Employee experience: 5 stages for your employee journey

Giving your customers a great experience is what gives you the best chance of creating a loyal long-term customer base. That's why so many businesses invest time into mapping their ideal customer journey.

It is reported that the biggest time for customer abandonment occurs during the onboarding phase. This is the phase when customers are moving from first contact through to using your product or service for the first time.

During this phase you want to make sure your customers are getting all the information they need, but that it is in manageable/consumable pieces and at the right times throughout their journey.

When it comes to new employees, the same principals apply. Customers and team members are all people, looking to be guided through this new phase.

Here are 5 stages at the beginning of your employee journey to map out.

1. First impressions

Ideally your brand will be reaching both active candidates (those who are in market, looking for a new opportunity) and passive candidates (those who aren’t actively looking, yet) so there are a few key questions to reflect on for this phase:

• Does your employer brand properly represent your business and the culture you want to foster?
• Do you have a platform or avenue for sharing your employer brand when you are not actively seeking new talent? For example, do you share about your team member milestones or internal culture via Instagram or LinkedIn?
• How do people move from being brand aware to a candidate? Is this clear on your website or in your communications?

2. The Churn

Contact with people who have taken the time to apply for a role or submit an EOI is often the first real chance candidates get to look behind the curtain and get a real sense for your business (beyond the curated version of your business they may see online).  

Just like a customer journey where not all leads will end up as customers, here you'll see the biggest "churn". This stage allows you to help candidates to self-select by being clear with expectations and cultural standards so they can assess whether these align with their expectations and values.

It is also a great opportunity to make a lasting impression on every person who flows through your process. Make the candidates you decline your biggest brand champions by giving them a great experience; taking the time to respond to their queries, follow up when you say you will and give them some constructive feedback!

3. Kick-off before day 1

There’s usually a gap of a few weeks before a new team member starts. Once you’ve made it official and everyone has signed on the dotted line, you want to make sure your new hire doesn’t experience any “buyer’s remorse.”

Don’t go quiet and wait for them to simply turn up on day one.  Kick off with a call or email before their first day to confirm key details, answer any lingering questions, and let them know how excited you are to welcome them to the team.

4. Make the first week one to remember

• Be organised. It’s great to see how people cope under the pressure of being thrown in the deep end, but where possible have a plan of what their first week will look like, with a mix of projects to be completed solo and meetings/shadowing with yourself or other members of the team. It’s important that you give them a chance to settle in and that they feel secure from day one.
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• Share the merchandise! If you’ve got some branded collateral - pens, notebooks, or stress balls - set up a small welcome pack. On your first day at a new job, there isn’t much that feels better than a little gift, plus it’s great for brand awareness too!
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• Do some team bonding. Spend some time chatting about things that aren’t work, either over lunch or something a little more interactive like rapid fire ‘this or that’ questions, so that you and the rest of the team can get to know who they are beyond a job title and who their previous employer was!

5. Keep the spark alive.

To keep new staff engaged as they become settled, you must continue to provide them with the information and the support to have them coming back each day and wanting to give, do and be more for your business. Continue to clearly communicate your expectations and check in with them about their workload, their goals and any support they require!

We've got a free resource for you

The Catalyst Kit: Employee Onboarding & Induction Guide

We’ve put together a practical guide to help you structure onboarding in a clear, simple, step-by-step way.

Inside the kit you'll find:

• The legal bits — everything you need to cover when hiring someone new
• Checklists — what to complete before day one, and in those crucial first weeks
• Probation 101 — key dates, expectations, and how to make the most of this period.

Download here.