Growing up in the 80s meant Saturday mornings were fueled by sugary cereals that pretended to be healthy, and several hours spent in front of the TV watching your favorite cartoons.
At least that is how it was for my friends.
I spent Saturday mornings climbing into the cab of a truck, before the sun had come up, and unloading at my dad’s jobsite. After a few hours of coloring and eating as many Peanut M&Ms as I could get my hands on, my dad would take me into the field to talk with the craft and check on the work.
I take this experience with me every time I step foot on a jobsite.
Every person on every jobsite brings their own experience, interactions, and perceptions with them to work. This collection of everything that they see, feel, and do with their organization combines to form their employee experience.
Employee experience is the collective perception of everything that an employee sees, feels, and does with their organization.
Employee experience (EX) can be confusing, over-whelming, and complex. While there are commonalities across an organization, each employee’s experience is unique to them. It begins before they start with a company (the candidate experience), and continues throughout the employment lifecycle from onboarding, during career growth and development, to offboarding.
The best way to understand EX is to start with yourself: reflect on what experiences you brought with you to work today:
What did you hear about your company before you started?
What do you tell your friends and family about your company?
Do you remember the first time you walked a jobsite?