Blog Employee Experience

What is the state of employee experience in 2022 and how can we improve things for all?

Updated 18th February 2022

Engagement and wellbeing have continued to be two of our most important topics over this past year. But perhaps the key to solving both is by taking a broader view. That’s where the concept of workplace experience comes in. But our employee experience 2022 guide can help you get to grips with the future of work!

Defining employee experience in 2022

Employee experience is the broad term that encapsulates every aspect of a person’s working life. So, as you can imagine, having good employee experience strategy can really impact employee engagement in your business. That said, it’s important to draw a distinction between the two.

Experience encompasses everything you deal with in and around your workplace. But employee engagement is specifically the extent of a person’s attachment and obligation to their role and peers, as well as the organisation and its goals.

So, for example, your daily commute is part of your employee experience. But the effect of an overly long commute is that it can negatively impact your sense of engagement. Now, let’s look at the state of employee experience in 2022.

Employee experience 2022 stats you need to know

Last year, Willis Tower Watson produced their Employee Experience Survey. They found that almost the entirety of surveyed UK employees (98%) view employee experience as being a top priority in their business for the next three years. Compare that to stats gathered before the pandemic. Back then, only 52% rated it as a top priority. So it’s clear to see that COVID 19 has pushed many of us to re-evaluate.

But knowing what people want is meaningless if you don't understand its impact. So let's balance out our list of employee experience 2022 stats. The employees in this survey also reported the major benefits of prioritising employee experience:

  • 88% believe that nurturing employee experience can make talent recruitment and retention more effective.
  • 84% report that positive employee experience benefits their ability to engage.
  • Positive employee experiences make staff more productive, according to 82% of employees.

Let's look to the words of Amanda Scott, Head of Talent and Rewards Business at Willis Tower Watson:

‘To succeed, they [employers] must start with a bold employee experience strategy that supports their business strategy and is based on a consistent model. Then, they can turn to execution — adapting programs and policies reflective of flexible work, paying employees fairly, enhancing benefit delivery and wellbeing programs, supporting workers in a more agile and flexible workspace, and aligning Total Rewards programs to meet the needs of a diverse workforce.’

Why does employee experience matter?

Employee engagement and employee experience may be distinct concepts. But, as we love to remind you, it’s impossible to manage one without considering the other. And employee experience covers just about everything. So there’s more or less an infinite number of ways it can go wrong.

Without a solid employee experience, you’ll never be able to engage your workforce. Your business will be bringing in an approximately 2.5x less revenue than a similar business with a highly engaged workforce. On top of that, you could stand to lose as much as £30,000 per employee lost to turnover

It’s not just the experience of your employees you should be concerned with, but also the experience of ex-employees. If the experience of the average staff member in your organisation is a bad one, word will eventually travel. This can make replacing departed staff that much more difficult, which can hit you right in the budget.

At the very least, you need to be conducting exit interviews. These will give you a clearer view of the damage you’re inflicting on your own recruitment potential. Ideally, these interviews should happen after you’ve supplied a nice, glowing reference to ensure maximum honesty.

Supporting the employee experience in 2022

We’re not going to list literally everything you could do to support employee experience, because we’d be here all day. But here are what we consider to be the top priorities for you to keep an eye on:

Fair treatment and appropriate compensation

In an ideal world, the ability to take pride in your work would be all anyone needs. But all that goes out the window if you aren’t being treated fairly. Ideally, engagement and motivation should be intrinsic, but money is the extrinsic motivator that pretty much everyone needs.

A lot of workplaces are rife with favouritism. Too many people are not being paid what they deserve. It doesn't matter how much your employees love the work they do. This kind of thing will eventually wear on their nerves.

Job flexibility and work/life balance

If we learned two things during the pandemic, it’s that: 

We live in a world where hellish commutes and long-hours cultures are commonplace. So it should be no big secret supporting flexible work is the key for how to keep employees happy. Flexible job arrangements can give employees back the control they’ve been missing. It also ensures that typically demanding careers can be made more accessible, which takes us to our next point…

Diversity and accessibility

Arguably, two especially vital parts of employee experience in 2022 are diversity and accessibility. Diverse workplaces are hotbeds of creativity and innovation. But even more importantly, they make workplaces more accessible to those with disabilities or out-of-work commitments. This level of support can widen the applicant pool and help businesses to overcome supposed talent shortages.

Wellbeing support

Without a doubt, wellbeing is the most essential part of workplace experience. Employee wellbeing has become more important than ever this year. That's the whole reason we're giving you the employee experience 2022 rundown in the first place.

Employers must encourage staff to look after their physical and mental health. And if you want your people to listen, give them the support and flexibility to get whatever help they need.

But just remember one thing. If all else fails, then the most important thing you can do for employee experience is to communicate effectively. After all, you can’t give people the support they need if they can’t tell you what they need first-hand!

Time to find out how a simple employee check-in each week could help improve your workplace culture?