The Key to Retaining the Right People: Measuring Your Employee Experience

Measuring Employee Experience: The Key to Your Organisations Success

Employee experience is more than a trending concept— research shows us that it’s a fundamental driver of organisational success. Understanding and improving employee experience in your business can strengthen workplace culture while boosting productivity, innovation, and overall performance. By identifying the importance of measuring employee experience and conducting regular evaluations, you can have a direct impact on your business’ outcomes help prevent deeper challenges from taking root.

What Is Employee Experience?

Employee experience is defined as ‘employees’ perceptions of their organisations as a response to their interactions with the organisational work environment’ – (Shenoy and Uchil 2019). At its core, employee experience is the holistic perception that employees have about their entire journey with an organisation—from the first job interview to their final day on the job. Every interaction with leadership, colleagues, and workplace systems shapes how employees feel about their work, impacting their engagement, performance, and loyalty.

The process of measuring employee experience involves assessing all contributing factors including job design, leadership, work demands, trust & justice, culture, engagement, well-being, and development. While many organisations have historically focused on more isolated metrics like leadership or turnover, taking a broader view helps identify the root causes of both positive and negative outcomes. Without a clear picture of the entire employee experience, businesses may miss critical insights that have the potential to drive significant performance improvements.

Why Measure Employee Experience?

Measuring employee experience is essential for several reasons:

1. Early Detection of Problems

Often, organisations don’t begin assessing their employee experience until they face significant issues like high turnover, bullying, harassment, or low productivity. Waiting for these sorts of problems to arise can be costly, however, businesses can catch early warning signs of counterproductive workplace behaviours or workplace dissatisfaction and make necessary adjustments by regularly tracking their employee experience.

For example, if job design is flawed or leadership support is lacking, employees may feel disengaged or overwhelmed, leading to counterproductive workplace behaviours. Without measuring these key factors, companies run the risk of not realising the extent of the problem until it starts to negatively affect performance, potentially eroding the company culture, causing disengagement and decreased productivity.

2. Enhancing Employee Retention and Improving Employer Brand

Organisations that proactively measure and improve employee experience tend to have lower turnover rates. When your employees feel heard and supported within their workplace, they are far more likely to stay with the company long-term. When businesses invest in job design, leadership development, and employee well-being, they create an environment where employees can succeed and grow, reducing the risk of high turnover.

In addition to direct performance improvements like increased employee retention, companies that consistently assess and enhance their employee experience often build a much strong employer brand than their competitors. This makes talent attraction much easier, as these organisations become known for offering a positive work environment

3. Driving Better Customer Experiences and Overall Business Outcomes

There’s a clear link between positive employee experiences and business performance. Studies show that organisations with strong leadership, engaged employees, and well-designed jobs tend to outperform competitors in productivity and innovation. It has been noted that organisations that focus on Employee Experience are 16 times more likely to get the most out of their people.

Organisations that regularly conduct employee experience surveys and use the insights to improve areas such as job design and leadership often see significant benefits beyond just financial gains, turnover reduction, and increased retention. Research indicates that strong leadership can boost productivity by as much as 30%. In sectors like manufacturing for example, this could translate into a substantial increase in output, such as the number of products produced annually.

Measuring, assessing, and improving your organisations employee experience is also proven to drive customer experiences; “Creating a sustainable and outstanding customer experience relies on an organization’s ability to first create an enduring and satisfying employee experience” – Maylett and Wride (2017)

How to Measure Employee Experience Effectively

Organisations can approach the measurement of employee experience in various ways, depending on their size, maturity, and resources. However, a few key steps apply to most businesses:

• Use Research-Validated Tools

The best way to ensure accuracy in measuring employee experience is by using research-validated resources. These tools provide reliable data across various industries and can give businesses a clear picture of where their employee experience stands. While some companies might focus on isolated aspects like leadership or culture, a holistic approach offers a more comprehensive understanding. Working with experienced partners who are familiar with these tools can also help ensure that your measurements capture the full scope of the employee experience.

• Conduct Surveys and Focus Groups

Surveys remain one of the most common methods for collecting data on employee experience. However, it’s essential to supplement these surveys with focus groups or one-on-one interviews to gain deeper insights into your workforce. For instance, if job design appears to be a problem, hearing directly from employees about their day-to-day challenges can help identify specific pain points and opportunities for improvement.

• Involve Employees in Solution Development

Once you’ve gathered data, it’s crucial to involve employees in the process of developing solutions. They are the ones closest to the issues and can often provide practical, actionable ideas. Whether it’s hiring additional staff, improving technology, or refining leadership practices, employee input is invaluable in crafting meaningful changes, not only so your team feels heard and valued, but also to gain their buy-in for any potential upcoming change processes.

• Implement Change and Track Progress

After identifying issues, take concrete steps to address them. Whether it’s investing in leadership training, redesigning jobs, or improving work-life balance for your team, implement changes thoughtfully and track their progress. Build feedback mechanisms into each step to ensure that the changes are effective and adjust as necessary.

• Review and Remeasure

Even once an issue has been addressed, ongoing assessments to measure you employee experience will be vital for sustained success. Even when everything appears to be running smoothly, understanding why things are going well is just as important as diagnosing problems. Regular measurement allows your business to establish a baseline of positive performance, spot trends early, and continue refining your approach.

Conclusion

Understanding and improving the employee experience is not just a nice-to-have—it’s a strategic advantage that can set your organisation apart. By measuring, tracking and reassessing all key pillars of employee experience, you will be able to create a positive work environment that fosters high performance, innovation, and loyalty amongst your team and your customers. Whether preventing counterproductive workplace behaviours or driving better business outcomes, the benefits of measuring employee experience are clear: improved culture, increased retention, and ultimately, a stronger bottom line.

For assistance in where to start in measuring your employee experience, we recommend Ascent People Insights, a boutique consulting firm that applies the science of people at work to maximize business performance through focusing the ten key pillars of your employee experience. Get in touch with them here