Catherine Laurijssen is a consultant at Möbius Business Redesign who specialises in Human Resources and Organisational Development. Employee Experience (EX) is one of her areas of expertise. In this interview, she shares her perspective on what EX entails, why it matters, and how organisations can get started with it.
What is Employee Experience?
Catherine Laurijssen: “Employee Experience is about the experiences, impressions and interactions an employee encounters at work. It starts before someone officially joins a new employer, for example when reading a job advertisement or during the first contact with an employer. This is followed by the selection process, onboarding, the day-to-day experience in the workplace and the phase after leaving the organisation, including any contact afterwards.”
Catherine explains that Employee Experience, or EX, goes far beyond contact with the HR department alone: “It also includes collaboration with managers and colleagues, as well as interactions with other departments and teams. It is therefore a complete experience that reflects an employee’s relationship with the organisation from beginning to end.”
Organisations often start with CX because measurable results are expected quickly in terms of revenue or reach. However, without a strong internal experience, it is difficult to deliver on an external promise.
- Catherine Laurijssen, HR and organizational development expert
What makes EX so important?
“The importance of EX can hardly be overstated,” she adds. “It is the tangible reality of the employer brand story. When an organisation promises to be a warm, innovative workplace with knowledgeable and caring people, that promise must be fulfilled through the employee’s day-to-day experience.
A strong EX helps attract talent because satisfied employees act as ambassadors and project the company’s image externally. In addition, it has a direct impact on customer satisfaction, because employees who feel good and genuinely experience the organisation’s story internally will also convey that enthusiasm to customers. Finally, EX is an important lever for social sustainability within ESG objectives, where the treatment of human capital is receiving increasing attention.”
The difference between Employee Experience and Customer Experience
Laurijssen explains: “The relationship between Employee Experience and Customer Experience is crucial. A business strategy starts with the question of who you want to be as an organisation. EX and CX can then be developed simultaneously so that they reinforce one another. Organisations often start with CX because measurable results are expected quickly in terms of revenue or reach. However, without a strong internal experience, it is difficult to deliver on an external promise. Ideally, you therefore start internally or develop both fronts at the same time.”
What are the key building blocks of a strong Employee Experience?
Purpose
“A first building block is a clear and credible story or purpose. It must be consistently present and recognisable so that employees understand and feel why they work somewhere. It is the starting point for translating the experience into practice as well. You should not create a purpose statement hastily. Support from the top of the organisation and the use of language that resonates with employees are important success factors.”
The Processes in EX
Catherine Laurijssen: “Although EX can seem overwhelming because of its breadth, it is wise to start with the basics. A second building block consists of processes such as recruitment, onboarding, development, feedback and evaluation. These processes must remain true to the organisation’s vision and feel authentic from the employee’s perspective.”
Diversity and Inclusivity
“A third building block is a diversified approach,” Laurijssen continues. “No two employees are the same, and it is important to respond to those different needs rather than choosing a one-size-fits-all approach. We often use personas to define different target groups and optimise their experience.”
Leveraging technology
“Technology forms a fourth important factor. It is essential that the technology being used supports the experience and forms an integral part of the story. A perfectly designed process supported by technology that tells a completely different story can quickly disrupt the employee experience.”
Management sets the direction
“In addition, managers play a decisive role. Board members and C-level executives are the role models who must embody and communicate the purpose, while middle management represents the organisation on a daily basis for most employees. Both have their role to fulfil, and they also need support.”
Culture and communication
“Employees themselves and their relationships with one another are naturally equally crucial. They can either shape or hinder culture, and their behaviour largely determines the workplace experience. Finally, communication is indispensable. The organisation’s story and the employee experience must be alive and well known throughout the company, with internal communication and HR working closely together.”
What are the consequences of insufficient focus on EX?
Laurijssen: “When organisations pay too little attention to employee experience, several risks arise. Employees who were attracted by a compelling story that turns out not to match reality become disappointed and frustrated. This frustration can lead to absenteeism, lower performance and sometimes even resignation. Employee turnover brings significant replacement costs and places additional pressure on the remaining teams.”
Catherine adds: “A poor employee experience can also quickly lead to reputational damage. In an era where platforms such as Glassdoor and social media play a major role, negative feedback spreads rapidly. This makes it more difficult to attract new talent. Ultimately, it also affects business performance, because dissatisfied employees are less motivated and the organisation’s sustainability and agility come under pressure.”
What role does organisational culture play in the EX story?
Laurijssen: “Employee Experience is the way to make an organisation’s culture tangible. It confirms or disproves the culture communicated through stories and messaging. Culture encompasses who an organisation is and what kind of employer it wants to be. EX shows whether that story actually becomes reality.”
“At the same time, EX offers a way to influence culture. By examining and redesigning daily practices, interactions and behavioural expectations where necessary, culture can be steered in a different direction in a very concrete way. When an organisation experiences cultural issues, analysing EX can clarify where the bottlenecks lie and how change can take place. EX is therefore a way of making culture tangible, which immediately demonstrates that it is not purely an HR matter but something the entire organisation must embrace.”
What concrete steps can organisations take to get started with Employee Experience?
“The first step is always to clarify the purpose and the employer story. We then analyse what is already working well and where improvement is possible. It is rare for problems to occur everywhere at once. Afterwards, processes can be redesigned, as this often provides a concrete and tangible starting point. A design thinking approach helps here, focusing on experimentation, developing proof of concepts and refining them along the way. It is important to actively involve employees by speaking with them out of genuine interest in their experience.”
“It is also valuable to raise awareness among managers and involve them so they recognise and take ownership of their role in delivering the EX,” Catherine adds. “This can be done by integrating the topic into existing meetings, training sessions or communication moments for managers. It should not feel like a separate project, but rather an integral part of the organisation.”
“EX must become a continuous story rather than a one-off project,” Laurijssen summarises. “This means the employee experience should be monitored continuously through surveys, data analysis and technology, such as apps for short feedback loops, pulse checks or AI tools that monitor internal communication. Start small, learn and then scale up. Ultimately, EX is not temporary; it is a mindset. It is a new lens that everyone in the organisation should regularly adopt.”
Can you share examples of successful EX interventions?
Laurijssen: “At an architectural practice with seventy employees, we completely redesigned the evaluation and development process. The organisation operated strongly on the basis of autonomy and shared leadership, but the existing evaluation process was highly analytical and focused on assessment and remuneration. That did not align with their culture at all and led to frustration. We shifted the focus towards development and ownership, using personal development plans and 360-degree feedback. Evaluation interviews were transformed into development conversations, reward systems became more aligned with expertise and contribution, and a clear process was introduced for handling underperformance.”
“Another example is a care organisation in West Flanders that struggled to attract and retain support workers. Although employees genuinely enjoyed working there, the organisation failed to bring that story to life externally and during onboarding. By defining personas, conducting discussions with those target groups and redesigning the selection and onboarding process, they achieved a better match. More attention was paid to the period between signing the contract and the first working day, and onboarding was differentiated to better meet the specific needs of school leavers or career changers, for example.”
What role does technology play in Employee Experience?
Laurijssen: “Technology is playing an increasingly important role in employee experience. Think of HR platforms for leave requests, learning environments or intranets that should be designed from an EX perspective so the experience remains consistent. New technologies, such as large language models, make information more accessible and provide employees with faster answers.”
“In addition, technology is indispensable for monitoring EX,” she adds. “Apps and pulse checks provide rapid feedback opportunities, while AI can analyse internal communication to identify trends and concerns. Naturally, this must always be done with attention to ethical use, regulations and inclusivity. Not every employee feels equally comfortable with digital tools, which is why technology must always be shaped around the employee’s language and experience.”
What trends do you see in EX?
Laurijssen: “The main trend is that EX is no longer viewed as purely an HR topic, but as a shared responsibility across the entire organisation, including teams such as IT and facilities. There is also growing recognition that EX is a strategic asset that should be monitored as a KPI at management level. It is not only about satisfaction or HR processes, but about the complete employee experience. Finally, we see EX increasingly being used as a driver for ESG objectives, particularly in the area of social sustainability.”
What are your main tips for organisations wanting to start with EX?
“The most important thing is to start from a genuine interest in employees. It should not merely be about achieving higher satisfaction scores or producing an attractive sustainability report. Employees immediately sense whether the motivation is authentic. I also recommend starting small. Choose an aspect that genuinely makes a difference to people, even if it may initially seem like a detail. Those small things can have a major impact.”
“And finally: do not see EX as a project with a beginning and an end. It is a mindset, a continuous way of looking at the organisation and employees’ experiences. Only then does the experience become credible and sustainable.”
