Why you should take care of the employee experience now
Is employee experience just another buzzword?
To speak of a simple HR trend would be somewhat reductive. In reality, it's much more than that!
Employee experience is becoming a major issue for companies: 43% of them have implemented an employee experience policy, compared with 25% two years earlier.
Baromètre national de l’expérience collaborateur vue par les acteurs RH, Parlons RH
Far from being frivolous or secondary, implementing an employee experience strategy can truly become a strength for a company: to retain talent, boost performance, grow business, stay competitive, and so on.
But what exactly is the employee experience? What's at stake for the company, and what are the steps you need to take to improve it? And how do you know if the experience you offer is perceived as a success?
All the answers to these questions in this comprehensive guide co-written with Déborah Romain-Delacour, occupational psychologist and author.
Employee experience: full definition
Also known as " employee experience" or " EX" ( Employee Experience ), theis the sum total of an individual's interactions, feelings and experiences within a company.
It unfolds all along the employee's career path, from his or her status as a candidate to his or her day-to-day life, career path and development within the company, right up to the point of departure.
Seeking to optimize EX is not just about creating the best possible working conditions. It also means questioning the company's HR and management practices, in order to identify what needs to be improved and optimized in each phase of the employee life cycle.
This approach begins by listening to employees, so as to get to know them better, identify their expectations and respond to them by creating positive, personalized experiences... ultimately to be able to retain them over the long term.
👉 The employee experience concerns everyone in the company, whatever the form of contract, the length of time spent with the company or the person's status within the organization.
A word from the expert
What are the main differences between employee experience and other HR concepts such as job satisfaction or employee engagement?
The employee experience is about what an employee feels, thinks and experiences within the professional ecosystem in which he or she evolves. For the employer, it's a real strategy that consists in providing employees with a pleasant overall experience. In this way, a positive and stable image of the company is gradually built up over time. This is made up of key moments in the employee's career path, and influences his or her day-to-day professional behavior. The development of this representation begins when the candidate, who has not yet been recruited , starts researching the company in order to apply. This shows just how essential the notion of employer brand is.
Commitment, on the other hand, is unstable. It fluctuates according to professional and personal circumstances, as well as the employee's mood. The rate of engagement is therefore variable; it is measured at a given moment and evolves according to multiple parameters, both internal and external to the employee .
As for job satisfaction, we first need to agree on what we're measuring! Job satisfaction is generally theorized on the basis of factors that differ from one conceptual model to another. The job satisfaction felt by employees - like commitment - is therefore unstable , all the more so as there are variations in meaning behind this single terminology.
The bottom line: as an employer, it 's essential to provide the means to generate a positive employee experience, as this has a direct influence on the representations of the company built up by teams, as well as on their behavior. This psychosocial phenomenon can be measured with precision using the central core approach .
The challenges of the employee experience
At a time when retaining talent is as important as acquiring it, the employee experience must be at the heart of the HR function 's concerns.
It is a strategic issue for companies, in several respects.
Optimizing recruitment
When a company focuses on the employee experience, people know about it.
This makes it easier to attract the best talent, particularly in a context where the job market is tight for certain professions and qualifications (IT professions, for example).
Symmetry of attention
Customer satisfaction remains one of the major challenges facing companies... and this is largely due to the employee experience.
In other words, the more your employees evolve in a qualitative and benevolent work environment, the more they will be inclined to do the same for your customers.
This is what we call the symmetry of attentions.
Employee commitment
The employee experience goes hand in hand with the notion of employee commitment.
Offering a unique and differentiating experience helps to :
- bind teams together,
- encourage synergies,
- reduce absenteeism,
- encourage innovation and the emergence of new ideas,
- and thus increase the company's overall productivity and performance.
Feedback and communication
Companies that take good care of their employees are also driven by a culture of feedback.
Regular communication between all company players, whether top-down, bottom-up or cross-functional, encourages :
- individual progress towards company objectives,
- skills development,
- recognition.
Once again, organizational performance is enhanced.
Talent retention
When you consider that money is no longer the primary motivating factor, and that employees are less inclined to stay with the same company for the rest of their careers, it's crucial to encourage talented employees to stay with the company.
And for good reason: retaining employees enables you to:
- develop and maintain in-house know-how,
- create a positive climate,
- reduce recruitment costs.
Employer branding
Working on the employee experience allows your employer brand to shine through in its HR aspect, and to stand out from the competition in relation to companies that don't make it a priority.
A good way to address the talent attraction issues mentioned above!
Transforming the HR function
Your HR department is gaining in skills and drawing on the practices of other departments to enhance its capabilities: communication, networking, cross-functional project management, etc. A function placed at the heart of corporate life.
QWL, for employee well-being
The employee experience also contributes to quality of life at work (QWL) and professional success for those concerned:
- well-being at work, in the form of smooth integration, reduced stress, a better work/life balance, etc., which can boost motivation and individual performance;
- quality of exchanges, in an environment conducive to listening, gathering ideas and sharing feelings, with colleagues and managers;
- enhancement of skills, in the form of recognition for work accomplished, a sense of meaning in one's work, appreciation of one's skills, and support for career development;
- reinforcement of the sense of belonging, by being offered the opportunity to work on a collective adventure, for greater commitment and attachment to the company.
A word from the expert
Why should HR pay particular attention to the employee experience today?
In 2011, Benoît Meyronin and Charles Ditandy published a book entitled " Du management au marketing des services". They developed a new approach to the relationship between employers, employees and customers: the symmetry of attentions. If a company takes care of its employees, they will take care of their customers, creating a virtuous circle of relationships that generate well-being and performance.
Today, through social networks, employees talk about their employer. They can become true ambassadors or , on the contrary, whistle-blowers by denouncing bad practices.
This pushes employers towards greater honesty and transparency.
Measuring the employee experience
To improve the employee experience, it's important to evaluate it regularly.
What concrete actions can you take? Here are a few suggestions:
- define objectives: determine what you want to analyze and over what period of time;
- track your indicators: evaluate changes in the employee experience as your company develops;
- collect feedback: as early as the onboarding process, and on a regular basis, feed back and encourage the sharing of ideas to improve processes;
- analyze feelings: adopt a real attitude of listening and taking into account the feedback you receive;
- adopt a continuous improvement approach: management, social relations, internal communication, etc. Invite agility into your project!
Employee experience: an example of a company that gets it right
At Leroy Merlin, which has been implementing participative management since 1994, "every employee is an asset to be cultivated, not a resource to be used".
Its Vision program aims to involve employees in strategic decisions, so that they all co-construct the company's future. By listening to and valuing the initiatives and ideas of those in the field, innovation and customer satisfaction are fostered.
The 5 stages of the employee experience
1 - Recruitment
The employee experience must be approached differently depending on the phase in the employee's life cycle. It begins when the candidate discovers the job offer, and continues throughout the recruitment process.
💡 A dvice:
At this stage, ask yourself about the candidate experience you offer, right from the applicant's first contact with your company:
- Is your job offer attractive? It needs to be clear and understandable to attract the best candidates;
- What is the nature of your exchanges between candidates and your company (telephone, email, etc.) and what image do they convey about the company?
- During the first meeting at your premises, what kind of interview experience do you offer? The atmosphere the candidate discovers, his interaction with other employees, etc. are a way for him to judge the company. Did they feel welcome? You'll benefit from organizing your recruitment to make it more engaging right from this stage.
2 - Integration
Once they've been hired, new recruits need a certain amount of time to get used to their tasks and the working environment (hours, processes, tools, etc.). The aim is to foster their onboarding experience within the company and its teams.
An effective onboarding process aims to do everything possible to ensure that new arrivals feel at ease, understand how things work and quickly adapt to the company's culture... while retaining their initial enthusiasm!
If a new employee doesn't feel properly integrated, and has a bad experience right from the start in the company, he or she could be prompted to leave before the end of the trial period.
💡 A dvice:
To avoid an early end to the adventure, try to anticipate your new employee's arrival as much as possible:
- preparing equipment and setting up the workstation,
- organizing a welcome meeting or coffee,
- providing a welcome booklet or sheet summarizing practical aspects of the company (floor plan, important files, access codes, etc.),
- appointment of a team sponsor to explain the company's habits and help the newcomer acclimatize to his or her new environment, etc.
3 - Development
This phase is also decisive in the relationship between your company and its employees. It concerns all aspects of your employee's daily work life:
- operational: workload, meaning of tasks, etc. ;
- relational: interactions with colleagues, etc. ;
- managerial: degree of autonomy granted, accountability, support in achieving objectives, availability, etc. ;
- work environment: infrastructure, technological equipment, possibility of working remotely, but also the well-being of telecommuting employees, etc.
But it's also about following the employee's development by offering prospects for progression and professional fulfillment within your organization.
💡 Tips :
To enable your employees to gain skills in their positions, you can:
- set up assessments: productivity, time management, teamwork, etc.
- provide regular feedback during individual performance reviews,
- offer training to broaden their skills, etc.
Make sure you listen to their aspirations and wishes for development. This is a big plus for your employer brand, as more and more people want to diversify their professional experience, rather than pursuing a career in a single field.
4 - Retention
This is perhaps the most challenging stage for a company: how do you retain your talent and maintain their level of performance? The cost of recruiting a replacement can be very high. So it's easy to see why major efforts need to be devoted to retaining the company's top talent.
💡 Tips:
Numerous means can be put in place to encourage the retention of your employees. This can take the form of working on your employer brand, which plays a decisive role in your employees' attachment to your company. Make sure that your employees are in tune with the values and vision conveyed by the company, and that these are not out of step with what is applied on a day-to-day basis.
5 - Exit
Exits from the company should be handled with the utmost care, to ensure that they are amicable and that good relations are maintained with former employees. Among other things, this ensures that departing individuals adopt a favorable communication about the company.
💡 A dvice:
While any departure is a normal part of corporate life, it's worth uncovering the reasons that prompted the departure. Why? Precisely to detect potential attrition factors and useful information for optimizing the employee experience.
Organize an exit interview and create the right conditions to get people talking. You'll undoubtedly gain valuable leads for improvement that hadn't yet come to light during your traditional interviews.
A word from the expert
I'd like to offer one final piece of advice to strengthen the employee experience: implement a learning organization.
learning organization.
This type of organization enhances employee fulfillment and commitment on a daily basis, based on values such as sharing, collaboration, emulation and curiosity.
By encouraging collective learning and implementing a professionalization approach, it enables employees to develop their ability to learn from their experience, and to create and pass on knowledge by changing the way they work. Circulating and renewing knowledge for greater efficiency in the field is the advantage of this type of organization.
Employee experience and digital
Ultimately, what all these steps have in common is the creation of an employee-centric experience. In other words, one that aims to meet their expectations and make them feel good in their working environment.
To achieve this, you need to work closely with every department in the company. This collaborative work can take the form of joint work sessions, workshops, brainstorming sessions, the setting up of an idea box, and so on.
To design an outstanding employee experience, why not turn to the possibilities offered by digital technology ? An online HR solution can help facilitate communication between teams, manage your HR projects, collect data and feedback... among other things!
🛠️ Examples of software :
- PeopleSpheres is an HR platform designed to manage and improve the employee experience. Its web portal centralizes all your HR tools on a simple, customizable interface.
On the employee side, the software actively involves everyone in the life of the company, offering greater transparency and autonomy in HR matters:- access to all HR software from the platform (leave requests, timesheets, expense reports, etc.),
- integrated chat and forms to make all HR requests via the tool (certificates, etc.),
- career tracking, training and compensation,
- digital suggestion box, corporate news, and much more!
- Zest by ZestMeUp is a software suite designed to maximize employee engagement to boost corporate performance while maintaining well-being at work. The platform thus transforms HR and managerial rituals to deliver a better experience for employees, even those in the field, through three modules:
- Listen, to give employees a voice and measure their commitment,
- Succeed, to help them achieve their objectives,
- Sharing, to encourage collaboration, the emergence of ideas and a culture of feedback.
So, what if your HRIS was the starting point for a better digital employee experience?
Article translated from French