Getting started with employee experience

Today, most CIOs, CHROs and COOs have employee experience on the agenda. However, we believe that the talk is over, and the doing has begun. The reason is backed by research.

Your workplace is a strategic asset – so use it

We have come a long way in management theory and practice since scientific management – and so has the work life in organisations. Today, knowledge work is produced away from the assembly line, and organisations are constantly exploring new ways to unleash human potential. But when you observe the development in both management and organisations, it is surprising how little we have changed the way we think of workplaces.

In modern management, we have started to preach intrinsic motivation over extrinsic motivation and purpose over goals in order to optimise performance. And modern workplaces have reacted by shifting from cubics to activity-based working (ABW).

ABW is now a well-established concept in most companies. However, the current workplace transformation has mostly focused on the physical design of the workplace but failed to match the human-centric approach from modern management. In many situations, ABW has not unleashed human potential, and in some cases, it has even contributed negatively to the employee wellbeing and performance^1,2.

Based on current knowledge, organisations need to ask themselves if they are making the most out of their workplaces by creating positive employee experiences. This is essential because successful employee experience is a competitive advantage that will directly affect business KPIs such as revenue growth, profit and productivity:

Research by Jacob Morgan shows that companies that invest in their employee experience outperform their competitors that do not. Not only do they grow 1.5 times faster, pay better and produce more than double the revenue, they are also 4 times more profitable!

So, how can such a relatively simple concept deliver such a competitive advantage? And why do so many organisations still struggle to harvest the benefits, when ABW has become the new normal?

Naturally, the reasons are multifaceted, but one central denominator is how we define “a workplace”. Here, we have to broaden the definition to match the human nature.

Your workplace is more than the physical space

Obviously, workplaces are not solely about walls, tables and laptops. And organisations that do not design the workspaces beyond just the physical space will fail to make organisations that are more fit for humans.

A workplace creates little effect if it is not experienced and valued by the employees. But since experience is not a one-dimensional concept, we must design employee experience in a way that includes both the cultural, technological and physical space altogether³ (see figure above), and we must think of all touchpoints between the workplace and the employee. In that sense, we should make our workplaces a combination of workspaces.

"[Employee experience is] The sum total of all the touchpoints an employee has with his/her employer, from the time of being a candidate (active or passive) to becoming an alumnus/alumna."⁴ 

The message is clear. If you want to make the most out of your employees, then you need more than just a workplace. You need workspaces that deliver great employee experiences as a whole. And in order to create those experiences, you need to understand all of the workspaces.

In the following, we will provide three concepts which will help you and your organisation to get started with employee experience.

Dare to take employee experience (Ex) just as serious as customer experience (Cx) – and strategise

For nearly a hundred years, companies have focused on their customers’ needs and wants, which over time have translated into the concept of customer experience (Cx). Organisations have developed and implemented a wide range of tools to explore, understand, design and measure Cx in order to meet and exceed customer expectations, and for all organisations this is translated into an overall strategic vision.

Employee experience, on the other hand, is only a few years old. It stems from, but is not limited to, the concepts of employee motivation and engagement. Few organisations have⁴ managed to think beyond the classic tools such as surveys and yearly appraisals and thus create differentiated work experiences for their employees.

So far, the Ex toolbox is rather limited, but we can easily build it up if we dare to take the concept of Ex seriously and formulate strategies, ambitions and KPIs.