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Employee experience, also called EX, is a rapidly growing field for companies looking for greater returns on their people investments. But is EX the real deal or is it just the latest fad for people getting tired of talking about engagement all the time? The following employee experience quotes demonstrate both the breadth and depth of this growing specialization.
1. “EX is sum of everything an employee experiences throughout his or her connection to the organization […]” – Denise Lee Yohn
In her column declaring 2018 as the “Year of Employee Experience,” Forbes contributor Yohn puts a stake in a ground for all prospective EX strategists. If your intention is to build an employee experience that really makes an impact, you need to look at it in wide focus. Per Yohn, the employee experience starts in recruitment and ends with employees’ very last interaction with the company–which may occur well after they’ve left.
Related: The Employee Experience: Culture, Engagement, and Beyond
2. “Employee experience doesn’t need to replace engagement. The two can actually work together, and in fact, they have to.” – Jacob Morgan
As one of the first people to create a structured EX framework, Jacob Morgan has no shortage of employee experience quotes musing on what makes it unique from engagement. In his book “The Employee Experience Advantage,” he clarifies early on that employee experience and engagement are not at odds. In fact, his view is that EX strategy actually produces engaged employees by focusing on three key areas of work: the cultural, the physical, and the technological.
Related: What is Employee Experience and How Is It Different From Engagement?
3. “We in HR have to get away from the idea that we alone own the employee experience. We can’t.” – Josh Bersin
Bersin, an esteemed HR thought leader, has several notable employee experience quotes in this article for SHRM exploring the notion of who “owns” this growing specialization. The one above, however, directly tackles the fact that because employee experience is all-encompassing, it can’t be pushed off on HR the same way engagement and culture have. Bersin instead suggests HR acts as sponsors for strategies lead by multidisciplinary teams that tackle experience issues one at a time.
Related: Create a Good Employee Experience Without Busting Your Budget
4. “Employees logically expect transparency, authenticity, simplicity, and relevance. They expect an experience that delivers on a compelling employer brand promise and the expectations it sets.” – Lisa Morris & Rob Sherrell
The employer brand promise presides over all things employee experience. As Morris and Sherrell posit in “Employee Experience Redefined,” the brand promise is a foundational element of the employer/employee relationship. The expectations employers create via their brand will ultimately influence how employees feel about the work they do; how they see interpret their identity in the company; and how they function within the organizational system.
Related: Introducing the Employee Experience Index
5. “The prevailing factor to drive employee engagement, and therefore create exceptional employee experiences, can be summed up in one word: Impact” – Lior Arussy
In his article for Chief Executive, Arussy distinguishes his perspective from other employee experience quotes by drawing a direct line between EX and meaningful work. What separates true EX strategy from “table stakes” like perks and parties is an emphasis on connecting employees to the outcomes of their daily work. In Arussy’s view, a good strategy will remove the obstacles that prevent employees from seeing this impact, inspiring them to reach higher levels of performance.
Related: Improving the Employee Experience: Where Does It Start? 
