Leaders know that employee engagement is critical to their businesses. They also know that disengaged employees are one of the top reasons for high turnover.
Employees want to be heard, and they want to know that their opinions matter. Fortunately, there are ways to listen to and act on employee feedback through tools like performance conversations, stay interviews, and employee suggestion boxes.
What is EX?
The employee experience encapsulates everything that a company offers its employees: the physical, digital, and cultural workplace. Employee experience also considers how these workplace environments and organizational practices affect employees’ feelings, beliefs, and behaviors at work.
This includes the small details of everyday work, periodic events, and transitions throughout an employee’s career. Employee experience is subjective and unique to each employee. However, HR can help employees and managers understand how a workplace’s environment, policies, and practices impact their personal experiences.
Prioritizing EX allows organizations to understand better how their employees feel about working for their organization. This understanding empowers leaders to make changes to impact each employee’s journey positively. In turn, happy employees produce more and represent the company thoroughly.
Surveys are the most effective way to measure employee experience and engagement. These include the employee engagement survey, which focuses on motivation and commitment, and the employee benefits survey, which helps organizations gauge what total rewards mean to their workforce. In addition, an exit survey is a great tool to leverage for a holistic view of your employees’ overall journeys. Ultimately, any survey you utilize must align with each stage of your EX strategy.
What is Engagement?
Employee engagement is the level of motivation and commitment that employees show towards their jobs. When employees are engaged, they put in extra effort and work harder than required. They are also more likely to be vocal advocates for the company and will recommend it as a great workplace.
Disengaged employees, on the other hand, need to give their all at work and support the organization’s goals. These employees typically go through the motions and only value their jobs to ensure they get a paycheck at the end of each month.
There are various ways to measure engagement, but the most common way is through employee surveys. A one-time annual survey is often clunky and may leave you with more information than you know what to do with. Surveys at a quarterly cadence are more effective and will allow you to monitor trends over time.
Employees want their jobs to be meaningful, challenging, and exciting. They also wish to access tools that help them thrive and reach their full potential. They also want to trust their managers and colleagues and be free to communicate openly. Finally, they need to be able to see how their contributions impact the big picture. Creating an engaging workplace will pay dividends through higher business performance, lower attrition, and more.
How can EX be Measured?
Employee experience is an ongoing journey that can be measured in various ways. Key performance indicators (KPIs) are a helpful starting point. They can be easily incorporated into your company’s analytics dashboard with tools built into your ERP or human capital management system.
In addition, an employee engagement survey is an excellent way to understand how employees feel about the overall experience. This type of survey helps organizations better understand what drives engagement, including passion and purpose, and how they see their roles in the bigger picture.
A deeper dive into the employee experience is also possible by creating surveys around different stages of an individual’s work life cycle. These could include attracting and hiring, onboarding, transitioning to working remotely, extended leaves of absence, and even employee layoffs and reboarding.
When creating a great employee experience, the goal is to create moments that matter. By making these impactful experiences, employees will feel energized and empowered to take risks and innovate. They are more likely to transfer these feelings to customers and provide high-value solutions. This is how companies can put employees first and build an environment that will help them thrive.
How can EX be Managed?
The employee experience encompasses a broad spectrum of interactions with their employer, from their initial job candidacy to their departure from the company. Employee experiences are influenced by the people they work with, policies, and their physical and digital workspace. An exceptional employee experience can set your business apart from its competitors and improve your organization’s overall performance.
A great employee experience can be managed by focusing on the moments that matter most to your employees. The first step is identifying who your employees are and understanding the identities that shape their perception of the company. From there, you can decide what employee journeys to prioritize and how you will design those employee journeys. For example, suppose your workforce comprises many remote workers who are often new to their roles. Consider a more collaborative culture and an increased focus on remote work policies in that case.
It would help if you also considered that different employee personas require different approaches to employee experiences. For example, nurses will likely expect a supportive workplace culture and flexible working conditions. At the same time, creatives will be more interested in a collaborative environment and the ability to pursue work-life balance. By addressing the unique needs of each persona, you can create an experience tailored to their expectations, which will help them feel supported at work.
