What Is Employee Experience & How To Increase Employee Experience?
Employee experience (EX) is what the employees feel during their journey in an organisation—from the moment they apply for a job till they exit the organisation. Employee experience is a two-word term with a profound meaning and a much deeper impact.
How is employee experience different?
Focussing on employee experience means looking beyond the realms of engagement and organisational culture. Every stage of a person’s life is about the experience—be it pursuing hobbies or merely shopping for groceries—so it is only fitting that the place where we spend at least one-third of our day should also be about ‘experience’.
Why is employee experience important?
The COVID-19 pandemic broke all assumptions of the normal working conditions, resulting in an increased focus on the overall employee experience.
The emphasis is on the experience and not the process. It is good to know the vision and mission of the company, but understanding how the work one does contributes to this vision and mission is better. It is great to have a smooth and quick hiring and induction process, but it is better to join a company that offers a best-fit role.
How to create a positive employee experience?
Some ways by which organisations can enhance employee experience are:
- Build an excellent organisational culture: Culture is the backbone of any organisation. It defines the principles which lead its people. Healthy and progressive organisational culture creates positivity among employees.
- Make employee well-being your priority: The employees today are on the lookout for companies offering a better work-life balance and focus on employee well-being.
- Invest in employees: If organisations focus on building their employees’ skills, employees can work towards taking their organisations to new heights.
- Leverage technology: Technology has left no part of our lives untouched, including how work is done. Helping employees embrace technology is a win-win for both employees and organisations.
- Communication is the Key: Transparency in communication is what most employees seek from their organisation while not wanting to be overwhelmed by information overload. Organisations must reach out to employees through quick and widespread communication tools like video conferences and instant messaging.
- Value the feedback: Active listening is an important skill to understand and value employees and their feelings. Organisations must focus on taking the employee feedback and acting on it.
The Business Impact of employee experience
A lot about an organisation can be known through its employees. Employees will provide feedback to the outer world based on the experience they have within the organisation. Employee experience is likely to impact an organisation in the following ways:
Positive experience
- Increased employee productivity
- Positive influence on colleagues, stakeholders, team members, etc.
- Employee becomes the ambassador of the company
- Reduced attrition, saving hiring and onboarding costs
- Improved turnaround time for achieving key objectives
- Improved ideation, innovation, and creativity toward identifying solutions
- Better customer experience
Negative experience
- Increased level of disengagement from work
- Reduced productivity
- Increased stress levels among employees
- Increased customer complaints and decreasing sales turnover
- Increased employee exits resulting in increased cost of hiring
How to design an employee experience strategy?
- Listen to the voice of employees and understand the pulse.
- Create a connection between an employee’s work and the organisation’s objectives.
- Use technology as an enabler.
- Utilise design thinking concepts for a better approach to problem-solving.
- Identify and design effective communication tools that contribute to improved transparency.
- Automate processes that can cause bottlenecks.
- Use data analytics to provide an improved user experience in the work environment.
- Build a cross-functional employee experience by attending collaboration between various enabling functions.
Conclusion
If the customer is the king, employees are the means to that king. As such, focussing on developing a positive employee experience will increase customer experience and result in better business results.
