Your Guide to Improving Employee
Experience for the Modern Workforce
Making Every Moment Matter
An organization is more than a company, corporation, association, or a public or private institution. It’s a collection of people.
A job is more than a paycheck.
People—with personal goals, aspirations, and motivations—who unite around a shared purpose, whether that’s delivering a product, providing
a service, or improving the greater good—are the tapestry of an organization.
While we can’t take the work out of work or make every moment amazing, it’s not unreasonable for employees to expect a work environment where employers strive to make work easier to get done, improve communications, and bring more humanity into the workplace. And not just for the workers who sit behind a desk every day, but also for the majority of people—the deskless workers who comprise 80% of the global workforce.
For some, each day is filled with long and inflexible hours, a lack of interaction between co-workers and colleagues, little direction from superiors, and outdated technology that makes doing their jobs harder.
Shaped by a global pandemic and economic uncertainties, the new working landscape has revealed that all workers—from hybrid and remote to shift-based and deskless—are rethinking the role of work in their lives.
Struggling to retain and attract talent, employers are opening their eyes to operational weak spots and the impact of employee wellbeing on organizational health.
With workers increasingly pursuing a better work-life balance, higher pay, more flexibility, and a greater meaning for work, organizational resilience requires that they are made to feel heard, valued, engaged, and productive.
Why Focus on Employee Experience?
Employee experience initiatives produce happier, more engaged employees who can get work done more efficiently, resulting in:
Why Does Employee Experience Matter?
A 2022 Gallup Report found that compared to bottom-quartile teams, highly engaged employees yielded:
What are the Broader Moments that Make Up an Employee’s Experience and Journey with an Organization?
According to Gallup, there are seven stages in an employee’s journey with an organization. Understanding the experiences and interactions employees have along the way can help organizations refine their employee experience strategy and focus on the right areas of improvement.
First impressions are important, and the initial interaction an employee has with an organization can set the tone for their entire experience and will last well beyond their first day on the job.
Attracting and Recruiting Talent
of employees report that they feel connected to their organization’s culture (Gartner)
What is Employee Experience?
Employee experience is defined as the individual moments and interactions that make up an employee’s journey with an organization—from onboarding all the way up to their last day on the job—and the perception of their experiences throughout.
For employers, it also refers to the processes and systems that facilitate work and inform an employee’s experience with an organization.
Identifying employee experience problems in your organization can be challenging. Look out for indicators such as high turnover rates, repeated lateness, unplanned absenteeism, lower productivity and customer satisfaction, and increased accidents or burnouts.
Negative employee experiences can lead to higher costs of hiring and onboarding, inadequate shift coverage, damaged brand reputation, and poor customer satisfaction. Unhappy employees can result in negative customer interactions, tarnishing a business's reputation. It is essential to strike the right balance between understaffing and overstaffing to prevent employee burnout or boredom.
What Are the Warning Signs of a Poor Employee Experience?
Experts say the cost of replacing an employee can range anywhere from tens of thousands of dollars up to twice an employee’s annual salary (Gallup).
Higher Costs of Hiring and Onboarding
When a workplace is understaffed, employees are more prone to burnout and feeling overwhelmed. But when overstaffing is an issue, employees can become bored and listless. Striking the right balance is essential.
Inadequate Shift Coverage
Research from LinkedIn found that a lack of job security, dysfunctional teams, and poor leadership are the biggest employee experience factors that can damage an organization’s reputation and cost employers 10% more per hire (HBR.org).
Damaged Brand Reputation
Employee experience and customer experience are intertwined. When employees aren’t happy at work, their interactions with customers can be negative, tarnishing the customer experience and impacting a business’s reputation.
Poor Customer Satisfaction
A poor employee experience not only affects workers’ day-to-day lives but can have negative consequences for organizations, such as:
The Side Effects of a Negative Employee Experience
In 2023, Pollfish, on behalf of WorkForce Software, conducted a third global survey to measure disparities between employer and employee perceptions on workplace experience concerns that impact engagement, development, and retention.
Compared prior years, the 2023 results indicate many employees are not receiving the support they want in critically important areas, presenting an urgent call for employers to take action to improve.
Common Areas Where Employers Consistently Fall Short
Taking a Generational Approach: Where to Focus Your Employee Experience Efforts
An organization’s culture is defined by the tangible and intangible elements—such as the values, attitudes, practices, and overarching goals—that make up the feeling one gets at an organization. Culture has one of the biggest impacts on employee experience and can be the differentiator between a positive and negative experience.
Workplace Culture
By now, you should understand the ramifications and signs of a negative employee experience, why investing in employee experience is important, areas of focus, and who at your organization would benefit most from an improved employee experience. But employers must also understand the individual components that work together to inform the employee experience.
Making Each Piece of the Employee Experience Puzzle Fit
The relationship between employees and employers has evolved from a purely transactional one to something more complex and nuanced. These days, flexible work schedules, support from superiors, opportunities for career growth, and modern, consumer-grade technology are as important to employee experience and employee retention as the pay they receive.
Employee experience isn’t about “free sushi for lunch,” but all the elements, both big and small, that shape an employee’s experience, day-in and day-out. When employers focus on it, work can become more than a job or a calling, but a beautiful place to be.
Ready to put your people first? Download the full guide here to start making moments that matter.
Final Thoughts
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Improving the Employee Experience Starts and Ends with You
Download the full guide to access employee experience strategies, software selection tips, and employee experience best practices that can help your organization make the most of every moment
* To view the full list of source attributions, download the guide
People form the backbone of any organization—without them, it wouldn't exist. Creating an engaging and respectful work environment is essential to every organization's success.
In this employee experience guide, you’ll find proven strategies, insights from industry leaders, and the supporting evidence needed to help your organization reach your business goals and engage employees wherever work takes them.
But first, a bit of background...
Record high employee burnout and disengagement rates have spiked turnover rates to 24% compared to 20% pre-pandemic.
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Higher productivity
Improved talent acquisition
Lower turnover
Stronger workplace relationships
Greater job satisfaction
Improved business and operational results
higher profitability
Improving employee experience requires more than a quick fix. It involves holistically altering how an organization operates by shifting mindsets, values, and workforce management processes to generate long-term sustained change that benefits not only the organization but employees as well.
(sales)
(production records and evaluations)
Higher customer loyalty/engagement
Lower turnover for lower turnover organizations
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The hiring process should be clear, engaging, fair, unbiased, and aligned with your overall values and overarching employment strategy, along with robust talent assessments.
Hiring the Stars
Frequent communication and collaboration between managers, employees, and peers—whether one-on-one
or by group—is essential for keeping staff focused and engaged.
Ongoing Engagement and Motivation
Employers should help new hires not only learn the job, but also connect with their team, and embrace the organization’s values and culture.
Onboarding and Training
Collecting frequent employee feedback, recognizing excellent work, focusing on employees’ strengths, and removing roadblocks can help set employees and organizations up for success.
Driving Performance
Training doesn’t end at onboarding. Find ways to provide skills development and growth opportunities throughout the entire employee journey, especially on the job.
Developing Skills and Career Growth
Workplace perceptions extend beyond an employee’s last day. A positive exit experience can influence future job applicants and impact your organization’s brand reputation.
Departing from an Organization
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Absenteeism costs
the U.S. economy
Billion each year
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22% of employee communications still occur over unsecured, non-integrated channels.
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According to Gartner, when it comes to digitalizing HR to improve employee experience, CEOs are looking for innovations that can help workforces perform work faster (or more work in the same time). Employees, on the other hand, are looking for relevant personal tools, resources, and support to improve their daily work experiences.
The Widening Employer/Employee Divide
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There are seven actions employers should focus on if they want to improve employee experience for all workers, especially younger employees entering the workforce:
Enabling two-way conversations with co-workers and managers
Providing a sense of purpose and more meaningful work
Ensuring their voices are heard and responding to feedback in a timely manner
Creating a better work/life balance and providing flexibility and control over schedules
Prioritizing the sustained health, safety, and well-being of employees
Offering ongoing job training and career development
Integrating modern, consumer-grade technology into their workflows
of employees feel frustrated due to inadequate workplace technology. (Freshworks)
Everyone from the CEO to co-workers can influence someone’s employee experience. While HR professionals aim to hire the right people and ensure there’s a good cultural fit, organizational leaders should strive to instill an ongoing sense of camaraderie and respect at work, regardless of leadership position or tenure at an organization.
People
The tools employees use ultimately impact the employee experience. By adding in-the-moment communication, real-time sentiment analysis, and additional performance management capabilities to their existing workforce management tools, employers can create a more engaging employee experience.
Processes and Technology
We are all products of our surroundings and the experience contained within them. Everything from a floor plan to the temperature on a job site can influence the actions of an employee and whether they have a good work experience or not. Strive to offer one that makes work easy.
Work Environments
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For the first time in human history, five distinct generations make up the global workforce—Traditionalists (birth years 1928 to 1945), Baby Boomers (1946 to 1964), Gen X (1965 to 1980), Millennials (1981 to 1996), and Gen Z (1997 to 2012). By 2030, Gen Z will make up 30% of the workforce. Employees under the age of 35 experienced a four-point decrease in engagement, compared to a two-point decrease among their older counterparts.
With each new generation entering the workforce comes a new set of perspectives and priorities. Each of these groups has unique personal, professional, and occupational needs along with varied technology experiences. Understanding their motivations, desires, and working styles is essential for improving employee experience.
In a world where money is no longer the primary motivating factor for employees, focusing on the employee experience is the most promising competitive advantage that organizations can create.
— Jacob Morgan, Futurist, Author, and Founder of the Future of Work University
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Historically, HR departments have been the primary decision-makers and people in support of most employee experience initiatives. But really, everyone—from IT to operations to finance—needs to get involved and recognize how important it is to sustained business success.
Learn More
Meet WorkForce Experience
Engage every employee, every day, and everywhere work happens.
And when that happens, people grow disconnected, become less productive, and are more prone to quit.
People — with personal goals, aspirations, and motivations — who unite around a shared purpose, whether that’s delivering a product, providing a service, or improving the greater good.
People form the backbone of any organization — without them, it wouldn't exist. Creating an engaging and respectful work environment is essential to every organization's success.
While we can’t take the work out of work or make every moment amazing, it’s not unreasonable for employees to expect a work environment where employers strive to make work easier to get done, improve communications, and bring more humanity into the workplace. And not just for the workers who sit behind a desk every day, but also for the majority of people — the deskless workers who comprise 80% of the global workforce.
For some, each day is filled with long and inflexible hours, a lack of interaction between co-workers and colleagues, little direction from superiors, and outdated technology that makes doing their jobs harder.
And when that happens, people grow disconnected, become less productive, and are more prone to quit.
Get the Guide
higher productivity
higher productivity
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In a world where money is no longer the primary motivating factor for employees, focusing on the employee experience is the most promising competitive advantage that organizations can create.
— Jacob Morgan, Futurist, Author, and Founder of the Future of Work University
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Embrace Mobile Technology to Manage WorkForce
14% of employees reported using a company-approved mobile app.
39% of employees reported they did not receive flexible scheduling options.
Demand forecasting and robust communications proactively schedule proper staffing levels and keep workers updated on changes. With the right scheduling flexibility, organizations can align labor to the needs of the business while offering greater work/life balance for employees.
Give Employees Control Over Their Schedules
33% of employees reported they did not receive flexible scheduling options.
Organizations must recognize worker achievements. Listening and responding to the workforce while celebrating wins fosters a culture of transparency, employee personal growth, and high performance. Praise for a job well done is meaningful when delivered proactively, sincerely, and specifically.
Ask For Feedback—Show Employees They Are Heard
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A Job is More Than a Paycheck.
Record high employee burnout and disengagement rates have spiked turnover rates to 24% compared to 20% pre-pandemic
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Billion each year
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Billion each year
and the European Union
Higher productivity (sales)
higher productivity (production records and evaluations)
Increase in attracting talent
Increase in attracting talent
Lower turnover for lower turnover organizations
Mobile technology offers a means of communicating and training a digitally native and deskless workforce in the flow of work—making training less disruptive—based on an employee’s scheduled tasks or real-time needs. The digital native workforce, familiar and comfortable with mobile tech, is ready to take advantage of these capabilities.
Embrace Mobile Technology to Manage WorkForce
31% report they do not receive flexible scheduling options.
Demand forecasting and robust communications proactively schedule proper staffing levels and keep workers updated on changes. With the right scheduling flexibility, organizations can align labor to the needs of the business while offering greater work/life balance for employees.
Give Employees Control Over Their Schedules
23% of employees reported providing feedback once a year or never.
Organizations must recognize worker achievements. Listening and responding to the workforce while celebrating wins fosters a culture of transparency, employee personal growth, and high performance. Praise for a job well done is meaningful when delivered proactively, sincerely, and specifically.
Ask For Feedback—Show Employees They Are Heard
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23%
18%
14%
(those with more than 40% annualized turnover)
lower turnover
for high turnover organizations
18%
(those with 40% or lower annualized turnover)
lower turnover
for lower turnover organizations
43%
higher customer loyalty/engagement
10%
of employee communications still occur over unsecured, non-integrated channels.
22%
report they do not receive flexible scheduling options.
31%
of employees reported providing feedback once a year or never.
23%
From Alignment to Action—Opportunities to Improve Employee Experience
From Alignment to Action—Opportunities to Improve Employee Experience