In a nutshell: What is Employee Experience?
The term employee experience (EX for short) covers all experiences that employees have in an organization (e.g. company, public authority).
The better the employees' experience with the organization, the longer they stay with the organization and the stronger the employee engagement.
With a positive employee experience, employees are satisfied with the organization and the organization benefits from better employee performance.
Definition and importance of employee experience
The employee experience describes the experiences of employees in organizations. The experience includes all experiences, interactions and emotions during the employment relationship. In a broader definition, employee experience also includes the experiences of job applicants.
Organizations with employees can influence the employee experience. Among the various organizations, companies account for the largest share. The targeted analysis, evaluation and optimization of the employee experience is known as employee experience management. The goal of this type of management is a positive employee experience.
Nowadays, modern companies are aware of the importance of the employee experience in terms of employee satisfaction, motivation and loyalty. They identify and use the drivers of EX in a targeted manner in order to generate benefits for the company.
Increasing importance of EX due to changing values in the world of work
As Volker Nürnberg writes in his specialist book Employee Experience: Successfully designing agile and integrated solutions for employees (2023), EX is significantly influenced by changing values in the world of work. It is also becoming increasingly important. We are also observing this development in our day-to-day work when we advise companies on employee experience platforms.
Companies are now faced with a significant change in the demands of their workforce compared to the employment relationships of the last century, particularly due to the new generations of employees - the millennials on the one hand and Generation Z on the other. Meanwhile, salary is by no means the only factor in employee satisfaction.
Employees of the younger generations are increasingly showing a willingness to get involved in the company and develop personally. In some cases, even philosophical aspects such as self-realization are coming to the fore. Work processes and methods also have an impact on employee satisfaction.
Aspects of employee experience management
The requirements of the new generations of employees are influencing employee experience management. In order for companies to ensure the desired positive employee experience, the requirements of employees must be met in the best possible way.
The following aspects in particular have an impact on the employee experience and are therefore an integral part of employee experience management:
- Fair communication at eye level
- Positive working environment
- Development and career opportunities
- Flexible working hours
- Mental and physical health
- Varied and agile working methods
- Digitized workflows
- Fair payment
- Appreciation
The weighting of these aspects differs depending on the employee. Some employees place more value on development and career opportunities, while others place more value on a positive working environment. Companies are called upon to consider the aspects in which an optimization of the employee experience is possible and to manage them through employee experience management in such a way that every employee is individually satisfied as far as possible .
It is not possible to offer every employee a completely positive employee experience. However, high potentials and key specialists in particular should receive comprehensive support as part of employee experience management. This at least strengthens employee loyalty and employee satisfaction among key personnel.
Ensuring positive employee experience: adaptation of the corporate culture required
Companies need to develop both technologically and culturally for successful employee experience management. Technological development includes, in particular, the provision of digital tools that offer employees a wide range of functions for internal communication, increasing productivity and personal development.
Millennials, who have grown up with digitalization, generally find their way around a digital workplace. The employee experience platforms developed specifically for the needs of companies support the digitalization of the workplace. The employee experience platforms offer the following functions, among others:
- Efficient digital exchange with other employees and access to new contacts
- Support in analyzing your own performance
- Promoting productivity
- Support in setting and achieving individual goals
- Provision of further education and learning opportunities (e.g. e-learning, digital lectures)
- Digitized work processes, for example through collaboration tools
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Digitalization alone does not guarantee a holistically positive employee experience. Apart from the provision of EX-enhancing tools, a certain cultural change within an organization is indispensable in employee experience management.
Companies would do well to see their employees as their most important resources and treat them accordingly. Establishing a participative management style, for example, in which employees can take part in setting goals, is advantageous in this respect.
Furthermore, open communication is desirable, in which managers and employees take emotions and perspectives into account and behave empathetically towards each other.
Implementation of the employee experience in 5 phases
In theory, the employee experience is divided into 5 phases. The overview of the 5 phases makes it clear which processes need to be considered in the employee experience. The employee experience spans the entire employee life cycle.
- Application process from the job advertisement to the interview to the conclusion of the contract
- Onboarding of employees, including all measures to familiarize them with the organization
- Employee development in day-to-day work, including through individual objectives, work tasks and interaction with other employees
- Employee retention, including by creating and maintaining a positive working environment, team-building measures and further training
- Termination of the employment relationship and its framework conditions (including reasons for termination, expiry of the last working days)
Experiences during the application process
In an extended definition, the application process is also part of the employee experience. It is advisable to consider the application process in employee experience management for two reasons:
- On the one hand, the experiences from the application process have an impact on the employees, at least at the beginning of the employment relationship, and thus influence the employees' impressions in the first few days at the company.
- On the other hand, an attractive positioning as an employer is essential for companies to have any chance at all of acquiring the highly sought-after specialists in a highly competitive market.
To optimize the employee experience during the application process , online channels can be used to evaluate the interactions that potential applicants have with the organization. For example, applicants could respond to advertising on social media and follow the link to the website.
The click rate for the advertisement and the proportion of interested parties who leave their contact details on the website provide information about the attractiveness of the company for applicants.
In addition to evaluating key figures on online channels, there is also the option of interviewing applicants to analyze and optimize the application process. Possible questions relate to how attractive the job advertisements were and which aspects of the job advertisements the applicants particularly liked or disliked.
Onboarding Experience
While the employee experience during the application process is not part of the employee experience in some definitions, the employee experience during the onboarding process is definitely part of the employee experience. In onboarding, it is important to provide employees with a good introduction to the working environment and professional activities.
Onboarding is not only beneficial when employees are introduced to a company's systems and tools, but also when they are familiarized with the team. It also makes a good impression if employees have a contact person during the first few weeks of employment.
Google is a prime example of how appealing onboarding can be in a company. New employees are given a comprehensive introduction to the company as part of a fixed program.
Presentations on the company philosophy, measures to familiarize employees with the working environment, a contact person at all times, as well as a simple trial project to start their new working life with a sense of achievement: Google offers its new employees all of this in the first few weeks of employment.
Employee development
Employees continue to develop over the course of their employment relationship (also known as the employee journey). In employee experience management, it is important to give employees this space for further development in the first place. As explained at the beginning, the new generation of employees wants to develop themselves further.
Good employers take employees' individual goals into account during the employee journey and respond accordingly. To do this, it is essential to make time for employees. If managers do not have time for this, they should at least appoint other managers who have sufficient skills to conduct conversations and support employees.
It is ideal for the development of employees if they are assigned tasks at work that promote the achievement of their individual goals. This promotes both the success of the company and the personal success of employees.
In participative management styles, employees even have the opportunity to contribute to the formulation of company goals. The individual development of employees and their involvement in the company's goals also has a positive effect on employee engagement.
Employee loyalty
Replacing employees can cost companies high five-figure sums. For this reason, retaining employees - especially those with rare skills on the labor market - is an important component of employee experience management for companies.
On the one hand, employee loyalty increases through individual development: when employees develop personally, they are more motivated to stay with the company. On the other hand, a good working atmosphere and a harmonious team are conducive to employee retention.
Further training, events, leisure activities for employees and team-building programs are beneficial employee experience measures from this perspective.
Large corporations provide their employees with fringe benefits in order to strengthen employee loyalty. Fringe benefits are advantages that go beyond the working environment. They include offers such as company fitness.
Termination of the employment relationship
How the employment relationship is terminated varies depending on the background. If an employee is dissatisfied with the organization and therefore leaves, it is important to find out the reasons for the dissatisfaction.
Provided the criticism is objective and constructive, helpful conclusions can be drawn from negative employee experiences in order to improve the employee experience of current and future employees.
Regardless of an employee's opinion of the company at the end of the employment relationship, decorum should always be maintained . The company should strive for a clean separation of employees.
If negative reports from employees about the separation from the company accumulate, this could have a toxic effect on the current team and on future applicants.
Tips for optimization: Strategically implementing employee experience management
At the beginning of employee experience management, companies should evaluate their organization:
- How satisfied are the current employees?
- What kind of management style is currently in place and do employees have sufficient opportunities to participate in this management style?
- What are the unique selling points compared to other companies?
- Do employees currently feel comfortable at work? If not, what changes would they like to see?
Questions like these are designed to uncover potential for optimizing employee satisfaction. In addition, when looking for optimization opportunities, it is advantageous to sit down together as a management team and conduct research using agile methods.
Design thinking, employee journey mapping and employee personas are examples of methods that companies can use to optimize the employee experience.
A strategic approach is essential in the context of employee experience management. Ideally, companies develop a strategy with which the employee experience is regularly analyzed and optimized.
Annual anonymous employee surveys could be part of this strategy. In addition, the corporate culture should be adapted so that employees have a contact person they can go to at any time if they are dissatisfied in order to talk about the background and sensitivities.
As part of continuous employee experience management, it is important to ensure that companies are open to change . Examples of changes include more time spent working from home, flexible working hours and New Work methods and models.
Part of the strategy should also be to research social media, news in trade magazines and other sources in order to find innovative methods for your own employee experience management.
Conclusion: Employee experience as a success factor in the HR world
In the HR world (this term refers to the field of human resources [HR]), the employee experience is a key success factor for companies. Continuous management of the employee experience not only helps to retain employees.
Companies are also better able to attract sought-after specialists. The key factors for a positive employee experience are above all an open and employee-centered corporate culture, a technologically modern and varied working environment and a harmonious team.
