How to create journey maps to improve EX (Employee Experience)

Personas, the unique perspectives and experiences of a cluster of the target population, can help researchers identify where to make changes.⁴ A persona is a mock-up of a fictional person that embodies a cluster - it might include a name, short biography, short quote, key interests, or other relevant information.⁵ 

Using personas can help foster empathy and a greater understanding of the customer.⁶ The strategy also helps to humanize a set of data that might otherwise be difficult to explain to software engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.⁵

Despite its potential in helping to understand customers, journey mapping and personas have rarely been applied inwards to improve the employee journey. Rather than grouping all employees into one journey, dividing employees up into personas helps to more effectively identify areas for improvement as each group faces unique challenges. 

The pandemic has changed the way we work. People want to work together to create authentic, encouraging experiences that bolster individual, team, and organizational success.⁷ As such, there is a need like never before to ensure that the employee experience (EX) is as positive as it can be and flip the journey mapping process inward rather than outward.

Company leadership shapes the employee experience. They can use journey mapping to make it better. 

• People who have had positive experiences with their employer are 16 times more engaged than those who reported negative experiences⁸
• They’re also 8 times more likely to want to stay with their employer⁸
• At firms that prioritize good EX, employees are more predisposed to surpassing expectations, exhibiting 40 percent more (optional) effort⁸

Firms that prioritize EX are more productive and are perceived to be more innovative and better employers than their counterparts.⁹

The employee experience is as important as the customer experience. In the same vein, leaders should investigate the employee journey using the same tactics that they would with their customers.¹⁰

This provides employers with quantitative data points from which to better understand key variables, e.g. when workers become disengaged, how long it takes to bring on a new hire, or the average tenure at the firm.¹⁰ 

Gathering data also helps employers take a birds’ eye approach to employee behaviors. For example, if turnover was high one year, it could indicate onboarding was insufficient or they didn’t feel supported by their superiors. However, if employees are consistently leaving after a few years, it could point to insufficient opportunities for advancement. 

In taking time to create detailed personas, leaders will be in a better position to make decisions about how to best support their employees.

Before beginning on their EX journey, firms require a strong commitment to understanding their employees’ needs, pain points, and the emotional contexts of their personal and work lives.⁷

Once this is established, they can identify each of the core steps that employees take, from the application process to departure. A standard process looks like: a) recruitment, b) onboarding, c) development, d) retention, and e) exit.¹¹

A good methodology to uncover employee journeys and personas looks like this:¹¹

1. Begin by establishing a current-state baseline and an aspirational level of employee satisfaction⁷

2. Divide employees based on role, not demographics

3. Create a journey for each type of employee

4. Make sure leaders use a consistent form of success measurement across the different divisions of the organization, for example a set of issues that can be measured using a 5-point Likert scale (like engagement or excitement)

5. To make sure employees find the  journeys accurate, there should be opportunities for feedback. Automation can make this process efficient: for example, set up reminders to automatically send requests for feedback when an employee hits a milestone

6. Review journey and create an engagement survey to monitor the accuracy of the journeys

As you’re implementing the outcomes from the EX journey mapping, you can track its impact using surveys and KPIs, like the number of offer acceptances, resignations, absences, and engagement.¹²

Beyond providing better resources and opportunities for employees, understanding the EX also has benefits for the firm. Finding talent and keeping them happy through retention will boost the organization’s reputation and increase the likelihood of future talent acquisition. Besides, it’s just good business to treat people well, and show employers that their leaders care enough to try to understand their experiences.

The Decision Lab is a behavioral consultancy that uses science to foster employee wellness through science and design. We work with some of the most well-known names in innovation and health to improve experiences for firms large and small. If you'd like to implement changes in your organization, contact us.