Employee experience is an employee’s observations and perceptions about working for their organization. Ways to enhance the employee experience are one of the top priorities for modern organizations. From “moments that matter” to ESAT and EX, it’s also a topic that brings with it a lot of jargon. This glossary covers some of the most common phrases you’ll hear when discussing the employee experience and the use of knowledge management to measure and improve it.
What is Employee Experience (EX)?
Employee Experience (EX) refers to the holistic perception employees have of their journey within an organization, encompassing every interaction and touchpoint they encounter, from recruitment and onboarding to day-to-day work, career development, and even their exit. It is shaped by various factors, including the workplace culture, technology, physical environment, and the overall support and communication employees receive. A positive EX is crucial as it directly impacts employee engagement, productivity, retention, and ultimately, business success. Organizations that prioritize EX understand that happy, motivated employees are more likely to contribute to a positive work environment and drive better business outcomes. Improving EX involves actively listening to employee feedback, creating a supportive culture, providing growth opportunities, and ensuring that employees have the tools and resources they need to succeed. By focusing on EX, companies can foster a more engaged, satisfied, and productive workforce.
Employee Journey
The individual path an employee follows during their employee lifecycle.
Employee Lifecycle
The phases an employee goes through with their employer. It includes attracting attention, recruitment, hiring, onboarding, retention, and ending the relationship when the employee moves on. Employee lifecycle management includes the tools and processes set up to optimize a digital employee experience.
Digital Employee Experience
An employee’s digital interactions with the work environment. They can include digital workflows, new tools, digital adoption of new technologies such as an employee experience portal, and the usability of digital tools. A good digital employee experience is key to a satisfying overall employee experience.
Employee Portal
Also referred to as an enterprise portal or intranet portal, an employee portal is a secure site where an employee can easily share and discuss information within the organization. It enables them to stay on track with other employees and includes things like document management, an organization’s policies and procedures, latest news about the organization, and workflows. Techniques like portal onboarding can enhance the employee experience and lead to them delivering exceptional customer experiences.
Employee-centric Approach
People often talk about employee experience vs customer experience but the two need to be in sync if the hope is to keep both sides of the equation happy. An employee-centric approach leads to stellar customer-centric results. When employees are happy, they offer their best service to customers and boost the organization’s reputation. Employee centricity is a good starting point for increasing the employee lifetime value.
Moments that Matter
Instances in the employee journey that are important to determining the employee’s experience. For example, one of the most powerful moments that matter in an employee’s journey is their first day on the job.
Data-driven
Data is valuable for generating insights based on fact. Data-driven is a way of working where data takes center stage. In a data-driven environment, an employee’s actions are not based on intuition or emotion but on facts. A data-driven knowledge base allows a call center agent to answer customer questions using the same data another agent uses. Management can use data derived from customer interactions to improve both the employee and customer experiences.
Knowledge Base
Using technology to manage, automate and optimize a knowledge base improves the employee experience by making sure agents have the right information they need to successfully deal with customer interactions. It allows employees to capture and reuse knowledge, address common questions, and share knowledge-based articles. It also encourages content creation and sparks collaboration.
Knowledge Management
Knowledge management is more than the storage, transfer, and creation of information. It’s also the continuous practice of acting and decision-making. Combining knowledge management with employee experience increases employee productivity, consistency, and retention. A flexible, easy-to-use knowledge management system integrates naturally with existing workflows. At its core, knowledge management is about enabling people to do their best work and learn from others.
ESAT
Employee satisfaction score that measures how happy employees are. Depending on the questions asked, it signifies everything from how an employee views their job to how they feel about working for their employer. As satisfaction can fluctuate or change based on internal and external events, it’s recommended that in order to provide the best employee experience, employee satisfaction be regularly measured.
