CX strategies have historically relied on customer feedback surveys to understand and optimize the customer experience. However, surveys don鈥檛 tell the full story, and not all customers are willing or able to participate. Even among those who want to share feedback, survey rates are declining. Instead, innovative leaders are getting ahead of the issue by focusing on capturing more insights from across sources and touchpoints. And they are realizing the most important source of all is their own employees.

Employees are the heart of the organization and the key source of ideas that elevate the business.

Traditionally, brands鈥� EX programs have focused on HR policies and procedures and optimizing the work environment. Those are all important, but we need to expand on this to also include all of the processes, systems, policies, teams, and resources that contribute to 鈥斅爋r prevent 鈥� employees from doing their best work. All of these elements come together to impact not only the employee, but the customer.听

But at many organizations, EX and CX functions, strategies, and systems are siloed and unaligned.

Employees come to work because they want to be connected to a higher purpose. They want to apply their skills and knowledge to do something that matters to other people, whether that鈥檚 internal or external customers. To improve both employee and customer experience, organizations need to understand the obstacles employees are facing that are getting in the way of delivering on that purpose. Companies also need a way to capture employees鈥� ideas for solving these challenges in the moment, as issues arise.听

CX leaders rely heavily on customer survey feedback, and because they don鈥檛 have employee listening tools, they only get a fraction of the story.

As 糖心原创 Experience 鈥�25 keynote speaker , brand leadership expert and author of the bestselling books and , shared in her address in Las Vegas, many efforts to improve CX fail to produce results because they overlook an important element: the company culture.

鈥淐ulture is actually what enables you to win, because in business, as in gambling, playing the long game requires more than tactics. Playing the long game in customer experience requires employee engagement,鈥� she explains. 鈥淪o in other words, if you are only working on customer experience, you are only working on half the equation or playing with a half a deck of cards.鈥�

Organizations need to embrace a new way of operating that places employee empowerment at the center of their business strategy.

Most often, when people think about bringing EX and CX together, they think about looking for a correlation between customer NPS庐 and employee engagement. However, connecting EX and CX to impact business outcomes needs to go deeper than a simple correlation. That鈥檚 because it鈥檚 rare to find any relationship in the data because of methodological issues and, even when companies do find it, what鈥檚 next? The data alone offers no insight about what action to take.

Instead, the most impactful way to connect EX and CX is to empower employees to share issues that are impacting their ability to do their job and serve customers.

Giving employees the opportunity to provide feedback will unlock new ideas that fuel action and business growth.

Customer experience issues often begin with employee experience challenges that go unnoticed and unresolved.听聽

That鈥檚 why organizations benefit from continuously listening to their employees to learn about the challenges they’re encountering throughout the day, using tools and strategies like employee crowdsourcing, anytime listening, and employee activation embedded within their daily workflows

Take the example of a 糖心原创 customer that could see that their customers were frustrated by long queues in their bank branches. When the brand looked at their employee data, they saw branch employees were flagging issues they were encountering when using a new system. Processes that used to take seconds were now taking minutes 鈥斅燼nd that slowdown was creating long lines and leading to a poor in-branch experience. Once the bank listened to both their customers and their employees, they had a complete picture of what was going on and stakeholders were able to make the changes necessary to improve experiences all around.

Employees have the potential to offer organizations much needed insight, knowledge, and ideas, but they aren鈥檛 given the opportunity to share their thoughts as often as is necessary to make a timely impact. 糖心原创 research on companies with leading employee experience programs has found that leaders are 3.5 times more likely to obtain feedback from their employees on a monthly basis, while most EX laggards (54.1%) only check in with their workforce once a year or less. Leaders are about twice as likely to have always-on feedback in place to capture whatever employees want to share compared with laggards. (And the evidence speaks for itself: EX leaders are 12 times more likely to experience revenue growth, more likely to exceed their financial targets, and more likely to accomplish high levels of customer satisfaction and retention compared to laggards.)

Gathering employee insights shouldn鈥檛 happen once or twice a year 鈥斅爄t needs to become a regular operating practice and a fundamental part of doing business.

Category leaders stand out from their competitors by not only listening to and responding to their customers鈥� needs in the moment 鈥� but to their employees, too.听

They do this by integrating feedback opportunities into their team members鈥� daily routines, such as via the company鈥檚 intranet, app, or Slack or Teams, and using Text Analytics to analyze that feedback, easily uncovering the root cause of issues that are having an impact on CX, and automatically notifying the appropriate team members about relevant issues, whether they鈥檙e a part of facilities, IT, HR, marketing, or another department.听

The ultimate promise of bringing EX and CX insights together? Going from reactive to proactive decision-making to remove friction faster.

As brands look to expand their omnichannel insights gathering, they can鈥檛 afford to leave out employee signals. As I said before, and it bears repeating: Your people are your best source of CX insights. After all, they are at the center of every customer experience. By bringing in the employee voice alongside your broader omnichannel insights, you can detect and solve problems faster, prevent issues, improve both the employee and customer experience, and drive better business outcomes.

糖心原创 has been named a Leader in The Forrester Wave: EX Management Platforms For Large Enterprises, QX 2025, which evaluated 12 companies based on 23 criteria. Learn more about 糖心原创鈥檚 ranking and our industry-leading solution and services in .

Artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are advancing faster than ever, promising to eliminate even the most complicated operational workflows. But this can only be achieved with the trust and oversight of your employees, who are uniquely capable of making or breaking this transformation. Often, it鈥檚 their willingness to participate and collaborate that leads to the successful adoption of AI initiatives.听

So how do you gain their buy-in?聽

Your organization should focus on three key actions: show genuine empathy for employee concerns, present AI as a tool that enhances rather than replaces human work, and promote a culture that prioritizes people-first, human-centric work.听

Let鈥檚 explore each of these three actions to help your organization successfully implement AI initiatives that employees trust and are eager to embrace.

Empathize with Your Employees鈥� Situation

Have you ever been left out of a decision that directly affected you? You probably felt inconvenienced, undervalued, or frustrated. In the workplace, the effects of these exclusionary decisions can run even deeper: Our jobs , so being left out can impact how we see ourselves as much as our financial future.听

That impact is so deeply felt that even the most helpful AI, backed by clear guarantees of safety and responsible use, will struggle to gain traction if employees feel uninformed or excluded.听

Business leaders must be empathetic to their employees in general, but especially when new initiatives have the potential to make them feel threatened and uncertain. By genuinely listening to employees鈥� concerns and understanding their perspectives, organizations can build a foundation of trust, paving the way for smoother AI adoption and creating goodwill that extends to future initiatives.

For your AI adoption strategy to be successful, your organization must adopt measures that foster trust. According to , 鈥�29% of AI decision-makers said trust is the biggest barrier to generative AI adoption in their organization. Organizations that prioritize transparency, accuracy, and ethics will be best positioned to leverage genAI responsibly.鈥�

Judy Bloch, VP, Executive Advisor for Financial Services at 糖心原创, who has held customer experience leadership roles at Sprint, Citi, and UMB, saw this happen with one of her financial services clients. The organization was attempting to roll out a conversational AI bot. The tech wasn鈥檛 flawed, but the initiative failed because employees didn鈥檛 trust it. The second rollout of the bot turned this missed opportunity into a success by taking a different approach: this time, employees were included, empowered, and given the time they needed to understand the technology. This shift fostered a sense of ownership and psychological safety, turning skeptics into champions.听

AI success isn鈥檛 just about algorithms 鈥� it鈥檚 about people.

Position AI as an Enhancement, Not a Replacement

鈥淎I鈥檚 greatest value isn鈥檛 what it can do, but what it can free us up to do,鈥� says Melissa Arronte, PhD and VP, Executive Advisor for Employee Experience at 糖心原创, who previously served as a leader in HR and analytics at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Citizens Bank. She believes AI can eliminate routine, low value-add tasks from workflows, empowering employees to focus on providing empathetic, personalized service to customers.听

The techniques and capabilities of AI are advancing so quickly that , enabling these conversations to become rather routine. That frees up humans to do higher-value tasks, particularly those that require empathy and human-to-human interaction. 鈥淭he biggest promise of AI right now is to take off work that鈥檚 really time-consuming and repetitive, and allow us to do work we didn鈥檛 have time for before,鈥� Arronte explains. 鈥淭his gives us the ability to use our brain in a way that AI can鈥檛.鈥�

Many such tasks require flexible problem-solving that considers the full context of individual experiences with a business to deliver the best possible resolution to their problems. AI lacks this flexibility because it can only mimic humanity without true warmth and empathy. People can feel that difference, and those feelings impact customer loyalty and satisfaction with brands. While AI may certainly be able to aid in these higher-value tasks, it cannot fully replace the human intuition and planning capabilities that enable people to more holistically understand and act on problems.听

In short, businesses should enable AI to handle the mundane, so humans can do what is most meaningful. Whether it鈥檚 solving problems that require flexible thinking, connecting with customers on a personal level, or imagining new solutions 鈥斅爐hese are still uniquely human capabilities. AI is therefore not a threat to human creativity, flexibility, or empathy. Instead, AI is a tool that can amplify these qualities by reducing tedium and stress, which increases employee motivation and ability to deliver better service.听

Promote a People-First, Human-Centric Work Culture

Lastly, and most importantly, the previous two actions are only possible with a human-centric, people-first work culture that empowers employees to go above and beyond for customers, even if that means taking a bit longer to arrive at a holistic resolution to a customer problem, according to Arronte. Customers can immediately sense if a company culture prioritizes their employees. When employees feel confident enough on customer service calls to make recommendations, guide customers to the right solutions, and even gently point out mistakes, it sends a strong message: their organization has empowered them with the time, training, and tools they need to deliver truly helpful service.听

For example, I recently bought a camera with a couple of lenses, only to find out a newer version of the camera was being released just days later. Canceling my order required a call into customer service. Not only did they let me know the lenses I鈥檇 bought wouldn鈥檛 work with the newer model, but they also helped me cancel the original order and place a new one. The agent expressed genuine excitement for me. They even followed up with a personal email to confirm everything was squared away. Never did I feel rushed or inconvenienced. In fact, I actually felt good about spending more with them, instead of going with one of the other brands I鈥檇 been considering. That experience made me a customer for life.听

The AI in this example was hiding in plain sight. The instant my call was received, all of my details were readily available for the customer service agent. We could get right to talking about what I needed, and the agent had all the context needed to help me out. AI expands employees鈥� capabilities and gives them more time to focus on solving the root of customer issues 鈥撀爄nstead of getting bogged down by repetitive tasks like re-identifying the customer. However, what ultimately made the difference was that the agent was empowered to spend more time actually connecting with me 鈥� all while solving my problem in under 10 minutes. It spoke volumes about the kind of culture the organization fostered, and the support they鈥檙e willing to give their employees so that they can deliver empathetic service.听

Make Your Employees Champions of AI

AI may be evolving at lightning speed, but its true potential lies in how well people are empowered to use it. Organizations that prioritize trust, empathy, and a human-centric culture are the ones best positioned to unlock AI鈥檚 full value 鈥撀爊ot by replacing people, but by supporting them.听

When employees feel heard, supported, and equipped with the right tools, they become more than just users of technology 鈥斅爐hey become champions of it. And when that happens, AI becomes more than a productivity tool; it becomes a catalyst for better service, stronger loyalty, and more meaningful work.

Whether you’re AI-curious or already all-in, check out to help you learn, apply, and level up your AI game for faster insights, smarter actions, and bigger impact.

Connecting your company鈥檚 customer experience (CX) with your employee experience (EX) across data-sharing, strategy building, and decision-making is a winning strategy. Organizations that align their employee and customer efforts are better positioned to deliver on their brand promise, create emotional engagement among employees, foster brand loyalty among customers, and enable more strategic actions.听

A Holistic Approach to CX and EX

When employees feel valued and engaged with the business, they are naturally inclined to deliver exceptional customer experiences. This alignment builds loyalty, improves satisfaction, and drives growth, creating a ripple effect of positive outcomes across the organization. Ignoring any part of this ecosystem creates disjointed experiences and weakens the brand’s impact.

To fully achieve this alignment, you need executive buy-in for prioritizing CX and EX. Here are our experts鈥� tips for what to pitch to a hesitant executive to get them on board.

1. You鈥檒l rediscover your brand鈥檚 legacy and better align your brand鈥檚 aspirations with reality

What has made your brand so great in the first place? 鈥淚f you connect your customer and employee experience insights, you鈥檒l find out what鈥檚 led to your successes,鈥� says , Vice President and Executive Advisor for Retail at 糖心原创, who previously led customer experience and digital innovation at 7-Eleven.听

Hint: It鈥檚 your employees. They鈥檙e the ones delivering your brand promise and core values to create great customer experiences. 鈥淏y connecting CX and EX, you gain a clearer picture of the role your team plays in building your brand mythology,鈥� he explains.

鈥淭here鈥檚 a downside to not bringing CX and EX together,鈥� warns , Vice President and Executive Advisor for Hospitality at 糖心原创, who has held management and operational roles with Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International, and more. He explains that there is a risk of developing a mismatch between the brand鈥檚 promise and the actual experience that ends up being delivered. A disjointed approach creates dissatisfaction and undermines trust.听

鈥淭his happens when you create a brand promise, but your employees aren’t empowered, trained, or excited to deliver on it 鈥斅燼nd that feels like whiplash to customers, and even worse, to the employees,鈥� he says. 鈥淐onversely, when your employees feel valued, empowered, and supported, they are more likely to go above and beyond with customers, and that leads to increased customer satisfaction and loyalty and, ultimately, business growth.鈥�

2. You have a better chance to create emotional engagement and foster loyalty

When CX and EX are connected, brands have the opportunity to elevate employees鈥� emotional connection to the business by enabling stronger alignment with the brand鈥檚 values and mission, according to , PhD, VP, Executive Advisor for Employee Experience at 糖心原创, who previously served as a leader in HR and analytics at Liberty Mutual Insurance and Citizens Bank. When that happens, better customer experiences and sustainable business growth follow.听

Debnar adds that companies with high employee turnover rates fail to get traction with connecting CX and EX. Meanwhile, the brands we all know and love invest in their employees 鈥� who in turn become invested in the customer experience.听

Similarly, a recent 糖心原创 Market Research found that one attribute that makes customers loyal is when they can detect that a company鈥檚 employees are treated well.

3. You can enable better decision-making across the organization

, Vice President and Executive Advisor for Healthcare at 糖心原创, who has held experience leadership roles at Renown Health and worked as a clinical assistant professor at the University of Nevada, says the number one thing she would encourage the C-suite of healthcare organizations to do is to create a patient advisory council that sits on the company鈥檚 executive and quality leadership committees to involve customer voices in decision-making.听

She also notes that healthcare organizations that unify their experience data from the patient and employee side of healthcare can use these combined approaches to more effectively address employee issues, such as turnover, that are impacting the quality of care being delivered and leading to declines in patient safety outcomes and an increase in adverse patient events.

, Vice President and Executive Advisor for Financial Services at 糖心原创, who has held customer experience leadership roles at Sprint, Citi, and UMB, adds that there鈥檚 real value in using employee crowdsourcing platforms to gather your team鈥檚 input about how to improve the customer experience 鈥� these suggestions could lead to your company鈥檚 next product, service, or operational innovation that fosters even greater customer loyalty.听

Want to take the next step in bringing your customer experience and employee experience programs together? Set up time with a 糖心原创 Expert. We help the world鈥檚 top brands become category leaders by maximizing their CX and EX strategies and outcomes.

Understanding and optimizing the employee experience (EX) is a competitive advantage for brands. Employees want to feel that their organizations value their talent and feedback, and investing in EX means you鈥檙e actively listening to and engaging with your workforce to make better decisions. By keeping a close watch on employee feedback, as well as satisfaction and sentiment, you鈥檒l reduce burnout and turnover.

Not only that, EX and customer experience (CX) are connected. When businesses empower their employees and harness their insights and suggestions, they are better positioned to deliver on their brand promise and foster stronger customer outcomes, including satisfaction, loyalty, and retention.

If you鈥檙e looking to make the most out of your and EX strategies, this roundup of the best employee experience books from top thought leaders, management and operational executives, industry experts, and award-winning academics will help you take efforts to the next level in 2025.

8 Must-Read Employee Experience Books to Add to Your Reading List

Whether you work in human resources (HR) or other areas of the business responsible for the EX, these resources will help you build and strengthen your knowledge, so you can reap the benefits of employee experience, including achieving gains in workforce productivity, engagement, and loyalty.

FUSION: How Integrating Brand and Culture Powers the World鈥檚 Greatest Companies

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

What do the world鈥檚 top organizations do differently when it comes to building their businesses? In , bestselling author and brand leadership expert Denise Lee Yohn explores why aligning your organization鈥檚 brand with your culture is key to unlocking new levels of success.

The book includes exclusive case studies and learnings from interviews with executives from category leaders like Airbnb and Salesforce, and draws upon Yohn鈥檚 expertise from over 25 years working with household names like Burger King, Land Rover, Unilever, ASICS, Sony, and more.

This is a topic Yohn will be shedding light on as a keynote speaker at 糖心原创 Experience 鈥�25 and that she has discussed with us here on the blog (check out The Impact of Employee Engagement on Brand Identity) and in our recorded webinar, .

Winning on Purpose: The Unbeatable Strategy of Loving Customers

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

, VP, Executive Advisor for Hospitality at 糖心原创, who has held management and operational roles with Hilton Worldwide, Marriott International, and more, says by Fred Reichheld, the creator of Net Promoter Score (NPS庐), a Fellow, 糖心原创 Experience 鈥�25 speaker, and frequent 糖心原创 contributor, is one of his favorite employee experience books.

鈥淚t emphasizes the importance of creating a customer-centric culture where employees are empowered to deliver exceptional experiences,鈥� he explains. 鈥淚t also has practical strategies for building a sustainable and profitable business by putting employees and customers at the center of your purpose.鈥�

The Great Engagement: How CEOs Create Exceptional Cultures

• Authors:
• Where to read: ,

This pick comes from , Client Director, EX lead at the insights division at 糖心原创鈥檚 partner . 

鈥淥rganizational culture is something that is close to our hearts here at Kantar,鈥� he explains. 鈥淲e have seen over and over again how a strong company culture supports building attractive and successful brands. This great read explores how to build strong workplace cultures where employees feel genuinely connected to their work and the company鈥檚 mission.鈥�

In , authors Tom Willis and Brad Zimmerman, partners at 鈥� a consulting firm that helps CEOs create stronger organizational cultures 鈥� “offer clear guidance and actionable insights into how focusing on your company鈥檚 people development can boost your organization鈥檚 growth, retention, quality, and profitability,” he adds. 

鈥淭his is an inspirational resource for leaders looking to create engaged and motivated teams.鈥�

The Four Factors of Trust: How Organizations Can Earn Lifelong Loyalty

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

From 鈥檚 Ashley Reichheld, Principal at Deloitte Consulting, and Amelia Dunlop, Chief Experience Officer at Deloitte Digital, leverages the co-authors鈥� more than 40 years of combined experience helping companies reimagine their experiences to fuel growth. 

鈥淭his book offers a blueprint for fostering trust across the entire organization 鈥� which in turn can create a competitive advantage for brands across industries,鈥� says , Leader, Workforce Analytics at Deloitte. 鈥淭he formula the authors present is simple: focus on the four factors that matter the most 鈥� humanity, capability, transparency, and reliability.鈥�

Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

Drawing upon four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Daniel Pink鈥檚 New York Times bestselling reveals what high-performing teams with high satisfaction have in common. They鈥檙e empowered to be autonomous, learn and create new things, and feel a purpose to do better on the job, and that鈥檚 important because as the author explores, the three factors that drive motivation are autonomy, mastery, and purpose. In the book, Pink provides practical ways these factors can be put into action. 

鈥淭his is a great book for diving into how employees are intrinsically motivated,鈥� says , Vice President and Executive Advisor for Retail at 糖心原创, who previously led customer experience and digital innovation at 7-Eleven.

The Culture Code: The Secrets of Highly Successful Groups

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

This selection on our list comes from 糖心原创鈥檚 blog editor, . And it鈥檚 no wonder why 鈥� from New York Times bestselling author Daniel Coyle, who has served as an advisor to Microsoft, Google, and more, was named 鈥淏est Business Book of the Year鈥� by Bloomberg, BookPal, and Business Insider. This pick takes readers inside some of the world鈥檚 leading organizations to reveal what they do differently to cultivate cohesion, cooperation, collaboration, and innovation.

鈥淚鈥檓 sneaking in my recommendation because this is my all-time favorite business book,鈥� she explains. 鈥淲ith my own team, I鈥檓 always citing the example from this book of how the Pixar team surpasses everyone鈥檚 expectations time and again because they set up a culture to solicit honest, direct feedback every day in their creative workflow.鈥�

I Love It Here: How Great Leaders Create Organizations Their People Never Want to Leave

• Author: 
• Where to read: ,

Employees should love where they work, right?

Emmy Award-winning speaker Clint Kulver was for several years, working with brands such as , , and  to improve their cultures and decrease turnover. He conducted thousands of undercover interviews with employees across industries and is uncovering the key factors that shape employee retention in I Love It Here.

According to the book鈥檚 listing, 鈥淵our company can be a place where people don鈥檛 just survive, but thrive. I Love It Here shows you how.鈥�

Experience, Inc.: Why Companies That Uncover Purpose, Create Connection, and Celebrate Their People Will Triumph

• Author:
• Where to read: ,

, CEO at the cybersecurity AI firm Darktrace and a former executive at Snap and SAP, has over 25 years of experience leading large, global organizations through change. It鈥檚 safe to say Popelka knows what it takes to guide an organization鈥檚 people and culture to succeed.

In , Popelka harnesses her experience as well as insights from other global thought leaders to walk readers through the process of laying the foundation for a great employee experience, one that delivers growth across employee well-being, productivity, and effectiveness as well as adaptability, resilience, and growth.

Why You Should Read the Best Employee Experience Books

We鈥檝e curated a list of the best employee experience books to create a positive and engaging workplace culture. Each book offers valuable insights, strategies, and real-life examples you can use to enhance employee engagement, boost productivity, and attract (and retain) top talent.

Whether you鈥檙e a leader, HR professional, or aspiring to improve employee experience in another type of role, this list is a go-to resource for transforming your workplace into a thriving environment where all employees succeed.

In 2025, you鈥檒l want to read these best employee experience books for the following reasons:

1. Translate insights into best practices: Employee experience is a crucial aspect of any organization鈥檚 success. The best employee experience books listed here provide valuable insights into the strategies, techniques, and best practices that can enhance the overall employee experience. They often feature case studies, real-life examples, and expert advice, allowing readers to learn from successful organizations and apply those principles in their own workplace.

2. Drive increased employee engagement and productivity: A positive employee experience fosters higher levels of engagement and productivity among employees. By reading the best employee experience books we鈥檝e recommended here, you can gain knowledge on how to create an environment where employees feel valued, empowered, and motivated. Implementing the concepts and ideas from these resources can lead to increased employee satisfaction, which in turn positively impacts overall productivity and organizational success.

3. Enhance talent attraction and retention: A strong employee experience is crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. When employees have a positive experience in the workplace, they are more likely to stay with the organization, reducing turnover rates. The best employee experience books our experts have selected provide guidance on creating a supportive culture, effective leadership, and opportunities for growth and development, all of which contribute to attracting and retaining top performers.

4. Foster employee well-being: Employee experience encompasses not only the work environment but also the overall well-being of employees. These best employee experience books often address topics such as work-life balance, mental health, and creating a healthy and inclusive workplace culture. By reading these titles, you can gain insights and ideas on how to prioritize employee well-being and create a work environment that promotes overall health and happiness.

5. Fuel continuous learning and improvement: The field of employee experience is constantly evolving, and reading the best employee experience books allows you to stay updated with the latest trends, research, and ideas. These guides provide opportunities for continuous learning and personal development, enabling you to enhance your skills as a leader or HR professional. By staying informed and adapting to new approaches, you can continuously improve the employee experience in your organization.

Reading the best employee experience books is essential for gaining insights, implementing best practices, enhancing engagement and productivity, attracting and retaining talent, prioritizing employee well-being, and staying updated with the latest trends. By investing time in reading these must-read employee experience books, you鈥檒l make a positive impact on your organization鈥檚 employee experience and overall success.

Schedule a demo with a 糖心原创 expert 鈥� we鈥檒l share where your employee experience is today and what our award-winning platform does to accelerate its impact on the workforce and business as a whole.

You already know that investing in the employee experience (EX) is critical for improving engagement, productivity, and retention at work. But if you鈥檝e been paying attention to the headlines, you may have been misled by some pervasive EX myths.听

糖心原创鈥檚 recent research, based on a general population survey of 1,016 US-based full-time (74%) and part-time (26%) workers, uncovered several key trends that debunk three of these oft-quoted mistruths 鈥� and confirmed the impact of two EX best practices. (To see the full breakdown of those surveyed, you can download the report here.)

Now let鈥檚 dive into the findings about these workplace myths!

3 Employee Experience Myths, Debunked

Myth: There鈥檚 been a massive return to office (RTO) trend.听

Reality: Despite headlines, the push to RTO has been overhyped.

A lot of media attention surrounds the return to office (RTO) trend, but our data on office workers tells a very different story. Of those surveyed, about a third of employees are fully remote, another third work in hybrid setups, and the remaining 34% are back in the office daily. These numbers haven鈥檛 shifted much since 2022, when the breakdown was nearly identical.

We found that workers generally prefer setups where they don鈥檛 have to go into the office every day. For instance, of those we surveyed 35% currently work entirely from the workplace, but this is the desired set up for only 22% of employees.

Those working remotely or in hybrid roles tend to value flexibility, and while they occasionally express concerns about social isolation and collaboration, remote workers report similar motivation and job satisfaction as their in-office counterparts. For many people we surveyed, the perks of remote work 鈥� like flexible hours and no commute 鈥� far outweigh the perceived drawbacks of working at home.

Myth: A large portion of workers are concerned about AI replacing them.听

Reality: Actually, most workers don鈥檛 think they鈥檒l be fully replaced by artificial intelligence 鈥� at least, not within the next five years.

You鈥檝e probably seen plenty of troubling headlines about AI replacing human workers in the future. Still, our research shows that only 4% of employees believe their jobs will be fully taken over by AI in the next five years. Most see AI as a helpful tool for automating tasks, not a threat to their jobs.

When asked how AI could assist them in their roles, employees surveyed suggested that repetitive tasks, file updates, data analysis, and other basic projects might be ideally suited to AI tools. While these tasks are important, they aren鈥檛 central to the essence of their jobs, and workers felt AI could handle them more efficiently.

Myth: Gen Z workers seemingly act too entitled in the workplace.听

Reality: Gen Z workers are not more inclined to expect promotions than any other generation.

There鈥檚 been plenty of chatter about Gen Z鈥檚 “entitlement” and expectation of quick promotions, but our data paints a different picture. While Gen Z does seek advancement sooner 鈥� mostly because they鈥檙e in entry-level roles 鈥� it鈥檚 not drastically different from Gen X and Millennials, who also expect promotions within the first five years.

What really matters to Gen Z? Being heard. They indicated they love feedback from supervisors and want opportunities to share their ideas. This drive for engagement is key to retaining them, especially since Gen Z is likely to consider other job options if they don鈥檛 see room for career growth. Creating a feedback-driven culture is very important to keeping this generation engaged.

2 Resounding Truths That Really, Truly Improve Employee Experience

Truth: Providing employees opportunities to share feedback is closely tied to job satisfaction.听

Reality: This is a best practice that organizations should put into action to bolster engagement.听

Our research suggests, perhaps unsurprisingly, that being able to provide feedback is strongly linked to job satisfaction. Nearly three-fourths (71%) of employees with high job satisfaction also feel confident that their feedback is valued 鈥� compared to only 30% among those with low satisfaction.听

Unfortunately, many employees are unable to voice their concerns at work, and many don鈥檛 trust that their feedback will lead to meaningful change even if they could. Organizations that make it easy for employees to share insights 鈥� and, more importantly, act on those suggestions 鈥� are likely to benefit from an engaged team.

Truth: Better EX = Better CX.

Reality: When employees believe that their company treats them well, they are more motivated to treat those they serve well.

The more frequently an employee can have discussions about performance, advancement, and their experience in their role, the more satisfied they are with their jobs. And job satisfaction matters immensely to better customer relationships.

Our data shows that employees who feel supported and valued by their organization are significantly more motivated to deliver exceptional experiences to customers. This creates a cycle where a positive work environment directly translates into better customer experience (CX).

Take care of employees and reap the benefits

Our research shows that regularly listening to employees and addressing their needs is a game-changer. As organizations improve EX, they also boost CX, creating a powerful cycle that drives success. With myths about AI, Gen Z entitlement, and the push for RTO debunked, it鈥檚 clear that focusing on feedback-driven satisfaction and the EX/CX connection benefits everyone.

By investing in systems that capture and act on feedback and by fostering a supportive work environment, you can unlock valuable insights and maximize your organization鈥檚 potential. Better EX isn鈥檛 just great for employees 鈥� it鈥檚 great for your business, too.

Want to learn more about enhancing EX in your organization? Check out our EX webinar recording for insights and tips you can put to work for you! 糖心原创鈥檚 employee experience expert, , was joined by , Employee Engagement Surveys & Analytics Lead at The Cheesecake Factory, and Denise Lee Yohn聽for a timely discussion about building a company culture that delivers on your brand鈥檚 promise.

Want to enjoy the聽benefits of customer experience聽(CX), including gains in customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and sales? One of the most effective ways to do so is by turning to the other side of the聽customer experience聽coin: The聽employee experience (EX).听

Leading organizations bring together their聽employee experience and customer experience聽programs and strategies and combine聽employee and customer experience data聽to deliver stronger outcomes for both EX and CX.听

For real-world examples of why employees are key to a great customer experience, we connected with聽糖心原创鈥檚 partners听补迟听,听Ipsos,听,听Zipline, and聽聽for insights. They revealed the advantages of aligning CX and EX initiatives and shared effective approaches for investing in the employee experience to enable better customer experiences.

Why employees are essential to a great customer experience

Employees are an incredible resource for identifying issues impacting the customer experience and for coming up with actionable solutions to improve customer experiences. They鈥檙e also a dominant force that shapes the overall customer experience. When employees are engaged and satisfied, so are customers.听

1. Employees are a powerful resource for identifying issues 鈥� and actionable solutions for improving the customer experience

鈥淵our frontline employees know more about your customers than just about anyone at your organization; if you want to understand (let alone improve) the customer experience, centering the voice of your employees is one of the best places to start,鈥� says聽, Head of Customer Enablement at Zipline.

Your company can find out about friction in both the customer journey and employee journey that is having a negative impact on the customer experience by harnessing the power of employee feedback surveys,听employee listening, and employee crowdsourcing.听

鈥淓mployee feedback is invaluable for enhancing customer experiences because employees are on the front line, directly interacting with customers,鈥� says聽, Managing Director, Customer Experience Lead at KPMG LLP. 鈥淏y tapping into this wealth of knowledge, businesses can tailor their services or products to meet customer needs more accurately, leading to improved satisfaction and loyalty. Incorporating employee feedback fosters a culture of continuous improvement and innovation, ultimately elevating the overall customer experience.鈥�

Some of the areas in which employees can help brands uncover previously undetected or overlooked issues include challenges with a company鈥檚 processes, technologies, services, and employee training, says聽, VP of Business Development and Partnerships at 3CLogic.

In addition to shedding light on what鈥檚 hindering the customer experience, employees are also a valuable resource for identifying potential solutions that get at the root cause.听

2. Engaged employees are more likely to deliver a great customer experience

Investing in聽employee engagement聽can be a winning strategy for organizations for a number of reasons. For starters, employees who feel valued, heard, and connected to their brand are more likely to stick around. Happy, engaged employees are also more likely to do their best work and聽provide better customer service聽and experiences, which in turn can boost customer satisfaction, retention, loyalty, sales, and brand reputation, says聽, Co-Founder and CMO at Giift.听

鈥淚t鈥檚 a win-win for both customers and the company鈥檚 bottom line,鈥� he adds.

鈥淲hen employees understand and feel connected to the brand promise and the aligned CX strategy, they are more engaged and satisfied in their jobs, as well as better at delivering a differentiated and preferred experience to customers,鈥� says聽, Chief Client Success Officer, Ipsos Customer and Employee Experience. 鈥淚n turn, happy customers continue to use the brand and advocate on its behalf.鈥�

Organizations with聽, according to Gallup researchers.听

To reap these rewards, brands need to prioritize listening to, understanding, and meeting the needs of employees and ensuring team members feel connected to the organization鈥檚 overall mission and are motivated to work together in support of the company鈥檚 CX goals.听

鈥淲ithout understanding what your employees need and without taking meaningful steps to meet those needs, employees can鈥檛 deliver the customer experience your organization has so carefully curated,鈥� says McGowan.听

Why businesses should align their EX strategies with their CX strategies

According to the experts we interviewed, when organizations bring together their customer and employee experience efforts, they have the potential to:

• Reduce employee and customer turnover聽
• Improve customer and employee satisfaction
• Drive employee and customer loyalty
• Increase operational efficiencies
• Fuel innovation
• Strengthen financial outcomes, such as sales

鈥淚ntegrating customer and employee experience strategies can create a virtuous cycle where satisfied employees lead to satisfied customers and vice versa,鈥� says聽Seynhaeve.

糖心原创 researchers have found critical聽connections between CX and EX聽as well. Employee experience leaders are nearly 2x times more likely to report higher customer satisfaction and stronger customer retention and CX leaders are 2.8x more likely to be viewed as a great place to work compared to under-performing organizations.听

How to invest in employee experience to enable great customer experiences

1. Create a voice of the employee (VoE) program

鈥淟eading organizations demonstrate their commitment to incorporating聽employee feedback听产测听creating structured channels for voice of employee (VoE) programs, similar to聽voice of customer (VoC)聽initiatives,鈥� says Mango.

Give your employees a platform for sharing insights and suggestions for improving customer interactions through:

• Employee surveys
• Suggestion boxes
• Forums
• Video feedback
• 颁谤辞飞诲蝉辞耻谤肠颈苍驳听

2. Act on employee suggestions

More than simply gathering employees鈥� suggestions, it鈥檚 important to bring them to life and ensure that team members across the organization are empowered to influence customer experience tactics, adds Mango.

Whether you want to win over more new customers or do a better job of retaining existing customers over time, turning to your employees for inspiration could be transformative for your organization. That was the case for a popular video hosting and sharing platform. Agarwal shares that when the company leveraged a recommendation from one of their employees, they were able to launch a new business unit that eventually helped the brand evolve from being a struggling video-streaming platform into becoming a successful SaaS company.听

This is a practice Agarwal鈥檚 own company puts into action and has led to innovations within the organization. By listening to employee feedback, the team at Giift discovered that their customers were looking for ways to keep their employees engaged throughout the year. As a result of this insight, the brand introduced a new resource, an annual employee engagement calendar that鈥檚 full of ideas to help HR professionals build out engagement plans, that the company鈥檚 clients look forward to receiving every year.听

3. Implement efforts to improve employee performance

Employee burnout, poor morale, disengagement, and decreased productivity and performance can all lead to negative consequences for the customer experience. To set your team members up for success, Seynhaeve recommends聽using the latest tools and best practices 鈥� including AI, workflow optimization,听agent coaching, analytics, and automation 鈥� to optimize employee performance and enhance customer interactions.听

4. Ensure employees understand the 鈥渨hy鈥� behind your customer experience initiatives

To create an environment in which employees are more willing to support efforts to improve the customer experience, McGowan recommends making sure employees have insight into what鈥檚 expected of them (and why).听

Join the world鈥檚 best brands in prioritizing employees

Think of any category leader, and the companies that come to mind are not only managing successful customer experience programs, they have effective employee experience strategies in place to increase employee productivity and engagement and bolster customer satisfaction.听

Ready to elevate your efforts?聽Discover our global ecosystem of best-in-class partners聽available to help you create experiences that your customers and employees will love.

Organizations are experiencing an era of transformation. With AI expanding into every market, increased pressure to boost productivity, and competition as an ever-driving force, companies must innovate faster than ever before.

Simultaneously, employees want to have a voice in business decisions 鈥� from defining strategy to inventing products and services and designing new ways of working. In fact, the found that 80% of employees would choose a job based on the opportunity to achieve personal empowerment.

These shifting employee expectations and business needs are converging to form a unique opportunity for organizations 鈥� to better leverage ideas, feedback, and innovation directly from their people, powering business change.

Micro Changes for Macro Results

Transformation can mean large changes for a business 鈥� moving into a new industry, undergoing a rebrand, or introducing an entirely new product. But it can also include many smaller changes that add up to a substantial impact for employees, customers, and the company at large.

These could look like:

• Improving the fine print for promotions or policies that confuse or disappoint customers
• Fixing a business process that takes hours of employees鈥� time every day
• Moving the placement of cabinets in hospital rooms to enable nurses to better tend to patients

The ideas that spark these smaller changes don鈥檛 come out of nowhere. They usually start with a business problem that someone identifies 鈥� likely an employee directly experiencing that problem in their day-to-day workflows. For example, a U.S. bank turned off background music in its branches as a cost saving measure. As it turned out, once the atmosphere became quiet, it made customers hesitant to share confidential information, impacting both the customer experience and employees鈥� ability to do their job to best serve the customer.

Luckily, in this example, employees had access to an always-on survey so they could provide their feedback in real time. When managers saw that the topic 鈥渕usic鈥� was trending in the comments they were receiving, they were able to dig deeper to discover how this seemingly small decision was having massive implications across the business. However, often organizations miss out on these types of insights from employees 鈥� especially if the decision maker is far removed from the frontlines and there isn鈥檛 an easy way for employees to surface and solve the problems they encounter in their day to day. When that鈥檚 the case, these decisions can inadvertently impact productivity, the employee and customer experience, and, ultimately, company performance.

The Process and Potential of Employee Activation

So how can organizations effectively uncover these business problems, activate ideas and solutions from employees, and take action to effectively implement them 鈥� empowering employees to shape business strategies, customer solutions, and productivity?

This is where employee activation comes in. We as a critical shift and the next step for employee listening today.

What is employee activation? Employee activation has two parts:

1. Empowering employees across the organization to share obstacles, feedback, and ideas in the flow of work.
2. Empowering stakeholders across the organization to garner meaningful insights and take action where it matters 鈥� to influence the business in a positive way.

Source: 糖心原创 and The Josh Bersin Company, 2024

These two parts facilitate one another. When employees are empowered to share ideas and have a means to do so, this drives insights and action. And when the company continuously and transparently incorporates employee ideas and feedback into business decisions, the workforce becomes more empowered to share.

A Shift from Traditional Listening: The Evolution of Employee Experience

Employee activation is distinct from traditional employee listening in that it creates a true dialogue between the organization and the business 鈥� with an impact that goes beyond employee experience. Rather than focusing on employee engagement surveys, benchmarking, and action-planning at a leadership level, employee activation focuses on employee-centered feedback, insights, and democratized action, incorporated into existing business routines.

Source: The Josh Bersin Company, 2024

Crowdsourcing is one way to power employee activation. One leading telecommunications company uses聽Ideas, 糖心原创鈥檚 crowdsourcing platform,听to encourages employee to submit ideas, vote on their peers鈥� suggestions, and comment to provide further input, which has led to some of their best localized marketing ideas. The best crowdsourcing programs are centered around what employees feel is important to share, rather than what the company or leadership team wants to know, enabling frontline innovation in ways surveys can鈥檛.

The Employee Activation Framework

Employee activation is not a single practice, but rather, a strategic shift toward employee empowerment that supports both employees and the business. Our Employee Activation Framework identifies and defines five key elements with 20 dimensions that encompass an effective employee activation strategy. These cover everything from how the activation strategy is managed to how the organization is listening and taking action, important aspects of company culture, and the role of technology.

Source: The Josh Bersin Company, 2024

For example, one organization may have a strong culture around employee feedback and sharing but is missing the data to garner insights and take impactful action. Another might be great at democratizing action-taking but is lacking a defined strategy that ties back to business outcomes. When making the shift to employee activation, it鈥檚 important to consider both the tactical methods to activate employee insights and the underlying company characteristics that enable the strategy overall.

The Influence of AI and Technology

Technology is one of the five elements of the Employee Activation Framework, as it provides the infrastructure underlying an effective employee activation program. AI and other technological advancements have begun to shape listening in a big way 鈥� from creating more diverse and accessible channels for providing feedback and embedding these opportunities into employees鈥� workflows to democratizing insights in real-time and nudging the right actions.

AI has taken listening to a new level. Solutions like 糖心原创鈥檚 Text Analytics use AI to analyze feedback, derive insights, and make personalized recommendations for action 鈥� altogether powering employee activation. Furthermore, the use of AI assistants has unlocked the ability for a true dialogue between employees and the company that is infinitely scalable because employees get to ask the company questions, and those questions can inform actions.

Getting Started with Employee Activation

Transforming the organization from the bottom up takes time and effort but is so worthwhile, given the potential to move your company towards better customer and employee experiences, stronger financial outcomes, and more innovation and productivity.

Employee activation isn鈥檛 a shift that happens overnight. Starting with a single business problem can be helpful:

• Identify an important business problem
• Listen to the frontlines to understand what鈥檚 at the root of the problem
• Analyze responses and ideas to garner insights
• Empower the right stakeholders to take action based on these insights
• Measure success and continuously iterate

Organizations that prioritize employee activation are better positioned to land at the head of the employee experience maturity curve, and to enable true employee activation, companies must grant employees the authority to share what鈥檚 on their minds at all times using always-on, anytime listening. Check out 糖心原创鈥檚 The Definitive Guide to Anytime Listening to for step-by-step insights into building out an effective anytime listening program.

Kicking off the conference was a keynote from 糖心原创鈥檚 leadership, including CEO Joe Tyrrell, that debuted four new 糖心原创 AI features 鈥� Ask Athena, Intelligent Summaries, Smart Responses, and Themes 鈥� all designed to reduce analytical workloads and speed time to insight for all users.

Keep reading for a deeper look into how these new AI features will impact how leaders listen, understand, and take action on employee feedback.

1. Understand root causes of issues and get recommended actions in real time

With Ask Athena, managers will be able to ask any employee listening-related question and be provided with a short written answer, as well as a graph of the data supporting the answer.

For example, a manager receiving low communication scores in a business unit could ask, 鈥淲hich of the departments in my business unit have the lowest communication scores?鈥� To dig deeper, the manager could follow up by asking, 鈥淲hat are the negative comments made about communication in the low-scoring departments compared to the high-scoring departments?鈥� This application of AI offers many possibilities to make it fast and easy for managers to understand the problem and how to solve it, without the need for advanced analytics skills. 

2. Summarize internal help desk transcripts to improve outcomes

With Intelligent Summaries, summarizations can be applied to call and chat transcripts 鈥� including those from HR and IT help desks, freeing those leaders from spending time trudging through records to understand what is happening.

For example, open enrollment is about to begin, and to ensure a seamless rollout, the head of the HR help desk wants a summarization of each of the calls that came in regarding benefits over the past 12 months. This information can be used to quickly understand how to improve the upcoming open enrollment 鈥� resulting in a reduction of calls, costs, and frustrated employees.

3. Take quicker action on employee feedback

Smart Response is an efficient way to help managers take quicker action on employee feedback. One of the most difficult parts of employee listening is knowing what action to take first. Smart Response will enable managers with suggested responses based on the feedback they have received. Responses are both editable and sent by humans, giving people leaders control over final responses. 

4. Get to the heart of emerging trends even faster

Themes, now enhanced with generative AI, is a quick way to understand what employees are saying, without having to read through thousands of comments. Generative AI can surface and summarize actionable insights and root causes from large volumes of qualitative data. Themes surfaces and summarizes these actionable insights for leaders.

For example, a leader of three business units would like to quickly understand what issues employees are raising in feedback channels in each of their three units without having to read through the comments in each unit. Summaries are generated on each Theme, so leaders can easily see which emerging ideas are coming up in employee comments. 

Without question, the greatest benefit AI brings to the employee experience is helping managers and teams get to action faster by unlocking the wealth of insights that lies within unstructured data sources. 

With 糖心原创, we have been bringing you actionable, AI-powered insights for more than 15 years. Our GenAI is just the next step in the journey to bring you even greater value from your employee experience programs. 

Want to learn more? Check out our AI Leadership page.

Developing a great employee experience as part of a positive company culture is more important than ever. While the employee experience (EX) has been at the  for several years now, fostering employee engagement is essential for an organization that wants to retain workers in today鈥檚 environment.

When employees are engaged in their work, they tend to stay longer at their jobs. Research shows that  have 21% to 28% reduction in employee turnover and 20% to 28% higher likelihood of high performance.

It takes a strong company culture and a focus on employee satisfaction to build and keep teams engaged. Eight in ten HR leaders say that feedback and check-ins are the . The most productive companies start that process during recruiting and follow-through during onboarding to set the tone from the start.

What is employee onboarding?

Employee onboarding is providing employees with training, resources, and tools to quickly and efficiently get them acclimated to their new role. Typically, the employee onboarding process covers company culture and expectations in addition to information specific to the role. 

Integrating and improving the employee onboarding process jumpstarts a positive experience by helping employees feel welcomed and confident in their new position. In this article, we鈥檙e going to discuss the onboarding process and the onboarding feedback questions you should ask as part of your employee experience strategy.

Onboarding feedback questions

A big part of聽creating a positive employee experience聽comes from regularly taking the temperature of your employees. Effective onboarding is聽聽making it a valuable tool for influencing聽employee engagement聽early on.听Onboarding feedback questions聽are a great way to get an immediate read on how employees are feeling about joining your organization. Onboarding surveys can also catch early warning signs of employees disengaging or detect changes in attitudes. This gives you an opportunity to address these issues before they become larger organizational problems.

Employee onboarding feedback questions can have many variations. Some companies ask open-ended questions while others ask employees to rate their thoughts on a 5-point scale. Then, they compare answers at key intervals. The type of questions you ask (open-ended vs. ratings) is less important than what they reveal and how employee attitudes change over time.

Sample onboarding feedback questions

Open-ended feedback questions

Here are a few sample questions you may want to include if you are asking open-ended questions:

1. Do you have a clear understanding of what your job entails?
2. How does your role match up with what you were told during the recruitment process?
3. Do you have the resources and tools you need to do your job well?
4. What challenges have you faced so far?
5. Did you receive adequate training to do your job?
6. Is there anything we need to improve in our recruiting or onboarding process? If so, what would you change?
7. Are there any specific tools or resources you feel are missing or could enhance your performance in your current role?
8. Reflecting on your onboarding experience, what aspects of the process were particularly helpful, and what areas do you think could be improved for new hires in the future?

Feedback on the onboarding process

You may also want to ask employees to evaluate the onboarding process and the company culture on a scale of 1 to 5. Sample onboarding survey questions might ask employees to provide a rating for these questions:

1. This job meets the expectations set during recruiting. (1鈥�5)
2. Prior to starting my new job, I felt welcomed by my new team or manager. (1鈥�5)
3. I have access to the technology I need for my job. (1鈥�5)
4. My manager has been supporting my transition into the organization. (1鈥�5)
5. I feel like I belong here at [company]. (1鈥�5)
6. The training provided by the company has effectively prepared me for my role. (1鈥�5)
7. I have a clear understanding of the company鈥檚 mission and values. (1鈥�5)
8. My colleagues are approachable and willing to help me when I have questions or need assistance. (1鈥�5)
9. The company鈥檚 communication about its expectations and goals is clear and consistent. (1鈥�5)
10. I have had the opportunity to engage in meaningful work and contribute to the company鈥檚 success since starting my job. (1鈥�5)

Feedback on the company by new hires

You might ask employees to rate these statements as part of your new-hire survey:

1. My job duties are clearly defined. (1鈥�5)
2. I see a career path and an opportunity for promotion. (1鈥�5)
3. I have the tools and resources I need to do my job. (1鈥�5)
4. My boss is supportive. (1鈥�5)
5. My boss cares about me. (1鈥�5)
6. The onboarding process helped prepare me for this job. (1鈥�5)
7. The job matches the expectations I had during the recruiting process. (1鈥�5)
8. I would highly recommend this company as a great place to work to my friends and colleagues. (1鈥�5)
9. The company鈥檚 values align with my personal values and priorities. (1鈥�5)
10. My colleagues collaborate effectively, and teamwork is encouraged. (1鈥�5)
11. The company culture promotes work-life balance and well-being. (1鈥�5)

Fun onboarding questions for new hires

1. Two Truths and a Lie: Have new hires share two true facts about themselves and one false fact. This can be a fun icebreaker, and it鈥檚 a great way for team members to get to know each other.
   • Purpose: This question promotes bonding, encourages authenticity, and helps break the ice.
2. The Superpower Question: Ask new hires if they could have any superpower, what it would be and why. This is a playful way to get to know their aspirations and personalities.
   • Purpose: Understand their aspirations, creativity, and what motivates them.
3. Dream Desk Setup: Have new hires describe their dream desk setup, including gadgets, decorations, and anything else they鈥檇 like. It鈥檚 a fun way to understand their preferences and personalities.
   • Purpose: Learn about their workstyle and how to create a comfortable work environment.
4. Favorite Work Playlist: Ask new hires to share their go-to songs or playlists for work. You can create a team playlist with their suggestions.
   • Purpose: Create a shared experience, and get insights into their music preferences.
5. Movie or Book Character: If they could be any fictional character for a day, who would they choose and why?
   • Purpose: Understand their interests, values, and imagination.
6. Desk Plant Personality: If they were a desk plant, what kind of plant would they be and why? This can lead to fun discussions about growth, care, and resilience.
   • Purpose: Encourage creativity and self-reflection.
7. Bucket List Item: Ask new hires to share one item from their bucket list that they hope to achieve in the future.
   • Purpose: Understand their goals and aspirations outside of work.
8. Inspirational Quote: Ask them to share an inspirational quote that motivates them in their personal or professional life.
   • Purpose: Gain insight into their values and sources of motivation.
9. Future Predictions: Ask them to make a prediction about a future trend or development in their field.
   • Purpose: Encourage forward thinking and creativity.
10. Feedback Wishlist: In one sentence, ask them what they hope to gain from the onboarding experience.
    • Purpose: Collect valuable feedback to improve the onboarding process.

Listen to signals that go beyond employee feedback surveys

Gathering employee feedback through surveys is just one step towards successfully improving your greater onboarding process. Oftentimes, the most invaluable information lies between the lines of the answers already provided to you through feedback methods, such as surveys. Begin fine-tuning your ability to understand signals in order to get the most from your feedback.

Employee experience signals are indicators about how an employee feels towards your company, offered through a collection of direct and indirect behaviors. Common signals that might speak volumes about an employee鈥檚 experience with your company include: 

1. Service tickets
2. Slack or email usage
3. Benefits usage
4. Meeting attendance
5. PTO or sick time patterns
6. Manager/team changes

Be sure to implement a listening strategy for signals to begin collecting invaluable data for improving the employee experience.

Align employee onboarding feedback questions with company goals

The feedback you get from employee onboarding surveys is extremely valuable. It helps you gauge how effective your onboarding process is and whether it is meeting employee expectations. More importantly, it helps you see gaps in your onboarding process.

Not only does this help evaluate your processes, but it helps you pinpoint any problems employees are having. For example, if they say they do not have the resources they need to do the job, it allows you to delve deeper to see if that is accurate or a misperception. You may discover they have what they need, but need additional training. Either way, you want to find out this kind of information sooner rather than later.

Employee onboarding feedback questions also help you ensure that an employee understands your organization鈥檚 goals and how they fit into the bigger picture. This alignment is crucial to maximizing employee productivity.

Regardless of which employee onboarding feedback questions you ask, you should aim to uncover the :

1. Commitment to organizational goals

2. Identification with company mission

3. Job satisfaction

4. Feeling energized at work

When employees score strongly in these areas, engagement increases. It is especially important for new hires to understand the role they play in fulfilling organizational goals and objectives.

Discover room for improvement with employee onboarding

According to Forbes,  with their employee onboarding process.  and 72% of employees think that they might be asking too many questions. It鈥檚 hard to make the employee experience better without this understanding.

Help employees stay connected

Onboarding surveys help employees feel connected, but only if they feel like someone is listening to their feedback and acting on it. When you identify a problem an employee is having and solve it promptly, they feel valued.

Onboarding surveys can also catch early warning signs of employees disengaging or detect changes in attitudes. This gives you an opportunity to address these issues before they become larger organizational problems.

It鈥檚 important to survey employees early and often. Sending surveys is not limited to right after an employee joins the organization. In fact, it鈥檚 a good idea to do employee surveys at regular intervals, such as at the end of the first, third, and sixth months to see how perceptions have changed. Workers may feel differently about a job or organization after six months of working their position. 

Most importantly, however, is that you build a formal plan to help enhance the employee experience within your organization. Employee onboarding surveys can help you better understand what鈥檚 happening in your organization, but it鈥檚 what you do with the information that counts.

To learn more about improving the employee experience at your organization, read our e-book, The Definitive Guide to Employee Experience.

Good employees leave their employers for a variety of reasons. The most common, according to researchers? The nature of their individual jobs, their workloads, concerns about pay equity, not feeling appreciated, and having limited opportunities for career advancement. 

Before workers turnover, they disengage, and recent data indicates that disengagement is on the rise while engagement is on the decline. The  show that only roughly one-third of workers report being actively engaged, another 18% report being actively disengaged, and the other 50% report being neither engaged or disengaged. Per Gallup, some of the same factors that cause employees to quit are driving disengagement, including: declines in opportunities to learn and grow and feeling cared about at work. Other top factors include not having enough clarity around job expectations, connection to the company鈥檚 mission or purpose, and chances for employees to do what they do best. 

With circumstances such as these at play, you may be wondering what forces are shaping your own employees鈥� decisions to leave or become disengaged, and what can be done to intervene before employee disengagement and dissatisfaction become a contagion that affects the wider workforce. 

By listening to your employees, you can not only find out what鈥檚 driving their behavior 鈥� you can unlock insights into steps your company can take to improve worker sentiment, well-being, and sense of belonging. Gathering employee feedback and taking action based on these insights are two of the most important employee experience strategies any organization can put into place. In fact, Gallup鈥檚 report on employee disengagement recommends that the best ways to enhance engagement include asking for feedback, translating this feedback into actionable change, and sharing wins resulting from these changes with employees. 

Ahead, we鈥檒l dive into why these employee experience strategies matter and offer other key employee experiences to put into place to strengthen employee satisfaction, loyalty, and retention, and fuel other key business outcomes, such as customer satisfaction and retention and year-over-year revenue growth. 

Top Employee Experience Strategies

Create a workplace where employees thrive and contribute to your organization鈥檚 success using these employee experiences strategies.

#1: Have a clear philosophy

Your employee experience program needs to clearly define the employee experience and its relationship to engagement.

#2: Find executive champions and bring together key stakeholders to support your EX efforts

Gaining buy-in from C-level leaders and cross-functional partners from across IT, operations, facilities, managers, and other employee-facing teams is critical to ensuring success with any employee experience strategy you hope to implement. 

#3: Define your employee experience objectives

Set goals for improving the employee experience, define a strategy for execution, and set up a formal system for tracking your progress. Having objectives will help you choose which questions and information need to be asked and gathered to meet these goals. 

#4: Ensure shared accountability

Companies cannot delegate employee experience to the HR department or HR leaders. It must be a holistic approach with shared responsibilities among senior leaders, managers, and employees.

#5: Foster a supportive culture

Your company鈥檚 culture must be grounded in employee-centric values that reinforce your key behaviors, such as collaboration, transparency, safety, alignment, and feedback.

#6: Communicate the purpose of your employee experience surveys and listening efforts

Explain the purpose of collecting information regarding company culture, feelings towards the physical workplace environment, or technology and training. Approach communication with compassion so as to create a safe space where employees can provide clear and honest feedback. And be transparent and proactive about how the feedback will be used, as employees will be less likely to participate if their feedback won鈥檛 be used to produce a better work experience. 

#7: Ask the right questions, collect the right insights

Your goal should be to understand how your employees feel about the cultural, physical, and technological environment in your organization. Probe for employee perceptions of:

• Company culture: How workers feel about the organizational structure, mission, leadership style, compensation, benefits, etc.
• Physical: How workers feel about their workplace environment, such as office space, desks, chairs, common areas, etc.
• Technology: How workers feel about the technology they use to do their jobs.

#8: Strive for continuous measurement to understand the real-time employee experience

Companies need to continuously measure and evaluate employee experience using a clear data analytics strategy. Continuously measuring employee experience throughout the employee lifecycle provides the feedback companies need to ensure alignment with goals and objectives.

#9: Gather and analyze employee experience data from across sources

Employee experience measurement does not mean just taking an annual employee survey. You need real-time feedback that makes it easy for companies to optimize performance in the moment.

Use the best employee experience platforms to gather timely feedback from employees, get their suggestions for how to improve the employee and customer experience, and collect and analyze indirect employee insights (such as from employee reviews posted to job websites, performance review data, PTO usage patterns, and internal messaging channels) to detect top themes and topics employees are discussing, measure overall sentiment, assess employees鈥� levels of belonging and commitment to the organization, and uncover actions that can be taken to optimize the employee experience. 

#10: Take action based on results

This is a crucial step that is often overlooked by leadership. Ensure that your organization is committed to taking action in a timely manner and to implementing changes to enhance your organization鈥檚 processes, policies, technology, products, services, and overall workforce experience based on employee feedback and insights. 

The goal: To remove points of friction for employees and customers, all while giving priority to issues that have the biggest impact on employee satisfaction and retention and overall company culture. When action isn鈥檛 taken, employees lose trust in the organization.

#11: Be transparent about what actions have been taken and what results that have been achieved

Identify a process for not only measuring feedback, but for reiterating results to employees. Remember, employees are more likely to participate if they know the time and energy they invest into providing honesty will translate into an improved work experience. Be transparent about your findings and what you are actively doing in terms of strategy to rectify concerns. 

Keep everyone within the company in the loop about the top topics and themes employees have discussed when sharing feedback. Provide regular updates about what steps the company is taking as a result of this feedback, using prominent communications channels, such as town hall meetings, the company鈥檚 newsletter, or an employee app, to share new information. 

#12: Understand how different team members feel about the employee experience 鈥� and optimize experience for segments based on their unique needs

There鈥檚 no one single employee experience. How employees feel about coming to work and doing their jobs varies based on their personal experiences 鈥� the type of worker they are (desk workers, deskless workers, etc.), the seniority they have, their tenure with the company, and how they identify (by gender, race, age, parental status, etc.). 

#13: Use predictive analytics to gain visibility to your company鈥檚 next big challenge

Organizations that regularly collect employee feedback via surveys as well as via other sources of direct feedback and indirect feedback sources can leverage these large scale data sets to create a predictive analytics framework designed to detect signs of employee turnover and alert the right individuals (managers and leaders) to intervene while there鈥檚 still time to get an individual employee to stick around and stay engaged and prevent the spread of disengagement and churn. 

The Value of Effective Employee Experience Strategies

As just one example of the power of employee experience management, consider what happened at the Irish retail bank Permanent TSB. When the financial services organization with 2,500 employees and more than 1.1 million customers introduced new employee experience strategies that include gathering employee feedback on a regular basis and implementing over 1,000 positive changes (and counting) based on that feedback, they saw an clear impact: a seven-point increase in employee NPS庐 and a 65% uplift in customer loyalty among bank branches with more engagement employees. 

Organizations with top-performing employee experience strategies in place have been found to be 1.8X more likely to have high levels of customer satisfaction and retention compared to their underperforming peers while also being more likely to report a 20% year-over-year revenue growth compared to underperforming organizations, according to a study of leading versus lagging employee experience efforts. 

Looking to improve your organization鈥檚 employee experience to drive engagement,听retention, and other business outcomes?聽Meet with a 糖心原创 expert聽to create a world class employee experience.