It’s no secret that your employees play a critical role in the long-term success of your company. For this reason alone, business owners should be heavily invested in cultivating a positive employee experience – the kind that promotes both enthusiasm and loyalty within their team.
Failing to do so could lead to a wide range of challenges, including:
- Poor employee retention rates
- Skill gaps and talent shortages within remaining teams
- Lowered employee motivation levels
- Decreased productivity and efficiency
- Damaged reputation as an employer
- Difficulty filling future vacancies
- An increase in customer complaints or dissatisfaction
Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can improve the employee experience within your business. Read on to find out more!
Promote a positive workplace culture. One of the easiest ways to ensure your employees are happy is by curating a positive workplace culture. This promotes collaboration, making employees feel like they are part of a supportive team instead of competing against each other. It can also work wonders for your retention levels, especially when you consider that “58% of employees would take a job with a competitor if the new company had a better culture.”
There are many different ways in which you can set about improving workplace culture. For example, you should start by ensuring that your team has a healthy work-life balance, as opposed to glamorizing the idea of spending every waking minute behind their desks. Doing so would set unrealistic standards among employees of all levels of seniority, putting them directly on the path toward burnout. This can be achieved by investing in time-saving technology, or simply finding ways to promote effective time management.
You can also improve workplace culture by being a great, communicative leader. Make it clear from the outset that your team can reach out to you directly should they need help and support, and that they will not be penalized for asking for help.
Celebrate their achievements. Celebrating employee achievements, big or small, is another great way to improve their experience within your company. After all, this shows them that the work they put in is appreciated, while also increasing their confidence and self-worth. Not only that, but it also incentivises them to continue working to this standard moving forward.
You can celebrate employee achievements by:
- Sending them a quick message to let them know they’ve done a good job
- Discussing their performance in a weekly meeting
- Setting up an employee of the month scheme
- Handing out awards or bonuses for high-performing employees
- Providing high-performing employees with opportunities to grow and advance in their career
Upgrade your workspaces. Working on improving your workspaces, whether you’re running an office or factory, can also improve the employee experience. Fortunately, there are many ways in which you can upgrade your spaces with this goal in mind.
For example, you could set up a Micro Market. What is a Micro Market? It is essentially a small, unmanned shop within a workplace, where employees can buy lunch, snacks or coffees during the day. This means they do not need to venture far from their desks to get much-needed fuel and sustenance, which can make their day a lot easier.
You could also upgrade your workspace by investing in ergonomic furniture and work accessories, which can enhance their comfort levels quite considerably. This means that they’ll be able to work more productively and efficiently moving forward.
Respond to feedback. The best employers continually seek out feedback from their employees relating to what they can be doing better. After all, by taking this feedback on board, you can ensure that your employee satisfaction rates remain as high as possible. However, simply gathering this feedback is not enough; you must ensure you act on it. Otherwise, the gesture feels empty and superficial.
As such, whenever you receive ‘negative’ feedback from an employee, let them know the steps you will take to rectify this moving forward as soon as you can. For example, if they feel there is little opportunity for career progression in their current role, you could offer additional on-site training, subsidise the cost of additional courses they’d like to add to their CV, or set up a mentorship scheme with a more senior employee. This way, you can earn their loyalty, while also ensuring that you have an incredibly talented team on your hands.
Failing to take on employee feedback will lower both their satisfaction levels and their trust in you as an employer.
Prioritize employee wellbeing. Prioritizing employee wellbeing is another great way to improve the employee experience within your business (for obvious reasons). The easiest way to achieve this goal is by developing an employee wellness scheme, that ensures their physical and emotional needs are met inside (and outside) of the workplace.
For example, your wellness scheme should provide them with access to various support networks and services, such as counselling and therapy, that they can rely on when times get tough. This, in turn, will help improve their performance at work, as they will feel less overwhelmed with negative feelings and emotions, meaning that they can work to a much higher standard moving forward.
Your wellness scheme could also include:
- Access to a discounted gym membership or exercise classes
- Access to health and dentistry services
- Bonuses and rewards for when employees hit specific targets and milestones
- On-site growth and development plans
- Regular team-building activities and events
Again, this is something that you may want to ask employees about ahead of time. This way, you can ensure that your wellness program works for your team instead of creating something generic that does not actually meet their needs or expectations.
Ensure that they are getting a competitive salary. By ensuring that your employees are paid a competitive salary, and that this increases alongside their tenure, you’ll improve their experience within your company quite significantly. After all, this will help them to better their financial situation, without worrying about money or feeling as though they have to take on additional work alongside their 9-5 within your company. It also means that they are far less likely to seek out employment from a competitor, leaving you in the lurch.
In addition to this, offering a highly competitive salary can make it easier to attract the top talent within your industry. This means that you’ll gain access to the most skilled employees possible, which brings forth a range of benefits for your business moving forward.
Generally speaking, you can determine whether (or not) the salary you are offering is competitive based on researching how much your competitors are paying employees in similar roles. This will give you a better understanding of the benchmarks you should be aiming for, based on factors such as seniority, experience levels, qualifications and more.
In addition to this, you should also make sure that your employees receive ample time off throughout the year. This again allows them to ensure that their well-being is protected.
Allow your team to work remotely. Allowing your team to work remotely at least a few days a week can also improve workplace satisfaction rates. This is because it gives them greater control over their schedule, especially if they usually have a lengthy commute to contend with. Not only that, but a recent study found that “84% of employees surveyed say they get more work done in a hybrid/remote setting than in-office.”
As such, this is definitely something you should consider moving forward. Furthermore, there are plenty of steps that you can take to ensure remote workers stay on-track and productive. This includes:
- Maintaining clear communication channels, so that they do not feel as though they are out of the loop.
- Avoiding micromanaging your team, putting your trust in them to work to a high standard, whether they’re clocking in at the office or from their home.
- Checking in when necessary, and giving your employees a chance to voice any concerns they may have.
- Investing in technology that will allow your team to work effectively from anywhere in the world.
- Hosting virtual team-building activities, creating a sense of unity, even among employees who do not step foot into the office.
Final thoughts. If you have been struggling with employee retention and motivation recently, you aren’t alone. In fact, over 50% of employers believe that poor retention rates will continue to be their #1 problem throughout 2025.
Fortunately, by following the advice outlined above, you can all but eliminate these concerts. After all, this will help you to improve your employees’ experience and perception of your business, which means that they are less likely to seek work elsewhere. It will also help you to improve your reputation as an employer, which means that any vacancies that do crop up within your team will be filled as quickly as possible.
By keeping your employees happy, you’ll find that your business grows from strength to strength. This is because you’ll be investing in growth and development as opposed to recruitment, and that you can hold onto the top talent within your industry with ease.
