How to Map the Employee Journey

Mapping the employee journey is difficult, but will provide valuable insight to your business models, brand and overall company effectiveness. You gain knowledge about strengths and weaknesses that may have been completely overlooked, including information that could increase employee retention and drive sales. When you map the employee journey, you are taking an inside look at your organization from a completely new perspective. You are looking at a company, not as a manager, a leader, or a customer, but as an employee who is crucial to the team.

Companies must never forget that their internal audiences, such as employees, are audiences nonetheless, and their journey is important. In order to get the experience right from day one, be sure to map the employee journey from the first day to their full induction into the company.

Finally, employees are a crucial player in customer service and satisfaction, so it’s important to make sure their journey is satisfactory as well. Below are a few tips on how to map the employee journey and some questions to ask along the way.

First Impressions

First impressions of your company begin far before the interview process. Your job candidate may have heard of you at a party, or from one of your current employees. He or she could have seen your company at a job fair, use your product or service as a customer, or know your brand from an advertisement.

After their initial impression, it’s likely your candidates did some research on your company before deciding to apply. They may have visited your website, checked out your social media profiles, looked up reviews or reached out to a current employee. Consider what the impressions of working for your company were from their research.

• Does your website have a “careers” section? Is it easy to navigate?
• Is your application process simple? Or do candidates have to fill out tedious forms that take more than 30 minutes? (Tip: Consider allowing candidates to apply with their LinkedIn profiles to make the process easier.)
• Do your online profiles and presence let people know what it’s like to work with your company? Are current employees approachable for questions?
• If you are using a recruiter to handle your application process, does that company understand your company culture and values? Do they convey it effectively to the job applicants?

Onboarding Process

Onboarding consists of the application process a candidate has to go through. Take a good look at each step of this journey as if you were the candidate. Although they may have researched your company, this is the first time they will be interacting directly (unless they reached out to a current employee for an informational interview). How they are treated as job applicants gives insight into how they will be treated as employees.

• How quickly are job applications acknowledged? Do candidates have to sit and wait around for a response, or are their submissions confirmed immediately?
• Are they given assessments that effectively and efficiently test the skills they need to be proficient in to do the job? Or are they being given standardized tests that generalize all applicants, whether they are applying for a position in HR or marketing?
• Are interviews scheduled efficiently, or haphazardly?
• Is the candidate treated as an intelligent individual? Or just another expendable candidate in a sea of job applicants?
• Are they treated well by your HR representatives? Are the interview questions appropriate and insightful? Or are your representatives unfriendly with invasive questions?
• Do your employees dress and behave appropriately and respectably? Will job candidates see anything improper as they are being interviewed, such as employees who are smoking inside or slacking off?
• Are candidates shown a complete picture of what their job and responsibilities will be like?
• Once you’ve decided on a job candidate, do you inform him or her right away? Or make them wait in anticipation? Do you send an email or make a phone call to congratulate them?

Integration

As a new hire integrates into the company, he or she needs to learn handle responsibilities while working with the company culture. Employees who integrate into both the company and their position successfully are more likely to provide a better customer experience to the clients they interact with, be happier with their jobs and work harder and more productively than a disengaged employee.

• Do your employees have a clear picture of what is expected of them in their jobs?
• Does your new hire have the proper guidance and mentorship needed to acclimate to his or her position?
• Does the organization show an investment in employees with things such as company outings, occasional celebrations, results-based rewards, free employee parking or other things?

Growth

New jobs may be exciting for a while, but there comes a point where your employees plateau and feel they have learned all they can in their positions. This is where succession planning and employee growth and development come in.

• Does your company provide regular growth and development opportunities that are relevant to your employees’ positions?
• When positions in senior management open up, do you hire from within the company? Or do you always bring in outsiders?
• Do managers discuss growth opportunities with employees, or are employees left to believe the position they are in now is their only opportunity with the company?

Exit

There are times when things just don’t work out, and for one reason or another an employee leaves or is asked to leave a company. When this happens, it should still be seen as an opportunity to find out how to do better next time. When you map the employee journey, you should be thorough in order to continue to improve your employee experience.

• Do you conduct exit interviews to find out why the employee is leaving? Was it a bad fit from the beginning or did something go wrong along the employee journey? If so, what particular step?
• Does your company allow him or her to leave graciously, or do you have a security guard escort him or her out the door?
• Does your company provide a severance package, especially for employees who have stayed the longest?
• Are employees treated respectfully once it’s known they will leave the company, or do their coworkers and managers treat them disdainfully?