Sponsored by Firstup
For years, Gallup has tracked global employee engagement. Although the trend line has improved somewhat over the past decade, still only 23% of full-time workers are engaged in their jobs. In other words, fewer than 1 in 4 people feel a real zest for their daily responsibilities. But it doesn’t have to be this way. What if you offered personalized journeys that adjust to each employee’s changing needs, interests and motivations? What kind of results could you achieve? And how could you make this work for your team? Let’s take a closer look…
Why The Employee Experience Matters
Disengaged employees think of work only as a means to an end. Many of us have felt this sentiment at some point — grinding away at a job for the sake of a paycheck. Yet, widespread disengagement has a staggering impact on productivity. In fact, research estimates that disengagement costs organizations $8.8 trillion globally. Clearly, this is unsustainable for employers and employees, alike.
For long-term success, organizations depend on a strong employee experience. But what exactly does this look like? It starts by ensuring that staff members feel appreciated, supported, encouraged, and empowered. This kind of positive environment improves workforce retention, which in turn saves time, money, and resources.
What’s more, engaged employees often become excellent brand ambassadors. Their genuine enthusiasm can bolster your company’s reputation and enhance your ability to attract top-tier talent.
Investing in the employee experience produces other noticeable advantages, as well. Organizations that prioritize their workforce consistently surpass competitors across multiple performance metrics — including productivity, profitability, and customer satisfaction. Also, by emphasizing workforce wellbeing, these organizations demonstrate resilience in the face of ongoing market challenges and significantly improve their odds of continued success.
So, what can you do to ensure that your employees are truly engaged? The answer lies in delivering a valuable employee experience for every individual. As HR and communication experts we’ve found the following strategies and resources to be highly effective.
Businesses in which HR facilitates a positive employee experience are 1.3x more likely to outperform competitors.
– McKinsey & Company
Bring The Customer Experience to Your Workforce
Marketing professionals have long known that developing and delivering exceptional customer experiences can significantly strengthen brand loyalty. However, this kind of meticulous attention to detail has not been consistently applied within organizations.
It’s time to update HR communication strategies to elevate the employee experience in the same way businesses prioritize the customer experience. Similar to customer journeys that marketers use to reach prospects and cultivate loyal customer relationships, HR professionals can craft hyper-personalized employee journeys that meet the needs and preferences of individuals across their workforce.
For example, instead of broadcasting a generic email to everyone in an organization, HR and internal communications teams should craft personalized messages tailored to those in each phase of the employee life cycle. This kind of communication is much more engaging. Staff members are likely to take notice, consume, and retain information when it’s delivered at the right time and within the right context.
86% of executives say ineffective collaboration and communication is a major cause of failure in business.
– Salesforce
The Benefits of Personalized Journeys
Personalized journey maps are essential to enhance employee satisfaction and foster a more committed, efficient workforce. When you personalize the journey for each team member, individual engagement and productivity improve. And when you apply this method across your workforce, you can achieve better overall business outcomes.
An employee journey map is a visual representation of the employee life cycle, covering an individual’s interactions and experience with the organization over time. Ideally, it should detail critical stages — including onboarding, professional growth and promotions, as well as notable events in an employee’s personal and professional life.
How Personalized Journeys Add Value
Leaders in HR, IT, and communications who map the employee journey can:
- Tailor and streamline messaging and communications processes for core workforce programs such as open enrollment, employee assistance, and security training.
- Match organizational support with evolving needs and expectations of staff at various points in their career and personal life.
- Identify, anticipate, and address work and life challenges that typically frustrate individuals and decrease their productivity.
- Boost organizational efficiency by minimizing redundant communication and removing obstacles to vital information.
- Spearhead organizational transformation aimed at fostering a positive culture and fueling innovation.
By visually mapping every phase of the employee life cycle, you can tailor and enhance interactions with each staff member. This paves the way to a more meaningful, rewarding work experience that lifts performance for individuals as well as the organization.
The employee experience is directly related to customer experience. If employees perceive that the business cares about them, they’ll go the extra mile.
– Ryan Malkes, Head of GenAI Advisory Services, Mercer
Now is the Time for Personalization
In the U.S. alone, 50% of workers are unmotivated or disengaged, and 16% are actively disengaged or “quiet quitting.” As a result, many companies are failing to achieve their strategic goals. Sound familiar? What can you do about it?
Cultivating a positive employee experience is essential to reversing this costly trend, and crafting employee journey maps is the starting point. These personalized journeys can help your HR and internal communications teams reach and engage every employee with hyper-personalized communications and create a feedback loop that pinpoints frustrations, responds to key issues, and identifies opportunities for growth.
This more precise approach helps cultivate a more engaged, efficient, and committed workforce. And with engagement hovering at only 32% among the nation’s 132 million employees, now is a critical time to begin.
Journey mapping is the process of understanding and learning from our employees so we can build meaningful relationships and compassionate solutions. That’s the real benefit of doing this work.
– Ryan Malkes, Head of GenAI Advisory Services, Mercer
Where to Start? The EX Content Library
Creating bespoke communications at scale for every stage of an employee’s journey seems daunting. But you can significantly reduce the time needed to develop custom content from scratch with an employee experience (EX) content library. This kind of library serves as a comprehensive resource center, offering a vast collection of templates and materials that enhance communication throughout the employee life cycle.
For example, the Firstup EX Content Library features an array of templates crafted for specific moments in an employee’s journey — including onboarding, offboarding, and all phases in between. Designed specifically for HR teams, this toolkit delivers ready-made content that simplifies development of personalized communications that drive workforce engagement.
How to Highlight Important Milestones
Each phase of the employee journey is a chance to significantly enhance the employee experience. An effective EX content library can guide and support staff through these pivotal transitions.
Every template in our library has been crafted by HR and communications practitioners who have used these personalized communications to lift engagement at crucial moments in the employee journey — for instance, when introducing a new team member, assisting employees during open enrollment, or acknowledging their professional achievements.
Examples of customizable EX templates include:
- Onboarding
Extending a warm welcome to new hires, while equipping them and their managers for success from the outset.
- Open Enrollment
Ensuring that employees understand their benefits options, helping them choose the best plan for their needs, and ensuring that they don’t miss critical deadlines.
- Performance
Designing professional development plans, annual performance reviews, and communications that synchronize employee performance with organizational objectives.
- Managerial Promotions
Training new and existing supervisors so they have the skills to provide their staff with the support and motivation they need to work together productively.
- Celebrations
Informing managers of upcoming birthdays or anniversaries and helping them recognize team members for a job well done.
- Life Events
Offering support to employees during major life experiences such as bereavement, a change of marital status, or the arrival of a child.
- Global Mobility
Providing expatriates with essential documentation, travel advice, and cultural insights that ensure a smooth transition.
- Observances
Fostering inclusivity with communications that respect diverse cultures and commemorate specific holidays and traditions.
- Offboarding
Demonstrating goodwill and ensuring a positive, structured departure when individuals leave the organization.
A Final Note
Thoughtful, timely, relevant communications can dramatically improve the employee experience. But first, it’s important to understand each step in the employee journey. With this in mind, you can leverage available resources and tools to breathe life into personalized journeys at scale. In today’s competitive talent landscape, this extra effort makes a measurable difference in individual employee success, as well as overall business performance.
EDITOR’S NOTE: To learn more about how you can enhance engagement during every phase of the employee life cycle with hyper-personalized journeys, visit the Firstup EX Content Library.
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