employee journey mapping: the key to improving your employee experience.

As the competition to attract and retain skilled talent remains high, employers are placing an increased priority on providing a positive employee experience — and for good reason. When your employees are fully engaged in the workplace, it can impact everything from recruitment and retention to higher work quality and productivity.

To create an effective employee experience strategy, it’s essential to understand the various employee journeys and the challenges and expectations your workers have at each step along the way. Employee journey mapping is one of the best tools available to help you visualize, track and manage your employees’ experience.

This article goes into more detail about journey mapping and how using this tool can help you build a happy and productive workplace.

what is employee journey mapping?

The employee experience encompasses the various journeys employees go through during their tenure with your company. Among these journeys, the most important ones include applying for a job, joining the organization, engaging in day-to-day work, growing within the company and eventually transitioning out of the company.

Throughout each of these stages, your employees face various opportunities and challenges and bring with them numerous expectations. To provide an employee experience that can positively impact your business outcomes, it’s important to understand whether your organization is meeting those expectations. 

Employee journey mapping is a tool that can help you do just that. An employee journey map is a visual tool that enables you to track your employees experience from application to offboarding. This tool can provide you with valuable insight to help you identify where improvements are needed and devise the right strategies to address them.

understanding the employee journey framework

In order to effectively map out your employees' experience, it is important to understand the pivotal journeys they go through that shape their overall employee experience. It's equally important to always view these journeys through the lens of the employees themselves. For example, rather than using the term 'recruitment process,' we choose the more employee-focused approach of calling it ‘I apply.' Below is a closer look at the different employee journeys:

• I apply (attraction and recruitment): Candidates initially connect with your employer brand, potentially through advertisements or social media campaigns. The objective is to convince them to apply to one of your open positions. This stage is successful when the candidate signs the employment contract with excitement and a smile.
• I onboard (onboarding process): When new employees join your company, you can set them up for success by acquainting them with your organization's policies, culture, and their specific roles and responsibilities. This facilitates a smooth transition and helps them feel a part of the team from the very beginning.
• I work (retention and engagement): Every employee desires a sense of belonging and connection within their organization. Create an environment where employees feel connected, motivated and satisfied, encouraging them to stay and thrive within your organization.
• I grow (training and development): Empower your employees to excel in their positions by offering ongoing training, conducting regular performance evaluations, and delivering constructive feedback that nurtures their development.
• I leave (offboarding): When an employee makes the decision to part ways with your company,  it is essential to guide them through the process in a supportive and positive manner. A proper handover process and conducting exit interviews play a crucial role in this journey.

benefits of mapping the employee journey

Improving the employee experience is a vital component of improving your recruitment and workforce management practices as well as the success of your business. As one of the best available tools for developing a positive employee experience, employee journey mapping offers many benefits, including:

• engaged employees: Mapping the different journeys that make up your employee experience forces you to identify the needs, expectations and challenges of your employees at different stages of their employment. Having this visual representation can help you find ways to foster and strengthen engagement in the workplace. 
• better resource allocation: Visualizing your employee experience allows you to determine the various challenges and strategies needed at every stage of the journey. With this understanding, you are in a position to better allocate your resources.
• alignment with business goals: Strategically mapping your employee journey ensures it aligns with your business goals and objectives. Better alignment typically results in improved outcomes. 
• identification of strengths and weaknesses: Knowing where your organization is and isn’t providing its workers with a positive employee experience is crucial. Only when you know which elements of the employee journey are working and where adjustments are needed can you create an employee experience strategy that makes a lasting impression. 
• strengthening of your employer brand: When used correctly, employee journey mapping can help you discover what sets your company apart from its competitors. Use our employee journey map template to determine where your company excels and what your employees like best about working with your company. These details can help you develop a strong, accurate and effective employer brand.

best practices to map the employee journey

When mapping your employees’ journeys, there are a few things you should keep in mind. Below is a look at several employee journey mapping best practices that can help you streamline this process.

diverse employee perspective

When mapping your employees’ journeys, it can be easy to focus on each stage from your perspective. Certainly, you need to consider how each stage affects the workplace and the company as a whole, but you need to involve your employees.

In fact, involving a diverse group of employees is essential for gaining a well-rounded understanding of your employees experience. For instance, make sure to involve those who have recently joined the company as well as those who have been with the company for a longer period of time. It's also important to include individuals from different positions and backgrounds. 

In some cases, it can be beneficial to examine the employee experience of individuals within specific departments. For instance, if you're grappling with high turnover in the sales department, diving into the experiences of your sales colleagues can shed light on potential causes and improvements. 

To gather your employees' feedback, you have various methods at your disposal. You can host workshops to map out a specific journey, conduct individual interviews or utilize employee surveys. Make sure to create an environment where employees feel comfortable sharing their thoughts and ideas and to actively demonstrate how their feedback is being utilized.

brainstorm solutions with employees

When mapping the journey of your employees, you gain valuable insights into areas that require improvement or adjustment. Armed with this information, HR can come up with strategies and solutions. However, during this phase, the creative minds of employees are often disregarded.

Your employees are the best source of simple yet effective solutions for the issues that have been identified. For instance, if you're looking to address the prolonged time it takes to receive IT support, one of your employees might suggest implementing a daily happy hour where anyone can directly approach the IT department for assistance.

By involving your employees in the process, you not only empower them to actively contribute with their ideas, but you also increase your chances of finding innovative solutions that truly address the needs of your workforce.

measure results 

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is failing to measure the results of mapping your employee journey. Don’t just assume that everything you track on the employee journey map will remain accurate, relevant and effective forever. Today’s fast-paced job market and frequent shifts in workers’ expectations require your company to maintain up-to-date strategies. 

To measure your results, it is imperative to select the appropriate metrics and measure them regularly. For instance, if you discovered through journey mapping that many employees are dissatisfied with the length of time it takes to receive IT desk support, it may be beneficial to track Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) or Customer Effort Score (CES) for the completion of such internal tasks. By measuring this, you’ll be able to determine the effectiveness of the strategies implemented to address these issues.

Furthermore, there are many other metrics available to track the employee experience, such as: 

• eNPS score: measures how likely your employees are to recommend your organization as a great place to work
• job acceptance rate: the percentage of candidates who accepted a position within your organization
• application completion rate: the percentage of candidates who started an application for an open role at your company and successfully completed it
• retention rates (new hire and long-term retention): the percentage of employees that stay at your company over a specific period of time
• frequency of recognition: the rate at which you acknowledge and reward your employees for their work
• number of internal promotions: the number of internal promotions during a specific period of time

Additionally, bear in mind that these metrics can be examined both as a whole and on a departmental basis. This approach allows you to not only identify areas where your company excels and areas that need improvement, but also uncover best practices that can be implemented company-wide.