The Future of Employee Experience: The EX Value Driver Model
“Employee experience is a way of thinking, it’s a philosophy, it’s a way that you think about what you promised your people being part of your organizational ecosystem.” – Ben Whitter, EX author, speaker, & coach
The concept of employee experience (EX) has rapidly become a key area of focus for HR professionals aiming to create more human-centric workplaces. Some organizations view EX as the silver bullet solution, poised to revolutionize the dynamics between employers and employees. Others, however, view EX skeptically, dismissing it as merely a trendy rephrasing of longstanding HR practices without offering substantive benefits.
Let’s take a look at what the future of employee experience is and how organizations can overcome the challenges that prevent them from fully capitalizing on its benefits.
Contents
The current EX reality in organizations
6 challenges that stop companies from getting value from EX efforts
Challenge 1: EX is everything and nothing – there is no clear definition
Challenge 2: EX is a thing to do – not a way of doing
Challenge 3: EX is not for everyone
Challenge 4: EX is seen as a data exercise
Challenge 5: Limited investment in EX maturity
Challenge 6: EX is not measured at different levels
The Employee Experience Value Driver Model
The current EX reality in organizations
The current EX reality is one of paradox.
On the one hand, organizations have demonstrated the value of EX by showing its positive impact on productivity, employee engagement, retention, and performance. These businesses recognized EX’s value and embedded its principles deeply within their HR frameworks, showcasing a clear commitment to fostering a vibrant and productive workplace culture.
Conversely, the journey towards fully integrating EX into organizational DNA has proven challenging for others. There are even speculations about an impending “EX-recession” as companies contemplate dialing back on EX investments amidst a shift towards a more employer-dominated market.
However, neglecting EX will be a detrimental mistake for organizations. The repercussions of such a decision—ranging from tarnished employer branding and diminished employee productivity to a decline in retention rates—could have a profound and adverse effect on overall business performance.
The reason for businesses passing up the opportunities EX brings is often the critical obstacles that prevent their EX initiatives from reaching their full potential.
We discussed the current and future employee experience with Ben Whitter, EX author, speaker, and coach. Watch the full interview below:
6 challenges that stop companies from getting value from EX efforts
Challenge 1: EX is everything and nothing – there is no clear definition
Many organizations face a common challenge in clearly defining EX and understanding its value proposition.
This ambiguity can lead to EX embodying the characteristics of the department that initiated it. For instance, when HR leads the charge, EX is often perceived purely as an HR initiative. If spearheaded by an analytics team, it’s viewed as a technology-focused endeavor concerning people analytics. Similarly, EX might be seen as just another project when driven by a change management office.
This lack of a precise definition carries the risk of EX becoming overly broad, trying to be all things to all people, which dilutes its focus.
Instead of fostering a way of thinking that promotes a cohesive and holistic employee experience, this ambiguity leads to fragmented and disconnected activities. These may create memorable moments but fail to offer a comprehensive approach to EX, thus diminishing its potential impact and leading stakeholders to question its value.
Challenge 2: EX is a thing to do – not a way of doing
The transition of EX from project mode to a core organizational capability is a significant hurdle for many companies.
Initially, due to constraints like limited resources, EX often begins as a focused project aimed at enhancing a single aspect of people practices, such as onboarding. This narrow approach can inadvertently cement EX as a transient “task” rather than a foundational element of the organization’s culture and strategy.
A recent report highlighted that just over 50% of EX teams focus solely on EX, with the majority of organizations adding EX to already overburdened team members with other responsibilities.
For EX to evolve and truly add value, organizations must embrace it as a comprehensive mindset that permeates all aspects of people management and workplace experiences. This means shifting away from viewing EX as a series of isolated projects to integrating it as a fundamental perspective—a lens through which every decision about people’s practices is viewed, designed, developed, and delivered.
Achieving this level of maturity requires a deliberate effort to embed EX into organizational culture, ensuring it influences all facets of employee interaction and engagement.
Challenge 3: EX is not for everyone
Unfortunately, EX tends to focus predominantly on professional service or desk workers in many organizations.
Frontline employees, who often face unique challenges related to the size of the workforce, location, and working conditions, receive considerably less attention regarding EX initiatives. This oversight is particularly regrettable since the essence of EX is to foster inclusivity and improve the work lives of all employees, not just a more accessible minority.
Integrating EX strategies into the practices affecting frontline staff can bring substantial advantages to the business. These benefits include enhanced productivity, improved employee performance, and deeper commitment.
Achieving these outcomes requires a broader, more inclusive approach to EX that recognizes and addresses the specific needs and challenges faced by frontline workers, ensuring that EX initiatives are truly comprehensive and benefit the entire workforce.
Challenge 4: EX is seen as a data exercise
The push towards evidence-based HR and the incorporation of people analytics has significantly benefited the EX domain. However, some organizations have overly fixated on the quantitative aspect, neglecting the essence of EX as a comprehensive approach.
Data plays a crucial role in informing EX initiatives, but it should serve as a means to an end rather than the end itself. EX transcends mere data collection; it’s about utilizing insights to continually refine, guide, and enhance the employee experience over time.
When organizations become preoccupied with gathering data, EX risks being reduced to a passive listening exercise. This approach can lead to an abundance of insights and feedback but results in minimal actionable change or meaningful impact on employees’ lives. For EX to fulfill its potential, it’s essential to balance data-driven insights with actionable strategies that directly improve employees’ everyday experiences, ensuring that the data serves as a powerful tool for holistic and impactful EX development.
Challenge 5: Limited investment in EX maturity
Establishing an EX capability is akin to enhancing any other organizational function. It requires dedicated investment and strategic focus. However, the challenges outlined previously have led to a few organizations adopting a systematic approach to develop their EX capabilities. It’s not easy to secure the necessary expertise and position EX as a key driver of strategic value.
Implementing a step-by-step methodology designed to elevate EX demands a substantial commitment to educating stakeholders and strategically aligning EX within the organization. This is a process that many organizations unfortunately overlook or inadequately prioritize.
Challenge 6: EX is not measured at different levels
The final hurdle in optimizing EX lies in its measurement. Many organizations do not have a comprehensive framework for evaluating the impact of EX, resulting in its value often remaining unseen.
To effectively measure EX, a nuanced, multi-tiered framework is essential. This framework should encompass the operational aspects of EX, the outcomes derived from EX initiatives, and the broader impact of EX on the organization. Each level should address different facets of EX value, providing a holistic view of its effectiveness.
The Employee Experience Value Driver Model
Addressing the common employee experience challenges is both possible and crucial. When approached correctly, establishing a well-defined EX practice can yield significant benefits for the business.
Taking a more integrated approach is necessary for EX to evolve into a strategic asset and consistently deliver its promised value.
The model presented below outlines essential value levers that organizations must prioritize to enhance their EX capabilities. The five levers are designed to guide organizations toward achieving long-term success in their EX initiatives:
- Strategy: There needs to be a well-defined and integrated strategy in place that links EX to the broader business and people strategy. The strategy needs to set out a clear path for EX and determine its focus concerning the most significant areas of impact. It should also clarify how the organization defines EX, what it is not, and how they will measure the impact of EX.
- Structure: The organization needs to implement an EX structure that defines an EX operating model and how it will work with other parts of the organization. EX is a function that has to collaborate with various parties such as Facilities, IT, Operations, and Marketing. A clearly defined EX Operating Model will allow for smoother collaboration and value. Notably, the model also needs to highlight where decision-making will occur and who takes accountability for the EX mandate.
- Skills: The organization requires access to EX-specific skills and invests in building the team’s capability to deliver on their ambition. EX skills are diverse, and a robust talent approach should help organizations understand which skills they want to buy, borrow, build, or bridge to meet the employee experience demands.
- Systems of work: The systems of work refers to how EX work gets done within the organization, specifically focusing on four domains:
- Process refers to establishing business as usual, incremental improvement, and project processes that guide the delivery of EX activities. Processes require clear accountability and workflows to be efficient and drive a mindset of execution.
- Technology describes a clear set of technologies such as platforms, AI, and cloud solutions that support and enable EX activities. This will include a future roadmap highlighting new developments and ensuring that EX is integrated into HR and line of business systems.
- Data refers to how EX data will be collected, stored, accessed, and analyzed to drive evidence and insights-driven EX practice.
- Governance is about the habits, forums, and routines that need to occur within the organization for EX to be effective. This could include EX operations meetings, incorporating employee experience into the strategy agenda, and quarterly showcases of EX initiatives.
- Stakeholders: Given the integrated nature of an EX function, stakeholder management is paramount to its success. For the EX capability to be successful, it requires a clear understanding of its key stakeholders, ranging from those who sponsor EX at an executive level to the target audiences of the designed experiences.
These domains of EX can only be successful if guided by a strong EX-focused leadership team. This implies a team that understands the value of employee experience, actively champions it as part of business practice, and believes in the underlying philosophy that a great EX makes for a great company.
When all these levers work together, they contribute towards a human and experience-centric culture that drives business value.
You can utilize the model above to evaluate your EX practice’s current health and identify priorities and areas of focus:
| The EX Capability Health Diagnostic | |
| Strategy | – Is the EX strategy aligned with the business and people strategies? – Is EX clearly defined within the organization? Are the EX focus areas and priorities clear? – Is it clear how EX impact will be measured? |
| Structure | – Is the EX Operating Model clearly defined? – Does the EX Operating Model highlight how EX will collaborate with other functions? – Does the model highlight where critical decisions will be taken? |
| Skills | – Are the required EX skills clearly defined? – Is a robust talent plan in place to gain access to EX skills? |
| Systems of Work | – Are the EX delivery processes in place to balance business-as-usual EX delivery with new initiatives and incremental improvements? – Are the underpinning EX technology platforms in place or being developed, and is the technology roadmap well-defined? – Is there clear EX data governance and controls in place? – Have the forums, habits, and routines to drive the EX mandate been established? |
| Stakeholders | – Is there a stakeholder map and plan in place for the EX capability? – Are key stakeholder relationships tracked and managed? |
| Leadership | – Do senior leaders actively support EX? – Are senior leaders aligned on the value that EX provides? – Do senior leaders firmly champion the EX agenda? |
Wrapping up
Organizations that invest in employee experience will benefit from improved performance, productivity, and engagement. However, achieving lasting value from EX demands a structured and targeted approach.
The EX driver model equips organizations with a strategic framework to implement the necessary levers for sustained success, ensuring that investments in EX lead to meaningful and long-term value.
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