Employee experience (EX) encapsulates everything employees encounter and interact with during their organizational tenure. This includes the recruitment process, their day-to-day work experiences, and their growth opportunities.

Carefully monitoring employee survey results can reveal insightful trends in what matters most to your teams. For example, noticing how favorability around leadership questions changes during the COVID-19 pandemic might indicate that your managers need more support in developing their skills.

Employees Want Meaningful Connections

With so many options for where to work, it’s essential that your team feels connected to the organization they choose to spend their time at. A robust employee communication system ensures everyone is regularly heard and understood.

Now, what is employee experience? Employee experience refers to employees’ collective perceptions and sentiments throughout their journey within an organization, encompassing various touchpoints from recruitment to departure.

This could be as simple as streamlining your feedback practices or implementing regular connection rituals, where employees share a personal experience, and their co-workers can ask questions. These conversations have increased trust, empathy, and a sense of belonging in the workplace.

It’s also crucial to create a flexible work environment that offers spaces for meeting rooms, quiet zones, 1:1 pods, social areas, and mothers’ rooms so that employees can connect organically during the day. This is a way to boost their productivity and improve the overall employee experience.

They Want to Feel Appreciated

There are a lot of ways to make your employees feel appreciated. It can be as simple as a quick post-it note with a personalized message of thanks or an employee recognition platform where managers can congratulate their team on small wins or even more considerable successes like a new project they led or the company’s latest sales record.

Providing regular feedback that is constructive and specific is another excellent way to show your employees how much you value their work. This can be done through meetings or surveys designed to help your team members see how their contributions make an impact and provide a roadmap for their future success with the company.

Of course, salary is also a big part of what makes employees feel valued, and many companies have great ways to reward their teams and celebrate wins. It’s important to note that a thriving workplace culture isn’t just about rewards and recognition but about creating peak experiences that help employees meet their psychological needs of autonomy, mastery, and connection. These moments make your employees’ jobs meaningful and worthwhile, setting you apart as a company.

They Want to Grow

Employee experience isn’t a new concept but has gained popularity and importance. This is because employees want to grow professionally and personally in their work.

Companies must pay attention to how they engage with their employees throughout their journey. This includes everything from recruiting, onboarding, training, and development to how people are rewarded and recognized.

It is also essential to think about how you help your employees develop their skills and to consider if there are ways that they can learn outside of the company, for example, by allowing them to attend courses and conferences.

Finally, ensuring employees feel their work has a meaningful purpose is essential. This can be achieved by discussing their goals and how they are progressing about them. It can also be done by empowering employees to create and implement solutions to their problems. This will make them feel more valued as a member of the team.

They Want to Feel Safe

The best practices for creating a world-class employee experience include more than just HR management. While hiring employees with the right skills is essential, creating a company culture that provides them a safe space to be their unique selves and thrive in their roles is equally important.

Psychological safety is the first stage in a multi-stage approach to employee experience. When people feel safe to be themselves and share their ideas without fear of being judged, they’re more likely to connect with their colleagues meaningfully. This is where empathy comes in!

In addition to providing a safe work environment, listening to employees when they express concerns is essential. It can be tempting for leaders to ignore feedback when they hear crickets, but doing so may make it harder for them to create a workplace that meets employee needs. Instead, try summarizing what you’ve listened to, nodding to indicate that you understand their point, and occasionally leaning forward to show your engagement. This will make them feel like you’re listening to them!

They Want to Feel Connected

We live in a time when employees want to be able to work at home; they need various skills to keep up with their jobs, and they often have to travel. It’s more important than ever for people to feel a strong connection with their team and company.

The research shows that when employees feel connected to their teams and company, they’re more likely to invest in the business’s goals and go above and beyond for their colleagues. They’re also more likely to stay longer than disconnected employees.

Creating connection rituals can help people feel engaged, valued, and supported. Providing a flexible workplace with social spaces, 1:1 pods, quiet zones, mother rooms, and more is also crucial.

Ultimately, employee experience encompasses every moment of an individual’s journey within your organization, from their first day to their last. Use the framework to identify the moments that matter most for your people and take action based on their feedback.