How to build an exemplary experience for employees

What makes an extraordinary employee lifecycle? Our blog today will cover all aspects of building an employee lifecycle. An employee lifecycle is the journey of an employee in an organization. It starts with an aspiring candidate applying for a job and ends with him/her parting ways with the company post successful employment. There are a total of six stages in every extraordinary employee lifecycle.

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What it takes to build an exemplary experience for employees

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To build an exemplary experience for employees, one has to be familiar with the 6 stages of the employee lifecycle. Employee lifecycle is closely related to talent management in an organization. When built right, employee lifecycles ensure ease in company’s performance management. The process makes sure that you employ the best possible workforce. It also ensures their continued development and retention.

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The 6 stages of every extraordinary employee lifecycle

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An extraordinary life cycle for employees ensures that the best talent is working for your organization. How experience for employees at your organization will define your brand image and influence your recruitment efforts. There are 6 stages in every employee lifecycle journey-

1. Attracting the right talent
2. Recruiting the most compatible candidates
3. Onboarding employees with care
4. Developing and enhancing employee skills
5. Retention of employees
6. Exit interview

Stage 1: Attracting the right talent

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This is the very beginning of employee lifecycle. The employee lifecycle journey begins with attracting the right talent. For being able to attract the best talent, you need to build an exemplary experience for employees. People now value experiences more than material things.

As we had pointed out, if your employees have good experiences in the workplace, they are more likely to recommend your organization as a good place to work. Happy employees make your company look attractive to candidates and other interested parties. You may also want to read about employee engagement which is crucial to keep your employees and workplace healthy.

To build an exemplary experience for employees may also require good financial benefits along with great company culture will attract the best candidates to your company. For many professionals, salary and bonuses are key factors that drive their choice of company. When more candidates apply, there is a greater chance of finding a candidate who is aligned to your long term goals.

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Stage 2: Recruiting the most compatible candidates

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Recruitment plays an important role in ensuring the employee lifecycle is successful. You have to employ the right candidate for the job. When you make the mistake of hiring the wrong candidate, all the other benefits and employee experience planning become pointless.

If there are already employees on a team that qualify to step-up and fill an open position, they must always be given preference. As a result, apart from saving on training and onboarding costs, the employee also feels more valued and retention rates will drop, this is one way to build an exemplary experience for employees.

Many companies even ask for feedback from candidates about the recruitment process. It is one way to ensure that this part of the employee lifecycle is cared for.

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Stage 3: Onboarding employees with care

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Once you have recruited the right candidate for the position, you need to address onboarding with its social purpose in mind. Onboarding is a crucial step. A seamless onboarding experience will make the employees stay for longer, this is one way to build an exemplary experience for employees.

When you onboard a new employee, you will introduce the employee to their team. It is integral that an employee absorbs the mission, vision, and values of your company. Integrating a new employee into a team serves two purposes, you will gather valuable feedback and the employee will learn more about your business. 

Onboarding is a delicate process. If done correctly, it will ensure that the employee feels comfortable and retaining new talent becomes easier. But, if it goes wrong you will stand to lose the time and effort of hiring and onboarding the employee.

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Stage 4: Developing and enhancing employee skills

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Developing and enhancing an employee's skill has a clear and direct impact on the company’s growth. Employees are continuously challenged by evolving technology. It’s in the company’s interest to develop a continuous learning programme for the employees. Employee training is important to ensure stability and growth.

The management has to make sure that the employees can take up training based on their skill and position. Providing an opportunity for learning new skills keeps the workforce future-ready. Most importantly, it will also help to tackle future challenges innovatively.

Clear planning is necessary before scheduling training. Meaning, developing the collective skills of the organization is something that the management is more interested in. In other words, concentrating on individual skill growth will help the company in the long run.

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Stage 5: Retention of employees

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When employees leave a company, it affects the morale of other employees too. However, this is fairly common and it is crucial for the organization to have a decent retention rate.

Losing employees to the competition is a hard thing to bear for any organization. Especially, after investing so much time and capital into their training. This happens in two cases.

• When the employee is ambitious and sees no advancement opportunity at the organization.
• When too much is expected from an employee.

Organizations should provide opportunities for career growth. Ensuring appropriate pay raise helps when employees choose to grow their career and take up more responsibility. Also, a timely morale boost will help employees see growth opportunities. Consequently, this can help increase employee engagement and reduce retention rates.

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Stage 6: Exit Interview (End of an extraordinary employee lifecycle)

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We have to accept the fact that not all employees will stay with the organization for their entire careers. Sometimes, employees leave to pursue better career options. Nothing can change this.

The exit interview helps you understand why an employee wants to separate from your organization. It also helps to decide how you can retain other employees. Also, an exit interview helps in deciding what new practices to enforce in order to keep employees engaged. 

If done right, you will have employee lifecycle examples that every company would look up to.

Millennial employee lifecycle

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Millennials are all set to become the majority of the workforce soon. So, it makes sense to understand the relationship between talent management and the millennial employee lifecycle. 

Businesses are in a race to attract, hire and retain the best talent around. It has become a necessity to form a thoughtful strategy early on to help extend each employee’s lifecycle with your company.

Determining what the employee lifecycle will look like before hiring might just be the best strategy to reduce short-term turnover rates. There are a few ways to avoid an increase in hiring costs, maintain longer employee retention, and improve your brand image. All these together make a great talent management strategy for the millennial employee lifecycle.

When the right people work for you, your business will surely grow. If you want to attract and retain the top talent, compensate fairly form the beginning. Build a challenging but supportive culture and fix a strong promotion and raise timeline.

It is a delicate thing to maintain a successful talent management program. To help make sure maximum tenure for each employee, establish a thoughtful talent management strategy from the very first day. 

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Millennial employee lifecycle revolves around the purpose, not the paycheck

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For millennials to see a long-term future with your company, empower them with a purpose at work. It becomes hard for younger people to stay when they don’t see advancement opportunities. The age of social media has bred a culture of seeking constant gratification. They want to be able to relate to the positive change they are working towards.

It has become the organization’s responsibility to plan out growth opportunities for younger employees. Millennials need a good blend of direction, meaning and vision of the greater good to stay motivated and innovative. 

Google, for example, provides its employees with continuous challenges and growth. This keeps the employees on their toes and helps build an environment where many employees look forward to continually collaborate and grow with the company. The work itself is their motivation.

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Engagement is a result of strong motivation

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Millennials feel motivated when their value is constantly recognized by their employer. When an employer fails to recognize the employee’s value, they tend to flake away. Attracting, hiring, and successfully integrating a new employee into a team can be very time-consuming and costly too. Employers need to plan for this early on by outlining and understanding the employee lifecycle. 

Providing enough room in the beginning salary to accommodate regular raises and bonuses keeps the millennial employee motivated. Similarly, investing in training, office perks, and bonus incentives will help maintain employee engagement.

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Millennial employee lifecycle and the gig economy

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The gig economy is thriving. More millennials are partial towards having a side gig. This is partly due to the flexibility that comes attached to the gig economy. The fact that they are not tied down utilizing only one skill-set encourages many millennial employees to crave flexibility and growth that the gig economy offers.

Part-time positions, temporary gigs, and side hustles offer so much flexibility that planning and achieving millennial job satisfaction are harder than ever. Freelancing, hence, is growing as a trend among the youth.

By 2027, the majority of the U.S. workforce is going to be freelancing says Upwork, in a study published by Forbes. Which only reinforces the younger workforce opting for an improved work-life balance, independence, and wider choice.

Companies can retain top talent and stay relevant by –

• Embedding the need for creativity within a role.
• Working with flexible hours.
• Encouraging employee’s desire to develop new skill sets so that they can be more productive.

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Wrapping up

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To build an exemplary experience for employees, interact with the employee from the very beginning. Employers have to plan out their talent management strategy to align with the employee lifecycle.

In other words, planning for all the six stages of the employee lifecycle will help businesses attract and retain the best talent. You can make an employee lifecycle flowchart out of the 6 stages of the employee lifecycle to have a better understanding of the same.

Many HR software are working to help organizations plan better for their people needs. Some of the best platforms are built with integrated artificial intelligence and machine learning. They help the employer by providing tools like ATS, employee engagement analytics, 360-degree peer reviews and many more features in one suite.

Even if you have the best Human resource management platform and the ideal tools, to win in the workplace, you must be genuine, honest and true to your employees.