One of the biggest trends dominating the HR world right now is employee experience. 

According to a study by Gartner, more than 90% of businesses are competitive in regards to customer experience, but until now employee experience has been less of a priority.

So, what exactly is employee experience? Essentially it is a sum of all the experiences an employee has throughout their connection to your organization.

From the first interview to the end of employment, employee experience is important in giving employees opportunities for success and improving company culture. More than just providing free gym memberships or team-building retreats, employee experience is about creating a culture that makes people genuinely want to come to work and strive to do their best for the organization.

In today’s highly competitive talent landscape, employee experience is an important factor in attracting and retaining the best talent.  Job seekers are now more frequently looking for an employer that can offer the kind of employee experience they are looking for.

A good match between the two means that employees are more likely to stay with the organization for a longer period of time. Some of the main contributors to a positive employee experience are the physical job environment, the tools and technology available, and a demonstrated commitment to employee success. A research study by the author of The Employee Experience Advantage, Jacob Morgan, shows that organizations that invested in these factors had more than four times the average profit and more than two times the average revenue.

To start building a positive employee experience, it’s important to start by finding out what employees value most in a work environment. This could be anything from learning opportunities, access to certain software/technology, to a comfortable physical work environment.

By creating a strategy that promotes a positive employee experience through the entire talent lifecycle, you can ensure success both for your staff and for your organization.

One of the best ways to build a positive employee experience is to implement competencies. Competencies are a major competitive advantage for organizations because they let organizations capture the essence of the vision and values of the organization and communicate that in actionable terms to employees.

Competencies also allow you to offer competitive development programs to your employees, pinpointing specific areas for improvement and analyzing their strengths and weaknesses. Competencies also provide employees with more opportunities, by allowing them to see not only vertical career paths, but lateral ones as well.

Using CompetencyCore software, employees can see their current competencies and skill gaps, and see how they need to develop to secure a promotion or change career fields. This improves engagement because employees don’t feel they need to look outside their current place of work to grow professionally.

Overall, in a time when employee experience is coming to the forefront of talent management, it’s important to have the tools and strategy in place to ensure your organization stays ahead of the pack.