A 10-Step Guide to Employee Experience Journey Mapping

Happy and engaged employees bring success to your company. But how do you ensure every team member has a positive journey from start to finish?

Enter employee experience journey mapping. 

This guide provides a 10-step process to visualize and enhance every employee’s experience, empowering you to discover what excites and frustrates your employees at each stage and craft a roadmap for a fulfilling and productive experience for all. 

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What is an employee experience journey?

An employee experience journey is the complete employee lifecycle – every interaction, experience, and perception an employee has with the company at every stage of their employment, shaped by the company’s culture, work environment, policies, and the relationships employees build with their coworkers and managers.

This journey starts at the moment an employee first becomes aware of the company as a potential employer, through their application, hiring, onboarding, growth, and development phases, to the day they leave the company. 

Understanding the employee experience journey is crucial for organizations that aim to improve engagement, satisfaction, and retention, as it emphasizes multiple touchpoints where you can make adjustments to improve the overall work experience.

Benefits of employee experience journey mapping

Employee experience journey mapping is a strategic process organizations use to visualize and understand every step of an employee’s lifecycle within the company, from initial awareness and application through to exit.

Mapping helps HR departments and leaders capture experiences, interactions, and touchpoints of their employees with the company.

This holistic approach ensures that employee retention and engagement strategies are grounded in deeply understanding the employee’s journey, providing a clear framework for creating a more positive and fulfilling work environment.

Here’s how you can benefit from implementing this approach:

• Improved understanding of employee needs and expectations: Journey mapping reveals what employees look for at different stages, enabling companies to align their offerings. 48% of employees in America are actively searching for or monitoring job opportunities, highlighting the need for businesses to understand and meet employee expectations to retain talent.
• Enhanced employee engagement and satisfaction: Companies can improve employee engagement and satisfaction by addressing the unique needs discovered through journey mapping. Tailored experiences increase engagement—companies scoring in the top quartile in terms of employee experience outperform those in the bottom quartile by 10% on customer ratings and 22% on profitability.
• Identified pain points and improvement opportunities: Identifying issues in the employee journey allows for targeted improvements. For instance, 94% of employees would stay with a company longer if it committed to their learning and development, underscoring the importance of addressing pain points in growth opportunities.
• Streamlined onboarding and training processes: Effective onboarding can improve new employee retention by 82% and productivity by over 70%, which is why streamlining these processes is crucial.
• Increased productivity and performance: Happy and engaged employees are 12% more productive than unhappy ones, according to a study by the University of Warwick. Mapping the employee journey helps create conditions that boost happiness and productivity and prevent overwork and turnover.
• Better employee retention rates: Organizations with strong employee engagement strategies enjoy 59% less turnover, according to Gallup’s Q12® Meta-Analysis. Understanding the employee journey is key to crafting these strategies.
• Informed decision-making based on employee feedback: Using feedback gathered during journey mapping can guide better decision-making. Employees who feel heard are 4.6 times more likely to perform their best work.

7 stages of the employee journey

Each stage of the employee journey is vital in shaping the overall employee experience. By understanding and optimizing each step, companies can ensure a fulfilling and productive journey for their employees:

1. Talent attraction is where the lifecycle begins. Talent attraction is about making your company appealing to potential candidates. It’s the image you project through your brand, culture, and the opportunities you offer. It’s about making top talent say, “I want to work there!”
2. Recruitment is the process of actively seeking and encouraging candidates to apply for open positions. It involves posting job ads, networking, and sometimes headhunting to get the right candidates to notice you and want to join your team.
3. Hiring is the decision-making stage. After sifting through applications and conducting interviews, you select the candidate who best fits the job and your company culture.
4. Onboarding introduces new hires to the team, teaches them about your company culture, and gives them the tools and information they need to start their journey on the right foot. A smooth onboarding process makes new employees feel valued and prepared.
5. Development focuses on growth and learning. It is about giving employees opportunities to learn new skills and improve their efficiency while growing their careers. This stage is crucial for keeping employees engaged and motivated over time.
6. Advancement is the stage where employees move up the ladder. It could involve promotions, taking on new responsibilities, or leadership opportunities. It’s a way of recognizing and rewarding employees for their hard work and contribution to the company.
7. Exit is when an employee leaves the company, whether it’s for retirement, a new job, or other reasons. It’s important to handle this stage gracefully, conducting exit interviews to learn from their experiences and parting on good terms.

10 steps to mapping out employee experience journey

Follow these 10 essential steps to effectively map out the employee journey. Each step is crucial for understanding and enhancing the employee experience from start to finish:

1. Define objectives and scope

Set clear goals and boundaries for your mapping project to focus on what you want to achieve and ensure the mapping aligns with your company’s broader goals.

Actionable steps:

• Identify the key goals you want to achieve with your mapping (e.g., improve retention, enhance engagement).
• Choose the employee experience metrics you will track in real time throughout the journey to be able to react promptly. Essential metrics to monitor include:
  • Employee net promoter score (eNPS)
  • Employee retention
  • Employee engagement
  • Employee wellness
  • Internal promotions
  • Participation in learning & development initiatives
  • Performance review data
  • Employee productivity
• Determine the boundaries of your project, such as specific departments or stages in the employee lifecycle you want to focus on.

2. Gather data 

Collect information through surveys, interviews, and other methods to understand the current employee experience. Data provides the foundation for your journey map, offering insights into how employees feel and what they experience at each stage.

Actionable steps:

• Conduct surveys and interviews with employees across different levels and departments to gather qualitative data. 
• To improve experience and retention, think from the employee’s point of view and choose tools and resources that don’t disrupt the employee’s daily workflow. HeartCount’s Custom Surveys feature provides numerous survey options – pulse check surveys, personal freeform feedback, and custom surveys, that are simple, direct, and can be completed in a few minutes.
• Use HR analytics and performance data to collect quantitative insights in real-time.
• Observe workplace interactions and processes for additional context.

3. Identify employee personas 

Create profiles for different types of employees based on roles, departments, or career stages.

Personas help tailor the journey map to meet the needs of diverse employee groups, ensuring the strategies developed are relevant and practical.

Actionable steps:

• Segment your workforce based on relevant criteria:
  • Role
  • Department
  • Career stage
  • Demographics.
• Create detailed profiles for each segment, including job roles, motivations, challenges, and needs.

4. Define the stages of the journey 

Visually outline the stages employees go through, from hiring to exit. A visual map makes it simpler to grasp the overall employee experience, identifying key touchpoints and moments that matter.

Actionable steps:

• List all the stages an employee goes through, from pre-hiring to exit.
• Identify key touchpoints and experiences at each stage.
• Use a visual tool to create a diagram that outlines these stages and touchpoints.

5. Analyze the current experience

Evaluate the data to understand the highs and lows of the current employee journey. Analysis reveals areas of strength and opportunities for improvement, guiding where changes are needed.

Actionable steps:

• Review the collected data to identify trends, patterns, and anomalies.
• Highlight the areas where employees feel most and least satisfied.
• Map out the emotional highs and lows across different journey stages.

6. Brainstorm opportunities for improvement 

Generate ideas on how to enhance the employee experience. Brainstorming encourages creative thinking and problem-solving, leading to innovative solutions for enhancing the journey.

Actionable steps:

• Organize brainstorming sessions with a cross-functional team to generate ideas for enhancing the employee experience.
• Encourage creative and out-of-the-box thinking without immediate judgment or dismissal of ideas.
• Prioritize ideas based on feasibility, impact, and alignment with your objectives.

7. Design the desired experience 

Plan what you want the future employee experience to look like. Designing the desired experience sets a clear vision for the changes needed to achieve your employee experience goals.

Actionable steps:

• Define what success looks like for each stage of the employee journey, including desired outcomes and emotions.
• Develop plans for new initiatives, policies, or changes to achieve these desired outcomes.
• Create a timeline and assign responsibilities for implementing these changes.

8. Implement changes 

Put the plans into action to improve the employee journey. Ideas become a reality in implementation, directly impacting the employee experience based on your journey mapping efforts.

Actionable steps:

• Roll out new initiatives in phases, starting with pilots or small-scale tests where feasible.
• Communicate changes clearly and effectively to all employees, explaining the benefits and expectations.
• Provide training and support as needed to ensure smooth adoption.

9. Monitor and measure 

Keep track of progress and evaluate the impact of changes. Monitor to ensure the implemented changes work as intended and allow for adjustments based on real-world feedback.

Actionable steps:

• Set up key performance indicators (KPIs) related to employee experience (e.g., engagement scores, turnover rates).
• Use surveys, feedback tools, and analytics to assess the impact of implemented changes regularly.
• Adjust your strategy based on feedback and measurable outcomes.

10. Iterate and improve 

Continuously refine and update the journey map based on new data and feedback. The employee experience is dynamic; regularly iterating and improving the journey map ensures it remains relevant and effective over time.

Actionable steps:

• Schedule regular review sessions to assess the effectiveness of the employee experience strategy.
• Be open to making continuous adjustments based on new insights, feedback, and changing business needs.
• Foster a culture of ongoing improvement by encouraging employees to share their ideas and feedback regularly.

Employee experience journey map – template

Common mistakes in employee experience journey mapping

By avoiding common mistakes, companies can ensure a more accurate and effective employee journey mapping, leading to a better understanding and improving the overall employee experience.

1. Ignoring important stages in the employee journey: Critical moments such as the acceptance of  a job offer, the initial onboarding period, or the first 90 days of an employee’s tenure at your company, can leave significant gaps in understanding the employee experience. These touchpoints are pivotal in shaping an employee’s perception of the organization.
2. Leaving employees out: HR should collaborate with employees on their journey mapping. Leaving them out means missing crucial insights and perspectives that could help refine and improve the overall employee experience.
3. Sidestepping challenges: Avoiding the obstacles  and negative experiences that will inevitably occur in the journey of an employee at your company prevents you from addressing the issues and areas that need improvement, such as workplace conflicts, lack of recognition, or subpar training implementations.
4. Having a generic approach to all roles: Employees have diverse needs and experiences based on their roles, departments, and locations. A generic approach fails to capture these nuances, leading to strategies that may not effectively address individual or group-specific concerns.
5. Overcomplicating the process: Employee journey mapping should be simple. Overcomplicating it with too many details can lead to confusion and an inability to improve it and measure its success.
6. Not using HR tools: Technology streamlines data collection, analysis, and action planning. Overlooking digital tools may hinder efficiency and the ability to scale and adapt the mapping process over time.
7. Not addressing turnover: Focusing only on current employees without understanding why others quit misses opportunities to address underlying issues that contribute to unwanted turnover, limiting the effectiveness of retention strategies.
8. Not allowing flexibility: Rigidity in the approach to employee journey mapping can overlook dynamic changes in the workplace or individual circumstances, stopping adjustments to be made in real-time and the mapping process to be responsive to evolving employee needs.

Map your way to employee bliss 

By following these ten steps, you’ll gain invaluable insights, design a dream journey, and watch engagement and retention soar. 

Remember, the journey is continuous. Stay ahead of the curve with HeartCount, the HR tool that keeps its finger on the pulse of your workforce. Through quick, simple surveys, HeartCount unlocks real-time feedback, empowering you to make data-driven decisions that keep your employees happy and thriving.