9 Inspiring Employee Experience Examples To Boost Your EX
Employee experience (EX) is a topic that is gaining a lot of traction, and with good reason. There is a lot of focus on hiring top talent, but it is equally important for a company to retain that talent.
The employees’ lived experience is their EX. EX includes the perception of every touch point along the whole employee life cycle in the organization. These touch points are encounters with your policies, processes, and strategies from the first contact during recruitment to the offboarding and alumni policies.
There are many symptoms of employees having a bad experience at your company, but here are a few to watch out for:
- Low productivity and performance
- Employees not engaging with their peers or managers
- Retention problems
- Recruitment issues.
The task of improving your employee experience can sometimes seem overwhelming – where to start?
Break down the life cycle into specific stages. Systematically examine each stage. Identify where you can make the most impact. Each organization has different needs, but the elements of the employee life cycle are roughly the same.
One of the best ways to learn is to look at specific employee experience examples, case studies, and initiatives deployed in other organizations.
Here are nine employee experience examples and case studies with a real impact.
Contents
1. Mindful design at the Twitch offices
2. Employee connection at Bryter
3. Woodie’s modernizing EX
4. Learning at NASA
5. A strong start at Worldpay
6. Wellbeing at Entain
7. Employee voice at Macmillan
8. Data to turn a crisis around at Omio
9. Values-led culture at BeyondHousing
1. Mindful design at the Twitch offices
With the rise of remote working, there was a lull in the focus on the office and how people experience being together in the same place. Now that many businesses are moving either to hybrid or fully in-office setups, it’s important to not forget how important the space where we work is.
I was the Recruitment Lead in the Twitch EMEA offices for almost two years. Twitch is a subsidiary of Amazon that has the largest live-streaming platform and is especially popular with gamers.
The London office space was organized for around 200 people, and here are a few things our workplace team made sure that we always had:
- Plenty of meeting room space: Each room had a theme that reflected our culture. The themes included Super Mario and Star Wars.
- A library and a gaming room: The library offered a quiet space for focused work. The gaming room was a popular gathering spot for team hangouts.
- Minimal noise: The office had a lot of booths for calls, plus carpeting and noise absorption panels. The office was busy, but it never felt crowded or noisy. Even during the lunch rush, the noise pollution was minimal.
- Comfortable chairs and desks: When you sit in them for 8+ hours, they must be ergonomic.
Some things may appear basic, but many companies overlook them. They prioritize creative and advanced HR strategies over the physical experience. Sometimes, it takes creating a suitable environment first before anything else. For example, a company that wants to foster creativity needs ample collaborative spaces rather than just rows of desks.
If you are remote, then make sure that you help your team set up a good remote workspace for themselves. You have two options: ask them to buy and expense or use solutions like Hofy, which ships equipment worldwide.
2. Employee connection at Bryter
Bryter, an automation platform for legal, procurement, and compliance experts, is a fully remote organization. They have found that having dedicated time where the whole team gathers to work and socialize together is crucial to being able to deliver while remote. The company decided to focus on organizing great retreats to enhance trust, connections, and collaboration between colleagues.
There are many ways to organize a company retreat and companies that can help you, including one Bryter used – Surf Office. It was a mix of productivity sessions per team and more casual sessions like surfing, yoga, and group activities.
Taking time for teams to connect is essential. The company shows care and interest by organizing dedicated time for employees. This is even more important for remote teams that can’t spend a whole day sitting next to each other and building the camaraderie you may do in an office.
Getting to know each other in social and work settings is essential. It helps colleagues understand each other and improve remote work productivity.
3. Woodie’s modernizing EX
Woodie’s of Ireland is a chain of DIY and homeware stores. They face a more unique challenge as a lot of platforms like Notion or Slack are optimized for office workers and not so applicable for frontline workers. That is where they thought to simplify things by rolling out a full employee experience portal.
Employee experience portals (EXP) have started replacing the traditional HR system. They offer more services overall and often a smoother user experience, which boosts the overall digital employee experience.
EXPs combine elements of an HR system (managing employee information and time off) with things like a performance management system, a reward system, a company intranet/wiki, and a company social network. These features are particularly valuable for global workforces that cannot manage multiple systems. Sometimes, managing Slack, Notion, email, HRIS, and an engagement platform can be a lot.
The employees at Woodies’ lacked a sense of belonging and trust. They didn’t feel connected to the organization because the company didn’t communicate regularly.
Workvivo, an EXP, brought everyone on board a simple platform. In one place, employees can manage their HR admin and paperwork. They can also receive communications on new policies and recognition from their managers. Additionally, they can give recognition to each other.
The company also demonstrated its values by highlighting things like a Pride event in its internal social channel. These kinds of signals are very important so everyone understands the kind of company they are working for and can get a sense of belonging.
A learning management system (LMS) can support the process of learning and development. It can also handle the initial onboarding, like security training for new employees. NASA launched an LMS that focused on microlearning and standardized lessons for everyone on a specific project across the globe.
4. Learning at NASA
NASA is probably one of the most recognizable organization names in the world. The US-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration is widely known for employing some of the brightest minds in the last few generations, minds that need consistent learning and development to keep engaged.
Learning and development (L&D) is a significant lever when it comes to EX. Employees feel more fulfilled when they are challenged and learn something new regularly.
There are many ways of achieving this, for example, through coaching with a mentor or a manager or through more dedicated learning time baked into the working week. It can be as simple as giving someone a learning budget for them to spend or signing them up for specific courses.
Microlearning is a new trend in employee education, with shorter lessons on specific topics. It can be an easier ask to learn for 30 minutes every couple of days vs. take a full day out every month. It is also easily scalable, and you can make sure that everyone is on the same page much quicker than if they have to wait around for an official session on a specific topic.
People can take control and be invested in their own development. That, in turn, creates engaged employees who want to contribute and show off their newly learned skills at work.
5. A strong start at Worldpay
The employee experience of a company’s culture starts at the talent attraction stage. However, nothing cements that experience more than onboarding. According to one survey, employees with a good onboarding are 18x more committed to their company, yet only 12% of employees agree that their company has a good onboarding process.
Worldpay (now part of FIS) is one of the largest global payment processors. As such, it is subject to a lot of regulations, and despite its size, it’s a very fast-paced company. That is why getting people up to speed quickly was crucial, and they had one of the best onboarding experiences I’ve had.
The reason I felt it was such a great experience was that it was clearly divided into three sections:
- Company-wide
- Job-specific
- Industry-specific.
Company-wide onboarding was run as a larger cohort, covering things like the company’s history, the products, and the goals for the next 12 months. This was conducted with a cross-functional group, allowing a cohort to be created outside of your team.
Job-specific onboarding focused on productivity. By the end of week one, I was already working on a project and was able to contribute, which made me feel settled and a part of the team much quicker.
Industry-specific onboarding was needed as we were working in the finance industry, and there were a lot of regulations. This was enabled by an LMS with lessons I can easily slot in between host-led sessions for the other two sections.
Helping someone feel like they are part of the team practically from day one. In turn, that sense of belonging and value increases the engagement and the positive EX.
6. Wellbeing at Entain
The recognition of Mental Health Support Day and Mental Health Awareness Month is wider now. When discussing great EX, supporting employee wellbeing is a fundamental part of it.
A wide range of companies have recognized how investing in employee wellbeing yields better results for both the company and the employees. One of these companies is Entain – a betting and gambling company with almost 30,000 employees worldwide.
Entain rolled out the platform Unmind to support both employees and managers. Employees found the support around mental health and resilience really useful, and managers, in turn, felt like better leaders when they could engage in conversations on these topics.
Platforms like Unmind and OpenUp can be helpful with more dedicated mental health support, but something as simple as giving a wellbeing fund to be used for gym, mental health support yoga, or even a bit of TLC can be a great start.
Taking care of the physical or mental wellbeing of your team will very likely lead to a more engaged and productive workforce. Even something as simple as helping your managers recognize the signs of burnout will increase retention.
7. Employee voice at Macmillan
One of the major ways of enhancing the EX is to make employees show their care and have a voice. A voice that they feel is being listened to and not just a survey to tick a box of some kind.
Macmillan, rather than guessing what they can do to improve the employee experience, they asked and analyzed. Macmillan is an organization that provides support for patients with cancer – a tough job. For them, it was incredibly important to have an engaged and caring workforce.
In an effort to boost employee experience, they created a lot of great initiatives. Each one can be an example of how to improve EX. Yet, the simple fact that they started by listening to concrete suggestions and took action showed their employees that their opinions matter. This, in turn, will breed more transparency from the employees, and the employee life cycle will keep improving.
In the book Work Rules by Laszlo Bock, you can find a helpful guide to employee voice. Bock explains that employees at Google initiated popular programs like Talks at Google and Data Science courses. How did they get there? They made their employees feel like their ideas and their voices matter.
Recruiting from Google between 2008 and 2018 was tough, as any recruiter will tell you. The employees at Google were highly engaged and had excellent experience. It was hard for other employers to compete.
8. Data to turn a crisis around at Omio
Omio is a multi-transport international travel booking platform that was doing great until the pandemic hit. After that, even when things started getting back to normal, the attrition rates were high, and engagement was low. They had to do something, but where should they start?
Omio partnered with CultureAmp to get some data first via meaningful engagement surveys.
Measuring employee experience can either be a box-ticking exercise or a meaningful way of understanding what matters to your organization’s employees for them to have the best experience possible.
While there are many reports that people want to feel that they belong, that they are learning, and that they are valued – what is the reality like in your organization? You can make sure your engagement surveys are meaningful by:
- Making them consistent (that also helps you generate data) and
- Taking actions based on the surveys.
Omio made sure to take action by, for example, creating people-centric OKRs that gave more independence and freedom. The results of the engagement survey were only there to give them direction.
There are quite a few tools to help you – Five15, CultureAmp, and Workleap come to mind quite immediately, but ultimately, the most important thing is to see what you are going to do with the information you get from your survey.
9. Values-led culture at BeyondHousing
BeyondHousing is an Australian community housing organization. 96% of their employees say they’re proud to be working there, with an engagement score of 85%. BeyondHousing achieves this through a clear organizational vision and purpose, which is consistently linked to all decisions, and building a values-led culture.
Some of the initiatives they’re running include:
- CEO “new starter” meetings: Onboarding includes meetings with the CEO to discuss BeyondHousing’s vision, purpose, values, and strategy, fostering connections among new hires.
- All staff meetings: These meetings bring together the entire staff to focus on BeyondHousing’s vision, values, and ethical decision-making. They provide a platform for leadership to understand and address employee challenges, particularly in tough areas like housing allocation.
- Linking tasks to vision: By mapping a client’s journey from initial contact to housing tenancy, employees see the direct impact of their work, connecting their daily tasks to the organization’s broader vision and goals.
These initiatives demonstrate BeyondHousing’s commitment to creating a cohesive, value-driven work environment where every employee feels connected to the organization’s mission and empowered in their role, leading to positive employee experience and high levels of engagement.
Over to you
If you find yourself not knowing how to go about improving your employee experience, ask yourself:
- What is the employee experience like now?
- Is it consistent?
- Why is it this way?
- Why did the reasons for it to be that way come up?
- What can we do about it?
These questions should give you an idea of where to start, and then you can look for specific employee experience examples around the initiatives you have identified as priorities.
Weekly update
Stay up-to-date with the latest news, trends, and resources in HR
Learn more
Related articles
Are you ready for the future of HR?
Learn modern and relevant HR skills, online
