21.07.2023
Digitalisation
8 min read
The power of employee experience management in driving business success
What is employee experience management, and why is it important? What impact does it have on your bottom line? How can you improve it? Read this article to find out more.
What would you be willing to do to increase business profits, reduce staff turnover, and improve your customer experience? The answer is likely: a lot. In an increasingly competitive business landscape, you’ll undoubtedly be willing to do anything to stand out from the crowd. We’ve got some good news for you - all of these improvements are within reach. All you’ve got to do is take stock of your employee experience management.
What is that exactly? Employee experience management, put simply, is the deliberate and strategic approach that businesses take to shape every interaction an employee has with the company, from recruitment to onboarding and beyond. It heavily emphasizes employee satisfaction and engagement, which have been shown to increase productivity and improve retention.
It might sound too good to be true - can improving your employee experience really have such a tangible business impact? The numbers speak for themselves:
By investing in employee experience management, you have the power to foster a motivated and committed workforce, enhance customer satisfaction, and drive business growth - what’s not to love?
In this article, we’ll aim to give you an overview of employee experience management, how to design a successful employee experience management strategy, and tips and tricks for improving employee experience. Ready to delve into the world of EXM? Let’s go!
What is employee experience?
To address employee experience management, let’s first take a look at what employee experience actually is. Sometimes called EX, it encompasses every touchpoint that your staff has with their role and the company - and how they feel about it.
To offer two tangible examples, how a candidate is treated during recruitment, including the communication, expectation management, and clarity of the process, is part of employee experience, as much as how your workers manage their working hours with the tools and processes you have in place.
There are six key elements of employee experience, and you can learn more about them here, but to sum it up, EX is made up of:
- Physical workspace: creating a conducive environment
- Technology and tools: empowering employees with digital solutions
- Collaboration and communication: enhancing teamwork and information flow
- Learning and development: nurturing employee growth and skills
- Work-life balance: promoting well-being and flexibility
- Culture and leadership: fostering a supportive and inclusive workplace
As we’ve already highlighted, a good employee experience is a crucial aspect of business success because of its impact on employee engagement and productivity. In fact, when it comes to the culture and leadership of a team, recognizing employees’ contributions and hard work can pay dividends: 69% of employees say they’d work harder if they felt their efforts were better recognized.
The role of employee experience management (EMX)
In order for good employee experiences to take place, many companies entrust the development to an Employee Experience Manager. This role usually sits in the HR department, and they play a pivotal role in helping to deliver positive experiences to your employees designed to raise engagement levels and productivity.
Their responsibilities encompass a wide range of tasks throughout the entire employee lifecycle, including:
- Conducting employee feedback surveys
- Analyzing data to identify pain points
- Implementing initiatives to enhance employee well-being
- Aligning EX with the overall business goals
- Driving positive change in the organization on behalf of your workers
Good employee experience management contributes to business success by improving overall engagement, reducing turnover, and increasing employee loyalty and sense of belonging. This is crucial at a time when employee turnover is higher than ever before in some industries, and a lack of skilled workers is impacting businesses that rely on frontline workers. One Future of Work study found that by 2030, there will be a global human talent shortage of more than 85 million people, or roughly equivalent to the population of Germany.
When you throw in that it costs 33% of a worker’s annual salary to replace them, it’s simply good business sense to invest in employee experience management.
When feedback and communication are such a key part of creating positive employee experiences, it’s worth investing in a tool that facilitates this. Employee app Flip includes an instant messenger function, so all of your workers can stay up-to-date with the latest news, including your frontline employees - vital for making every worker feel equally valued. Learn how Mcdonald's Germany is improving their employee satisfaction and experience with Flip.
"I think employee satisfaction will improve a lot, as we can now see the shift plan and request to switch shifts - via the app."
Sandra Mühlhause
Chief People Office McDonald's Germany
Designing an effective employee experience strategy
Just like how customers and prospects have a lifecycle, and you need to tailor your approach depending on their stage, it’s important for businesses first to understand the employee lifecycle and its key stages to implement a successful employee experience strategy. These include:
- Recruitment
- Onboarding
- Development
- Engagement
- Offboarding
Each area of the lifecycle will have different pain points and therefore needs specific strategies to address them. Make sure to get feedback from your current employees to identify areas for improvement. You can gather this through dedicated focus groups, anonymous pulse surveys, and even by analyzing your employee reviews on websites like Glassdoor.
Recruitment
This encompasses your overall candidate experience, starting from the application process to the interviews and feedback.
You can improve the recruitment stage by, first of all, making the application process smooth. It should be easy for candidates to submit their CV, cover letter, and any other essential information, and they should receive confirmation of their application through an automated email.
Once a candidate is in your pipeline, it’s important that your talent acquisition team pays attention to communication and expectation management. Let them know how long the process usually takes, what steps are involved in a successful application, and any additional information to help the candidate succeed during their interview.
Above all, offer feedback to candidates along the way, especially if you have to ultimately reject their application. Candidates remember employers who take the time to provide constructive feedback, and they’ll be more likely to apply again in the future or recommend the company to a peer.
Onboarding
Onboarding is all about making an employee feel a sense of belonging at the company and giving them a clear path to success in their role.
The best onboarding experiences offer new recruits a clear and structured plan, introduce them to key stakeholders they’ll be working with, and make the expectations of their role known. It should introduce your company’s mission, vision, and values to help them understand the bigger picture of your business. The idea is to get your employee up and running as soon as possible, which will look different depending on the role.
One of the best ways to improve onboarding is by introducing them to their team as soon as possible. With employee app Flip, new recruits can download the app and start interacting with their future peers before they’ve even had their first day - increasing their sense of belonging and giving them a positive first impression. Our customer, mhplus, was able to onboard their trainee students two months earlier than previously, improving communication and enhancing their overall experience.
"Communication via Flip is modern and fun - and fun should always accompany everyday work."
Michael Heß
Head of Human Resources Development mhplus Krankenkasse
Development
Development is the stage of the employee lifecycle where they grow, gain new skills, and hopefully, contribute even further to the business.
No one likes to feel that they’re stagnating, especially at work, so this is a crucial area for developing a positive employee experience.
You can improve the development stage by having a clear process in place for how your workers can upskill, including any courses they have access to, a defined learning and development budget, and a mentorship or buddy scheme where they can learn from someone else within the company.
Engagement
The engagement stage of the employee lifecycle is all about satisfaction and retention. If your EXM initiatives are going well, then your workers should feel engaged and happy, and you’ll see this reflected in productivity levels.
Work-life balance, recognition of good work, and clear channels of communication are all important aspects of employee engagement that your business can improve. This can be particularly challenging when your organization has a mix of office and frontline workers, as they have vastly different day-to-day needs, but still want to be treated the same.
An employee app, like Flip, can solve this issue for you, as it can be downloaded on any device, including personal smartphones, so every employee has access to all the latest information, whether they’re working in the head office, in a warehouse, or on the shop floor.
Offboarding
Ultimately, the employee lifecycle ends when they leave the company. Whether this is their decision or the company’s, it’s important to bake in a period of feedback and reflection in order to end the employee experience positively.
Consider your exit interview process, and what support you have in place for employees if it’s the organization’s decision to terminate their contract. Remember that past employees can have a big influence on a company’s brand, and giving them a positive offboarding experience helps to ensure that they continue to view the business in a good light.
Improving employee experience - practical tips and examples
Now you’ve got an idea about employee experience management and how the employee lifecycle looks, let’s delve into some practical tips and examples for improving your EX.
- Enhance work-life balance and well-being - consider flexible work arrangements, offer mental and physical health programs, and encourage breaks and ‘switching off’ after hours. Not only will this lead to happier, more engaged workers, but 63% of employees with good work-life balance are willing to go above and beyond for their organization.
- Promote a positive company culture and values - work on defining and promoting your core values to enhance company culture and create a stronger sense of belonging and pride. You can do this by fostering collaboration and teamwork across departments, recognizing achievements, and letting employees ‘show up as they are’.
- Enable effective communication - poor communication is one of the top reasons that employees leave a company. Companies with open and easy communication allow workers to solve problems autonomously, create bonds with one another, and feel more connected, ultimately creating more engagement and a better employee experience.
Pssst - guess what? Flip, the employee app, helps with all three of these practical examples. With notifications turned off outside of working hours, Flip helps frontline workers to retain a healthy work-life balance. A social media-style newsfeed allows employees to share updates and stay informed, helping to create a stronger sense of company culture. Our instant messaging feature, complete with in-built translation so your workers can chat with colleagues from anywhere, enables better communication and ensures that frontline employees aren’t left out of essential updates.
Conclusion - positive employee experiences should be on every businesses’ agenda
There’s no such thing as a magic bullet for success, but there is such a thing as listening to the data. And the numbers have a clear story to tell: happy, engaged employees are good for business. Whether you’ve never heard of employee experience management or are already on the path to improving pain points across every stage of the employee lifecycle, it’s worth evaluating your employee experience tools and how effective they are. Ask your workers directly what they think. If they’re unhappy, there’s your signal that it’s time for a change.
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