Employee Experience Strategy: Unlocking Your Company’s Potential

Employee experience strategy is more than just a concept to consider. It’s a must-have in today’s fast-paced, competitive, and constantly evolving corporate world. Keeping employees engaged and involved with company life is directly linked to performance and retention. In this article, we’ll show you how it’s done.

The employee experience is a unique journey for each individual, from their recruitment to onboarding processes to eventually reaching their full potential and level of productivity as valued members of a company. But every journey needs a plan—a roadmap to know where you’re going, what you want to achieve, and what you expect to encounter along the way. That’s where employee experience strategy comes into play.

As employers, having a strong EX strategy will vastly affect how employees feel about their own role at your company, and subsequently how they perform and relate to their co-workers. In this article, we’ll explain what makes up a successful employee experience strategy, and we’ll share ways to create and implement one that works with your company culture.

What is the employee experience definition in the modern workplace? 

Before we get going into how to perfect the employee experience, the first question to answer: What is it? “Customer experience” is an idea that’s been discussed for years, but the employee experience is equally important.

Essentially, the employee experience (also referred to as EX) in the modern and hybrid workplace is defined as the holistic view of an employee’s journey with an organization, from recruitment and onboarding to development, performance management, recognition and more.

It encompasses physical elements such as office design, technology and communication tools, as well as virtual elements such as working remotely, utilizing digital learning methods, virtual collaboration spaces and leveraging technological resources.

To ensure employee satisfaction and success in this type of setting, organizations must focus on creating a positive work environment that encourages collaboration, motivation, and engagement while providing employees with the tools they need to perform their best.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management, approximately 79% of employees are more likely to stay with an employer if they have a positive employee experience. Additionally, 65% of employees report improved job satisfaction when their employers prioritize employee experience.

In addition to increased job satisfaction and retention, organizations that prioritize employee experience can also expect to see higher productivity levels, enhanced customer experience and service, and even better financial returns. A negative employee experience will ultimately hurt your bottom line.

Why is a positive employee experience important for business?

We know what it is now. But why does it matter? Essentially, employee experience is important for businesses because it helps create a positive work culture, increases employee satisfaction and morale, encourages loyalty and trust in the company, and provides an overall better environment for employees.

Good employee experiences also result in improved product/service delivery, greater customer experience and satisfaction, and higher retention rates. Organizations that prioritize employee experience are better positioned to attract and retain top talent which leads to increased productivity and business growth.

For example, a recent study published by the Harvard Business Review, showed that the experiences of customer-facing employees and the overall company revenue are strongly linked. According to the research, stores whose customer-facing employee base was more tenured, had more experience in prior rotations, was higher skilled, and was more skewed towards full-time, generated a 50% increase in revenue.

What does that mean? It means that employers with engaged, experienced, and informed employees simply perform better—they make more money and boost the bottom line.

What is employee experience vs. engagement?

The two terms are often used when discussing the topic, and although connected, they are not the same thing. Employee experience is an umbrella term that encompasses all the elements of a person’s journey with an organization, from the onboarding process to their overall career development. It includes different aspects of the workplace such as culture, training and development, work environment, and recognition.

Employee engagement, on the other hand, is focused on how employees feel about their work and job satisfaction. It is determined by factors such as relationships with co-workers, job perceptions, motivation levels in completing tasks, and ability to achieve goals. Employers use employee surveys to measure employee engagement levels and identify areas where they can improve the experience for their staff.

In short: strong employee engagement is one of several critical components of the employee experience, but it is not the only element for success. But yes, it certainly does matter, and all employers should encourage it.

What are the components of employee experience strategy?

So engagement is one part of a strong employee experience strategy. But what are the others?

All of these together make up the employee experience. Each component provides employees with a unique set of opportunities to learn, grow, and contribute to the company.

With a well-defined EX strategy in place, organizations can create an environment that allows them to attract, retain, and engage the best talent.

How can employee experience be improved?

We’ve established the critical elements of employee experience. But what can companies do to enhance them and ensure that each area is being addressed? Well, employee experience can be improved in a number of ways, including:

Prioritize employee feedback:

Listening to employees’ ideas and using their feedback to inform decisions is essential for creating a positive employee experience because it shows staff that their opinions matter and are valued. When employees feel like their ideas are being taken into consideration, it reinforces their sense of worth and increases their engagement within the organization. By taking employee feedback into account, organizations can better understand what’s really going on in the workplace and improve decision-making accordingly.

Through actively involving employees in the decision-making process, organizations can create an atmosphere where everyone feels respected, heard, and understood. This helps cultivate a spirit of collaboration, trust, and respect—all key elements of a positive employee experience. 

The right communication tools and employee experience platform will empower you to do this on the part of the employees. For example, Sociabble comes with a survey feature that gives organizations a comprehensive way to collect and understand employee feedback.

With its simple interface, the survey module makes it easy for organizations to design customized employee surveys that target specific questions and areas of improvement, with just a few clicks. Surveys can be sent to all employees, or targeted to specific groups, enabling organizations to gather feedback from the part of the employees in real-time. By leveraging this feature, organizations can identify potential issues before they become bigger problems and ensure that employees feel truly heard.

Invest in technology:

Investing in the right technologies for a workplace can be an effective way to streamline processes, improve efficiency, and provide a better overall experience for employees. Technologies such as automation tools and data analytics platforms can help reduce repetitive manual tasks, enabling staff to focus on more meaningful work and freeing up time for other activities.

Through leveraging data insights from these technologies, organizations can identify and approach areas of improvement, and create smarter solutions that save time, money, and resources. By implementing the right technologies, employee experience is impacted in a positive way by increasing job satisfaction and morale, improving performance tracking, enhancing communication capabilities, and reducing frustrations related to slow or outdated processes.

Sociabble provides a comprehensive digital workplace solution that helps organizations create an environment where employees can communicate with one another. The platform enables employees to easily share announcements and content across the organization, fostering a more collaborative and engaged team. It also includes features like interactive polls and employee surveys to help identify areas of improvement and track employee progress.

Additionally, the platform provides secure chat capabilities so teams can work together in real-time or discuss confidential topics in private. These features provide an easy way for employers to create a digitally-connected workplace that is both productive and engaging.

Encourage team collaboration: 

Creating an environment where employees feel comfortable collaborating with one another is essential for fostering an open, trusting workplace approach. When people can effectively communicate with each other without fear of judgement or criticism, they are more likely to engage in meaningful conversations and offer honest opinions.

This increases the likelihood of innovative ideas being shared and encourages team members to build strong relationships with each other. Cultivating an atmosphere that promotes collaboration not only helps develop trust between co-workers, but also enhances creativity and productivity among people within the workplace.

Sociabble enhances collaboration by connecting frontline workers with each other and the wider organization as well, even those who are equipped with only a personal mobile device. The platform provides easy-to-use tools to facilitate team discussions, share announcements, access content libraries, and request feedback from employees.

It also allows frontline workers to network and interact with their peers in real-time, providing a platform to form meaningful relationships. By providing a convenient way of staying connected and informed, Sociabble facilitates collaboration among frontline workers and helps foster an engaging environment that encourages two-way communication.

Offer flexible working options:

Offering flexible working options allows employees to have more control over their schedules, which can help them achieve better work-life balance and improve job satisfaction. By setting their own hours, employees are able to better manage their time and make decisions that are best for themselves, such as avoiding burnout or taking care of personal errands during their free time.

This also increases feelings of autonomy and ownership in their job, as they’re not tied to a rigid system with fixed parameters that limit their ability to adjust or adapt. Ultimately, the approach of offering flexible working options benefits all parties involved, improving employee morale while also allowing employers to benefit from higher employee retention rates and greater productivity.

Sociabble is a great tool for enabling fluid communication between employees working on different shifts or locations. It offers an instant messaging service that allows users to communicate and collaborate in real-time, regardless of location (or shift).

Through the platform, users can engage in group conversations, share documents, images, and videos with their peers, and even tag people to ensure their messages are seen.

Additionally, the platform has an instant translation function, for more than 50 languages, which allows employees to share information in any language, while being sure it will be understood by any audience. This streamlines communication amongst employees and helps ensure that everyone is on the same page, no matter what time or location they’re working from.

Give recognition:

Recognizing accomplishments and acknowledging hard work is a great way for employers to show appreciation for employees’ efforts and create a positive work environment. Companies understand the value of investing in their employees. To show appreciation, they are increasingly instituting various recognition programs such as bonuses, thank-you notes and verbal acknowledgments—even office parties to boost team morale!

Employee recognition helps create an atmosphere where everyone feels appreciated, which ultimately leads to lower absenteeism and improved retention rates for businesses. Investing time into recognizing workers not only keeps them motivated but also provides a pathway for organizations’ success by promoting collaboration between team leaders and staff alike. It’s the best way to boost morale and team spirit.

Sociabble’s peer-to-peer recognition feature is an innovative solution for organizations to reward, recognize, and celebrate the part of the employees in a meaningful way. This feature allows colleagues to recognize each other for accomplishments, providing a validation of the team members’ efforts and enabling positive reinforcement among co-workers.

The peer-to-peer recognition system also provides transparency and open communication between workers, helping improve relationships between employees and creating a more engaged workplace culture. 

Sociabble, the platform that boosts your employee experience management practices

Sociabble is an excellent way to improve the employee experience by creating an engaging and connected workplace. The platform allows employees to communicate and collaborate anytime, anywhere, while also allowing organizations to nurture a positive and supportive culture through interactive polls, recognition programs, and other communication features.

Additionally, it offers personalized content tailored to each user’s interests—giving them access to relevant news, updates, and learning resources on demand. This helps ensure that employees stay informed and engaged with their organization no matter where they are or what shift they are working.

This is true also for frontline workers, allowing them to access their company’s information with their own mobile device, in a secure and compliant way.

Overall, Sociabble can be a powerful tool for employers to boost employee satisfaction and foster a productive work environment, and in doing so, create great employee experiences for your workforce.

If you want to boost your employee experience strategy, Sociabble can help. We’ve already partnered with companies like L’Occitane en Provence, Primark, Renault Group, and Coca-Cola CCEP to enhance their employee communications, and we’d love to add your organization to the list.

You can click here to schedule a free Sociabble demo today.