Have you ever heard about the employee experience? Although this term is still unknown to the general public, it has become essential for businesses. We are going to define this concept and all the benefits it brings for you. To help you in your process, we will then give you the 5 essential steps to set up a successful employee experience.
What is the employee experience?
Definition
Employee experience refers to the perception of all the interactions that a company has with its employees. It starts during their recruitment phase, even before their first encounter with the organization, and ends after they leave, with the offboarding process.
This concept is often confused with onboarding, but it goes well beyond that. It takes into account a fairly broad set of elements: working conditions, relationships with other employees, remuneration, management, balance between private and professional life, etc. Employee experience is sometimes defined as a transposition of the customer experience into the world of HR.
A sustainable approach
The employee experience should not be limited in time, on the contrary: it must be built on a daily basis. It includes the dimensions Humans (relationship, management, organization), but also Hardware (equipment, schedules, remuneration).
Finally, the entire workforce is concerned. In fact, you must take into account all the people who provide you with resources: temporary workers, apprentices, service providers, etc.
The symmetry of attention
It is difficult to talk about employee experience without evoking the symmetry of attention: this is at the heart of the concept. It states the fact thatA person who enjoys a pleasant relational quality instinctively passes it on to those around them.
Within a company, it simply means that an employee who has a good relationship with his manager is more likely to establish positive relationships with colleagues and with customers. In the same way, in a company where pressure is high, employee stress can easily affect customers, leading to harmful consequences.
Les interactions between managers and their teams therefore have a key role in the employee experience. They make it possible to set up healthy relationships between members of the company, but also between employees and customers.
The benefits of a good employee experience
There are many challenges for your business. Here are the most important ones.
A positive employer brand to attract talent
First of all, a positive employee experience is a powerful HR marketing tool. Indeed, potential candidates are more and more demanding and take greater account of the well-being, values and working conditions of companies. If the job market is in tension in your sector, the employee experience can make a difference for attract more talent than your competitors.
Employees who feel very good about their company can become excellent ambassadors with their surroundings. This is very important, because in addition to giving them good arguments to join you, it reassures them about working conditions after hiring. This can make a real difference in attracting competent and motivated people to you.
Download our employer brand guide
We have created a guide that advises you on setting up and promoting your employer brand.
An increase in engagement...
Investing in a quality employee experience should not be seen as a burden, but as an investment. Indeed, it makes them feel better within their organization. This can have a very beneficial effect:increase in their engagement.
Indeed, an employee who feels valued and respected invests more in his company. This involvement has another very interesting consequence: the increased productivity. A committed employee is often more effective than a person who does not find meaning in their tasks.
... Which leads to stronger loyalty
Finally, a successful employee experience builds employee loyalty over time.
Financially, it is very profitable, as recruitment and training are very expensive for organizations. From a human point of view, it is also beneficial. Teams that are too unstable can lead to loss of bearings and difficulty in developing skills.
For customers and partners, changing touchpoints too often can create feelings of insecurity and weaken the company's image.
5 steps for a successful employee experience
1 - Define a team in charge of the project
Even if the thinking and implementation must be global within the organization, you must designate one or more persons responsible for the project, in order to guarantee its execution.
For example, this team can define goals, deadlines, and steps to achieve a satisfactory result. Leaders and managers can be involved in the process at any time.
2 - Reflect on the employee journey as a whole
It is important to visualize the journey of your employees in a very global way, from the moment they come into contact with your company. For that, List the key moments (recruitment, onboarding, evolution, etc.) as well as daily situations (working relationships, management and organization methods, etc.).
3 - Make an inventory
For each targeted moment, make a list of what is already in place in your business and your short, medium, and long-term goals. Try, as much as possible, to Encrypt objectively these elements in order to have a point of comparison for the future.
Regularly measure the impact of all your actions on your employees in order toidentify which are beneficial and which are not.
4 - Establish an action plan
Once areas for improvement are identified, develop a action plan to position your employees at the heart of your business. Here are some examples of beneficial levers:
- Implement participatory management. It promotes vertical and horizontal dialogue and allows you to discuss your problems freely as a team. It has a significant impact on the mobilization of employees within the organization.
- Involve your employees in your CSR policy. Thus, you engage them sustainably through an alignment of your values. This reinforces the meaning they give to their work.
- Develop employee engagement. There are plenty of tools that allow you to do this. Teamstarter is a good example: this platform uses the collective intelligence and creativity of your employees to set up projects within your company.
5 - Take action
You now have all the cards in hand to offer the best possible experience to your employees. All you have to do is take action!
The employee experience has become a key issue for businesses. Indeed, when it is positive, it has a very significant impact on the employer brand, employee engagement and employee loyalty. It is essential to take care of it: even if it can take time and requires a certain financial investment, it is largely profitable over the long term!
Sommaire
