We define employee experience as the hundreds of touchpoints throughout the employment experience that collectively influence how your employees feel about working at the organization.
These touchpoints begin when a potential team member learns about the company and continue all the way through the exit interview. Some touch points are highly impactful (like getting paid consistently) while others have a smaller, yet important impact (like being asked to coffee by a fellow co-worker during your first month on the job).
Together, all these touchpoints make up the employee experience.
Overwhelmed?
We get it - that's a LOT to consider.
That's where Employee Experience Mapping comes in
The brainchild of design thinking, Employee Experience Mapping is very similar to Customer Experience Mapping or the act of documenting your customer's journey when buying your product or service. The difference lies in tracking the engagement and decision points of an employee throughout their time at the company, instead of those made by a customer.
It's never a bad time to understand your employee experience, but here are a few times when it can be extra helpful:
You're in a period of extreme growth and expansion.
You're systemizing and documenting things across the company.
You're struggling with employee attraction and/or retention.
In a future post, we will dive into the process specifics of creating your own Employee Experience Journey Map, but in the meantime here's a glimpse at what they can look like when completed.
Example Employee Experience Map
Photo Courtesy of UXPressia
The above map outlines the hiring process for a specific candidate type the company is looking to attract. It covers everything from the candidate's awareness of the job through his trial period in the role. For each stage, the map outlines:
User Goals
User Expecations
Process
User Quotes
Process Channels
Problems
Experience
Ideas
Defining the above list for every stage in the candidate's recruitment process allows you to step back and see the big picture while simultaneously identifying and understanding all the intricacies and details. Ultimately, it helps you understand where your strengths and weaknesses are, so you can adjust accordingly.
This insight is what makes Employee Experience Mapping so incredibly powerful. It allows you to tell a complex story in a simple format that's easy to consume and share. Most importantly, you can learn what it's like to be an employee at your company.
In a world where strong, engaged talent is more crucial than ever to a company's success, I can't think of a more important thing to understand. Can you?
To happier employees,
Jill
Interested in improving the Employee Experience Journey?
Learn more from the Want to Work There Podcast!
