What is employee experience management?
Employee experience management is, in a sense, the science behind a positive employee experience. In recent years, employee experience has been a much-discussed topic in business magazines and books. New management theories have claimed that employee experience is the new edge in employee satisfaction, employee morale, and employee retention.
It is all that, but it's so much more. Employee experience management recognizes the importance of the employee experience not just to the individual but to team culture, productivity, and creativity. It works to optimize the employee experience in a specific company, tweaking the workplace environment and company culture while making resources available to employees and spurring employee development.
How does employee experience management work?
The employee experience is driven by eight key components:
- Communication (between employees and with external audiences)
- Recognition (for effort and achievements, both formal and informal)
- Flexibility (in terms of where/how you work; in hours, dress code, etc.)
- Growth (in terms of employee development opportunities)
- Transparency (of company policies and individual employee performance data)
- Clarity (of organizational goals and the employee's role in that process)
- Context (of employee experience within a larger cultural context)
- Respect (from internal and external stakeholders)
Employee experience management looks at the employee experience through the lens of all eight components, then changes employee culture, employee engagement, employee retention and other metrics by tweaking one or more of the eight components. Even a small change in any of these eight components can make a big difference in the overall employee experience while improving workplace culture.
An employee experience framework will be based on information from an engagement survey or employee experience survey, which takes tabs on employee sentiment and collects employee feedback on what makes for a positive workplace experience. Employee surveys may also be used to measure the success of an employee experience platform for employee persona.
Beyond simply measuring outcomes, an employee experience management platform seeks to optimize processes for maximum employee satisfaction. For example, employee experience management might increase employee engagement by implementing less formal recognition programs or by sharing employee performance data with individual employees.
An employee experience initiative guided by human resource management is not just an effort to improve employee satisfaction, it's an effort to build employee morale, employee productivity and employee retention through better employee experiences. Employee experience management is how an organization can change its culture to improve employee satisfaction and employee morale.
It’s not rocket science. In fact, the strategies by employee experience management are usually hands-on, sensible moves that make life better for the people working at their company. Like offering flexible hours, and encouraging employees to take time off when they need it. Or setting up a coffee maker in the break room. Or maybe introducing employee experience software like the free Slack app Matter, which encourages employees to send each other constructive feedback and kudos and leads to a team culture where everyone is appreciated and recognized.
What is the importance of employee experience management?
With the rise of the hybrid work model, the employee experience has become a major focus for business; both employees themselves and companies recognize the impact of employee job satisfaction on productivity, creativity, turnover rates, company culture and other factors. It's important to not only improve employee experiences but to measure them. For an employee experience strategy to work, there must be data that can measure employee satisfaction, employee happiness, employee morale and employee retention.
An employee experience manager will be focused on the effort to improve employee culture. It's important for employee engagement, employee satisfaction and employee productivity -- all of which are vital elements in successful organizations.
A positive experience impacts an organization in the following measurable ways:
- It improves employee performance, thereby improving organizational productivity.
- It helps to retain top talent in the company. Employees who are satisfied with the working conditions of their job are less likely to leave.
- It is cost-effective in the long run. Since employees are more likely to stick with their jobs, an employer does not have to expend energy or spend money on recruiting new members of staff into their company.
- It improves the revenue of the company. Increased productivity ensures that the company's revenue increases.
- It also helps to improve customer satisfaction. A happy employee will make people comfortable, even if they have just encountered the customer.
What are the goals of employee experience?
Employee experience management has one major goal: achieving a great employee experience. There's no way that you can improve your company's culture without improving employee experiences. Engaged, satisfied and loyal employees are what define a better employee experience, and they're the end product of an effective employee experience management strategy.
Employee experience management helps organizations improve employee culture -- giving employees more opportunities for collaboration, talent management, communication and growth within the company. However, addressing the challenges of managing remote employees is also a critical aspect, as it impacts communication, engagement, and overall employee satisfaction in a distributed work environment.
An employee experience management solution also helps companies increase workplace productivity by making use of data to optimize the employee experience journey, which in turn will improve employee engagement.
If the goal of employee experience management is improving employee experience, the primary employee experience goal is employee engagement. An engaged employee is almost always a happy employee. Employee engagement directly impacts employee satisfaction and employee retention, which are both vital to the growth of a company.
The second chief employee experience goal is employee satisfaction. Employee satisfaction directly impacts employee retention, another important factor in the growth of the company. Many companies suffer from high turnover because employees don't feel satisfied with their jobs.
High employee satisfaction rates mean better customer service and loyalty to the company, because employees are happy with their jobs and feel that they fit into the culture of the company.
Employee experience management helps companies improve employee satisfaction by optimizing employee experiences to better fit employee needs (and to give employees what they want).
The final goal for employee experience is employee retention. Employee retention seeks to keep employees engaged in their positions. Employee retention requires employee satisfaction, which is why employee experience management focuses on both employee satisfaction and engagement.
Employee retention has a positive impact on company growth because employees are already invested in the company. They're not trying to find new jobs, jumping from one position to another or looking for better opportunities elsewhere. They know that their career development will be taken care of if they just stay where they're at. Having employees that have become intrinsic parts of the organization is a surefire way to ensure employee retention.
So maybe employee experience management isn't that complicated after all. In a way, it's just employee satisfaction and employee culture management. The employee experience is what the employee takes away from his or her interactions with the company, and employee experience data is what shapes employee satisfaction, employee optimism and employee loyalty to a company.
So don't stress the small stuff. Focus on what matters -- your employees, and their felt needs, and it'll all come together. Promise.
