How to Design an Exceptional Employee Experience Framework

Employees are the backbone of any organization, small or big. The degree of employee engagement is a known factor in influencing critical business metrics. Companies that rank in the top quartile for top-notch employee experience have double the customer satisfaction and innovation-readiness than those at the bottom. They also experience 25% more profit.

This is the reason why future-focused organizations take employee experience seriously; however there is more. People-oriented organizations know that a meaningful employee experience is the key to sustainable success in fast-evolving business landscapes.

Employee Experience Management - the Missing Piece in the Puzzle of HR Management. Employee experience can be designed as an organization’s framework aimedto improve employee experience at work and impact the well-being of both employee and the employer.

In a 2019 Deloitte survey, over 84% of HR respondents said employee experience is a priority for them. However, not many human resources’ officers are ready to address its importance. With multiple studies showing the growing impact of employee experience on all other aspects of business, it just might be a missing piece in the puzzle of human resources management. Organizations with an eye on the future might want to look inwards to unlock the true potential of their business.

So, how do you draft an employee experience strategy if you don’t have one?

Defining the Impact of Employee Experience

Every organization has its own work culture; they care for their employees’ expectations and well-being. This is why defining your organization’s goals from an employee experience strategy is an essential action. Here are just some objectives to tailor your employee experience strategy to:

• Talent Acquisition: It starts right from attracting talent and interviewing them. From employer branding to a seamless hiring process, candidate experience has the power to make or break your employer brand. Moreover, delivering an effective and fast hiring process improves perception among job seekers and those they recommend your brand to.

Companies are desperate to understand how to find and keep high-performing talent who are the heart of their business, a lack of analytics capabilities has led, however, to many businesses blindly throwing money and resources at problem areas to see what sticks. This is a risky proposition when so much depends on keeping the best employees engaged and productive.

• Onboarding: At different onboarding touchpoints, it is important to keep in mind the interactions and experiences that employees go through. Reducing paperwork and automating form filling can ensure that employees are more productive and less hassled by work irrelevant to their jobs.
• Retention: While some employee turnover is expected, a positive employee journey can drastically increase retention rates in the first year. As average tenures decrease, a meaningful experience can be the difference between the highly-engaged and barely-engaged employees.

Assessing the Status Quo

Understanding your organization’s employee experience management will allow you to leverage what is working and course-correct if needed. In addition, mapping the employee journey can give you deep insights into employee sentiments and pain points. Some of the questions you should ask are:

• Do you have all the information you need to understand your employees’ needs, goals and expectations?
• Have you measured employee engagement?
• What percentage of your employees show high, moderate, low or no engagement?
• What are the major hurdles employees face at different touchpoints like hiring, onboarding, performance and departure?

Configuring the Ideal Experience Journey

Once you understand where your employee experience stands, it’s time to get to work. Employee experience requires that same user-oriented approach the customer experience needs. Here, you can engage the same design thinking process that conceptualizes products, services and experiences.

Collaborating with stakeholders is the key. Employee experience goes beyond just the purview of the HR team. Senior leaders and managers have a significant role in identifying gaps, challenges and concerns. However, working backward can help you ask the right questions. For instance, what should be the ideal employee experience at your organization? How do you want your employee to feel at every level of interaction? How can you improve current processes to make them efficient and easy to navigate for employees? These are some of the questions to start answering so you can reverse engineer a strategy that aligns with your employee experience management objectives.

Using the Right HR Technology

The right technology can radically improve the employee experience at your workplace. Integrating technology can make processes faster, delivering a smooth experience at every step, from automating tasks to set up employee feedback surveys.
Improved productivity in the workplace creates a sense of achievement and boosts morale. However, technology alone cannot improve the experience. It is a vital component that needs to fit into your organization without requiring extensive training or a steep learning curve.

In a Nutshell

In addition to introspecting your organization’s framework, exploring case studies and competitor strategy can also give you a leg up in understanding what works and what doesn’t. With that in mind, you can decide whether you need a dedicated employee experience team. In the backdrop of the pandemic, much has changed about how employees approach work.

With a solid framework, you can ensure that employee experience never takes a backseat even when you expand into new markets and verticals of business.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does an employee experience manager do?

An employee experience manager is responsible for drafting employee experience initiatives. It includes conducting employee surveys, mapping employee journeys, having a finger on the pulse of employee conversations, and maintaining a positive work experience for all employees.

What are the main components of employee experience?

Broadly, work culture, technology and the workplace for the three main components of employee experience. Focusing on improving the experiential aspects of these three will develop a well-rounded employee experience strategy.