Employee experience (EX), in Dutch medewerkersbeleving or medewerkerservaring, is the sum of all experiences, perceptions, and feelings that an employee gains throughout their entire employment — from the application and onboarding to the daily work environment, development, and departure. It encompasses every touchpoint between employee and organization. In this guide, you will read the meaning, the difference with engagement and satisfaction, the phases of the employee journey, and how to measure and improve EX.
What is employee experience? (definition)
You essentially treat the employee as an internal customer: just as you design the customer experience, you consciously design the experience of people who work for you. EX is therefore broader than one survey or one HR program — it is the sum of everything someone feels, experiences, and concludes about working at your organization.
The Dutch synonyms you encounter are medewerkersbeleving and medewerkerservaring. Both cover the same meaning: the total experience over the entire career within one organization, not just the moment of a satisfaction measurement.
Inzicht
The core idea behind employee experience: treat your employee as an internal customer. Every phase, every touchpoint, and every 'moment that matters' counts in the overall picture someone forms about your organization.
Where does the concept come from?
The thinking behind employee experience stems from the 'employee-as-customer' perspective. Organizations long invested primarily in customer experience but discovered that a strong internal experience is a prerequisite for it: engaged, well-supported employees deliver a better customer experience. Authors like Jacob Morgan popularized the idea that EX is shaped by three environments — the physical workplace, technology, and culture — a framework we will elaborate on later.
That the concept has matured is evident from the attention at board level. According to research cited by Effectory, 80% of top managers attach importance to employee experience [1]. At Workday, half of HR leaders (50%) indicate they are driving company-wide transformation based on positive employee experiences [2].
Employee experience vs. employee engagement vs. employee satisfaction (the difference)
Comparison table: experience, engagement, and satisfaction side by side
| Aspect | Employee experience | Employee engagement | Employee satisfaction |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | Total experience throughout the entire employment | Degree of commitment and motivation | Degree of satisfaction at a given moment |
| Scope | Broad and overarching | An outcome within EX | One component within EX |
| Time horizon | Full employee journey | Ongoing result | Snapshot |
| Main question | What is it like to work here? | How connected do you feel? | Are you satisfied with your job? |
| Relationship | The foundation | The result of a good EX | A signal within EX |
The employee journey: the phases of the employee lifecycle
The journey typically consists of six phases.
Attracting & recruitment (pre-boarding)
The experience begins even before the first day of work: with the job description, the application process, and the communication between signing the contract and starting. A smooth, respectful, and transparent recruitment process sets the tone — even for candidates you don't hire.
Onboarding
In the onboarding phase, the new employee lands in the organization: getting to know the team, systems, culture, and expectations. Strong onboarding accelerates productivity and binds people early. This is a classic 'moment that matters'.
Development & daily work
Most of the journey takes place in daily work: the tools, collaboration, workload, and growth opportunities. Here, training and development opportunities make the difference between stagnation and progress.
Engagement & performance
In this phase, employee engagement comes together with performance. Feedback, recognition, goals, and good conversations determine how connected and productive someone feels. The manager plays a key role here (more on that later).
Retention & exit (offboarding and alumni)
Retention revolves around whether people stay and continue to grow. And if someone does leave, the exit also counts: a proper offboarding and good alumni relationship influence your reputation and the chance of return. Turnover is also costly — according to Effectory, the cost of replacing an employee is between 50 and 150% of the annual salary [1].
Cijfer
According to Workday, the engagement score of employees who stay with a company is **13% higher** than that of leavers [2]. Engagement and retention are directly linked.
The building blocks of a good employee experience (physical, technological, cultural)
Tip
Review your EX bottlenecks along these three environments. Often, a persistent problem is not in the culture, but in an annoying system or a deficient workplace — and that is quicker to solve than you think.
Why is employee experience important? (the business case with figures)
The impact on absenteeism, turnover, productivity, and profitability (Gallup)
According to the Gallup Q12 meta-analysis (2020), highly engaged teams perform better on almost every business indicator than weakly engaged teams:
| Indicator | Difference in highly engaged teams |
|---|---|
| Absenteeism | 81% less [3] |
| Profitability | 23% higher [3] |
| Productivity (sales) | 18% higher [3] |
| Safety incidents | 64% less [3] |
| Customer loyalty/engagement | 10% higher [3] |
| Turnover (in organizations with naturally low turnover) | 43% less [3] |
The state of engagement worldwide (and the costs of a weak EX)
The downside: engagement is scarce worldwide and also declining. According to Gallup, the percentage of engaged employees decreased from 23% in 2023 to 21% in 2024 [4]. This decline cost the global economy an estimated US$438 billion in lost productivity in 2024 [4].
Broadly speaking, there is also work to be done: according to Effectory, only 29% of employees feel enthusiastic [1]. At the same time, investing pays off: a high degree of enthusiasm leads, according to Effectory, to 35% more job satisfaction, 35% better retention, and 29% stronger customer focus [1].
Let op
Low engagement is not a neutral zero — it is a cost. Turnover (50 to 150% of an annual salary per replacement [1]), absenteeism, and lost productivity add up significantly. You pay for a weak employee experience, whether you measure it or not.
How do you measure employee experience? (MTO, eNPS, pulse surveys & journey mapping)
| Methode | Frequentie | Sterkte | Beste voor |
|---|---|---|---|
| MTO | Annually | Depth and breadth | Full picture and trends |
| eNPS | Continuous/periodic | Fast and comparable | Concise recommendation signal |
| Pulse survey | Frequent (e.g., monthly) | Current and agile | Tracking specific themes |
| Journey mapping | Ongoing | Insight per phase | Finding 'moments that matter' |
How do you improve employee experience? (practical steps)
From measuring to improving: action planning
Work in a recognizable cycle of measuring, understanding, acting, and feedback:
Inzicht
HR designs the frameworks, instruments, and processes, but the manager brings the employee experience to life daily. Without engaged managers, every EX program remains on paper.
Choosing the right tooling for employee experience
When comparing, pay attention to:
Tip
Don't choose a tool based on the longest feature list, but based on the moments you want to improve. A simple tool you actually use beats a complete suite that remains unused.
Frequently asked questions about employee experience
What is employee experience?
Employee experience (EX), in Dutch medewerkersbeleving, is the sum of all experiences, perceptions, and feelings an employee has throughout their entire employment — from the application and onboarding to the daily work environment, development, and departure. It encompasses every touchpoint with the organization.
What is the difference between employee experience and employee engagement?
Employee experience is the broader concept: all experiences of an employee during the entire employee journey. Employee engagement is an outcome or metric thereof — it measures how connected and motivated employees feel. A good employee experience is the foundation; engagement is the result that emerges from it.
What is the difference between employee experience and employee satisfaction?
Employee satisfaction is a snapshot of how satisfied someone is with employment conditions and the work environment. Employee experience is broader and more sustainable: it looks at all experiences and emotions throughout the entire employment, including satisfaction and engagement. Satisfaction is therefore one component of the total employee experience.
What phases does the employee journey consist of?
The employee journey (employee lifecycle) typically consists of six phases: attraction and recruitment, onboarding, development, engagement and performance, retention, and exit. In each phase, there are 'moments that matter' that determine the employee experience. By improving these phases, you strengthen the entire experience.
How do you measure employee experience?
You measure employee experience with a combination of an Employee Satisfaction Survey (MTO), the Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS), and shorter pulse surveys, supplemented with employee journey mapping to identify the crucial moments. It is important to then convert the outcomes into concrete actions (action planning).
Why is employee experience important?
A strong employee experience leads to more engaged employees, and engaged teams demonstrably perform better. According to Gallup, highly engaged teams have 81% less absenteeism, 23% higher profitability, and 18% higher productivity than weakly engaged teams [3]. A weak EX, conversely, leads to more turnover, absenteeism, and lost productivity.
