The key components of a successful employee experience strategy
There’s long been a debate around who exactly is responsible for employee experience within an organisation – with a tendency for it to be lumped in with all the other many and varied roles of internal communications.
While there’s undoubtedly crossover between the two, and internal communicators absolutely need to be involved in any employee experience strategy, I wanted to use this blog to explore the differences between the two things, and to look at how internal communication professionals can best contribute to their organisation’s own strategy.
What is employee experience, and how does it differ from internal communications?
Often, the issues within organisations arise because people don’t always understand the differences between the two things. Anything employee experience-related is deemed to fall into the remit of communications and lands at our desk when, in reality, there needs to be ownership across all areas of an organisation.
Turning to academic definitions of the two, internal communications is summarised by Welch and Jackson as “the strategic management of interaction and relationships between stakeholders.”
MacLeod and Clarke define employee experience as a: “A workplace approach ensuring employees are motivated and contributing to success, while enhancing their well-being.”
Communication alone isn’t enough – it must connect to the broader organisational culture and the day-to-day experience of those working there.
Why is employee experience so important?
Employees thrive in environments where they feel secure, informed, and valued. A great employee experience (EX) boosts engagement, retention, and motivation, ultimately leading to higher organisational performance. If employees feel supported and informed, they are much more likely to feel part of the bigger picture and, in turn, more motivated to work towards an organisation’s goals.
A poor experience, on the other hand, can result in disengaged employees, posing risks to brand reputation and productivity. ‘Insider risk’ is a much greater problem if people are not having a good experience at work. Studies show that for every six engaged employees, there’s one disengaged individual who could be undermining the organisation.
Who is responsible for delivering employee experience?
As already established, the responsibility for employee experience does not rest solely with internal communications teams.
HR, operations and senior leadership all play an important role in the overall experience of working for an organisation – right through from initial attraction and recruitment to the point that an employee leaves and moves on to somewhere new.
Increasingly, we are seeing a blurring of the lines between these functions. Attendees at our recent Comms Reboot event talked of how experience is taking up a greater proportion of internal communicators’ time, and discussed whether it is becoming an increasingly central part of the role for comms teams of the future.
We know that a collaborative approach is key – but for this to be successful there must be very clearly defined roles and responsibilities for each function.
Mapping employee experience to the employee lifecycle
An effective employee experience strategy spans the entire employee lifecycle—starting before someone even joins the company. If EX efforts begin only at onboarding, it’s already too late. Every stage, from recruitment to separation, must be thoughtfully crafted to ensure the experience is consistent and positive.
We developed our Employee Experience Model in 2023 to help illustrate what is most important to people at each stage of the lifecycle.
Based on what we define as the three core areas of employee experience – relationships, tools and processes, and environment – the model shows how much focus should be given to each of these at different points within an employee’s journey.
We define the six key stages of the employee lifecycle as follows:
1. Attraction: Ensuring prospective employees are excited about the opportunity
2. Recruitment: Delivering a seamless, transparent hiring process
3. Onboarding: Making the transition into the organisation smooth and welcoming
4. Development: Providing opportunities for growth and learning
5. Retention: Creating a workplace where employees want to stay
6. Separation: Managing offboarding and maintaining goodwill with alumni
What else should be considered for a successful employee experience strategy?
Maintaining employee engagement throughout the entire lifecycle requires continual work and no small amount of creativity – which is where communications teams can play a key role.
Creating stand-out, meaningful moments at regular touchpoints throughout an employee’s day, week or month are essential in maintaining motivation and satisfaction. This can be as simple as a regular check-in with a manager or as elaborate as an annual awards ceremony, but the best employee experience strategies never lose sight of the importance of these key moments. You can read more about the need to provide regular dopamine hits to your employees in my blog about the gamification of employee experience.
Another crucial part of any successful employee experience strategy is the need to cultivate a culture of psychological safety. Open communication and clear expectations help employees feel supported, valued and able to articulate their true opinions without fear of repercussions.
If you’d like some help with your employee experience strategy or want to know more about our Employee Experience Model, drop our team a message at info@redefiningcomms.com
