How to improve the employee experience

 

Did you know that employee experience is one of the most important factors in determining employee engagement, productivity, and even business success? Learn how to deal with communication breakdowns.

cartoonish rocket takeoff

Companies that have a comprehensive employee experience management system in place see a significant improvement in their return on assets (ROA) and return on sales (ROS).

According to a recent IBM study, organizations that score in the top 25% for a positive employee experience see a ROA that’s nearly 3 times higher and a ROS that’s twice as high, compared to organizations in the bottom 25%.

Employee experience is not just about providing a good salary and benefits; Employees want to feel engaged, appreciated, and productive in their work.

If you’re looking for specific ways to improve the employee experience at your company, you’re in the right place.

In this blog post, we will discuss 14 ways to improve employee experience and have a happier, more productive, and more engaged workforce. Here’s a short list:

  • Consider the entire employee lifecycle
  • Reduce overhead and automate people operations
  • Build your processes and technology stack around employees’ needs
  • Improve your recruitment procedures
  • Assess employee motivation and alignment for each role
  • Improve onboarding and offboarding
  • Provide hybrid working options
  • Invest in your employees’ wellbeing
  • Collect employee feedback regularly – and act on it
  • Provide the right career growth opportunities
  • Improve employee engagement
  • Improve internal communication
  • Build a culture of transparency and trust
  • Use the right employee experience technology

What is the employee experience?

Employee experience, also known as EX, is the impression an employee has of their job and of the workplace environment, from the time you recruit them to the time they leave.

It includes everything from how employees interact with the company, what opportunities for growth and development they have, and how motivated they feel about their jobs, to whether they feel a sense of belonging and purpose.

Employee experience is closely related to employee attrition and retention, as well: happy employees will stay longer at your company and are more likely to recommend you as an employer to your peers. It drives business outcomes and is an essential element to the success of your performance management strategy.

Employee experience vs. employee engagement

A term that often comes up when discussing employee experience is employee engagement. Are they the same, though? If not, what’s the difference between the two?

Employee engagement is a measure of how committed employees are to their work and how much they care about their company. It includes factors such as whether employees identify with their company’s mission and values, whether they feel they’re doing meaningful work, and whether they feel a sense of belonging.

Employee experience is a broader term that includes all aspects of how an employee feels about their job, their workplace, and their team throughout the entire employee journey. The employee experience directly influences employee engagement.

Why do you need to invest in the employee experience?

In short, because it pays off.

The employee experience has a direct impact on employee engagement, productivity, and financial results: Companies that invest in the employee experience see better financial results than those that don’t.

According to a study by the MIT Sloan Center for Informations System Research, employee experience is one of the key predictors of business success in terms of:

  • Innovation: Companies in the top quartile on employee experience have 51% of their revenues from products and services introduced in the past 2 years, compared to 24% for companies in the bottom quartile.
  • Customer experience: It turns out that CX and EX are closely related. Customer satisfaction is twice as high for companies in the top quartile compared to companies in the bottom quartile.
  • Profitability: The top performers in terms of employee experience are 25% more profitable than the companies at the bottom of the list.

As you can see, employee experience is crucial for many aspects of a business, which is why you need to invest in building a comprehensive employee experience strategy.