Employee Experience vs Employee Engagement: Breaking it down

Despite all the advances in artificial intelligence in recent years, the majority of companies are still powered by people. It’s our human experiences, creativity, and knowledge that gives the companies we work for a competitive advantage. 

This is why employers are still concerned about how to provide the optimal employee experience and keep their workers engaged. 

But, what exactly is employee experience and how does it overlap or differ from employee engagement? And what steps can you take to make sure employee experience and engagement at your company are the best they can be? 

We’ll be exploring those questions here.

What is employee experience?

Employee experience is a practice. Whatever you learn from employee engagement surveys or initiatives will be fed back into employee experience over time. As Pyn’s CEO Joris Luijke explains, “The employee experience captures all the moments that matter and embraces that the employee journey is not linear.” We’ll return to the topic of moments that matter shortly, but for the time being, let’s look a little more closely at the specifics of employee experience. 

In recent years, we’ve seen an emerging discipline of employee experience (sometimes abbreviated as EX) and a growing population of employee experience leaders. Here’s how a few employee experience leaders define their roles:

• “Sometimes it's about removing obstacles, simplifying processes, or improving job design, but at the core, my role is to improve the work environment so people can do their best work – Natasha Loughlin, Employee Experience Lead at AusNet Services
• “We are focused on, what is your perception of what it means to work at Uber, how is that perception formed via every interaction and moment you have here? Collectively our goal is to tune into the voice of the employee, invest in the experiences that have the greatest impact so that we unlock individual, team, and business performance.” – Tracy Krilich, Head of EX at Square
• “An employee’s experience once they’re ‘in the door’ should be consistent with how the company’s culture was presented to them during the hiring phase. We have to look across the employee life cycle, and check and advocate for that consistency.” – Nina Kontos, Senior Director, Global Employee Experience & Internal Communications Celonis

A few common themes? Creating a work environment that leads to employee and business performance and ensuring consistency between how a company is perceived both internally and externally. 

What is employee engagement? 

Employee engagement is a measurement of how enthusiastic and dedicated your employees are to your organization. Engaged employees have a genuine interest in the company's success and an emotional connection beyond simply collecting a paycheck. 

There are a number of factors that can contribute to employee engagement, including an employee’s relationship with their manager, a feeling of teamwork or belonging, a sense of autonomy and mastery, and connection to a higher purpose. 

According to Gallup, only 20 to 34% of North American workers are engaged. This is troubling because disengagement can cost companies in a number of ways. For example, highly engaged workers are 14 to 18% more productive than disengaged workers, and low engagement teams have turnover rates that are 18% to 43% higher than highly engaged teams. And, of course, whenever turnover is high, that causes more disruption (and more potential for disengagement). The remaining employees are usually expected to take on more duties to cover for the person who left and participate in the interview process for the new person who will replace them, which can cause even more friction and feelings of frustration. 

To put it simply: Engaged employees are more productive, tend to stick around, and can help motivate and engage others around them. 

What’s the difference?

Employee experience is a leading indicator, while employee engagement (a measurement of outcome) is a lagging indicator. And while it’s been more common to measure employee engagement through surveys (and then use those results to inform your overall employee experience strategy), there are also ways to measure employee experience success.

Employee experience includes everything that impacts an employee’s work life, such as:

• Each step of the employee lifecycle as well as the moments that matter that occur throughout an employee’s tenure (Do they feel supported and guided in both a personal and professional way?)
• The physical workspace and tools (Do they have the equipment and setup they need to perform their job?) 
• Communications (Do they know what’s expected of them? Are they informed of company news and updates? Do they have established channels for giving and receiving feedback?)
• Learning and growth opportunities (Are they challenged by their role or given the chance to take stretch assignments? Do they feel like they are learning or developing their skills?)

It’s also worth noting that employee experience is not the same as:

• Just HR. While the HR or People team generally oversees all the steps of the employee lifecycle, this only covers some of employee experience (see the bullet points above).
• The external image of the company or its employer brand (again, this is just part of the employee experience, but not all of it).
• Perks. While benefits like gym membership or time off for volunteering can contribute to the employee experience, they’re not particularly meaningful if not connected to a holistic strategy. 
• Employee engagement. As PeopleInsight puts it, “Employee experience is the input, while employee engagement is the outcome or result that you are aiming for.”  

Journey mapping to improve EX and engagement 

An Employee Journey Map is a tool that can help you define and prioritize the work that needs to be done to ensure that the employee experience is top-notch. You may have heard how marketers or product teams use journey maps to think through the stages a prospect or customer goes through when using a product or service. Applied in the employee experience context, an Employee Journey Map lists many of an employee’s predictable experiences, from before their first day on the job until after their last day.

Each stage of the Employee Journey includes Moments or the touch points an employee encounters during their journey. For example, some Moments that might occur during onboarding include “the 90-day check-in” or “connecting with a new hire buddy.” 

As we noted earlier, while it’s helpful to map out the employee lifecycle in a linear fashion, there will also be aspects of the employee’s journey that occur more than once or in parallel. These can include manager education and support, life events (like work anniversaries or parental leave), and holidays and observances. 

Pyn’s CEO Joris writes, “Employee Journey Mapping allows you to proactively shape the employee experience and give people the support and guidance they need at the right time. The more proactive you can be, the better your performance will be as a company because people are not struggling to find basic information or understand expectations, they’re able to focus on performing their duties.” 

Plus, Employee Journey Mapping helps your HR or People team understand what moments could possibly happen and gives you a tool to track what's happening across the organization so you can proactively deliver the right information.

Example: Mapping moments that matter for a new manager

Consider someone who has just been promoted to become a people manager for the first time. The day they’re promoted is a huge milestone and one that should be accounted for on your Employee Journey Map. 

This new manager is hungry for information and clarity, and perhaps a bit nervous about managing their new relationship with their reports. They want to do well. If there is little or no information, clarity, and support provided right at such a key moment, it will impact both their experience and level of engagement at work.

But if you’ve mapped out the employee experience, you’ll have prepared materials and guidance to help them. These can be aligned with your company values and processes. For example, if your company has a standard practice of 1:1s between managers and their direct reports, you can prompt new managers to set these up as part of onboarding into their new role and provide guidance on how they should structure their initial 1:1s.

Journey Mapping helps you both proactively shape the experience of employees while also focusing on key drivers of engagement. Check out out this blog post for a more in-depth introduction to the process of Employee Journey Mapping. 

Get the support you need to craft a meaningful employee experience

How confident do you feel in your overall employee experience? Are your employees supported throughout the linear stages of their tenure as well as in their moments that matter? 

If you’re looking for additional guidance to help you craft a meaningful employee experience, it may be time to consider a dedicated employee experience tool. 

Check out our buyer’s guide for a quick and simple overview of what employee experience platforms are out there, why they’re useful, and how to choose the best platform for you.