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The Empuls Glossary

Glossary of Human Resources Management and Employee Benefit Terms

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Employee Experience 

Employee Experience (or EX) is how employees interpret and internalize their interactions with their company and the context underlying those interactions. 

Simply put, employee experience is the emotional connection employees share with the organization. It’s all about what they think and feels at every touchpoint of their career journey in the workplace.

Employee Experience doesn’t form overnight. It is shaped by persistent interactions with people, processes, technologies, and policies during critical moments with the company.

What is employee experience in HR?

Employee Experience (EX) is the employee's journey at every touchpoint—from onboarding to exit to ambassadorship—and every point in between. It's about every aspect and part of an employee's experience at a workplace.

In simple words, employee experience is the relationship a company creates with its employees. From the moment a person looks at a company's job ad to the time they exit, everything they learn, see, feel, and do contributes to the employee experience.

For any organization to master Employee Experience (EX), it should listen to its workforce at every phase of the employee lifecycle, understand what matters most, and create personalized experiences.

Listen, recognize, award, and retain your employees with our Employee engagement software  

What are the pillars of employee experience?

Over time, the behaviors of the workforce have significantly shifted, so money is no longer the main motivating factor for employees. Instead, it’s the experience. And the best way to measure EX is what’s called the “expectations equation,” which says:

Employee Experience = Employee expectations + A company’s attempt to meet those expectations

To comprehend the ways to enhance EX, you need to break them down into pillars, which include:

  • Effective communication: Internal communications are critical pillars of employee experience strategy. Set up a two-way flow of information that carries details from top to bottom and moves feedback from bottom to top. This helps reduce the ambiguity of the messages and eliminates inaccuracies, which are imminent in the corporate world.
  • Engagement and accountability: Empower leaders and managers to improve team-level engagement by giving them necessary tools that can help them visualize feedback and track appreciation, rewards, and participation levels in engagement initiatives. Encouraging accountability will help to gain employee's trust, loyalty, and dedication.
  • Leadership alignment and culture: Create space for leaders to communicate and celebrate important moments of an employee's journey to cultivate deeper connections in the employee-employer relationship.
  • Expandability and scalability: Great EX programs don't live in a silo. Instead, it connects the data across the core experiences of a business—brand experience, product experience, and customer experience.
  • Learning and Development: Prioritizing the growth of future skill sets, combined with tactics that support career development, helps employee experience move from good to great.

Why is employee experience important?

Employee experience is important because it is the first point of contact for your brand and organization. It's a chance for you to make a positive or negative impression on potential customers and clients.

The employee experience is also important because it impacts how people feel about their work, which can affect their job satisfaction, productivity, and performance. People who are happy with their jobs are more likely to be motivated, engaged, and productive.

The other important benefits of having a good employee experience include:

  • Improves employee retention
  • Better customer experience
  • Improves engagement and fosters collaboration
  • Reduced employee turnover
  • Lower training costs
  • Higher production levels
  • Boost in business performance

What is an employee experience strategy?

An employee experience strategy is a plan that outlines the various ways to improve what employees think and feel about their position in an organization. Companies use EX strategies to address their workforce needs, motivate them regularly, understand their preferences, appreciate their efforts, and to ensure they witness complete job satisfaction.

With the right employee experience strategy, an organization can:

  • Foster positive culture
  • Attract top talent
  • Engage top-performing employees
  • Retain best employees
  • Create camaraderie
  • Bolster brand image
  • Inspire creativity

Pro Tip

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How to improve employee experience?

Making improvements to EX begins with simple exercises. See an employee's journey like a lifecycle from a first-person's perspective. What does it feel like to be recruited and hired? What does it feel like when you exit a company? 

Picturing and measuring these little experiences at every stage can help talented leaders see the human element and create an outstanding employee experience.

Here is a quick overview to help you improve employee experience at every stage of the employee lifecycle:

  • Attract (Talent recruitment): Experiences that employees go through internally have the power to shape your brand's external reputation. Not only does this send signals about what your company stands for but also attracts skilled individuals from outside to work with you.
  • Hire (Choose the stars): Keep the hiring process clear, fair, aligned, and engaging. Aim for choosing talents that fit both the role and culture. Execute rigorous evaluations scientifically to predict their performance and balance out manager biases.
  • Onboard (Decision affirmation): Onboarding shouldn't be a one-way communication with your employees. Employers must help them quickly socialize with their teams, and resonate with the company's purpose and values. 
  • Engage (Build purpose and strengths): Employee engagement is more than just ensuring job satisfaction. Today, employees look for a mentor who cares and guides them, makes them accountable, and focuses on career growth.
  • Perform (Meet expectations): Just delivering a yearly performance bonus won't cut it. Employees respond the best with frequent praise, periodic feedback about their work, and recognition for outstanding work. 
  • Develop (Career growth): While pay raises and fancy designations are great, they aren't the sole human desire to develop and grow. Have special growth programs that help employees see a path forward in the workplace: opportunities to upgrade their skills, collaborate with new members, and enjoy great autonomy. 
  • Depart (Positive Exit): Exits are an uncertain, highly emotional, and last stage of an employee's overall journey with an organization. Regardless of the reasons behind, make the employees feel appreciated for all their contributions to ensure a positive yet excellent exit.

How to create a great employee experience culture? 

A good employee experience strategy evaluates every phase of an employee's journey and identifies events, interactions, and moments employees have throughout their journey with an organization. 

Also, understand that EX isn't a one-time initiative. It is the outcome of consistent efforts to create a workplace for employees to feel valued, appreciated, and thrive because the mindset of today's employees isn't just about receiving a paycheck. It's much more. 

Here are a few tips for creating a great employee experience:

  • Treat employees as if they are customers: Understand who your employees are, their challenges, and what they want at the workplace. When their problems are addressed, they look after your customers even better. 
  • Understand experience from an employee's perspective: While this might sound intuitive, putting yourself in their shoes opens up some amazing views of the core organizational problem. 
  • Not all experiences are equal: While some experiences are impactful, others drive great emotional engagement (or even disengagement) in an organization. Now, these moments matter and must be punctuated with personal interaction. Say, for instance, an employee returning from parental leave.
  • Drive purpose: People seek fulfillment and meaning in their jobs and want to accomplish a bigger goal. So, align day-to-day tasks with the company's higher purpose to help employees see the big picture and make an impact.

Employee pulse surveys:

These are short surveys that can be sent frequently to check what your employees think about an issue quickly. The survey comprises fewer questions (not more than 10) to get the information quickly. These can be administered at regular intervals (monthly/weekly/quarterly).

One-on-one meetings:

Having periodic, hour-long meetings for an informal chat with every team member is an excellent way to get a true sense of what’s happening with them. Since it is a safe and private conversation, it helps you get better details about an issue.

eNPS:

eNPS (employee Net Promoter score) is one of the simplest yet effective ways to assess your employee's opinion of your company. It includes one intriguing question that gauges loyalty. An example of eNPS questions include: How likely are you to recommend our company to others? Employees respond to the eNPS survey on a scale of 1-10, where 10 denotes they are ‘highly likely’ to recommend the company and 1 signifies they are ‘highly unlikely’ to recommend it.

Based on the responses, employees can be placed in three different categories:

  • Promoters
    Employees who have responded positively or agreed.
  • Detractors
    Employees who have reacted negatively or disagreed.
  • Passives
    Employees who have stayed neutral with their responses.

How to measure employee experience?

Employee Experience can be measured through various methods, and these include:

  • Periodic surveys: Instead of asking about their vibes, feelings, and other general or overarching-type questions, focus on descriptive, precise questions. Ask the right questions to get the correct answers. 
  • Track engagement participation: Check how many employees actively participate in any engagement initiatives a company organizes.  
  • Calculate turnover rates: Employee turnover helps measure the effectiveness of an HRMS and the organization's overall management. 
  • Calculate absenteeism rate: Employee absenteeism is a good indicator of engagement, happiness, and productivity levels. 
  • Employee referrals: No referrals to open positions is again a red flag. It signifies that your employees are unhappy with the overall experience and wouldn't recommend anyone either. 
  • Employee net promoter score (eNPS): These are a great way to measure what he thinks about the workplace and the likelihood to recommend the company and its services/products they sell to others. 

What is an employee experience survey? 

An employee experience survey is a medium or channel to get direct feedback from employees about their opinions and overall organizational experiences. These surveys help measure employees' feelings of empowerment and contentment. 

A good employee experience survey questions the workforce about what they think and feel about workplace culture, coworker relationships, employee growth, recognition from superiors, and other significant issues. They are usually anonymous, so employees can be open and honest about their views.  

What are employee experience best practices?

Employee experience (EX) is all about designing a positive work environment that fosters engagement, productivity, and satisfaction. Here are some key best practices to consider:

  • Onboarding:  A smooth onboarding sets the tone for the entire employee experience.  Make sure new hires feel welcome, informed, and equipped to succeed. This goes beyond a one-day orientation and should extend for months
  • Communication:  Clear, consistent communication is crucial. Keep employees informed about company goals, changes, and decisions. Encourage open dialogue and multiple channels for feedback.
  • Growth and Development:  Offer opportunities for employees to learn and grow in their careers. This can include training programs, mentorship opportunities, and tuition reimbursement.
  • Well-being:  Prioritize employee well-being by offering programs that support physical, mental, and emotional health. This could include health insurance, wellness programs, and flexible work arrangements.
  • Recognition and Reward:  Recognize and reward employees for their contributions. This can be done through formal programs, bonuses, or simply public praise.
  • Feedback and Listening:  Create a culture where feedback is encouraged and valued. Conduct regular surveys and hold open forums to gather employee input.  Most importantly, take action on the feedback you receive.
  • Diversity and Inclusion:  Actively promote diversity and inclusion in the workplace. This creates a more welcoming environment for everyone and fosters a wider range of ideas and perspectives.
  • Meaningful Work:  Help employees see how their work contributes to the bigger picture. This gives them a sense of purpose and motivates them to do their best work.

How to build the best employee experience strategy?

Here's how to build the best employee experience strategy:

  • Define goals and objectives: Clearly outline what you want to achieve with your employee experience strategy, ensuring that goals are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART).
  • Gather employee feedback: Conduct surveys, interviews, and focus groups to understand employee needs, preferences, and pain points. Analyze this data to identify areas for improvement and tailor the strategy accordingly.
  • Map employee journeys: Create personas representing different employee types and map out the ideal employee journey at each stage—from recruitment to exit—to identify opportunities for enhancing experiences.
  • Align with company culture and values: Ensure the strategy aligns with and reinforces the organization's culture, mission, and values while communicating it clearly to all employees and leading by example.
  • Offer competitive compensation and benefits: Provide fair compensation along with a range of benefits that cater to diverse employee needs, such as health insurance, retirement plans, and paid time off.
  • Foster a supportive work environment: Promote a positive, inclusive, and collaborative culture that values employee contributions while providing opportunities for social interaction and team-building.
  • Invest in learning and development: Offer continuous learning opportunities through mentorship programs, training workshops, and access to online resources to help employees grow professionally and personally.
  • Recognize and reward achievements: Implement a structured recognition program that acknowledges employee contributions through public recognition, bonuses, promotions, and unique experiences.
  • Leverage technology and data: Utilize employee experience software to gather insights and automate processes while using data to measure effectiveness and make informed decisions for continuous improvement.

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