How do you know if your company is doing a good job attracting, engaging, and retaining talent? Employee journey mapping!
Unlocking the Benefits of Employee Journey Mapping
Employee journey mapping identifies key points in the employee lifecycle and evaluates how well each step is executed. This helps identify strengths and opportunities for improvement.
This article discusses how Employee Journey Mapping can be used to identify the most important touchpoints in an employee's journey, and help you understand where your employees are feeling frustrated or satisfied.
Employee journeys are all about the experience that employees have when they interact with your company. Employee journey mapping is a technique used to map out their experience in detail, identifying key touchpoints and experiences.
Related reading: Employee engagement survey questions – what to ask and why?
Let's have a look at some of the most important touchpoints in an employee's journey – so that you can start mapping yours today.
Talent Acquisition
How does your recruiting process compare to others in your industry?
What are your employee referral scores?
Are you attracting a diverse set of candidates?
Are you using inclusive language in your job advertisements and job descriptions?
Talent acquisition is not just an entry point for employees; it's also a touchpoint for the employee journey itself. Mapping out each stage of the employee journey will help you identify any weaknesses in your recruiting process and which areas have the greatest opportunity to improve. By looking at how prospective hires use your current recruiting site, you can get an idea of how to make it more appealing and discover where the most potential hires are getting lost in the process and what information they are looking for.
Using a recruitment agency software can help streamline your hiring process. Such a platform can help you identify the most ideal hirees for your business, giving you an edge over other recruiters. And by choosing employees who fit your company culture, you may improve overall engagement in the workplace as a result.
Onboarding
How engaged are new hires with onboarding?
How happy were they with the interview process?
Are they finding what they need to be successful on the job?
Onboarding is the process of integrating new employees into the workplace while also helping them grow and develop throughout their journey. It's more than getting them to sign all their paperwork - it's about making sure they learn what they need to know, understand what they need to do, and become effective in their role as soon as possible.
Employee onboarding is an essential touchpoint in the employee journey because it sets the tone for how a new employee will experience your business. A flawed or inconsistent onboarding process can result in disengaged employees who feel confused or intimidated by their work environment. On the other hand, when onboarding is done right, it creates a smooth transition for new employees to be welcomed easily into your company culture.
Leadership & Development
How do employees feel about their ability to grow and develop at their organization?
How satisfied are they with formal learning opportunities (training, online courses, etc.)?
Do you have performance feedback processes that align with business goals?
One essential factor for motivating employees is leadership. When leaders encourage their team members to learn new things and challenge themselves, it often increases employee engagement. Monitoring how employees experience their leaders and their opportunities for growth and development is an integral part of the employee journey mapping.
Performance Appraisal & Feedback
Do managers gather regular feedback from team members regarding their performance vs. the company's goals?
Do they share this information with their reports on a timely basis?
How often do they conduct formal reviews vs. providing informal feedback throughout the year?
The frequency at which you provide feedback depends on company culture, employee preference, manager preference, etc. What is important here is that this is done frequently, regularly, and following structures in common for the whole company. Building a solid feedback culture is an essential part of creating a healthy company culture.
Career Progression
Do employees know what steps are necessary to progress in their careers?
How often do they hear about new opportunities that match their strengths, skills, and goals?
Does your company recruit internally when possible?
The internal career trajectory of employees is essential to organizations, and by having a better understanding of this, you can increase employee satisfaction and performance through the employee lifecycle. Offering attractive opportunities for career growth within your organization is perhaps the single most efficient way to reduce employee turnover and avoid losing good talent.
Benefits & Rewards
What type of benefits package can your company offer its employees?
What is the average salary range at your company?
Is there a bonus structure in place or other rewards on which employees can be recognized/compensated?
What about insurance, pension, and other similar benefits?
Many companies are stuck in old ways of thinking when it comes to benefits and rewards. Often, it's not perks like ping pong tables or free soda that will create a better employee experience. Instead, the organizations that go the extra mile to actually find out what their employees would truly value are the ones who will be rewarded with increased employee engagement and employee retention.
Work-Life Integration
Do team members have access to flexible work arrangements (e.g., flex-time, telecommuting, compressed workweeks)?
How supportive are managers of these arrangements if requested by an employee?
How supportive are managers when parents need to adjust their schedules or take time off?
Work-life integration is a term that measures the degree to which individuals can effectively merge their work and non-work roles and maintain a balance between them. It is becoming more common for organizations to attempt to manage these relationships to create a healthier workforce. In recent years, organizations have made efforts to increase flexibility in the workplace by allowing employees who are parents or caregivers increased flexibility and giving employees more control over their work schedules so they can better meet family obligations.
Working Environment
How would employees rate their office space, furniture/technology, and other amenities?
Do all employees have access to the tools they need to perform a good job?
Having the right office layout and workspace design plays an important role in motivating employees, boosting productivity, and allowing creativity to bloom. However, with such an abundance of choices available for working environments, how do you know which one will benefit your business? As always, you will get the best answer by actually asking your employees, as the work environment forms a crucial part of the employee experience.
Exit Survey
What are your recent employees saying about why they decided to leave the organization?
Do you know what the main areas of focus should be for retention efforts?
Exit surveys are a powerful way to gather quick, accessible feedback from employees on their journey - vastly more so than face-to-face interviews or focus groups. Whether you design your exit survey yourself or use an off-the-shelf system, they let you ask for opinions in bulk – and analyze the answers. Ensuring everyone who leaves your company takes extensive, anonymous exit surveys is a great way to understand how to reduce employee turnover and improve the overall employee experience.
