The employee experience is the journey an employee takes with your organization.
At its heart is this question: How are employees experiencing their workplace?
The answer is the sum of all interactions an employee has with an employer, from prerecruitment to post-exit. It includes everything from major milestones and personal relationships to technology use and the physical work environment.
Why does the employee experience matter?
All of the individual moments of an employee’s experience play a role in how a worker feels about an employer’s purpose, brand and culture.
These feelings directly affect employee engagement, retention, performance and development.
About one-third of U.S. employees strongly agree with the statement, “The mission or purpose of my organization makes me feel my job is important.”
By doubling that ratio, business units have realized a 34% reduction in absenteeism, a 41% drop in safety incidents and a 19% improvement in quality.
The employee experience can also influence an employee’s decision to return to a former employer and their likelihood to recommend an organization to other high-talent individuals, affecting the organization’s reputation and talent acquisition.
World-class employee experiences attract top talent through strong company branding, drive high performance through meaningful manager-employee relationships, and create valuable brand ambassadors long after employees have left your organization. World-class employee experiences can also lead employees to choose to spend their career with your organization — because your organization provides them the best opportunity to develop and continually improve their workplace wellbeing.
As a result, improving the employee experience should be a strategic priority for every organization.
Developing an Employee Experience Strategy
Where should an organization begin when developing a new employee experience approach? What matters most? What changes are proven to create real value for an organization?
The following are the kinds of questions organizations might ask when looking at their current HR processes through an employee experience lens:
ATTRACT
What elements of our culture are we highlighting to attract top talent?
HIRE
Does our hiring process feel fair? Does our process pick stars?
ONBOARD
Do we affirm the decision employees made to join us? Do new hires experience our values during the employee onboarding process?
ENGAGE
Do our employees show up every day enthusiastic and involved in their work? Do we build on strengths and purpose?
PERFORM
Does each employee performance review seem fair and accurate? Are we driving expectations to higher levels?
DEVELOP
Do our top performers see a future with us? Do we offer flexible, personalized career paths? Do we continually coach career growth?
DEPART
Who are our talent competitors? Why does our best talent leave? Does our exit program create a positive experience?
