While many employees want to make a better workplace, many employers haven't quite figured out what that looks like. In addition to creating a "company culture" to attract and retain talent, employers need to create a suitable employee experience to keep those employees engaged and satisfied. Read on as we will discuss every essential factor and step of building a successful E.X roadmap.
As HR professionals, we're tasked with providing a positive work experience that benefits both the employee and the employer. In this article, we'll outline the steps you can take to design a roadmap for improving employee experience, and how it will benefit the employee, the employer, and your organization.
Why is employee experience important?
There are several compelling reasons why employers should be concerned with the employee experience.
Empowers employees to be confident
An employee's perspective is a company's biggest asset. Employee experience is the primary way to empower employees and get their feedback. You can check out our blog article 22 powerful employee engagement survey questions.
An employee who is well-informed and empowered can make better decisions and impact the success of the company.
Increases engagement and productivity
Employee engagement is an important contributor to a company’s competitive advantage. Engaged employees are more productive and have a higher retention rate than their disengaged counterparts.
Increases employee retention
The well-being of employees directly impacts the success of the business. In fact, employees with the highest engagement rate are 15 percent more likely to be highly productive and are 3.5 times more likely to stay in their current role for five years or more than the average employee.
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Provides an engaging and satisfying work environment
A productive and positive work environment has been found to increase employee productivity by up to 30 percent. Furthermore, studies have found that when employees feel like they are a part of something, they will devote more time to the company, which results in increased sales.
JobSage’s team points out that 28% of employees have quit a job for the sake of their mental health. To be clear, an employee's well-being should be a priority for any employer. However, it's not always easy to measure this and provide a personal touch.
With an optimized employee experience, you can at least measure your progress. This helps you understand what you are doing well, what you can improve, and what you need to do to achieve your company goals.
What are the key elements of an effective employee experience roadmap?
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1. Clear mission and vision
Your mission and vision should be communicated in a clear and accessible way. Employees need to be able to see the bigger picture. Your vision and values should be written down and prominently displayed. Employees need to understand what they are working for, and they need to know where they are going.
According to Grove HR’s research on what candidates looking for when job hunting, 64 percent say that transparency of vision, strategies, and plans is a vital part of positive company culture.
2. A healthy work/life balance
Work/life balance is an important factor in an employee's overall well-being. You can provide a schedule that allows employees to take care of personal and professional matters at the same time.
3. Trust in management
Employees need to feel that their opinions matter and that they are heard. Management should be approachable and accessible. Otherwise, employees will feel like passengers on a ship without a captain.
For this reason, it's important that management doesn't slip through the cracks while improving the employee experience. A collaborative, top-down approach can also help you pinpoint where management-wide communication can be improved.
4. Cohesive teamwork
An employee's experience is shaped by the team they work with. A cohesive team creates a positive work environment and is integral to a successful project and business outcomes.
Furthermore, inclusivity is about how people from different backgrounds are treated, and how they are integrated into the organization. As each employee is an individual with unique characteristics and traits, you need to ensure that all employees feel like they belong.
5. Training and upskilling opportunities
A great employee experience strategy includes a proactive approach to training and upskilling employees. By improving employee retention and helping employees stay up-to-date with the latest technology, you can help them stay productive and retain their skills.
When you help upskill your employees through training programs, they'll be more likely to stay on board and remain loyal to the company.
6. Performance management
Good performance management helps employees understand where they stand in the organization and what needs to be done to improve. This enables them to stay on track and provides them with feedback and opportunities to improve.
Employees shouldn't only hear when they've made mistakes but also be celebrated for their accomplishments. To achieve this, managers should give employees clear goals and praise their efforts when they meet them.
In fact, such a fresh way of looking at performance management gave birth to the new wave of Performance Enablement where employees are 'enabled', not 'managed', with the tools and conditions they need to excel at work.
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How to create a roadmap for employee experience
Define all the key elements above
It all begins with clearly articulating the vision of the company, and relaying this to employees. You can use the following formula to determine your company's mission and vision and include it in your employee experience strategy.
- Employee engagement: This is a measure of employee satisfaction, satisfaction with their work, and willingness to stay with your organization.
- Mission: What you are trying to achieve.
- Vision: Why you are trying to achieve it.
- Values: What you believe in.
- Values alignment: How you communicate your values to your employees.
- Employer's expectations: What you expect from your employees.
- Employee's expectations: What the employees can expect from you.
With this in hand, you can begin addressing the elements of your employee experience strategy. It's important to gather feedback from your employees and HR personnel on areas that may require particular attention.
For example, one of the most important elements in any employee experience strategy is performance management. If this element isn't clearly defined, your employees won't know how they can improve, and how they can be held accountable.
You may also want to look at your company's culture and values. Are they clear and aligned with the mission and vision? If not, you may want to work on aligning them by, firstly, knowing how to measure your company culture. You may want to consider using an outside consultant to help you with this.
There isn't really a "one size fits all", step-by-step action plan. The road to improving employee experience is contextual to each business and can be tailored to suit your company's strengths and weaknesses.
However, gathering feedback from your existing employees, and consulting with your HR personnel is a great place to begin. Your HR team will be able to provide you with insight into the challenges your employees are facing, and brainstorm tangible solutions.
Defining employee experience metrics
How do you measure your employee experience? That is possibly one of the more difficult hurdles in building an effective employee experience strategy. In the modern age of data analysis, it's difficult to summarize the experience of your employees in a short, meaningful way.
Some of the key metrics you can use to determine your company's performance include:
- Employee engagement: This is a measure of employee satisfaction, satisfaction with their work, and willingness to stay with your organization.
- Behavioral metrics: This includes how many mistakes have been made by employees, and how well they have been managed.
- Wages and benefits: This includes how much money your employees are making, and how they are being compensated, relative to employees in your company's industry.
- Public relations: Public perception of your company can play an important role in the employee experience. Few highly-talented employees are willing to work for a controversial company.
- Average ratings: The average rating of your company on employer review websites like Glassdoor can provide valuable insights into your employees' experiences.
One thing you want to avoid doing is relying too heavily on metrics, to the point that you view your employees as numbers on a chart. That is one of the most common mistakes companies make when it comes to employee experience.
For example, you might create an employee reward program but put it on auto-pilot. This can give employees something to aspire to, but it also has the potential to have a negative impact on employee engagement, when gift certificates and coupons replace direct recognition and feedback.
More than anything, employees crave the recognition of their peers - save the gift certificates for team-building activities and let employees share in the joy of recognition.
Leverage your new employee experience roadmap to grow your business
Employee experience is more than a buzzword. It's the lifeblood of your company. By understanding how your employees are feeling, you can work to improve the experience for both your employees and your customers.
Developing your employee experience strategy will have numerous benefits for your business. Business leaders will be able to increase the employee retention rate and retain top talent, which can result in a dramatic increase in customer satisfaction and revenue.
Not only will you reduce turnover rates, which impacts your bottom line, but you will also increase employee productivity and morale. When your employees feel engaged and fulfilled, they are more likely to stick around and give you great work.
Research shows that when employees are satisfied and engaged, they are willing to go above and beyond for you. This creates a ripple effect, which increases your brand awareness, increases brand loyalty, and increases your profits in the long term.
Always remember that employees are your brand ambassadors, and the human touch your business provides to your employees is incredibly important.
