For more than two decades, an ever-growing number of organizations have set improving employee engagement as a key goal. Engagement has become so widely accepted as a talent metric that it even has its own Dummies title, Employee Engagement for Dummies. Yet despite its ubiquity, leaders and employees alike continue to have varying definitions of engagement, both what it is and why it's important.
At Perceptyx, we define employee engagement as the combination of four themes: motivation, pride, advocacy, and retention. Engaged employees tend to be more enthusiastic, productive, and satisfied in their roles, making them less likely to leave the organization and leading to a host of other positive business outcomes.
However, a significant number of changes in the employment landscape over the past several years have highlighted the importance of wider aspects of the employee experience, related to, but distinct from employee engagement. These factors are important to consider and measure. While expanding our focus to encompass the entire employee experience is important, we cannot overlook the continued importance of employee engagement. Because of this, employee engagement remains a cornerstone of our People Insights Model and a top talent priority for most organizations. Neglecting to assess, track, and improve employee engagement would be a significant oversight.
In this article, we’ll dive deep into the definitions of employee engagement and employee experience, assess how they relate to one another, and learn how to determine where efforts should be focused to increase engagement and improve the overall experience.
The Difference Between Employee Engagement and Employee Experience
While employee engagement and employee experience are closely related concepts, they are distinct and serve different purposes in understanding and improving workplace dynamics. Employee engagement is one important outcome of a great employee experience. It focuses on the emotional and psychological connection employees have with their work and organization. Employee experience, on the other hand, encompasses a broader perspective of an employee's journey within the company, including measures that heavily influence engagement, such as growth and development opportunities, and additional outcomes, distinct from engagement, such as health and well-being.
When an employee is engaged, they feel connected to the organization and to their work. They are willing to advocate for the organization, recommending the company to their friends and family as a place to work, for example, and they are more likely to remain employed with the company over time. Employees who are engaged are enthusiastic about their work and the organization and are willing to go “above and beyond” to help the organization succeed. Employees will engage when they can anticipate their success with the organization.
Employee experience, on the other hand, includes not just engagement but everything else associated with a person’s experiences at work. Employee experience broadly describes what it’s like to work in the organization and how employees feel about their experience within the organization. It encompasses the employee’s feelings about their relationship with their manager and co-workers, the physical environment they work in, access to the resources needed to do their job, the development and advancement opportunities open to them, and more.
A deficit in any of these areas can translate into lower engagement. An employee who has a difficult relationship with their manager, for example, is much less likely to feel enthusiastic about their work. The same holds true for employees who lack access to resources or development opportunities. Deficiencies in important areas of the experience become barriers to engagement — they prevent the employee from becoming fully engaged and enthusiastic about their work and the organization.
Why Should We Care About Engagement?
Engagement is one important outcome of a great employee experience. In addition, it’s an outcome that also leads to even more important outcomes. The literature on the wide-ranging impact of an engaged workforce on organizational performance is compelling. Engaged employees not only hold a more favorable view of their organization and exhibit lower job-seeking behavior, but they also report increased productivity. Recent research by our own Center for Workforce Transformation found that fully engaged employees are 3x more likely than their disengaged peers to report that they are more productive today than in the same period last year.
This underscores the broad impact of a positive employee experience. It boosts engagement, which reduces turnover, enhances productivity, and improves personal outcomes like feeling valued. Ultimately, a positive employee experience is a key driver of a healthy company culture, improved well-being, and better business performance.
However, organizations can’t just tell employees to be more engaged. To effectively boost engagement, it’s necessary to first understand what motivates employees and then focus on those specific drivers to improve results.
Which is More Important: Employee Engagement or Employee Experience?
Leaders of organizations might be tempted to place more importance on employee engagement, and for very good reasons. Numerous studies have demonstrated that higher levels of engagement correlate to higher profits, lower attrition, and better business outcomes. Engagement is clearly foundational to overall business success.
But it’s important not to put the cart before the horse. Engagement is an outcome of an employee’s experience. Because a poor experience leads to a lack of engagement, too narrow a focus on engagement scores can distract from doing the work necessary to improve the experience.
Our proprietary People Insights Model identifies employee engagement as a key Factor, which is further divided into these core Themes:
- Motivation: The degree to which employees find personal accomplishment and fulfillment in their work.
- Pride: How proud employees feel about being part of the organization.
- Advocacy: The willingness of employees to recommend their workplace to those close to them.
- Retention: Employees' intention to stay with the organization long-term.
These four indicators are measured by asking employees to rate their agreement or disagreement with these types of statements:
- “I intend to stay with the company for the next 12 months.”
- “I would recommend the company to others as a great place to work.”
- “I am proud to work for the company.”
- “My work gives me a feeling of personal accomplishment.”
Employee responses to these statements allow us to determine current levels of engagement — but that’s all they can tell us. The difference between employee engagement and employee experience is that engagement measures provide us with the what, but not the why.
Elements of the employee experience are the why of whether or not employees are engaged — and to find out what those specific elements are, we have to dig deeper. We have to ask employees to share their perceptions about the entire range of their experiences in the organization to determine what’s working and where there may be barriers to engagement.
There’s no disputing the importance of engagement — but it must be understood in context; creating a positive experience for employees is the only path to high engagement. Doing so requires a conversation with employees to identify where the experience should be improved — and a commitment to take action to improve it.
Focus on the Employee Experience to Increase Employee Engagement
Many employers have made the employee experience part of their employee engagement strategy. Employers reporting the best outcomes from their engagement strategy are significantly more likely to train leaders, managers, and HR on the employee experience concept and leverage critical elements from the employee experience to inform key business and talent priorities.
When we think about the employee experience, we must also consider the employee lifecycle. What are the moments that matter at each stage of the employee lifecycle and how does that affect an individual’s engagement with the organization? Understanding sentiment at the very beginning of an employment relationship – during the hiring and onboarding process, for example – can pinpoint critical moments that may fall flat and lead to higher attrition rates later, but we won't know unless we ask.
Many organizations focus on the experience in a very superficial way. But to really solve problems, we have to think broadly and deeply, including all factors of an employee's experience in our analysis. Each of the People Insights Model’s Themes of Employee Experience represents an element within an organization's control that significantly impacts employee outcomes.
According to our latest benchmark data, the top global themes driving engagement in 2024 are:
- Change Management
- Confidence in Senior Management
- Career Opportunities
- Belonging
These Themes provide vital insights into what shapes an employee's experience at work. For example, when employees feel confident about their manager’s ability to navigate change, but express concerns about belonging or their senior leaders, different actions would be taken than if the reverse were true.
Low engagement often has multiple drivers, varying across demographics like age, tenure, department, or management level. To truly understand their workforce, organizations should consider the full picture, examining the Factors and Themes that define the typical employee experience. The goal is to identify the most critical areas of risk and strategically focus resources on a few key priorities.
To fully understand employees' perceptions about their experience, we have to ask for their feedback on all of these elements. Only then can we see where barriers to engagement may exist. To make it even more complex, barriers to engagement can vary across segments of the organization, whether those are locations, skill groups, or functions. But we can't provide what our employees need unless we ask them about it and then act on what they tell us.
Experience and Engagement in Modern Work Environments
During and after the pandemic, organizations adapted to new ways of working. Employees are increasingly drawn to companies that prioritize work-life balance while offering clear career progression pathways. This shift has introduced both opportunities and challenges in curating positive employee experiences.
The rise of remote and hybrid work arrangements has added complexity to managing employee experiences. With less direct oversight, organizations face new challenges in maintaining consistent experiences across different work setups. For employees working remotely, either full or part-time, the boundaries between work and personal life often blur, requiring managers to develop new skills to effectively supervise and support their teams.
Equity in these diverse work arrangements has become a critical consideration. Organizations must ensure that all employees, regardless of their work location or arrangement, have equal opportunities for development, advancement, and engagement. This includes addressing potential disparities in access to resources, visibility within the organization, and participation in company culture.
This is another area where employee listening is a must-have. Organizations need to proactively seek employee feedback and anticipate future needs. They should be thinking several steps ahead to address potential issues and then act to create equitable experiences for all employees.
Engaging Employees Through Feedback and Action
More than two decades of experience as a listening provider has made one thing very clear: the best way to engage employees is by valuing their voices and acting on their feedback. Original research conducted via Perceptyx's Center for Workforce Transformation and our work with customers tells us that going directly to the front lines to understand the barriers to employees' success is the most effective way to show an organization cares about their feedback and will do something about it. This increases connection, belonging, and affinity to the organization.
The key to removing barriers to engagement and improving the experience is an ongoing dialogue between the organization and employees. A listening program tailored to the unique needs of the organization — with surveys and other listening events designed to elicit employee feedback on the experience and issues of strategic importance to the organization — is one of the best ways of uncovering the insights needed to improve the experience. But surveys alone are not enough. Crowdsourcing (also available through our People Insights Platform), company message boards, team conversations, or even one-on-one conversations between managers and employees are other ways to keep the dialogue going.
Most important is following through with action. Even if you've gone to the trouble to measure engagement and listened to find out where there is dissatisfaction with the experience, nothing will change without action. There's no point in trying to find out why employees are disengaged or what is preventing them from engaging if you aren't going to try to address the problem. In fact, asking without acting can actually drive engagement lower.
Leveraging the People Insights Model
When organizations align their listening and action programs with the People Insights Model, they gain a holistic view of the factors that most influence the employee experience — and, in turn, key outcomes like engagement, retention, and productivity. This approach not only helps identify which areas to focus on for the biggest impact but also provides targeted strategies to drive meaningful change. Whether through coaching, AI-powered action planning, or features like Intelligent Nudges, companies can take data-driven actions to enhance employee experience and foster a more engaged, productive workforce.
Remember: Engagement Isn’t Just Something Nice to Do
If you remember one key point from this article, make it this one: engagement is only one outcome of a positive employee experience that can precipitate higher retention, productivity, and a great culture. Pairing your engagement strategy to your key business and talent priorities will ensure the responsibility for the employee experience is integrated throughout the organization and not siloed in HR.
Engagement, while just one number, is still an important number. But it shouldn’t be the end-all, be-all goal. Another goal is business success. After all, the strong correlation between a highly engaged workforce and business success is one reason we're striving to increase engagement in the first place. Organizations that have achieved business success have often created an employee experience that enables that success. This relationship should be highlighted, and we can track it for you in the People Insights Platform through the integration of various business metrics.
Improving the employee experience by asking for and acting on employee feedback is how we can achieve high engagement and reap its rewards. But, there is no quick fix. The work is long, incremental, and continual, but improvements along the way are a win-win — organizations get the benefits of an engaged workforce, and workers spend their workdays with a good manager, a chance to learn and grow, and a sense of belonging.
Perceptyx Can Help You Create a Thriving Employee Experience
The Perceptyx People Insights Platform gives you the flexibility to develop a listening strategy that fits the needs of your organization while identifying opportunities to improve the employee experience.
Our platform not only helps you keep your finger on the pulse of your people’s perceptions — it also helps you understand the actions that help you build internal best practices to share throughout the organization, as well as how those actions correlate with business outcomes.
Get in touch to see how we can help your organization improve the employee experience for all of your people.