Businesses often erroneously assume that employees must work with them to pay bills, but the world is changing quickly, leaving people with plenty of choices.

Business success heavily depends on the success of its workforce, so it must create a positive employee experience from the moment they apply for a position to the very last working day.

From higher retention rates to increased productivity, creating a positive employee experience will benefit your business. By adopting a few easy-to-implement strategies HR can use, you will be a competitive force in your industry, attracting the best talent and keeping them on board!

What is employee experience?

It combines everything that occurs throughout the employee lifecycle, starting the day they apply for the job.

Employee experience includes every interaction your employees have with your company, including company culture, benefits, work environment, and tools available for their success.

It is no longer enough for employees to clock in, do their work, and clock out; they want to contribute to their organization’s success while gaining something in return. Through employee experience, this is accomplishable.

Why should HR prioritize employee experience?

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, by 2030, 75% of the workforce will contain millennials. This group wants three things from their employment: to do meaningful work that aligns with their beliefs, appreciation from their employer, and ample development opportunities.

Additional benefits to employee experience include:

• Higher retention and productivity rates
• Attract higher-quality candidates
• Increase in employee collaboration
• Improved communication between management and employee
• Increased customer satisfaction
• Increases company attractiveness

Companies can only benefit from improving the employee experience, so it is not something to be ignored.

Ways HR can improve employee experience at your company

No matter what industry a company is in, these strategies can boost all aspects of its operations.

We included a few ways we implement these strategies into our own employee experience.

1. Improve Company Culture and Physical Work Environment

The core components of employee experience are company culture and the physical work environment.

Company culture connects everyone associated with the company, defines what it is like to work for the company, and impacts the performance of employees.

An employee's comfort in their work environment is essential because if they feel uncomfortable at work, they will not be productive, which will negatively impact the satisfaction of your customers.

Improving these areas can be as easy as having an open-door policy in your HR department where employees can feel comfortable discussing any issues and collaborating with management on ways to correct these issues.

This implementation has worked wonderfully for us at Fund&Grow, and our employees know they can communicate with management to make their workdays less stressful.

2. Employee Surveys and Feedback

If you want to know how your employees feel about your organization, there is no better way to find out than simply asking them.

Employee surveys should be anonymous to make the employees comfortable giving their honest feedback.

By completing these surveys, management can recognize which areas need improvement and which ones are strong.

You can conduct surveys on any aspect of your processes, including onboarding, engagement, and training feedback. Fund&Grow will even regularly send out employee surveys on our management team to ensure our employees feel their managers are doing everything they can to help them succeed.

It allows your employees to voice their opinions on what they feel is working and what is not, showing them you value and welcome their feedback.

3. Performance Reviews

If your company is only completing performance reviews annually, you are likely stunting the growth of your employees.

Completing regular performance reviews helps your employees improve skills, develop new skills, and advance their career goals.

Give your employees feedback on how they can improve their performance and celebrate where they are excelling.

Our management team meets with every employee regularly for the same reason, both for the company's benefit and our employees' benefit.

4. Acknowledgment and Appreciation

No one wants to feel as though their hard work goes unnoticed, including your employees.

Your employees want to feel they are contributing to the growth and success of the organization, so making your employees feel appreciated is a must.

Acknowledging their hard work makes them more likely to want to contribute to your company, increasing their motivation and productivity.

Fund&Grow makes it a point to let every employee know we appreciate them. As part of our employee appreciation program, we have monthly anniversary and birthday lunches, and we also set aside time for employee appreciation days. We want our employees to know we could not be where we are today without them, and we appreciate all the hard work they do every day. 

5. Team-Building Activities

Although it may appear counterproductive, team-building activities benefit your organization more than take away from it.

Outdoor games or ice-breaking sessions help give a break to your employees’ day and reduce stress.

It encourages teamwork and strengthens relationships across departments.

Fund&Grow regularly hosts cornhole competitions in our conference room. This activity does not take more than a couple of minutes out of each employee’s day, but the office is buzzing all day about the competition, and energy is high. This high energy then reflects positively in the work our employees do.

It is a win-win for everyone.

Ultimately, employee experience goes beyond a list of benefits at orientation.

Company culture, environment, and company values will impact employee retention and motivate them to work for a company that values them.