It’s time to rethink the employee experience through a holistic and personalized lens—simply piling on perks isn’t enough. While these material benefits are appealing, their impact is only temporary.

When you look at the drivers of employee turnover, there’s much more to the picture than material rewards. Team members need to feel good in their roles. This includes feeling genuinely empowered, included, and valued—attributes that help create a positive employee experience and fuel the desire to stay longer. 

That’s why McKinsey encourages organizations to tailor employee value propositions based on individual needs—this way, companies can narrow the gap between what today’s employees want and what employers need. 

Here we explore the employee experience from multiple angles to help organizations like yours nurture a happier and more successful workforce.

What is the employee experience?

The employee experience is the sum of every interaction your employees have at work. While benefits and perks are part of this, other vital aspects include the culture and the physical and mental work environment. 

Do employees feel cared for while at work? Do they feel emotionally healthy? Do they know that they can be open and honest with leaders? All of these factors tie into the employee experience.

Why is the employee experience important?

Put simply, the employee experience affects employee engagement and loyalty. When employees feel cared for, they feel more engaged in their work and more loyal to the organization they work for:

• Engaged employees provide 18% more productivity and 23% more profit.
• High engagement can lead to a 43% lower turnover rate and an 81% decrease in absenteeism. 
• Employees who feel mentally and emotionally supported are less likely to underperform and have a higher job satisfaction rate.

Consider employee experience trends 

Start intentionally by investing time to lay a solid foundation. Evaluating current employee experience trends can help you add the right components to your foundation. 

1. Personalized recognition and rewards

Employees today expect the same level of choice and convenience in workplace rewards as they do in their personal shopping. More companies are moving away from limited reward options toward offering broader, more flexible options. 

Providing a seamless, familiar experience—like the ability to shop for rewards on Amazon—gives organizations a competitive edge, shows employees they’re valued, and increases engagement.

2. Remote work recognition

Without the daily interactions of an office, remote employees can easily feel disconnected, but meaningful recognition bridges that gap. Companies that prioritize recognition are seeing stronger team connections, higher engagement, and a more positive workplace culture, no matter where employees work. 

By making recognition a key part of their strategy, organizations can ensure remote employees feel valued, supported, and connected to their team.

3. Employee rewards as compensation

One relevant trend is what we’re calling “reward compensation.” This is the idea that employees receive an added bonus on top of their salary that they can use for their own rewards. Employee rewards can be part of compensation rather than a nice fluffy perk or addendum to existing workplace compensation.. 

4. Greater emphasis on wellbeing

While always important, employee well-being initiatives will become even more integral as part of an organization’s arsenal to support employee health and safety. Ensuring employees have the tools they need to live well in every aspect of their lives will help retain talent, increase employee satisfaction, and boost ROI. 

5. Expanded flexible work policies

If employees need a more compact schedule with alternating days on or off, organizations can leap ahead of their competitors by offering such a flexible work policy. Work will continue as employees rebalance their workload and continue to synchronize their work with their teammates. 

6. Daily feedback becomes the norm

Feedback has always been a part of work, but its importance—and frequency—will continue to grow as we move into the future. Daily feedback will become even more vital.  

Consider the employee journey 

If the employee experience is everything an individual goes through at work, the employee journey is the framework an organization creates to guide that experience. It’s the guardrails that help employees find happiness, satisfaction, and success throughout their tenure.

The employee journey is typically broken down into five stages:

1. Recruitment: Everything from the first contact through the interview process
2. Onboarding: An employee’s first few months, including everything that helps them start off on the right foot
3. Retention: What a company does to keep employees happy and engaged, including employee recognition, company culture, compensation, and the work itself
4. Development: Covers an employee’s opportunities to grow at the company, including performance reviews, professional development, and promotions
5. Separation: Covers an employee’s last few days, including exit interviews and letters of recommendation

Optimizing the employee journey is key to creating a workplace where employees feel valued, motivated, and supported at every stage of their experience. To fine-tune this journey, you should examine each stage carefully and identify opportunities for improvement.

A well-designed journey empowers, engages, and enables. Let’s break down each principle in detail.

1. Empower employees

When employees feel empowered, they know how to succeed and have all the tools necessary to do so. Here are examples of empowerment that can make a huge difference in the employee experience:

• Employer provides clear expectations for employees during the recruitment process and onward. When someone knows exactly what’s expected of them, there’s less confusion and more opportunities to exceed those expectations. 
• Employer aligns work with purpose and values. Purpose-driven work can yield advantages like higher job satisfaction, motivation, and creativity. When everyone in the company understands the shared values, goals, and mission, they’re empowered to succeed. 

2. Engage employees

Engaged employees are happier and more productive. They enjoy their work and are invested in the success and growth of their team and the company. 

You can easily emphasize engagement throughout an employee’s journey by:

• Offering meaningful incentives. Incentives are a great way to keep people engaged in work and push them to give their best—but only if the reward is worth the effort. Incentive rewards should be personalized and meaningful.
• Creating a healthy work culture. Culture is the glue that holds a company together. One of the best ways to increase engagement is to create a culture of collaboration. The more two-way feedback there is, the more solutions, camaraderie, and confidence emerge. This even applies in the separation stage of the employee journey—you’ll want to separate on good terms with transparency and trust.

3. Enable employees

Once employees are engaged and empowered to succeed, they must be enabled to reach their potential. 

Enable your employees to grow and gain the skills necessary to excel by:

• Emphasizing performance management. Train managers on how to effectively handle performance management—after all, managers are the primary point of contact for day-to-day interactions. With regular feedback and performance management, they can answer questions, provide direction, and offer constructive critiques to ensure everyone is on the same page and is actively learning.
• Focusing on employee well-being. When companies focus on physical, emotional, and mental well-being, employees will have the help and support they need to thrive. Wellness initiatives, Employee Assistance Programs, flexible hours, gym reimbursements, etc.—there are plenty of ways to put the focus on well-being.

Five tried-and-true strategies to improve the employee experience

Now that you’ve taken the time to establish the right foundation, you’re ready to apply specific tactics to fill in any remaining gaps and further elevate the employee experience. Let’s go over some strategies that can help you truly show your workforce you’re in their corner. 

Please note that every organization has its own challenges and needs, so you may need to adjust these strategies accordingly.

1. Support a good work-life balance

Work-life balance is finding an equilibrium between job demands and personal life demands. When employees feel imbalanced in their work and life, it can lead to increased stress and burnout. Stress costs employers nearly $183 billion each year due to productivity loss. Forty percent of turnover is also attributed to stress. 

What can you do to support a balanced life for your employees? Here are some ideas:

• Focus on productivity more than hours. Good employees get work done. Some even get work done ahead of time. Instead of strictly enforcing the 40-hour work week, focus on getting work done at a high quality. And if the work gets done sooner than expected, let employees off early!
• Encourage breaks and time off. Get teams out of their chairs and give them time to unwind. Also, encourage employees to take the time off they need (you can even incentivize vacations with Awardco Pay).
• Review workloads and be open to adjustments. Check in with your employees to see how they’re feeling. Are they overwhelmed but don’t want to say anything? Or are they looking for more responsibilities? Make sure everyone feels comfortable talking about their workloads, and be willing to add or subtract work based on how people are feeling.
• Offer support for parents and families. One of the greatest challenges parents face in the workplace is childcare needs. Support them by offering on-site childcare or reimbursed childcare funds. Give parents the ability to work from home to spend more time with their families. 

The key is to realize that each employee is different. Find out what stresses your employees and then help them find relief. 

2. Offer greater flexibility

Employees crave the flexibility that became the norm during the pandemic, and with digital employee experience tools at our fingertips, we should embrace that freedom. After all, 99% of workforce members agree that remote or hybrid work is best for their mental health.

Keep in mind that flexibility doesn’t simply equate to one’s work environment. It can also mean letting employees choose when they come to work. Maybe parents have to take their kids to school in the morning and complete errands—let them work 10–6. Or maybe someone has an emergency and needs to miss part of a day—let them make up the hours throughout the week. 

Being flexible means giving employees the freedom to work how and when is best for them. And that flexibility won’t come at the company’s expense—greater flexibility can raise the number of high-performing team members by 40%!

3. Show employees you trust them

Employees have the right to autonomy and freedom, whether that means more flexibility or greater work/life balance. When you let employees work in the way that suits them best, you show them that you trust them and the work they do. 

Trust starts by listening and having invaluable two-way conversations. Give your workforce the chance to speak up. By trusting their judgment, you give yourself the opportunity to earn their trust. 

Gallup reports that when team members feel they’ve had the chance to provide honest feedback on changes within the organization, they’re 7.4 times more likely to have confidence in their leaders. 

And when employees feel trusted, they perform at a higher level, give extra effort, and go beyond expectations.

4. Provide personal growth opportunities

Did you know that 92% of employees feel professional development opportunities are an important part of their job? Employees who receive these types of developmental opportunities are 15% more engaged and have a 34% higher retention rate. 

What exactly does professional development mean? Here are some ideas for opportunities and benefits you can offer:

• Continuing education support, such as tuition reimbursement
• Participation in professional organizations or events
• Skill-based training or courses, including both hard skills and soft skills
• Opportunities to shadow and learn from leaders and other departments in the company

Whether you employ a team member who wants to go back to college or improve their public speaking ability, offering growth opportunities shows that you care about the development and success of your employees.

5. Recognize employees for the value they bring

Each employee is a valuable member of your team, whether they’re in the spotlight or behind the scenes. When you recognize them for the work they do, whether through a verbal “thank you,” a handwritten note, or a cash prize, everyone will feel noticed and cared for.

Nearly half of team members have left their roles because they felt underappreciated by managers. On the other hand, employee recognition decreases voluntary turnover by 31%, increases engagement by 40%, and improves productivity by 14%.

If you’re ready to update your employee experience, Awardco is here to help with easy recognition, rewards, and celebrations for your employees.

Gain visibility into your employee experience with our survey

To truly understand how your employees feel, you must go beyond surface-level data and assess key factors that are integral in each stage of the employee journey. 

Our Employee Experience Pulse Survey aims to do just this. It’s designed to help decision-makers identify gaps, uncover hidden challenges, and take actionable steps toward creating a more engaged workforce.

This pulse survey will guide you through critical experience indicators. At the end of the survey, you’ll receive instructions on how to assess your score. We encourage you to review the strategies we discussed above to optimize your employee experience. 

1. How effective is your recruitment process at attracting qualified candidates?

• Very effective (2 points)
• Somewhat effective (1 point)
• Not effective at all (0 points)
  
  

2. How smooth and welcoming is your onboarding process for new hires?

• Very smooth and welcoming (2 points)
• Somewhat smooth (1 point)
• Not smooth or welcoming (0 points)
  
  

3. How frequently does your company gather employee feedback throughout their employment journey?

• Frequently (2 points)
• Sometimes (1 point)
• Rarely or never (0 points)
  
  

4. How effective is your employee recognition program at promoting satisfaction and engagement?

• Very effective (2 points)
• Somewhat effective (1 point)
• Not effective at all (0 points)
  
  

5. How transparent is leadership about company direction and goals?

• Very transparent (2 points)
• Somewhat transparent (1 point)
• Not transparent at all (0 points)
  
  

6. How accessible are career growth and development opportunities for employees?

• Very accessible (2 points)
• Somewhat accessible (1 point)
• Not accessible at all (0 points)
  
  

7. How well does your company address employee concerns and feedback?

• Very well (2 points)
• Somewhat well (1 point)
• Not well at all (0 points)
  
  

8. How consistently are employees’ performance and development reviewed and supported?

• Very consistently (2 points)
• Somewhat consistently (1 point)
• Not consistently at all (0 points)
  
  

9. How effectively does your company prepare employees for their departure, including exit interviews?

• Very effectively (2 points)
• Somewhat effectively (1 point)
• Not effectively at all (0 points)
  
  

10. How accurately does your company track reasons for employee turnover?

• Very accurately (2 points)
• Somewhat accurately (1 point)
• Not accurately at all (0 points)

Quiz Results

Add up the points from each question to get your total score, and then you can see how your employee experience compares.

• Below 10: Your results indicate there are areas of your employee experience that need attention. Every company faces challenges, and recognizing them is the first step to improvement. By actively listening to employees and making meaningful changes, you can create a more positive and engaging workplace. Small, consistent efforts can have a big impact. We encourage you to revisit the strategies we discussed earlier in this article to identify gaps and start making changes.
• 10-15: Your company’s employee experience has room for improvement. Areas such as recognition, feedback, and engagement may need more consistency. Implementing real-time feedback mechanisms can enhance the overall experience and boost satisfaction.
• 16-20: Your company provides a great employee experience. Your workplace excels in engagement, transparency, and recognition. Keep reinforcing these positive practices to maintain a thriving work environment.

Build a Stronger Employee Experience with Awardco

The old saying goes, when you put good in, you get good out. Employee experience is a lot like that. When you build an employee experience strategy around the people of your organization—when you treat them like humans and respect their wants, needs, and desires—you reap the benefits of a highly engaged, focused, and satisfied workforce.

Build a strong foundation of employee experience, and then construct a solid structure of benefits and perks on top of that. Sooner than you might expect, you’ll have a company where employees are content to stay.

See how Awardco can help your organization improve the employee experience with recognition solutions for HR teams.