Why you should take care of the employee experience now
Is employee experience just another buzzword?
To talk about a simple HR trend would be a bit simplistic. In reality, it's much more than that!
The employee experience is becoming a major issue for companies: 43% of them have introduced an employee experience policy, compared with 25% two years ago.
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 be a real strength for a company: to retain talent, boost performance, grow business, stay competitive, and so on.
But what exactly is the employee experience? What is at stake for the company, and what steps do 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", theis the sum total of an individual's interactions, feelings and experiences within a company.
It unfolds throughout the employee's career, from their status as a candidate to their day-to-day life, their career path and their development within the company, right up to the moment they leave.
Seeking to optimise 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 optimised in each phase of the employee life cycle.
This approach starts with listening to your employees, to get to know them better, identify their expectations and respond to them by creating positive, personalised experiences... ultimately to be able to build their loyalty over the long term.
👉 The employee experience concerns everyone in the company, regardless of the form of contract, the length of time the person has worked with the company or their status within the organisation.
A word from the expert
What are the main differences between the employee experience and other HR concepts such as job satisfaction or employee engagement?
The employee experience is about what employees feel, think and experience within the professional ecosystem in which they work. For employers, it's a real strategy that consists of providing their 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 and influences their day-to-day professional behaviour. The development of this image 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 mood of the employee. 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 theorised on the basis of factors that differ according to the conceptual models. The job satisfaction felt by employees - like commitment - is therefore unstable , especially as there are variations in meaning behind this single terminology.
To remember: as an employer, it is essential to provide the means to generate a positive employee experience, as this has a direct influence on the way in which teams perceive the company, and on their behaviour. The central core approach enables us to measure this psychosocial phenomenon with precision.
The challenges of the employee experience
At a time when retaining talent is just 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.
Optimising recruitment
When a company focuses on the employee experience, people know about it.
It's therefore 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
One of the main challenges facing companies is customer satisfaction... and this is very much a function of the employee experience.
In other words, the better and more caring the environment in which your employees work, the more likely they are 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 therefore 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 everyone in the company, whether top-down, bottom-up or cross-functional, encourages :
- individual progress towards the company's objectives,
- skills development
- recognition.
Once again, the organisation's performance is enhanced.
Talent retention
When we know that the primary motivating factor is no longer money, and that employees are less inclined to pursue a career in the same company, it is crucial to make employees want to stay with the company.
And with good reason, retaining your employees allows you to :
- develop and retain in-house expertise
- create a positive climate
- reduce recruitment costs.
Employer brand
Working on the employee experience means that your employer brand can shine through in its HR aspect and stand out from the competition in relation to companies that don't make it a priority.
It's a good way of addressing the talent attraction issues mentioned above!
Transforming the HR function
Your HR department is developing its skills and drawing on the practices of other departments to enhance its capabilities: communication, networking, cross-functional project management, etc. Your HR function is back at the heart of corporate life.
QWL, for the well-being of employees
The employee experience also contributes to quality of life at work (QWL) and professional success for those concerned:
- well-being at work, which takes the form of good integration, less stress, a better work/life balance, etc., which can play in favour of motivation and individual performance ;
- quality of exchanges, in an environment that encourages listening, gathering ideas and sharing feelings, with colleagues and managers;
- valuing skills, which translates into recognition for work accomplished, the perceived meaning of one's work, as well as appreciation of one's own skills and support for career development;
- strengthening the feeling 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 does HR need to 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 relations between employers, employees and customers: the symmetry of attentions. If a company takes care of its employees, the latter will take care of their customers, creating a virtuous circle of relationships that generate well-being and performance.
Nowadays, employees use social networks to talk about their employer. They can become true ambassadors or , on the contrary, whistle-blowers by denouncing bad practices.
This encourages employers to be more honest and transparent.
Measuring the employee experience
To improve the employee experience, it is important to evaluate it regularly.
What practical steps can you take? Here are a few ideas:
- Define objectives: determine what you want to analyse and over what period;
- Monitor your indicators: evaluate the changes observed in the employee experience as your company develops;
- Gather feedback: as early as the onboarding process, and on a regular basis, feed back and encourage the sharing of ideas to improve processes;
- analyse feelings: adopt a real attitude of listening and taking into account the feedback you receive;
- adopt a continuous improvement approach: management, social links, internal communication, etc. Invite agility into your project!
Employee experience: an example of a company that has got it right
At Leroy Merlin, which has been implementing participative management since 1994, "each employee is an asset to be cultivated, not a resource to be used".
Its Vision programme aims to involve employees in strategic decisions so that they can all co-construct the future of the company. By listening to and valuing the initiatives and ideas of those on the ground, innovation and customer satisfaction are fostered.
The 5 stages of the employee experience
1 - Recruitment
The employee experience needs to 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 their 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 must 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 on your premises, what kind of interview experience do you offer? The atmosphere that candidates discover, their interaction with other employees, etc. are a way for them to judge the company. Did they feel welcome? You'll benefit from organising your recruitment to make it more engaging from this stage onwards.
2 - Integration
After recruitment, new recruits need a certain amount of time to get used to their tasks and the working environment (working hours, processes, tools, etc.). The aim is to foster their experience of integration, or onboarding, within the company and its teams.
An effective induction process aims to do everything possible to ensure that new arrivals feel at ease, understand the way things work and adapt quickly to the company's culture... while retaining their initial enthusiasm!
If a new employee does not feel well integrated, and has a bad experience right from the start in the company, they could be led to leave the company before the end of their 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,
- organising a welcome meeting or coffee,
- providing a welcome booklet or sheet summarising practical aspects of the company (map of the premises, important files, access codes, etc.),
- appointing a sponsor in the team to explain the company's habits and help the newcomer acclimatise 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 day-to-day work:
- operational: workload, sense of purpose, etc. ;
- relational: interactions with colleagues, etc. ;
- managerial: degree of autonomy granted, accountability, support in achieving objectives, availability, etc. ;
- the working environment: infrastructure, technological equipment, the possibility of working remotely, but also the well-being of teleworking employees, etc.
But it's also about monitoring the employee's development by offering them prospects for progression and professional fulfilment within your organisation.
💡 A dvice:
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 best talent.
💡 A dvice:
There are many ways in which you can 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 at odds with what is applied on a day-to-day basis.
5 - Exit
The actual exit from the company should be handled with as much care as possible, to ensure that it is amicable and that good relations are maintained with a former employee. Among other things, this helps you to ensure that individuals who have left adopt a favourable communication about the company.
💡 A dvice:
While any departure is part of the normal life of a company, it is worth finding out the reasons that prompted the departure. Why? Precisely to detect potential attrition factors and useful information for optimising the employee experience.
Organise an exit interview and create the right conditions to get people talking. You will undoubtedly gain valuable areas for improvement that were not yet brought to your attention during your traditional interviews.
A word from the expert
My final piece of advice for enhancing the employee experience is to put in place a learning
learning organisation.
This type of organisation enhances the fulfilment and commitment of employees on a daily basis, based on values such as sharing, collaboration, emulation and curiosity.
By encouraging collective learning and implementing a professionalisation 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. The advantage of this type of organisation is thatit allows knowledge to circulate and be renewed, thereby improving efficiency in the field.
Employee experience and digital
Ultimately, what all these stages have in common is the creation of an employee-centred 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 working sessions, workshops, brainstorming sessions, the creation of an ideas box, etc.
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... and much more!
🛠️ Examples of software:
- PeopleSpheres is an HR platform designed to manage and improve the employee experience. Its web portal centralises all your HR tools in a simple, customisable 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 (holiday requests, timesheets, expense reports, etc.),
- integrated chat and forms for making all HR requests via the tool (certificates, etc.),
- career tracking, training and remuneration,
- digital suggestion box, corporate news, and much more!
- Zest by ZestMeUp is a software suite designed to maximise employee engagement to boost business performance while maintaining well-being at work. The platform transforms HR and management rituals to deliver a better experience for employees, even those on the shop floor, 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