Have you heard of "employee experience"? It's all about what people experience and observe during their time at a company. Just like companies invest in creating a great experience for their customers, they're now recognizing the importance of investing in their employees' experience too.

Especially with all the changes happening in society, the economy, and businesses, having a positive employee experience has become more important than ever. However, research shows that only 9% of business leaders feel prepared to address this issue.

That's why we're starting to see entire roles and departments dedicated to employee experience. When organizations prioritize their employees' experience, they can achieve twice the customer satisfaction and innovation, and generate 25% higher profits than those that don't.

In this post, we'll explain how a strong employee experience can benefit your company from recruiting efforts to your bottom line. We'll also discuss the different stages of the employee experience and provide some helpful tips to improve yours.

Why is it so important?

Have you ever thought about how the experience you have as an employee can impact a lot more than just your day-to-day tasks? Company leaders are starting to realize the importance of a positive employee experience, with nearly 80% rating it as very important or important. Let's take a look at a few areas that can be affected by employee experience.

First up, there's engagement. This is all about the relationship between employees and their organization. A good employee experience can lead to higher engagement, which means employees are more likely to stick around and put in extra effort at work.

Next, there's recruiting. When people are looking for a new job, they often check out company review sites like Glassdoor. That's why it's crucial to have a strong employee experience - negative reviews can turn potential talent away from your organization.

Retention is another key area affected by employee experience. If people don't have a good experience when they first start working somewhere, they may be more likely to leave early on. That's why a solid onboarding process can make a big difference in how employees perceive your company culture and their desire to stick around.

Finally, a strong employee experience can even impact your organization's bottom line. Studies have found that companies with high employee experience scores tend to have higher profits, revenues, and lower turnover rates than those that don't prioritize employee experience. So investing in employee experience can pay off in a big way!

Overall, a positive employee experience can have a significant impact on many aspects of an organization. By understanding and prioritizing employee experience, companies can create a more engaged and productive workforce that's also more attractive to potential talent.

Some milestones when it comes to employee experience

Let's dive deeper into the different stages that make up the employee experience. There are three key milestones we'll focus on, and we'll explain how surveys can be used at each stage to gather valuable feedback and improve the overall experience.

First up is attraction/recruitment. This is where you have the opportunity to introduce your company culture and establish trust with potential hires. It's also a chance to gather feedback on the application process and interview experience to improve the candidate experience.

When it comes to surveys, it's important to talk to both those who were offered a role and those who weren't. Questions should focus on feedback on the application process, interview content, demeanor of individuals met with, and the speediness of response.

The next milestone is onboarding, where new hires are brought up to speed and integrated into the company culture. This stage is critical because it can have a significant impact on an employee's tenure. Surveys can help identify gaps in knowledge and training and improve the onboarding process.

With so much on a new hire's plate, asking the right onboarding survey questions provides a systematic way to check in with people and gain valuable information to improve the experience.

Lastly, there's the exit stage. While you can't keep every employee forever, it's important to understand why they're leaving and gather feedback to reduce turnover in the future. Exit surveys can provide valuable insights into areas where the company can improve, show that their feedback is valued, and demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

When it comes to exit surveys, it's essential to capture and understand an employee's reasons for leaving. The survey results can reveal what the employer can do better, think about differently, or continue pursuing. Getting candid feedback from all exiting employees can be invaluable in understanding what needs to be done to keep key employees engaged as long as possible. By utilizing surveys at each milestone, companies can capture the big picture of the employee experience and make improvements to attract and retain top talent.

How to build a stronger employee experience

Ready to start improving your employee experience plan? Great! Here are our top recommendations for getting started:

First, identify what aspect of the employee experience your organization should focus on. If you're hiring a lot, maybe start with the attraction/recruitment stage and use a candidate survey to get feedback. Or if you're seeing high turnover rates, focus on understanding and improving the employee exit experience. It all depends on your organization's priorities at the moment.

Once you've determined your top priority, start capturing feedback. It takes time to collect enough data to begin to draw linkages and tell stories about the employee experience, so don't overwhelm yourself by tackling everything at once. Instead, focus on one aspect of the employee experience, such as onboarding, and build from there.

It's important to build linkages to and from other content and data to create a comprehensive understanding of the entire employee lifecycle. For example, if you've already run an engagement survey, that data may inform which factors to focus on in your exit survey. And make sure your surveys are customized to your specific programs instead of using cookie-cutter questions that don't address the root of the problem.

Remember, employee experience surveys give you a lot of valuable information, but there's no point in having it if you don't use it to take action. Look at both the aggregate results to modify your organization-wide programs and the detailed results to identify particular hiring managers, departments, or teams that need extra support. This will give everyone the opportunity to make small tweaks to improve employees' experiences.

A strong employee experience is a powerful investment for your organization. It leads to benefits like a wider talent pool, improved retention, and increased revenue. But it's not just about those immediate benefits - a well-designed employee experience sets your employees up for success before, during, and after their tenure at your company. So take these recommendations and start improving your employee experience plan today!

Are you ready to improve your employee experience? Ariglad can help. Our HR help desk is built with the employee experience in mind. Book a demo today.