Employee Experience: Definition, Tips & Relevance in Everyday Company Life

How to reduce employee turnover costs.

In times of high turnover in the workforce and a shortage of skilled workers, it is becoming increasingly important to keep the right employees in the company. One concept for retaining employees is the Employee Experience. This article explains what Employee Experience actually is and how you can improve it in your own company.

Definition of Employee Experience

Employee Experience (EX) refers to the totality of an employee’s experience during their time with a company. It includes the work environment (software and hardware), interactions with colleagues and supervisors, and how the company treats its employees. In particular, it is crucial to view the employee experience over the entire employee life cycle and not just to provide selective motivational injections.

A positive employee experience, therefore, has the following 3 main objectives:

  1. Create favorable working conditions
  2. Increase productivity
  3. Long-term employee loyalty to the company

Why is a positive employee experience important?

A positive employee experience helps ensure that employees are motivated, engaged and productive. It also helps to increase employee retention and thus reduce employee turnover costs. On the other hand, a negative Employee Experience can lead to employees being dissatisfied, unproductive and demotivated, and leaving the company more quickly.

A study by the American Jacob Morgan came to the following conclusion:

Companies that focus on Employee Experience generate four times more profit than those companies where Employee Experience is not addressed.

Improving the employee experience on a day-to-day basis therefore not only leads to higher employee motivation, but can also be directly linked to profitability.

Life cycle of the employee

Since Employee Experience takes a holistic view of an employee’s lifecycle, all stages of the employee cycle should be briefly considered. These include the following:

1. Employment

  1. How did the first contact with the employee come about?
  2. What were the subsequent processes like in terms of harmonization and speed?
  3. How was the communication?

2. Onboarding

  1. How was the employee introduced to new systems and tools?
  2. How quickly has the employee been productive?
  3. How can the employee quickly integrate into the team?

3. Development

  1. How can I further train the employee?
  2. What measures can I implement to help the employee become more productive?
  3. What wishes does the employee have?
  4. What opportunities for advancement can I offer the employee?

4. Retention

  1. How can I retain the employee in the long term?
  2. What measures can be used to motivate my employees in the long term?
  3. What vision are we pursuing as a company? How can employees identify with it?
  4. How do I create a pleasant working environment?
  5. What tech stack do my employees work on?
  6. How do they access information within the company?

5. Leave

  1. Why did an employee leave the company?
  2. What can be learned from this as a company?
  3. What is the process of leaving and how can it be improved to make the transition easier for both sides?
  4. How can we prevent valuable employees from leaving?

Tips for improving the employee experience on a day-to-day basis

Here are some tips to improve the employee experience in your company’s day-to-day operations:

1. Enablement/Technology

An important component of the Employee Experience is providing the right tools and technologies to support employees’ work. This includes both hardware, such as modern computers and mobile devices, and software, such as information management tools or collaboration tools. These technologies can help increase employee motivation by enabling them to do their jobs more efficiently and productively.

2. Culture

An important component for a good employee experience is the culture within the company. A positive work environment in which employees feel comfortable is crucial. Good interpersonal relationships and open communication are key factors in creating a positive work environment. A team that works well together and supports each other is vital for employee motivation and satisfaction.

3. Working environment

Another critical factor for a great employee experience is the work environment. This includes both the workplace set-up and the office’s design. A well-designed, ergonomic and functional workplace helps employees feel comfortable, and their work is made more accessible. The design of the office also plays a role, especially in terms of light, color, and acoustics. An office that is well-lit and well-ventilated supports motivated employees.

How do you establish a successful employee experience in the company?

Leadership by example

The Employee Experience is a topic that the management must exemplify. Since it is a holistic process and the responsibilities are distributed, designing this process must also be distributed among several responsible parties. However, the HR department is primarily responsible for designing the employee experience in the company.

Communication as a success factor

To improve the employee experience in the company, companies must regularly gather feedback from their employees and respond to it. Companies should strive to establish open and transparent communication, offer their employees flexible working hours and locations, let them participate in company decisions, and increase their opportunities for further training. In addition, companies should show their employees that they value their work and achievements.

Ultimately, it’s about companies recognizing their employees as the most critical factor in their success and doing everything in their power to offer them a positive employee experience. After all, satisfied and motivated employees are the foundation of a successful company.

Bastian is the Co-Founder & CRO of the enterprise search tech company amberSearch. Me and my Co-Founders recognized the need for a state-of-the-art information management solution and now help companies and their employees to find access information as easily as possible within enterprises.  I primarily write about the latest developments relevant to enterprise search and start-ups. I look forward to growing my network on LinkedIn and meeting new people at different events. If you think, that there might be an opportunity or if you'd like to dive deeper into my topics, please reach out to me.

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