Investing in Employee Experience: Why It pays off in profitability, productivity and performance

Also published in: Workplace Wellbeing Professional magazine (Dan Buckley: Boosting the Employee Experience — workplacewellbeing.pro/analysis/dan-buckley-boosting-the-employee-experience/)

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Key stats:

• 49% of employees feel their organisation isn't delivering on the experience they promised (Kincentric)
• Engaged organisations see 59% less employee turnover (Forbes)
• Employees with a good experience are 16 times more engaged than employees with a negative experience (McKinsey)

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What is the Employee Experience (EX)?

The journey an employee takes with an organisation from pre-boarding all the way through to offboarding — including each and every interaction involving the employee's workspace, wellbeing, manager and career development. EX should be considered a natural extension of the company's strategy and culture.

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Designing the Employee Experience

Two key elements:

1. Employee personas — as a marketing department develops customer personas, the same should be done for employees; design EX by role, industry, division, geography (the needs of a front-line worker will be vastly different from an office worker)
2. Identifying milestones that matter — pivotal points in the employee lifecycle that, when optimised, significantly enhance the overall experience; also identify 'pain point' moments

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Addressing the disconnect in EX promised vs. EX delivered (why almost half of employees say organisations are failing)

1. Over-reliance on managers to drive and own EX — their actions often diverge from broader business strategy
2. Too much focus on engagement metrics rather than experiences that drive engagement — high engagement score focus leads to actions that don't align with culture/strategy
3. Many organisations use surveys as a 'feel-good' or 'tick box' process rather than tools to drive meaningful change

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7 strategies to boost Employee Experience

#1 Don't neglect the pre-boarding period — 51% of new hires will continue looking for roles even after accepting the job. Use the 1–3 month gap for welcome packs, intros to mentors, surveys about what motivates them, addressing concerns before day one.

#2 Create an outstanding onboarding experience — 1 in 3 employees leave within the first 90 days. Set clear role expectations; tasks, systems, projects, team objectives and individual goals. Pair new hires with experienced mentors. Establish a performance feedback loop. Integrate new hires into company culture through team-building. Gallup: "having a best friend at work" was the biggest predictor of employee retention. Regularly evaluate onboarding effectiveness.

#3 Invest in an employee's development and growth — 94% of employees would stay longer at a company that invests in their career development (LinkedIn Workplace Learning Report). Provide targeted L&D; meet specific needs, not one-size-fits-all. Continue to nurture diverse connections across the company.

#4 Introduce a systematic approach to recognition and reward — Employees who feel recognised are 7 times more likely to be highly productive; 69% of employees say they would work harder if efforts were better appreciated (Josh Bersin). Lack of recognition is the number one reason employees leave. Traditional methods: fair market pay, spot bonuses. Creative options: AI-powered gamification — Cognexo can track achievements, introduce competition and make recognition social through points, badges, milestones broadcast on leaderboards and company channels.

#5 Consider leadership's influence on EX — only 21% of employees expressed trust in their leaders (Gallup). Leaders need to: provide direction and alignment; be inclusive and listen to all team members. 25% of employees believe they don't truly belong in their workplace, leading to performance dips (Forbes). Leaders with a 'flexibility first' approach: 86% of employees believe they would be happier with full remote or hybrid work (AIHR). Leaders should not micromanage. Keep communication lines open — regular 1:1s where employees can ask or air anything.

#6 Measure sentiment across milestones — 1 in 5 employees don't believe their survey feedback will be acted upon. Cognexo uses light-touch surveys of just 2–3 questions integrated seamlessly into the workflow, achieving an industry-leading 91% response rate. Monitors employee feedback in real-time and provides timely insights to relevant stakeholders. Collaborates with clients on regular 'wellbeing check-ins' to initiate wellness programmes and provide mental and physical health resources.

#7 Structured offboarding — employees who have a positive exit experience are 2.9x more likely to recommend that organisation to others (Gallup). Cognexo's offboarding surveys are most valuable when combined with other data points: performance metrics, engagement scores, demographics and customer feedback. Effective offboarding extends beyond surveys to in-person/phone interviews, manager and peer feedback, and after-action reviews.

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Moving forward

EX demands a fundamental shift from a traditional top-down management model to a carefully crafted design approach with the employee firmly top of mind. It requires courageous leadership and empowered managers.

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