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There's a saying that "There is no beginning. There is no end. There is only change.” Change is the only constant, they say.
Let’s apply this universal principle and look at the journey of an employee. It supposedly starts with them joining an organization and ends when they leave one day.
But is that truly the beginning and the end? Most certainly not. Long before they join you, they know about you. And long after leaving, they're still spreading the word about you.
As leaders, we should always focus on enriching every touchpoint of the employee life cycle. The more enriching the life cycle, the more positive will be their overall experience.
I’m outlining eight stages of the employee’s journey in an organization with some valuable tips on how to make each step enriching and engaging.
Eight Stages Of The Employee Journey
Stage 1: Awareness
Let them know you exist. The life cycle of an employee begins before you make any contact. Does that mean it’s not a touchpoint? Not at all. This stage sets the tone for the rest of the journey to quite an extent.
A few tips that can help organizations get it right at this stage:
• Make yourself visible. Are you at the places where your potential employees are? LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter? Being on platforms like these is no longer optional.
• Work on brand awareness. Managers can attend conferences and seminars and regularly contribute to leading industry websites and magazines to build a strong company profile.
Stage 2: Attraction
Get them from knowing you to liking you. No matter how strong or innovative your product/service lineup is, without attracting and retaining the right talent, the company can fail.
Here’s how to ace the attraction stage and build a strong employer brand:
• Employees are the biggest promoters of a company. Through effective employer branding, you can showcase your awesome culture to others.
• Offer the right compensation and benefits. You don’t need to pay top dollar to attract the best. However, you should stick to industry standards and make the offer appealing with carefully thought-out benefits.
Stage 3: Recruitment
Hire top talent. This is the first point of contact between an employer and a potential employee. Therefore, making a great first impression is equally important for both parties.
Optimize the recruitment stage by:
• Creating a recruiting plan that includes everything right from the questions you’ll ask to the number of interview rounds a candidate needs to clear before getting selected.
• Keeping it quick, smooth and transparent. Eliminate as many bureaucratic and administrative procedures as possible and keep everything straightforward and swift.
Stage 4: Preboarding And Onboarding
Well begun is half done, quite literally. In one of my earlier articles on winning in the employee retention game, I wrote about how companies average only a 50% hiring and 90-day retention success rate. (Glassdoor found that over one in six job offers are rejected in the U.S. and one in three employees are likely to quit in the first 90 days.) This is why preboarding and onboarding become so important.
Some key strategies:
• Make employees feel welcome. Sending a welcome letter, e-card or welcome basket with company goodies before joining day are great ways to welcome new employees.
• Build a custom onboarding plan based on the needs of an organization that clearly lays down expectations.
Stage 5: Retention
Make top performers stick around. While attrition is inevitable, an improved retention strategy can protect against regular replacement costs and promote employee satisfaction and longevity.
Tips for retaining key employees:
• Build a healthy work environment. This is an umbrella term comprising work culture, growth prospects, compensation and interpersonal relationships.
• Provide a healthy work-life balance. To retain top talent, start investing in their personal lives. Vacation vouchers, gym memberships and flexible in-office or remote work options are some great examples.
Stage 6: Development
Give wings to their ambitions. Most employees want to advance toward their career and life goals. You can support their ambitions through various skill development initiatives and provide them with growth opportunities.
Here are some tips:
• Encourage external and internal learning. Enroll employees in offline/online skill training programs. Buddy systems or peer learning programs can also be highly effective in developing skills and improving team members' relationships.
• Discuss professional goals with employees. You can also discuss short-term and long-term professional goals with employees and see how you can support them.
Stage 7: Separation
All experiences eventually end. The employee life cycle comes to an end with separation. (Sometimes it's involuntary. I recently wrote in detail about letting go of your employees.)
When an employee leaves, here are a few things to keep in mind:
• Be open to honest feedback. Use exit interviews as an opportunity to better understand their experience of working at your company. Take their feedback positively and initiate changes if required.
• Encourage teams to look forward. Departures can impact team morale. Make teams believe that the organization will eventually recover from losing a great employee and continue growing.
Stage 8: Beyond Separation
Despite my statement in stage seven that all experiences eventually end, it's also true that nothing ever comes to an absolute end. Just because an employee has left your organization doesn’t necessarily mean that the relationship between the organization and the employee has ceased to exist. They might still be friends with their colleagues working in the organization, or they might still be spreading the word about you.
Here’s how to optimize this experience for them:
• Keep in touch. Use events like birthdays and holidays to keep in touch with your old employees.
• Build an alumni program that can still make them feel like part of the clan.
Refine the employee journey to refine company growth.
Employees are the biggest asset of every successful organization; they deserve our attention and involvement.
As leaders, we can use these tips and build a happier and more engaged, productive and satisfied workforce that consistently contributes to our organization’s growth and success.
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