Employee experience and why it is important

A promising tool for leaders to increase the creativity and innovation of employees and ultimately the entire company is the Employee Experience. Companies that focus on Employee Experience are up to 28 times more likely to appear in the most innovative companies list. This is due to the fact that they can make up to four times more profit and around 40% report happier customers as a result of increased productivity. Learn here how to increase the Employee Experience in your company.

What is Employee Experience?

Terms like Customer Experience or User Experience are well known by now, but what is Employee Experience? Employee Experience is the sum of all experiences, interactions and impressions that influence an employee within a company. This includes daily tasks, experiences and processes as well as the working atmosphere, communication and team interaction. Therefore, the Employee Experience process starts with the job interview and ends with the exit interview.

The Employee Experience serves the purpose of long-term employee retention. It aims to make employees' working day more motivating and therefore more productive. The company's success is to be boosted.

3 important components of Employee Experience

Employee Experience consists of interactions, impressions, and emotions. These experiences are correspondingly important for employee satisfaction and work motivation.

According to Jacob Morgan, author of "The Employee Experience Advantage", the Employee Experience can be divided into three categories. By considering aspects from each of these categories, a work environment can be created that guarantees high employee satisfaction.

The first category is the cultural environment, which is about how the employee feels. This means the emotional bond between the employee and the company. Among other factors such as the company structure and leadership must be taken into account. The cultural environment can be optimized with open communication and feedback channels to ensure positivity and productivity.

The second aspect is the technical environment, it includes all the tools needed to get the job done. Keeping the office up to date with the latest technology for communication and information flow promotes opportunities for innovation. It also indicates progressiveness of the company. This is not primarily about the latest technology or equipment, but about easy communication and a transparent information flow and project management.

The third category is the physical environment, which affects motivation, performance, creativity, productivity and the ability to concentrate. For instance, comfortable chairs are as much a part of the physical environment as the design of the office.

Why is the Employee Experience important?

The Employee Experience is intended to create motivation not only temporarily, but also in the long run. Positive touch points between the employee and the company ensure overall satisfaction and therefore work performance. The Employee Experience aims to create a positive working environment, increase productivity, and retain employees. Even small factors can have a positive impact, such as good equipment or a canteen. As a result, more time can be invested in the actual work.

Currently four out of ten employees plan to change jobs due to salary reasons and the lack of interpersonal relationships. Through the employee experience, staff development, feedback and corporate culture, a company can counteract employees leaving.

Who is responsible for improving the Employee Experience?‍

The company management sets the goals, whereupon the human resources department implements the given strategy and initiates changes. These serve to promote the knowledge, skills, and motivation of the employees. Managers also promote their employees and implement the desired goals in their departments. Finally, the individual employee is also important for the positive employee experience of all. How they interact with each other and how they communicate with each other are sometimes influencing factors.

The company should also pay attention to what tasks their employees perform daily and consider how work can be simplified and productivity and performance improved. Regular surveys, interviews and feedback platforms can help to understand the employees needs. Based on these results, the company should also engage in changes.

Employee Experience vs. Employee Engagement

Employee Experience can quickly be confused with Employee Engagement, as they are often used as synonyms. Both terms deal with corporate culture, working atmosphere and feedback, but there are some differences. Employee Engagement is understood as a high emotional connection to the work and the employer. This influences the motivation of employees to achieve their own and the company's goals. 

Employee experience, on the other hand, forms a holistic approach and aims to reflect appreciation through constant feedback. Development plans should promote the employee's strengths and minimize weaknesses. Overall, there should be a positive working atmosphere in which the employee feels comfortable.

Employee satisfaction is also often confused with the Employee Experience. Some aspects make the employee feel satisfied, but not all of them serve to increase productivity.

3 Companies with a great Employee Experience

Starbucks

Starbucks is committed to creating employee-friendly policies. On the one hand, it is possible to receive company shares through the "Bean Stock"-program. But Starbucks also tries to promote, retain and create a good employee experience by covering tuition fees for university and online courses. Employee engagement is to be fostered by referring to team members as partners rather than employees by their supervisor to create an equal feeling. Contact between supervisors and partners is close and very open.

Cheesecake Factory

At the Cheesecake Factory, training and recognition are emphasized, which CEO David Overton thinks these are top priorities. Chairman David Gordon believes that success is partly down to staffing, as service is essential to the guest experience.

Sephora

Sephora is committed employee development and offer training on new products, techniques and trends. A Sephora salesperson is trained in three main product categories from their first day on the job. In addition, the latest technology is found in the shops, such as a digital shade finder. Last but not least, Sephora offers its employees the possibility of mobility by allowing them to change departments, shops or countries. 

These market leaders show that employee experience is important for the growth and the long-term success of a company.