A journey towards employee insight and a good customer experience

In a society in which people, companies and things are becoming increasingly connected, it is more critical than ever that we nurture relationships and truly understand what drives customer satisfaction; after all, keeping customers is both enjoyable and profitable. Without insight into our customers’ current and future needs and expectations, we also risk offering solutions that fail to create value. This not only applies to customers; it also applies to employees.

The organizations of tomorrow will need digital technology and analogue human resources that function in perfect symbiosis. These days however, employees often find themselves in fragmented and complex work environments in which poorly defined or cumbersome processes and structures. as well as the multiples systems and tools that they are required to use in their day-to-day work, lead to inefficiency and stress. Nor is it unusual for prospective employees to be confronted with disparate digital and physical channels and points of contact that fail to reflect the company’s brand and values. The consequences of this may include reduced productivity and innovation throughout the organization, as well as an inability to attract and retain talent. This in turn can have a negative impact on the customer experience. In the long term, no business can afford this kind of waste.

The employee journey: a tool for seeing things from the employee perspective
Identifying and defining the customer journey has become a popular tool for seeing the organization through the customer’s eyes and thereby understanding the stages and experiences the customer goes through in their encounter with the organization. The same method is equally applicable to creating an increased understanding of the employee perspective and their needs and challenges throughout their journey with the organization. From an HR perspective, the employee journey is often divided into:

- the initial experience of a candidate for a job prior to employment;
- the employee’s experience of their day-to-day work, both positive and negative, during employment; and
- the factors that affect their experience and continued relationship after employment has ended.

How can the employee journey be utilized?
By mapping the employee journey, the organization can, for example:

- develop a factual basis on which to more responsively design a streamlined employee experience that reduces wasted time and resources, drives engagement and reinforces the employee’s abilities;
- bridge organizational silos and create common approaches;
- justify changes to working methods, processes and services;
- describe how a more efficient user experience can be created across processes, channels, platforms, etc,; and
- demonstrate how the physical and digital environments can interact and highlight any obstacles and bottlenecks.

Here at Knowit Insight, we consider our customer and employee journeys to be among the most powerful tools we have at our disposal. Based on a strategic as well as service and design concept, management and employees are placed in the position of customers so that internal service functions look from the outside in, instead of vice versa. By asking employees and management questions such as how HR can make their work easier, you will gain invaluable input that will improve your employee journey or radically alter journeys, services and processes to improve both day-to-day work and those crucial moments during the employee lifecycle.

Would you like to learn more?
Knowit Insight has applied this approach to many projects conducted in collaboration with major corporations with thousands of employees, smaller service companies, public authorities and municipalities. One of our experts in the field is Henrik Gustafsson, coauthor of the book Digital Workplace Strategy and Design.

If you would like to learn more and obtain help to develop your employee experience and journey, please contact Carin Strindmark.