Employee experience (EX) is the journey your staff take, from the moment they’re hired to the minute they leave. \u00a0It includes workplace culture, leadership, physical or remote environments, relationships, compensation, autonomy, and growth opportunities.<\/p>\n
The need for improved EX and better measurement can be traced back to the workplace disruptions of 2020. Sudden shifts to remote work and furloughs showed that people, not processes, drive success. The result was a perceptual shift as employees realized they wanted more than just competitive pay and good benefits, and companies recognized the revenue benefits tied to satisfied staff.<\/p>\n
Now, EX matters more than ever. Employees expect to feel\u00a0valued and respected by organizations, and they’re not willing to settle for less than they deserve.<\/p>\n
Businesses that get EX right see stronger engagement and performance. Those who miss the mark risk burnout and “quiet quitting.”<\/p>\n
Our 2026 guide to EX dives into key components of a great experience, why it matters for your workplace, metrics to track, and how technology helps make this possible. We’ll also explore implementation strategies, actionable frameworks, and future trends to help optimize the employee experience.<\/p>\n
Before we dig into the details, it’s worth calling out the difference between employee engagement and employee experience. Engagement is a direct result of experience. Poor experiences decrease engagement, which in turn lowers productivity. Improve the experience, and engagement naturally rises.<\/p>\n
With the basics squared away, let’s get into the complete EX guide.<\/p>\n
There’s an obvious qualitative benefit to a great employee experience: Staff are happier.<\/p>\n
But there are also a host of quantitative benefits that come from enhanced EX. As noted by SHRM<\/a>, staff are 68% less likely to consider leaving if their employee experience is positive. According to data from Gallup<\/a>, improved EX leads to 78% lower absenteeism, 23% higher profitability, and 18% higher productivity.<\/p>\n In other words, great EX is a smart investment. Consider a company earning $2 million annually that spends $250,000 on improving EX. Following Gallup\u2019s metrics, this company could see a 20% profit increase, or a $400,000 gain each year, which is 1.6X the initial investment.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s take a look at some real-world examples:<\/p>\n Hilton<\/b><\/p>\n Hilton ranks first on the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For 2025 list<\/a>, with 95% of staff saying it is a great place to work. Employees highlight feeling welcome when they joined the company (98%) and being treated as a full member regardless of their position (96%). In addition, 97% of staff are proud to tell others they work at Hilton.<\/p>\n The impact? Employees feel empowered to go above and beyond for their guests thus creating returning loyal customers. There is a solid case to be made that there is correlation between this employee satisfaction and Hilton Worldwide Holdings’ revenue increase every year since 2021<\/a> and consistently placing among most profitable hotel brands globally.<\/a><\/p>\n < Read about how Embassy Suites by Hilton boosted employee engagement with Sogolytics ><\/a><\/p>\n Synchrony<\/b><\/p>\n Synchrony comes in at number two on the list<\/a>, with 94% of staff agreeing that it’s a great place to work. Staff say that management is honest and ethical in its business practices (94%), and another 94% say the company offers special and unique benefits.<\/p>\n Cisco<\/b><\/p>\n Cisco rounds out the top three<\/a>, with 96% of staff citing it as a great place to work. The same number also says that staff at the company are given a lot of responsibility, while 97% say people at Cisco care about each other, and 98% say they can take time off when they think it is necessary.<\/p>\n While the concept of employee experience isn\u2019t new, its importance in building staff loyalty has grown significantly.\u00a0Many human resources (HR) teams gather feedback through surveys and pulse checks; however, what they measure, and how insights are applied, varies from business to business.<\/p>\n Standardization can help companies ensure they’re delivering and maintaining a positive employee experience. This starts with an evaluation of the core components of EX: Culture, workspace, and technology.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Culture<\/strong> shapes how people interact and the overall \u201cvibe\u201d of your organization.<\/p>\n Workspace<\/strong> refers to both physical workspaces<\/a> and remote workspaces<\/a>. Crowded offices or limited remote resources can negatively impact the employee experience.<\/p>\n Ideally, companies want to give staff a measure of control over both their physical and remote work environments.<\/p>\n Technology<\/strong> covers both the employer-approved technology used by staff and their access to personal technologies such as mobile devices.<\/p>\n Outdated or cumbersome systems can hurt productivity and morale. According to S&P Global<\/a>, legacy tech can “kill recruiting efforts, increase attrition, and ruin the employee experience.” Modern and user-friendly tools that promote collaboration and communication can significantly improve EX.<\/p>\n Fully understanding how these components impact employee experience requires direct feedback. If you\u2019re not asking, you\u2019re likely making assumptions. And when you assume… well, we all know how the saying goes. Making assumptions runs you the\u00a0risk of spending time and money on changes that don’t matter to employees, or that negatively impact their experience.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s put this into context. A company aiming to boost remote worker productivity might invest time and money on a tracking software to monitor user activity on all company-issued devices. While this increases visibility, it can also feel invasive and erode trust. Instead, asking employees what support they need, may reveal more effective and less disruptive solutions, like regular check-ins or structured milestone planning.<\/p>\n Next, let\u2019s talk about creating a structured EX framework. The goal of this framework is twofold. First, it helps segment the employee lifecycle<\/a> into distinct stages allowing companies to apply the right processes at the right time to deliver positive EX. Second, frameworks help identify moments that matter \u2014 key events during the employee lifecycle that can make or break their relationship with your organization.<\/p>\n The employee experience framework can be broken down into six stages:<\/p>\n Recruitment and hiring<\/b><\/p>\n This stage starts at your job post and continues through the interview process, practical testing, and the job offer.<\/p>\n Key moment: Your responses to candidate questions about culture, benefits, compensation, and social interaction. Staff will remember what you said, and how it aligns with what you practice. <\/i><\/p>\n Onboarding<\/b><\/p>\n How easy do you make it for a new employee to ramp? How quickly do they gain network access? Have they been introduced to their teams in a timely manner? What training materials have they been given and how does it align to their learning style?<\/p>\n Key moment: Training. Providing knowledgeable, personable trainers who know the ins and outs of your business helps set new hires up for success. Poor training practices lead to performance problems that aren’t the fault of new staff, in turn creating frustration. <\/i><\/p>\n Day-to-day operations<\/b><\/p>\n This is the longest-running aspect of EX. Here, it’s all about balance. Work is work; it won’t always be exciting or engaging. On the whole, however, you want to create an experience that leads staff to recommend their workplace to other qualified applicants, and that makes them proud to work for your company.<\/p>\n Key moment: When staff are struggling. If you can offer support when they need it most, staff won’t forget.<\/i><\/p>\n Skills development<\/b><\/p>\n Motivated employees want to improve in their roles and will do so given the opportunity. Along with training, it’s worth offering employees additional options for education.<\/p>\n Key moment: Your attitude toward training. If requests for skills improvements are met with disapproval or skepticism, staff may start looking for other work. If you encourage training, employees will typically keep their skills closer to home.<\/i><\/p>\n Performance evaluations and advancement opportunities<\/b><\/p>\n Performance evaluations let staff know what they’re doing right and where they can improve. They’re also tied to advancement opportunities; once employees pass the two- or three-year mark at your company, they often start looking for chances to move up.<\/p>\n Key moment: Encouraging staff to apply for new internal roles. If you dismiss or ignore their efforts, or hire externally when qualified internal candidates are available, you will lose their trust.<\/i><\/p>\n Separation\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n Whether it\u2019s due to retirement, a new company, budget issues, or poor performance, the way you treat employees at the end of their lifecycle speaks volume.<\/p>\n Key moment: The exit interview. No matter why staff are leaving, give them a chance to share their experience and feedback. Employees benefit from feeling heard, which makes them more likely to recommend your business to colleagues, while companies can get valuable information about which EX practices are working, and which are falling short.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n Great EX relies on data, and this data comes from key performance indicators (KPIs).<\/p>\n Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS)<\/b><\/p>\n This is a 0-10 measure of how likely employees are to recommend your business as a great place to work. Employees with scores of 9 or higher are promoters, 7 and 8 are passive, and 0 though 6 are detractors. After subtracting the percentage of detractors from promoters, if you score between a 10-30, you\u2019re considered to be healthy. Do you know where you land?<\/p>\n Employee engagement rate<\/b><\/p>\n This is the percentage of employees who say they are engaged at work. According to Gallup<\/a>, the annual employee engagement best-practice benchmark is 70%. In 2024, US organizations averaged at 31%. That\u2019s a big gap to fill.<\/p>\n Staff retention rate<\/b><\/p>\n This is a measure of how many staff leave your organization over a set period. Last year, SHRM released an article<\/a> stating the leading reasons employees leave their jobs, with toxic work environment, poor leadership, and work life balance leading the chart. Asking, trending, and acting on feedback allows you to prioritize what\u2019s most important for your employees.<\/p>\n Employee well-being<\/b><\/p>\n This may include statistics about employee accidents at work, stress-related absences, and overall satisfaction measurements of work\/life balance.<\/p>\n Measuring these KPIs requires the right tools and technologies, which include:<\/p>\nCore Components of Employee Experience<\/h3>\n
Digging Into the Details<\/h3>\n
The Employee Experience Framework<\/h3>\n
Measuring Employee Experience<\/h3>\n