To build an amazing employee experience, HR leaders need to think like product managers. Learn how to conceptualize your employee experience as a product.
Like most HR professionals, you probably joined the field because you care about people. You want to make sure employees have a great experience. We all do. But along the way, your vision is eroded by the realities of budgets, siloes, technologies and other obstacles to awesomeness.
More often than not, HR is (sadly) the paperwork, portal and punitive program department.  “Business partnership†is often supplanted by “do this or else†— a sad reality that only destroys trust and threatens a great employee experienceOpens a new window .Â
What if your product functioned this way? What if it was difficult to navigate, frustrating to understand or didn’t provide obvious value to the user? You’d be out of business in no time. Our favorite products – the ones that make us smile just thinking about them — delight us with stellar experiences. Why can’t HR be the same for our employees?
To do all this well, HR leaders need to think like product managers and view our employee offerings as not only a product but an entire brand experience — one that is well-crafted and functional but also brings an emotional experience that develops a lasting and meaningful relationship between employee and employer.
Also Read: 6 Ways to Build a High-performance Digital Employee Experience Opens a new window
Visualize the employee experience as a product
If the employee experience were a product, it would deliver a cohesive brand experience that acknowledges, but ultimately transcends, your company silos. Here’s some food for thought:
1. Who are you reaching?
Who are you trying to reach? You serve multiple audiences with widely varied needs. HR and managers need different communication plans for 30-year vets than they do for interns. Â What is the best channel and time to reach each audience? What does each group need to hear in order to succeed? Understanding your employee audience variety will help you deliver relevant experiences.
2. What do they care about?
What makes your company different from others? Why should employees work for you? To attract great talent – and keep them – you need to develop a strong brand promise (just like any great product) that reflects the core benefit of your employee experience. (Tip: All brand promises connect in some way to the values and strategy of the company. Does yours?) Once the brand promise is set, it becomes the North Star for all your efforts. With a strong compelling brand promise, you’ll build an amazing employee experience that revolves around who they are and what they need. My company promise is simple: “Every day, employees know their company cares.â€
3. Map out the employee experience
Now that you have a strong brand promise how will you bring it life? And how will this meet business needs? Most product managers create a journey map that highlights key touchpoints and interactions users will have with a product. HR should do the same. Think of the thousands of moments that create an employee experience at your company — from their first day to their last — starting with the interview, then first promotion and all the milestones leading to retirement.Â
What impression should each milestone leave on an employee? How does this stay consistent through hiring, the onboarding process,Opens a new window performance reviews, manager interactions, team meetings and more? How do you personalize this experience specifically to your people, your culture and your values every day?Â
Once you’ve mapped out the ideal experience that reflects your brand promise, you’ll see opportunities for connections and areas for optimization. What systems, programs, and initiatives need to come together to realize your vision? For example, is your diversity and inclusion program a standalone training? Or is it woven throughout the experience? Does your internal communications team support all employee programs? Or just a few? How easy or hard is it for employees to find all the HR resources when they need them?
4. Elevate the brand promise
By treating your employee experience like a product with a strong brand promise, you have an opportunity to build a culture that makes people feel something for your company. Draw on that emotion to create an authentic brand that is both meaningful and impactful. How do you make the brand promise really come to life in the employee experience? The answer is to make sure HR acts like a product manager.
Once you’ve pinpointed the employee brand promise, focus on how you want to roll it out and how you want it to impact every element of the employee experience that you’ve mapped out. You have the opportunity to transform and influence all of the touchpoints within the experience. Think about how you’ll hold people across the company accountable for bringing your brand and employee experience to life.Â
5. Who are your advocates?
Feedback is crucial — and you need your key stakeholders on your team. Evaluate your employee experience vision and the map for how it can come together with coworkers who are ready to take action, and you’ll be more likely to develop champions for your strategy. These champions can iterate to make the vision stronger and help bring the employee experience to life — with your leaders to back you up and most importantly, your employees. You’ll need to bring your A-game — so everyone clearly understands the vision, how they can support it — and what the benefits to them are.
Step outside of the box and bring in new perspectives. You’re here because something is not working — and it’s time to mix up tactics and try something new. Without fresh ideas, your employee experience will remain outdated and stagnant. Dig deep and do your research, use new technology and test it with your peers. Find a way to drive the change you know your company needs.
Also Read:Â Employee Experience, Jobs and Skills: How AI will Impact HRÂ Opens a new window
The bottom line on the employee experience
Your employee experience should be relevant, personalized and united. It should reflect your brand promise, reinforce the purpose of your business, and connect to each employee’s personal purpose. With a product manager mindset and a reliable brand promise driving your vision forward, you’ll see the difference — happier more engaged employees who will drive better business results.
How do you apply marketing principles to your HR work? Let me know in the comments below.
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