economic times and bad.” And that employee engagement is instrumental in lowering turnover rates.

Recruiting

Today, job seekers are pickier about whom they work for. They want to know what to expect. And with online review sites such as Glassdoor growing in popularity, having a solid employee experience is crucial to the hiring process, as former employees are quick to share negative reviews that could damage your reputation and chase away top talent.

Retention

In McKinsey’s Great Attrition research, employees rated three aspects of the employee experience as the top reasons for leaving a job, with each earning equal importance:

  • 35% left due to a lack of caring leaders
  • 35% left over sustainable work expectations not being met
  • 35% left for lack of career development and advancement potential

Other reasons included a lack of meaningful work, unsupportive colleagues and community, and a lack of workplace flexibility. Interestingly, although compensation was in there, it wasn’t a primary reason. Instead, the overall employee experience is what’s central to engaging and retaining workers.

Bottom line

Employee experience correlates to a healthy bottom line. Harvard Business Review found a clear link between employees and revenue, and the impact was substantial. They discovered that by improving employee experience metrics, organizations could increase their revenue by more than 50% and profits almost equally. An investment in employee experience pays off.

How to define your company’s employee experience?

The last few years have affected the way employees think about work. With the great resignation and the ongoing trend of quiet quitting, it’s more important than ever to understand what defines your employees’ experience.

In 2022, 40% of companies were expected to move to a four-day workweek. This move is likely born of employee demand to have a greater balance between work and life. And McKinsey reported that flexibility was a top factor for those who returned to work. But that isn’t the end of changes as the workplace continues to digitally transform and evolve. Defining your organization’s place in these employee experience shifts requires knowing what employees want.

Gallup recently surveyed what employees wanted in a job. The results were telling:

  • 64% of people said a significant increase in benefits/wages was very important
  • 61% said a better work/life balance was very important
  • 58% said that they wanted the opportunity to do what they do best
  • 53% desired excellent stability and job security
  • 42% said that an organization that valued diversity and inclusivity was essential

Your organization is the product here, and employees are buying. Recruiting and retaining the most discerning among them may require redefining your organization’s employee experience.

Employee experience strategy

An employee experience is not defined as a singular moment, but instead should be seen as a journey. And your employee experience strategy influences this journey. It begins at onboarding and includes milestones that encourage and reward exceptional performance.

Unfortunately, this incentive is typically lacking.

Gallup Reports, “only 2 in 10 employees agree that their performance is managed in a way that motivates them to do outstanding work.” With a strategy roadmap, an organization can help employees stay engaged through the stages of their employment journey. Let’s explore those stages now.

Stages of the employee experience journey

As an organization, you’ll need to design an employee experience that focuses on each stage of the employee life cycle. We’ve broken this down into five stages:

1. Attract and Hire:

When it comes to hiring, things to consider will be:

  • How long it takes to hire/the cost of hiring
  • The rate of offer acceptance
  • The quality of hire

Additionally, ask yourself if your ads were attractive. If you were selling a product, you want to be sure you’re marketing to the right person. The same can be said when it comes to hiring. Your company is the product—how are you attracting potential talent to your job descriptions?