Why Employee Journey Mapping is essential for your company

Many marketing departments are rustling with customer journey mapping activities. The employees put on the customer's glasses and eager to travel with him or her to score information about the experiences with a product or the organisation.

Everything is mapped out by type of customer. How is that trip experienced, what are the bottlenecks and, better still, opportunities? The insights collected in this way help develop new marketing policy, improve processes, increase turnover and, above all, retain the customer.

But hey. Are your employees not really as important as your customers? Or (and that may sound a bit exciting) are they even more important?! Because to be honest, without employees, your entire organisation will be at a standstill. And does your customer have nothing, cool, nada.

Most HR departments now know what is meant by the employee journey: we are talking about the total 'journey' of an employee in an organisation. From A to Z, from reading the vacancy to the last working day. And everything in between. Broadly speaking, an average employee visits at least the following stations during their trip:

• recruitment: the first introduction and selection
• terms of employment interview
• onboarding
• career development or Learning & Development
• mainstreaming: your employee belongs and feels involved
• off-boarding

Maybe all these stations sound very familiar to you, but be aware that each phase should provide a good, pleasant experience. If it chafes, pinches or even crackles somewhere along the way, your employee can just choose a ticket to another destination. The hare's path, or, in the worst case, that competitor, who could really use your employee's diligently acquired knowledge and experience.

But, and now on the bright side: if you aim for happy employees and respond to bottlenecks on time, it can bring you a lot:

• less staff turnover
• higher employee engagement
• positive company culture
• lower absenteeism
• higher productivity

In short: the importance of a good employee journey is clear. But have you actually drawn a plan and mapped out how to make that trip as beautiful as possible for each employee? Don't feel burdened if it isn't the case. In many organisations, that good intention often comes to the end of the daily hustle and bustle.

It is always good to be able to fall back on a fixed step-by-step plan. But how do you do that, create such an itinerary that is useful to you? First of all, there are two important steps:

1. Organise your data

Collect the hard numbers. Of course, your current staffing, but also staff turnover, exit interview results and previous ones. MTOs.

If you work in a small organisation, you may go a long way with a good Excel overview. If the organisation grows larger, or if you want to be able to filter at the level of detail, it can be interesting to make (or have) some more high-tech links made with the various systems.

2. Get information from key players

Of course, you first go to your best ambassadors: the top performers you can always count on. What makes them so loyal are up to the organisation? But especially approach the rapid leavers, who called it quits within six months. Why did they choose an exit instead of booking more? And don't forget the managers: after all, they are the ones who set the mood in the workplace and have an insight into how things are going there.

Personal conversations are of course great, but also time-consuming. In addition, you will still have to process your findings later.

That could be easier: ask your contacts using an online questionnaire. It is a somewhat less personal moment of attention, but it makes data processing (see above) a lot easier.

And then: make the map

You may be wondering why this has to be so literal. The answer is actually simple: because a map very clearly shows which phases there are and which steps need to be taken. We leave the design of the map entirely up to you.

Some organisations opt for a sleek, schematic view, but we have also seen several almost cartoonish illustrations. Whatever you choose: keep it simple and, above all, transparent. And hang the map in a prominent spot in your office, or make it a screen saver on your laptop. So that you are put on edge with one glance over and over again: “Oh yes, we still had to do that!”

You create your visualisation in the following steps:

1. Divide your workforce into different categories. For example, choose certain job groups that you develop into persona. A facility employee's experience is usually quite different from that of the HR manager or subway driver, even though they work at the same company.
2. Name the various stations that every employee visits during his or her career in the organisation.
3. What are important per station touchpoints, or in good Dutch: important moments someone may face during employment?
4. Inventory the experiences of your employees per touchpoint. Preferably do this online, so that the questions are asked unambiguously and answers can easily be processed into an overview.
5. Evaluate which action points you can connect to the answers, and actually follow them up! Set yourself goals: for example, when do you think you've achieved an excellent onboarding?
6. Keep regularly re an inventory, so that you always stay up to date with the experiences and satisfaction of the employees, and know whether your actions are having an effect. Also, don't forget to always update your employee journey map!

The strength of employee journey mapping lies mainly in visualisation and smart data processing. You can see at a glance what action points there are, how your employees experience the organisation and what opportunities and bottlenecks there are. Google (Images) for "Journey Employee Mapping" for examples.

Smart use of online opportunities is just around the corner our specialty. So if you still need some inspiration, don't hesitate to to contact us. Secretly, we like nothing more than brainstorming about these kinds of topics!