Every interaction that an employee has with their organization is an opportunity for them to evaluate their experience, positively or negatively.

Therefore, a great employee experience (EX) meets or exceeds expectations in every interaction.

When it comes to winning at EX, a company must strive to create real, measurable valuable in the lives of their employees. The bigger the company, the more interactions, the more complicated EX gets, but it all counts.

Employee expectations are constantly evolving and your business strategies, services, and approach must also continuously adapt to meet them where they’re at.

I will share five key behaviors and tools necessary for creating a kick-ass EX that meets or exceeds your employees’ expectations in every interaction.

Check in with Employees

Talk with your employees as frequently as possible to validate your EX approach. Pulse check their experience, moods, likes, dislikes, approach to work, needs, etc. through research, surveys, observation, and focus groups. It is critical to understand those that you are serving.

Obsess the Details

Plan and refine every EX detail to surprise and delight your employees. No touchpoint is inconsequential. Throughout their journey, from onboarding through continued years of service, ensure that they are taken care of, noticed, recognized, rewarded. When they are interacting with the organization in any way, physically or digitally, all services, content, and communications must be on-brand and relevant to their current experience.

What does this look like in real time?

Understanding that Jamie is about to return from maternity leave. Welcoming her back, offering her access to specialized services that aid in this big life transition, providing her options to organize a postpartum work-life that will work for her, supporting her in workplace community and mentorship, and checking in with her along the way.

Connect EX to Values and Purpose

Celebrating your company values throughout the ecosystem creates an EX only your company can deliver. This would include:

• Developing authentic brand experiences that bring employees together, giving them permission, variety, access, and incentives to connect.

• Creating belonging by designing for diversity, equity, and inclusion (i.e. ADA, Hybrid, elimination of hierarchies in design such a VP offices and parking)
• Designing and delivering products — locations, spaces, services, technology, and behaviors — that use the principles of sustainability (i.e. reusable green materials, waste avoidance, versatile furniture, bike commute plans)

Continuously Improve

Adopt a test-and-learn approach to continuously improve and adapt your EX. This includes a willingness to spend budget and resources on piloting new technologies, spaces, behaviors, policies, in the spirit of “fail fast”. Continuously analyzing competitor and market data for opportunities, as well as employee usage/user data. Be willing to pivot quickly.

Champion Collaboration

Collaborate with both internal and external partners to deliver the best EX. Treat third party service provider partners like true partners by sharing information, ideas, best practices, and data.

Conduct partner capability audits to explore how their services or processes could be improved to better meet employee needs.

And lastly, develop an internal EX Steer Co. with members from HR, Total Rewards, Workplace Design, Real Estate, DEI, Technology, Employee Communications, and Sustainability / Purpose.