Glossary of Human Resources Management and Employee Benefit Terms
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.
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.
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:
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:
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:
Elevate employee experience at every lifecycle stage with Empuls, a holistic employee experience management platform. Create a people-first workplace.
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:
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:
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).
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 (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.
Employee Experience can be measured through various methods, and these include:
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.
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:
Here's how to build the best employee experience strategy: