employee experience journey deloitte

This time it’s personal: Shaping the ‘new possible’ through employee experience

As anyone who has led an organization since 2020 knows, assumptions about the nature of work and how it is organized  have gone out the window. Employees have shared this sense of disruption: McKinsey research shows that while most people have felt supported by their organizations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, many have struggled . And while some companies are exploring hybrid working models, many are expecting a full return to the office, setting employee concerns and employer expectations further apart .

How do leaders satisfy all parties in trying to remake the mission? In our view, they have a unique opportunity to listen to their employees and engage them on what matters—now and into the future. Since the pandemic began, McKinsey has surveyed almost 1,000 individuals to assess their views on work and how it has changed . While each respondent’s experience is personal and specific to them, common threads have emerged about their career paths.

Workers are hungry for trust, social cohesion, and purpose. They want to feel that their contributions are recognized and that their team is truly collaborative. They desire clear responsibilities and opportunities to learn and grow. They expect their personal sense of purpose to align with that of their organization. And they want an appropriate physical and digital environment that gives them the flexibility to achieve that elusive work–life balance.

Companies are facing an exodus of employees who are exhausted and overwhelmed, questioning what work means, and thinking through their options. Organizations can offer an excellent employee experience (EX) by taking these needs and feelings seriously at such a crucial time.

Providing top-notch EX is not just lip service; it requires a profound reorientation away from a traditional top-down model to one based on the fundamentals of design thinking. This shift allows a company to put its workers first by exploring and responding to how they view their employee journeys, then delivering tailored interventions that focus on critical moments that matter to maximize satisfaction, performance, and productivity. In doing so, companies can become more inspiring, collaborative, and centered on creating an experience that is meaningful and enjoyable .

Research shows that people who report having a positive employee experience have 16 times the engagement level of employees with a negative experience, and that they are eight times more likely to want to stay at a company. 1 McKinsey Employee Experience survey, 2020. In this article, we look at how companies can focus on employee experience to help retain and excite the best people, creating value and maintaining a competitive edge as they do so.

How employee experience can shape the ‘new possible’

A recent  McKinsey Global Institute report notes that the future of work  will bring more remote work, an acceleration of e-commerce and digital payments, and the continuing rollout of automation and artificial intelligence (AI). There will be major workforce transitions for millions across the globe, many of whom face a widening skills gap  and other challenges. And because more and more roles are becoming disaggregated and fluid, work will increasingly be defined in terms of skills.

At the same time, the pandemic has opened the door wider to a range of workplace changes we call the “ new possible .” 2 We spoke with 350 human-resources leaders about the role of uncertainty in their function. They told us that over the next two years they want to prioritize initiatives that strengthen their organizations’ ability to drive change in leadership, culture, and employee experience. Taking the place of a traditional workplace hierarchy is a model that is more flexible and responsive, built on higher levels of connection. In this approach, organizations work together with their people to create personalized, authentic, and motivating experiences that strengthen individual, team, and company performance .

Employee experience takes into account what people value in the broadest sense, acknowledging how life stage, personal circumstances, and even personality type make different propositions attractive for different people (Exhibit 1). Contrary to conventional wisdom, the most motivating answer is rarely just to be paid more. Rather, employees want to feel a powerful sense of agency—being able to influence outcomes that matter to them—allied with a strong sense of identity and belonging. That means agency in work and agency about work.

Our research shows that different experiences in the three core areas of EX—social, work, and organization—explain most of the variation in how positively or negatively employees view their journey with their company. 3 McKinsey Employee Experience survey, 2020; WorkTrends 2016, IBM/Globoforce Employee Experience Index Study (n = 23,070). Before the pandemic began, a majority of employees—particularly Gen Z workers, surveys indicate—already felt disengaged from their jobs and were placing more emphasis on workplace well-being. 4 The employee expectations report 2020 , Peakon, 2020, peakon.com.

Organizations that design an EX model that is both personalized and supported by digital experiences that augment flexibility create an enduring opportunity to attract, inspire, and keep the best talent. In a world in which so many people are reassessing why and where they work, EX is at the heart of how organizations set themselves apart. Indeed, McKinsey research shows that employees at leading EX companies are more inclined to surpass work expectations, having a 40 percent higher level of discretionary effort.

Taking a systematic approach to EX

Design thinking , which uses both data and empathy to put employees at the center of the problem-solving equation, is a useful model for leaders to use to help them understand what matters most to their employees. It’s the same thinking that has transformed customer experience  over the past decade, turning the lens internally to ask the same questions about employees.

There are several factors for success in an EX intervention or transformation, starting with a clear North Star, or measure for success. Also crucial is a commitment to understanding current employee pain points and talent needs, as well as the emotional context of life and work journeys. Finally, these journeys should be enabled by digital tools that free people up to focus on the more creative and engaging aspects of their work.

Three steps can help leaders—and their organization—develop new ways of working, including establishing a cross-functional capability to implement successful EX (Exhibit 2).

Step 1: Establish a baseline and build on it

This first step is a collective exercise that requires the alignment of senior leaders of all functions, as well as the engagement of the wider organization. It starts with a clear, honest appraisal of current employee needs, supported by data as well as by tools and assessments grounded in organizational science.

An honest appraisal of employee needs, supported by data, helps to ensure that a company has a clear-eyed view of the core theme it is driving.

More broadly, it requires leaders to articulate the direction and scale of ambition for EX and define the value at stake. This helps ensure that a company has a clear-eyed view of the core theme it is driving, rather than just a vague idea of how to improve performance with a one-and-done response.

For example, one company wanted to focus on financial performance and customer impact. Looking across all levels of the organization, the company identified leaders in both functions and developed an EX plan to transform how these individuals experienced key moments in their journeys, such as onboarding and their first few months as leaders. This exercise helped the company attract and keep more people who thrived in these roles.

Another organization’s North Star was to become the best place to work in a digital age, so it developed a tailored EX with a focus on digital and AI talent.

Step 2: Identify and transform employee journeys

Design thinking involves a “discover, design, deliver” cycle that involves a deep understanding of a particular employee journey over a relevant stretch of time. For most product- and customer-service journeys, that cycle is shorter than those of employee journeys—and often only applicable to their main components. For instance, the onboarding journey in a role may take as long as a year to play out completely, longer than a typical product journey. But the process is otherwise remarkably similar.

To implement a successful EX model, companies need to get the following two design elements right:

EX designers, like their product and service equivalents, analyze employee journeys by building clearly defined archetypes—what we call personas—to plot out important moments.

Based on data- and empathy-driven descriptions of hypothetical people, personas can be used as tools to redesign the experience in areas that employees find lacking. They reflect who employees are—background, age, level, and tenure—and where they sit in the organization, as well as what their particular needs, behaviors, and attitudes are.

For example, a persona could be based on a role such as a nurse practitioner in a healthcare system. This person exhibits a strong work ethic but has been working nonstop since the pandemic began and is burned out. Despite trying her best, she can’t support her team the way she would like to and needs time to reenergize so she can coach and support the people she works with, who are similarly exhausted.

EX designers, working hand in hand with employees, can build these insights into a persona and, in turn, design “edge cases”—that is, places where redesigning employee journeys has the most value. Support for employees in roles such as nurse practitioner could include flexible paid time off, well-being support, and more opportunities for team engagement.

A global technology leader wanted to emphasize inclusivity, so it developed personas based on observed behaviors and the personality types represented among its workforce. By mapping personas, it found that introverts were often booking meeting rooms just to have lunch in peace and to have a chance to recharge. This exercise set a number of priorities for reimagining the workplace, from the canteen to the conference room, and led to a dramatically different new headquarters design. Performance and satisfaction measures improved in parallel, with some tasks being completed 30 percent more quickly.

‘Moments that matter’

Once EX designers, working closely with employees, create personas, they can then define “moments that matter.” These steps in an employee life cycle are inflection points that, if designed well, can create a disproportionate uplift in experience. They also map pain points that can then be addressed (Exhibit 3). Moments that matter will vary by company, but they also fit within the same relatively consistent set of employee journeys in most organizations.

In our current context, people working from home for more than a year may find themselves isolated, so companies can use surveys or other data to find ways that would allow employees to gather safely more often. Or, for example, employees might fear that they are missing out on career advancement because they haven’t been in the office. In response, companies can increase the cadence of interactions that employees have with their boss and set up a chat channel to alert workers of new opportunities company-wide.

Journeys, and moments that matter in particular, vary significantly based on personas and company context. It is therefore crucial to work with employees to identify these moments and their related pain points. Having employees help define personas reinforces the “human touch” aspects of the work and helps create meaningful impact.

Colleagues who have experienced these moments can be enlisted to help develop prototype solutions in focused design sprints, along with piloting in a single business area or function for rapid feedback and modification. A key part of designing these prototype solutions is to consider the role that digitization and digital tools play in fundamentally changing what work means for people. Digital portals instead of paper filing, virtual focus groups, rapid prototyping—these measures allow people to focus on more engaging work activities.

Companies can then create a series of key performance indicators to measure and track satisfaction over time, gauging impact and driving continual improvement. Part of this shift includes augmenting the capabilities of HR teams , whose mandate already emphasizes employee-centric policies. In essence, the process of listening to employees  and monitoring progress should be a seamless digital experience guided by a human touch.

A commitment to fact-based analysis also distinguishes EX excellence from good intentions. For instance, one global software company used its impressive technology capacity to enhance EX digitally. It identified behavioral employee personas and prioritized a number of critical moments that matter for performance and satisfaction. Using context-specific personalization, employees are guided and supported in real time as they experience annual performance reviews and significant role changes or life events. The company not only leveraged digital tools, such as a virtual avatar, to give personalized, real-time feedback to employees but also used virtual-reality technology to strengthen immersion and empathy during annual performance reviews.

Step 3: Equip the full organization for an EX transformation

After identifying personas and moments that matter, the final step involves implementing systems that let the organization scale EX—through better data, measurement, systems, and capabilities. While HR is a central partner here, tools and resources are put in the hands of employees and managers to transform their experience. The changes to operating models and performance-management systems are linked to business performance so that organizations can assess financial impact.

One major European agrichemicals player accelerated its EX journey in just three weeks with a series of three sprints, engaging employees to help identify and map priority journeys and moments. In addition to a complete redesign of two moments that matter, the team was able to create a full road map for improved EX across the organization, along with resource requirements and measures for financial impact.

In another example, a global heavy-vehicle OEM reimagined its digital dealership through a global employee-experience transformation. The new cocreation approach was adopted across markets by a record 90 percent of dealers. The redesign took ten minutes off the average work order and helped employees to deliver truly proactive customer service.

Success factors: The big picture

Regardless of industry or geography, an organization can create a distinctive EX strategy by first defining what its goals are and how EX supports business impact for the company. It should also avoid a cookie-cutter approach to employee journeys by marrying rigorous analytics with personalization, developing appropriate personas, and focusing on moments that matter that resonate with the workforce.

In addition to these fundamentals, successful EX also creates a balance between top-down guidance and letting employees create their own destinies. Everyone is in on the journey, including a coalition made up of finance, operations, and IT, among other functions; these groups are partners in change management and implementation from the start. Finally, data is at the center of how organizations can continually measure impact and course correct as needed.

Now more than ever, people are thinking hard about where and why they work. The best employee experience is not meant to be yet another organizational process. EX means pinpointing important moments in an employee’s journey and making them more positive, fulfilling, even joyful. Doing so can help companies attract the best people, motivate them to perform, and augment feelings of loyalty. A successful EX culture, in turn, accelerates growth and creates competitive advantages.

Focusing on employees is long overdue. Organizations can seize this moment to do and be more for their people, as well as for their shareholders and customers. How each company manages this opportunity may shape its perception as an employer—both internally and externally—for years to come.

Jonathan Emmett is an associate partner in McKinsey’s New Jersey office, Asmus Komm is a partner in the Hamburg office, Stefan Moritz is a senior expert in the Stockholm office, and Friederike Schultz is an associate partner in the Berlin office.

The authors wish to thank Ela Chodyniecka, Florian Pollner, James Rappaport, Eike Reus, Kira Rupietta, and Bill Schaninger for their contributions to this article.

This article was edited by Barbara Tierney, a senior editor in the New York office.

Explore a career with us

Related articles.

The new possible: How HR can help build the organization of the future

COVID-19 and the employee experience: How leaders can seize the moment

‘Great Attrition’ or ‘Great Attraction’? The choice is yours

Prefer a self-guided tour?

In just 5 minutes (no strings attached!), learn how market leaders use Leapsome to build high-performing teams, enable managers and retain their best talent.

Charting unique pathways: Our expert guide to employee experience journey mapping

As the working world is changing, with remote and hybrid setups becoming more common, organizations are looking to find ways to ensure their teams still have a consistent and positive employee experience. Frameworks such as the employee experience (EX) journey map can help to guide these new processes. It’s worth investing energy into this as companies that design a great EX report lower stress and burnout, and their people are 1.4 times more likely to find purpose in their roles.* 

Still, how does mapping the EX journey work? Employee journey maps help chart and visualize the end-to-end experience of working at your company from the perspectives of your team members. Their primary purpose is to highlight the employee's point of view and uncover inefficiencies and areas for improvement. They can also provide an overview of the internal processes and roles recruiters, hiring managers, human resources leaders, and team leads play in shaping the experience.

We created a downloadable template that HR and people ops leaders can use as a starting point for their own journey maps, providing a step-by-step process you can follow to make the best use of this free resource.

* McClean & Co , 2023 ‍

🧩 Discover what pieces are missing from your current EX strategy Use our free, editable template to record employee data, map the EX journey, and make your organization an even better place to work. 👉 Download the template

What is the employee experience journey?

The employee journey encompasses all the major milestones, events, interactions, and impressions an individual experiences throughout their tenure with an organization. Some people leaders refer to the EX journey as key touchpoints or “moments that matter.” Still, this perspective might be somewhat limiting as it overlooks the fact that a positive EX journey is also about building a strong, trusting relationship between employees and organizations. Essentially, every moment counts because it influences how team members feel about you, from pre- to post-employment. ‍

Why map out the employee experience journey?

Mapping out the employee journey means creating a visual blueprint you can use to identify current areas for improvement and customize for different roles. Doing so is a worthwhile investment of time and effort that can contribute to significant cultural and operational outcomes, such as:

• Smoother, more thorough onboarding processes — Only 43% of employees say their onboarding included more than paperwork and a one-day orientation. Implementing an EX journey map to create a more in-depth onboarding experience can set your company apart and help your new hires feel more welcome from day one.
• Relevant career development opportunities — An effective employee journey map takes your team members’ unique professional and personal career goals into account. This allows you to offer better training opportunities, which 76% of professionals say has an impact on their decision to stay with a company.
• Improved productivity — An EX journey map can help you overcome productivity gaps with better technology, resources, processes, and communication. In doing so, you could become up to 1.8 times more productive than organizations that don’t prioritize the employee experience.  
• Greater recruitment success — Using a journey map can help you get a better sense of what candidates are looking for throughout their tenure. That way, you can tailor your messaging to better resonate with job seekers’ highest priority goals.  ‍

“If you’re familiar with customer journey mapping, then you may know more about employee journey mapping (EJM) than you realize. Employee journey mapping uses the same concepts and best practices of customer journey mapping to help you understand your employee experience better, provide the resources, tools, and support employees need, and align employees’ daily actions and accountabilities with the customer experience.” — Jeannie Walters , Customer Experience Speaker and CEO of Experience Investigators

Employee experience journey map template

🤔 Get inside employees’ heads  Use our template to gather team member insights at every stage and understand how their needs change throughout their tenures. 👉 Download the template

7 steps to create your employee experience journey map

Whether you utilize our editable template or create your own, mapping the employee journey in this way allows you to easily spot where your EX efforts are falling short and make an initial action plan within the same document. Let’s look at our recommended step-by-step process for strategizing, researching, documenting, and improving the employee experience for your organization.  ‍

1. Get clear about your goals for mapping the employee journey

The key question that HR and people ops need to ask themselves at this stage is, “What do we want to know about the employee journey and why?” This prevents journey mapping from becoming a cursory exercise and transforms it into a more meaningful, strategic endeavor that helps you align with your overall company goals.

If it’s your first time creating a journey map, for example, your initial goal may be to identify your current paint points, gaps, and challenges so you can better support your team members for the next 12 months. 

If you’ve mapped the employee journey before and have implemented improvements in the past, a more specific goal might be to address communication issues and improve the feedback and review processes across all touchpoints.  ‍

2. Conduct employee research

In order to get a valid understanding of the real issues, you need to first dig deeper into previous survey data, manager feedback, performance scores, and EX metrics like retention, turnover, and engagement. You should also talk to department heads, managers, team leads, and employees themselves for fresh, updated more insights. In your research, be sure to get an understanding of how team members describe their current journey as well as the ideal experience so you can identify your existing pain points and structure a better path. 

Here are a few questions you can ask employees:

• What expectations did you have at every stage of your professional journey? 
• How have we succeeded or failed in living up to those expectations?
• What were your biggest frustrations during the onboarding, training, and engagement stages?
• What competencies were you hoping to develop at every stage?
• At each stage of the process, how did you feel about communicating with your manager and leadership team?

Providing anonymous feedback channels for employees is key if you want truly valuable, candid input. You can help team members feel safe sharing their thoughts with methods such as:

• Anonymous surveys — Using a platform like Leapsome means your surveys will be anonymous by default. ‍
• Suggestion boxes or forums — This allows employees to confidentially share their input and ask questions without prompting. That’s why Leapsome offers both an anonymous suggestion box and Q&A board where team members can ask questions and get answers from leadership. ‍
• Focus groups — Organize an in-office or virtual meeting with team members, ask meaningful questions about their current experience, and use their answers to create an anonymous report. If possible, you can arrange this with a third-party research company to ensure confidentiality.

🔎 Make sure you have a tentative action plan to share with employees when asking them for feedback. This will help you overcome any survey fatigue team members may be feeling due to previous inaction and encourage them to provide more and better feedback.  

3. Determine the scope & roles your journey map will cover

Attempting to map the journey for every single role in your organization will lead you to develop an employee experience that’s too vague and irrelevant to the difficulties that specific teams are experiencing. Instead, use the data you’ve now gathered to hone in on your most urgent issues.  

For instance, as you review your research, you may notice positive reports during the recruitment and onboarding stages. However, you might uncover that your teams typically show decreased engagement around the development stage. That could mean it’s time to update your career progression framework or make it a more central part of your professional growth processes.  ‍

4. Craft your EX journey map

Now, you’ll draw on your previous three steps and bring together your goals, scope, and research to update your processes and construct your ideal employee experience journey. To do this, you can use our template, which covers these core areas:

• Touchpoints , or the places where employees come into contact with managers, leaders, and other stakeholders.
• Processes , or the ideal steps managers and employees should take at each touchpoint to give team members the best experience.
• Metrics and monitoring , so you can record your current EX data and quickly identify areas of weakness.
• Notes , where you can document feedback from employees and stakeholders.
• Next steps , where you’ll outline your solutions. 

Of course, every organization has its own specific goals, internal structure, and culture. That’s why we’ve made our entire template editable and customizable, with ready-to-use content you can use for inspiration. For example, if your company is 100% remote , you may need more processes during onboarding that promote belonging, recognition, and team integration. ‍

🔎 You can use our template to link to a fully fleshed-out process and next steps documents for each stage, which is ideal for building transparency and ensuring everyone is on the same page about your company’s specific strategies.

5. Consult your journey map to identify improvement opportunities

Use the notes section in our template to capture what you’ve learned from team member research and outline your current iteration of the employee journey. In particular, note the initial expectations and eventual frustrations team members mentioned in their feedback and prioritize specific roles or issues that need to be addressed. 

In the next steps section, summarize what actions you plan to take based on the most critical concerns. Perhaps several employees mention feeling stifled in their professional development. You could then introduce a formal learning and training budget as a next step to improve on this. ‍

6. Share your plan & implement initiatives

Once you’ve finalized your action plan for improving the employee experience, communicate your strategy with leaders and team members so you can secure additional feedback on your proposed ideas and support for your initiatives moving forward. To be as transparent as possible:

• Explain your motivation for mapping the employee journey — Reiterate why you decided to map the employee journey and improve EX from the outset. For example, your organization may have gone through a recent restructuring, and you might have noticed that engagement has been declining ever since. ‍
• Describe your approach — Share how you mapped the staff journey based on your current EX processes and employee research.  ‍
• Discuss the why behind your proposed strategy — Provide the rationale behind your action plan and clearly link it to current business goals and objectives. ‍
• Break your strategy down into steps — Be sure to offer timelines and share who’s responsible for leading each initiative. ‍
• Follow up — After presenting your plan, contact leadership and stakeholders to address their questions and concerns. ‍

7. Refine & iterate on your journey maps over time

Like customers, the needs of your employees can change and fluctuate, typically in response to industry and economic changes. That’s why you should review and update your EX journey map every six months to a year and follow the same process each time. You can even utilize an employee experience platform to support you with this

Remember: No matter how favorable your employee experience metrics are, there’s always more to learn and understand about what team members are looking for from their work environment. 

🔎 Employee experience platforms like Leapsome can help you streamline how you gather team member data, set the right EX goals, and implement strategies that allow for better communication, reduced stress, and more employee autonomy.

Measuring the employee journey

Reviewing your employee experience metrics regularly helps you detect and mitigate issues early before they become major challenges. Doing so also means you can illustrate your progress to upper management and the executive team over time, demonstrating the value of your EX programs. Here are a few key indicators you should consistently refer to:

• Retention and turnover rates — Low retention rates may signal that team members aren’t having a positive employee experience. However, you need to compare them against employee tenures to discern when the most turnover typically happens. For instance, you may notice that team members tend to quit after their first eighteen months, which could suggest they’re dissatisfied with a lack of training, development, and career opportunities. 
• Employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) — The eNPS is a valuable metric because it allows you to quickly assess engagement. It only requires employees to answer one question: “On a scale of zero to ten, how likely are you to recommend us as a place to work for your family and friends?” Your final score can range from -100 to 100, and most companies have a score between 10 and 30. While it’s not a great standalone metric because it presents you with limited data, it’s a great starting point that can help you determine when it’s time to investigate the employee experience further. 
• Survey results — Take note of your highest and lowest scores on previous engagement and culture surveys and read answers to open-ended questions thoroughly. If you use Leapsome’s Surveys module, you can quickly determine which factors you need to target to drive more positive outcomes. Our sentiment analysis function also uses AI to interpret open-ended answers so you can quickly scan them before exploring further.

• Performance scores — A great employee experience often corresponds with enhanced motivation, higher engagement, and, as a result, satisfactory performance. High performance scores also speak to the effectiveness of managers and stakeholders during the onboarding, training, and development stages. ‍

How software supports employee journey mapping

As employee expectations change and business priorities evolve, EX journey maps can help you respond effectively and improve the employee experience with greater efficiency. Moreover, they provide an in-depth understanding of how team members feel about their everyday interactions and overall relationship with your business. If your organization is genuinely committed to putting its people first, you need these individual insights to create a more personalized work experience for your team members.

Still, what do you do if you lack the time, personnel, or tech to gather the requisite insights? How do you overcome resistance from leadership without the right data and tools?

Leapsome allows you to automate the operational and analytical side of the journey mapping so you can focus on finding more innovative solutions to complex EX challenges. With our Surveys and Reviews modules, you can track engagement and pulse scores, retention rates, your eNPS, and employee performance scores with charts and visualizations to show you how those metrics have changed over time. Then, use our Goals module to design EX initiatives that align with current business objectives. 

With Leapsome, you’ll gain actionable insights and drive targeted improvements across every stage of the employee experience. ‍

👣 More positive impressions and connections every step of the way Use Leapsome to actively listen, gain insights, and implement changes based on employee feedback so you can make the entire work experience more meaningful. 👉 Book a demo

Leapsome Team

Related Articles

Employee survey questions: understanding what your teams need to thrive

eNPS: What employee net promoter score is & why it matters

Employee wellness surveys | Questions, tips & benefits

Ready to upgrade your people enablement strategy.

Exlpore our performance reviews, goals & OKRs, engagement surveys, onboarding and more.

The #1 rated HR platform for people enablement

Schedule a demo to find out why leading companies choose Leapsome, the intelligent HR platform that empowers managers to develop, align, and engage their teams.

• Get AI-powered recommendations 🪄
• Save countless hours with automations ⏱️
• Learn from industry best-practices and benchmarks 📊

1,600+ forward-thinking companies choose Leapsome

Schedule a demo

Our friendly team will be in touch right away!

Mitarbeiter entwickeln mit Leapsome

Stärken Sie Mitarbeiter-Engagement und Erfolg Ihres Unternehmens - wie andere führende Marken.

Interesse an Leapsome?

Unsere Produktexperten zeigen Ihnen gerne unsere Plattform oder eröffnen einen Account.

• Case studies
• Expert advice

Employee experience journey map: A complete guide + example + template

Today, we are all obsessed with the experience of the customer. However, only some seem to care about employee experience. This makes no sense whatsoever.

It is common to think that customers are the drivers of our business. And while this is true, imagine what would happen if all employees from your company decided to take a couple of days off, stay home, and watch Netflix? This would be a disaster. Yet, many companies still don't see the importance of designing a better employee experience.

• 1 What is an employee journey?
• 2 Benefits of employee journey mapping
• 3 Employee experience journey mapping
• 4 What to map?
• 5 Employee journey stages
• 6.1 Start with employee experience research
• 6.2 Produce an employee persona
• 6.3 Map the employee experience journey
• 7 What’s next?
• 8 Wrapping up

What is an employee journey?

Put simply, an employee journey is the complete experience an individual has while they're employed at an organization, starting from the day they apply for the job until the day they leave. Such a journey includes every interaction they have with the organization, whether it's having a conversation with a manager, participating in a training session, or attending a team meeting. Think of it like a story that unfolds over time, each chapter representing a different part of the work life.

For example, consider Steve, who just got a job at a technology firm. His employee journey starts with applying for a job, getting an interview invitation, and having the interview. Then he has the second interview and receives the job offer, which moves Steve to the next stage — his first day of work, where he's welcomed by his colleagues and continues as he works on projects, receives feedback, and grows his skills. 

Over the years, Steve might get promoted, switch to different roles within the company, or take part in special programs. His journey captures all these experiences right up until his retirement party or the moment he leaves the company, capturing the entire arc of his career at the firm.

Benefits of employee journey mapping

Why is it essential to know the state of your employees’ journeys and improve them? Many smart companies all over the world are using a very effective idea. They treat their employees really well, just like they do with their customers. 

They've figured out that this is super important. In this paragraph, we'll explain why this is a big deal and how it can make companies much better in today's world.

Here are a few down-to-earth points as to why you should take employee experience seriously:

• Employee engagement means customer success. Did you know engaged employees are almost 90% less likely to leave their company compared to employees who have a low level of engagement? Leave alone the fact that engaged employees are a lot more productive.
• Employees come at a great cost . And it’s not just about money. Customers do not interact with CEOs. They interact with front-desk staff, customer support, sales, you name it. Mistakes of these people may seriously damage your company’s reputation. That alone is a good reason to start thinking about designing a better employee experience.
• Word of mouth. Finally, just like a great customer product, an outstanding employee experience gets spread by word of mouth. It becomes one of the ways you attract talented people to the company.
• Enhanced onboarding and retention. By understanding the employee journey, organizations can create a more structured and engaging onboarding process. This will help new hires become productive more quickly and feel a greater sense of belonging, which can reduce turnover rates.

Now that we’re on the same page regarding the importance of designing a better experience for employees at a company, it’s time to proceed to actionable to-dos.

Read also: Case study on improving the employee journey

Employee experience journey mapping

One of the proven approaches to analyzing, understanding, and enhancing the employee experience and employee journeys is a great technique called customer journey mapping.

Not familiar with this subject? Check out our complete guide on creating a customer journey map .

The idea behind this technique is fairly simple: you take the journey people take when interacting with your business and break it down into stages. The next step is to look at each stage from different angles to get a complete picture of what the experience of this particular person may look like. In other words, a map of your employee’s journey helps you see through the eyes of your customer or, in our case, through the eyes of employees. 

There’s another similar technique called employee experience mapping. These two techniques are often used interchangeably, but it should be noted that experience mapping takes a broader view. It goes beyond chronicling the stages an employee goes through, delving into the qualitative aspects of an employee's daily life within the organization, their experience with it. This encompasses, for example, the emotional experiences of employees at various touchpoints, like participating in daily team meetings, using the company’s tools and technologies, or during interactions with leadership.

What to map?

First, it’s important to decide which part of the employee experience journey you want to start with. At this point, there are a couple of routes you may take:

• High-level mapping. Obviously, it simply would take too much time to map the entire journey, as the employee lifecycle is way too long for one map. Unless you want to start with a high-level map and dive into details later as you dig more information. The downside of a high-level approach is that you won't get a lot out of it. The formula is fewer details = fewer insights.
• Focus on a specific part of the journey. It would be a whole lot easier to start with something like onboarding. The best part about onboarding is that if you are an HR, you have just enough knowledge to take the first steps.
• Identify the most problematic stage and start with it. However, it’s not that easy to tell which part is the most problematic without running research.

Employee journey stages

As we’ve touched the employee journey stages, let’s consider some of the common ones to give you an idea of what to include in your employee experience journey map.

• Attraction. This is the beginning of the journey, where potential employees first encounter the company brand or job opening. They form initial impressions about the company culture and values, and these impressions are often influenced by the company website, social media presence, and employer reviews.
• Recruitment. The potential employee actively considers the job opening and applies for a position. This stage may encompass submitting applications, attending interviews, and communicating with the company's hiring team.
• Hiring. This is when you make the job offer, and the candidate accepts it. 
• Onboarding. The new employee starts their job, they get oriented and integrated into the organization. They learn about company policies, may undergo training for their specific role, and start building relationships with the team and managers.
• Development. This stage involves the employee's growth within the organization. It includes receiving feedback, pursuing professional development opportunities, and potentially participating in mentoring or coaching programs.
• Advancement. This is when the employee moves up within the company hierarchy through promotions or transfers. 
• Exit. This is the final stage of the employee journey when the employee leaves the organization, whether for retirement, a new job, or other reasons. The exit process can include such substages as exit interviews, knowledge transfer, and the employee's transition out of the company.

Looking for more information about employee journey stages to add to your model of journey map? Check out our deck of cheat cards to look deeper into the stages and substages of employee journeys.

Three steps in designing an employee journey map

Now, we will cover the basic steps for creating a full-fledged, true-to-love employee journey map.

Start with employee experience research

Employee research, often referred to as employee surveys or employee feedback programs, is of paramount importance for organizations across various industries. 

It involves collecting, analyzing, and acting upon feedback from employees to gain insights into their experiences, attitudes, and needs within the workplace. Here are some key reasons why employee research is important:

• It enhances employee engagement. By understanding what engages or disengages employees, organizations can take targeted actions to boost engagement.
• It supports informed decision-making. Employee research provides quantifiable insights, allowing leaders to allocate resources more effectively and prioritize initiatives that matter most to employees.
• It helps measure progress. By conducting surveys periodically, organizations can track progress over time. They can see how their efforts to address employee concerns and improve the workplace have translated into tangible results.

In other words, employee research is a strategic tool that empowers organizations to create better workplaces, improve employee satisfaction, increase productivity, and drive overall success. It aligns the interests of employees and employers, contributing to a positive organizational culture and sustainable growth. 

So, you should always start with profound research. Otherwise, what exactly are we going to put on that map? And when it comes to interviewing employees, some really nice factors contribute to great research:

• Employees are easy to get in touch with, and such research is inexpensive compared to customer research. Imagine a situation where you have to bring a bunch of customers for a focus group or an interview. Each has a different time availability and level of involvement. Plus, chances are they might want to have something in return. Whereas, employees are almost always there and ready to share their thoughts over a cup of coffee.
• You have lots of data already. If you’ve been working in the company for a while, there’s probably enough information for you to start with employee journey mapping. And you can always talk to the HR department to get this information.
• Co-creation opportunities. There is nothing better than inviting coworkers for a journey mapping workshop . And again, it’s much easier within a company than when you’re trying to bring in real customers.

In addition to employee feedback and interviews, it may also be helpful to review internal audit reports to gain a better understanding of potential areas for improvement in the employee experience journey.

Surely, there will be a conflict of interests and ethics issues, so be ready to get creative!

Before doing any kind of research, make sure you come up with a list of sources. They can be:

• Employee feedback. If you are an HR, chances are you have a lot of info on hand that can be used for employee experience mapping.
• Interviews with employees. Trust me, they have so much to say, and chances are they wanted to say it years ago.
• Interviews with managers. They observe employees and are able to give you a whole different perspective on things.
• Polls and surveys. Those can give a lot of quantitative data. And the best part is that polls can be anonymous.

Produce an employee persona

To truly empathize with employees, it’s vital to create an employee persona. It is a made-up person that is based on real employees. It should have some basic description as well as some of the details you found during the research phase: goals, motivations and frustrations, some background, and maybe even skills.

Meet Michael, our example, a young finance professional in the heart of NYC. With a year's experience under his belt, he aspired to land a job in a prestigious firm. Living with his brother's family in their cozy apartment, he found solace in their company but yearned for his own space. His daily routine includes job hunting between work, and his mind is always set on reaching the top of the corporate ladder.

You can have one, two, or multiple personas depending on your needs. To create your own persona, here's our guide with examples of how to create a persona in 7 steps .

Map the employee experience journey

Now, after the research has been done and personas have been created, it’s time to put everything on a map. The way you map an employee experience journey is the following:

• Define the stages you need for your map

If we talk about the journey part that covers a new employee onboarding, there will be stages like awareness, research, first contact, phone screening, job interview, the hiring process, the first day, the list goes on. It is very likely that some stages will have multiple substages (especially the hiring process and job interview).

• Decide on map layers or sections

These are layers of data you want to have on your map. Some of the commonly used journey map layers include employee goals, employee expectations, emotional experience, process, channels, touchpoints, and problems.

For each stage you defined, fill in the map sections with data about this stage. For example, write down the goals of the employee persona as well as their expectations or describe the process the employee persona goes through at each stage.

Feel free to add anything that can benefit you in the search for employee experience insights. If you feel like adding some quotes from real employees — it's great. Want to add a photo of the workplace for a new employee? Go ahead! 

In fact, if you're mapping employee experience in our journey mapping tool , multiple sections will help you capture all the details you might want to have in your map!

• Find flaws and come up with solutions

Once you see the whole picture, you can start looking for roadblocks that prevent employees from, for example, getting the best onboarding experience.

Once you put roadblocks on the map, you can come up with ideas and solutions. In the end, you will have a map that looks somewhat like this:

What’s next?

Once the journey map has been created, it serves as a valuable foundation for a positive employee experience. To ensure that their experience continually improves and stays aligned with the evolving needs of your company, consider the following actions:

• Collect ongoing feedback. Encourage employees to provide feedback throughout their journey. This can be done through surveys, one-on-one discussions, or anonymous feedback channels. This feedback should be used to identify pain points and areas for improvement.
• Regularly update the map. As processes and procedures change within your organization, update the map accordingly. This ensures that it remains an accurate reflection of the journey and can guide improvements effectively.
• Implement quick wins. Identify low-hanging fruit or quick wins based on the map insights. These are small, immediate changes that can significantly improve the experience without requiring extensive resources or time.
• Prioritize key touchpoints. Focus on the most critical touchpoints in the journey that have the greatest impact on the employee experience. Allocate resources and efforts to improve these areas first.
• Involve cross-functional teams. Collaborate with HR, IT, training, and other departments to address issues and implement changes. A cross-functional approach ensures a holistic perspective and comprehensive solutions.
• Set clear objectives. Define specific goals and objectives for improving the employee experience. This provides a clear direction for change initiatives and helps measure their success.
• Training and development. Invest in training and development programs for managers and mentors involved in onboarding. Equip them with the skills and knowledge needed to support the company’s employees effectively.
• Leverage technology. Use technology to streamline and automate parts of the onboarding process. This can reduce administrative burdens and create a more seamless experience for new hires.
• Monitor progress. Continuously monitor the impact of changes on the employee experience. Key performance indicators (KPIs) should be tracked and analyzed to ensure that improvements are achieving the desired outcomes.
• Employee involvement. Involve new employees in the co-creation of their onboarding journey. Seek their input and preferences to tailor the process to individual needs.
• Celebrate successes. Acknowledge and celebrate successes and improvements at different stages of your employees’ journey. Positive reinforcement can motivate teams to keep making enhancements.
• Stay compliant. Ensure that the onboarding process remains compliant with all relevant laws and regulations. Regularly review and update documentation as needed.
• Communication and transparency. Maintain open and transparent communication with employees regarding changes in the onboarding process. Provide clear explanations and expectations to manage their experience effectively.

Remember, journey mapping is not a one-time activity; it should evolve alongside your company's growth and changing needs. By actively listening to employee feedback, making data-driven decisions, and continually refining the onboarding experience, your organization can create a positive and impactful journey for new employees from day one.

Wrapping up

Mapping the employee experience is undoubtedly a challenging undertaking, one that demands a significant amount of effort, time, and resources. However, the rewards that come with creating an exceptional workplace environment and a satisfied workforce are simply too compelling to ignore.

Good news: we have a library of free templates, including employee experience map templates, which you can use for high-level mapping. Either download a PDF file and print it out or create a map in our Journey Mapping Tool, tweak it as you like, and then export it to show all the insights you came up with! 

Related posts

Rate this post

Thanks for the map. It’s a great template to start with for my company’s employee journey.

You’re welcome, Chris! We also have templates for remote employee journey and an employee journey mapping whitepaper with expert advice. Be sure to check those out and happy mapping!

Thank you for these employee journey mapping examples. Our problem is not so much with onboarding but with keeping people from leaving after 6-8 months. Do you have any advice on how to improve retention in the long run?

Hi Tarik, you’re welcome! We do have some employee experience examples you could use for better retention, and a detailed breakdown of common stages people go after the probation period is over: annual performance evaluation, office events, paternity leave, skill upgrading, etc.

You can find them all in our filled-out template called “End-to-end employee journey map” right here: https://uxpressia.com/templates/education-and-career

• Vendor Directory

• Perspectives
• Executive Programs
• Superclasses
• Senior Faculty

Secrets To Employee Experience: The Definitive Guide Launches Today

This week we’re launching one of the most important research studies we’ve done: a comprehensive look at Employee Experience. We call it the Employee Experience: The Definitive Guide , and you can download the report here and the detailed infographic here .

Click here to listen to the podcast

About The Study

Our EX study was launched in January of this year. The study collected input from 982 companies on 90 practices related to Employee Experience, including job design, management, workplace design, health and well-being, growth opportunities, technology, and services.

The Research Goals:

The goals of the study were as follows:

• To create a clear definition of the term “employee experience.” Currently, no such standard exists; the term has different meanings to different audiences.
• To quantify, using research and case studies, why EX is important for HR organizations and business leaders.
• To identify the practices that have the most significant impact on employee experience.
• To offer specific guidance on how organizations can improve employee experiences and achieve EX excellence.

Top Findings:

Of the 90 practices analyzed, 15 were found to have the greatest impact when related to financial, people, and innovation outcomes.

• Practices related to trust, transparency, inclusion, and caring have a disproportionate impact. Important practices include regular and transparent communications from leaders, demonstrations of care for employees, an emphasis on integrity and empathy across an organization, a well-defined company mission, and a culture that cultivates a sense of belonging and inclusion among all employees.
• The study identified four levels of EX maturity: Level 1, Transactional Efficiency; Level 2, Supportive Environment; Level 3, Purpose-Driven Business; and Level 4: Equitable Growth. Only 20% of companies represented in the survey are at Level 4.
• The use of technology is critical to creating and sustaining positive employee experiences. Without the right technology, companies can’t get insights into employee sentiment, provide personalized and job-relevant experiences and development opportunities, or support employees at scale. This study found that the use of certain types of technology correlated to different maturity levels for employee experience.

Why Is Culture So Important?

As you can see from the findings, the most important practices revolve around culture. Why is culture is so important?

First, we are in the middle of one of the most competitive job markets in decades . In April more than 4 million Americans voluntarily quit their jobs , showing their level of dissatisfaction and market power. So employees are looking around. And as they look, they’re searching for empathetic, caring, and responsible employers.

Stress is one big issue. Today, according to Deloitte’s latest Millennial Survey (21,000 respondents in 46 countries), over 46% of younger workers now say they feel stressed “all the time,” and almost half state that their employer “did nothing” to help them.

What are people stressed about? Many things. Four in ten believe global climate change has hit “the point of no return.” Two-thirds believe wealth is unfairly distributed and the cause is “greed and self-interest by business/wealthy people.” And six in ten think systemic racism is widespread.

And the issue of belonging looms large. Nearly a quarter of workers feel their employer has personally discriminated against them. And one in five feel personally discriminated against “all the time” because of some aspect of their background.

So before we simply raise wages or add perks to make employees happy, we have to focus on the core.

• Employees want a feeling of purpose from their employer.
• They want to trust their leaders and institutions.
• They want to feel that they belong and that their team will take care of them.
• They want to be treated fairly , respecting their uniqueness and identity as a person.
• And they want to see the company investing in their pay, growth, and advancement.

Where Are Companies Today?

While many companies perform well among these factors, it’s still the minority.  When we clustered the respondents into groups, we found that only about one in five achieves what we call EX Excellence. Far too many think EX is a program to make Human Resources efficient: this is really only the beginning of the journey.

And yes, technology does matter. The study identified several very important technology investments: tools for employee listening, analytics tools to identify problems, and AI tools that provide suggestions for wellbeing and improved productivity.

The ROI Of Employee Experience

Since the topic of EX grew out of employee engagement, companies are not always clear about the return on investment. Well it’s now very clear that when employee satisfaction is high, customer satisfaction and financial growth follow. As I often tell clients in our conversations, your employees “are” your company, so the more productive and engaged they are, the faster you company will grow.

Our research clearly proved this out.

A Few Lessons Learned

First, EX is not purely a technology initiative.

Companies often think the EX strategy is a tech strategy. Yes, technology is important (our study found that listening systems are very important), but culture comes first. And creating collaboration systems does not create a collaborative culture. The opposite is true: whatever tech you buy, it will reinforce the culture you already have.

Think about every job you’ve ever had. At times the tech got in the way, but even when these problems were fixed it was the management, teamwork and work itself that matters.

Second, focus leaders on respect, inclusion, and belonging.

The Deloitte research points to something I’ve observed over the last few years: today every employee wants to feel unique . And this focus on uniqueness means we have to create a sense of inclusion, belonging, and respect.

Did you know, for example, that there are more than 40 definitions of “gender” in modern HR systems? This points to the fact that people thrive on their individuality and differences from others, and all they ask is for your company to respect and understand these differences.

I recently posted a podcast on my ten principles of leadership , and I discuss how important it is to listen, respect people’s differences, and take time to let people speak up. These topics are central to EX, so make sure they’re part of your program.

Third, invest in programs to help people grow.

Many of our studies have shown that when people leave organizations, the #1 driver is “lack of progress.” And in this economy, everyone has to grow and learn all the time. So give people opportunities to learn, ask others for help, and try new assignments. These growth, development, and mobility options are tremendously important issues. Companies like Bank of America saw their retention rates skyrocket when they put regular development and growth into their retail business.

Fourth, double down on company mission and purpose.

It’s interesting to me that so many younger workers want business leaders to be more ethical. The Millennial Survey found that almost 70% of workers believe “business leaders are greedy and self-centered” and this is what holds society back. (I have to say, watching three billionaires compete to fly into space when we have such tremendous problems in homelessness, income inequality, and climate does make me wonder.)

This means you, as a manager or business leader, have to continuously remind your team “why we are here.”

I’ve talked with hundreds of companies about this issue and the simple story is this: companies make money because of what they do; they don’t make money as a goal. Financial performance is an outcome of solving individual or society’s problems, inventing new products and services, and continuously improving lives for people. If you don’t think about your company that way, you’re missing a huge opportunity.

Fifth, make technology easy and focus on employee listening.

As I talk about in the podcast, technology is a big part of EX. While it’s not as important as many cultural issues, it can make a huge difference. The report shows you how to architect EX and what different tools do, but the big message is that we want to make technology “go away.” People shouldn’t feel overwhelmed by tools: they should be easy to pick up and use.

Among all the tech we looked at, the areas that had the biggest impact on results are listening and analytics. Every company has a variety of survey and analysis tools, a great EX program includes a program and integrated platform for listening, feedback, and response Read our article on “ Shortening the Distance from Signal to Action ” to learn more about this area. We call this the “continuous response” to EX, which builds on what companies do for customers.

Sixth, make wellbeing a part of your entire business strategy.

This research also reinforces the simple idea that people cannot succeed at work if they aren’t thriving in their life. Management disciplines like appreciation (saying thank you to people), flexibility (letting people work where and how they prefer), focus (not asking people to do too many things at once), and space (letting people take time off), are essential to EX.

Work can be exciting, rewarding, and great for your ego. But if people do not feel healthy and energetic, the business will suffer.

EX Is A Business Imperative, Not An HR Program

Let me close with one more point: EX is not just an employee strategy. Companies with great employee experience simply outperform in every way. When you take care of your employees, they take care of your company.

Employee Experience: The Definitive Guide (Research Report)

Employee Experience: The Definitive Guide (Infographic)

The Voice of The Employee – New Course In The Josh Bersin Academy

The Crusade For Employee Experience: How Did We Get Here?

Employee Experience 4.0: Shortening The Distance From Signal To Action

The Massive Impact Of Microsoft Viva

Related Posts

HR Technology / Talent Acquisition

Will chatbots take over hr tech paradox sets the pace..

Conversational AI Disrupts HR Tech. Adam Godson, CEO of Paradox.

HR Technology / Learning & Development

How to take a pragmatic (and winning) approach to skills, hr strategy & operations / talent & performance management, a new talent management framework, workforce, economics & business trends, introducing our new “ai in hr” certificate course, employee experience & engagement / workforce, economics & business trends, hr predictions for 2024: the global search for productivity, hr strategy & operations / organization design & development, introducing the systemic hr™ initiative, talent & performance management / talent acquisition, how to create talent density.

Don’t miss out on the conversations that are shaping the future of work. Create a Josh Bersin Company account.

Connect with your peers, build your network, and join the conversations taking place within the Josh Bersin Community.

Sign Up Explore

• #40745 (no title)
• #2128 (no title)
• Add Corporate Users
• Articles_Exhausted
• Bersin Live
• Big Reset Collection
• Business Resilience Collection
• Change Password
• Complete Registration
• Contact Us for Services
• Contact Us Form
• Conversation sidebar
• Corporate Admin
• Corporate Learning Collection

Corporate Membership

• Corporate Profile
• Corporate Users Report
• DEI Elevating Equity Collection
• Download User Report
• Dynamic Organization
• Edit Profile
• Enterprise Learning
• EX/ Irresistible Organization Collection

Forgot Password

• GWI Financial Services
• HCM Excellence Collection
• Healthy Organization Collection
• HR Capability Collection
• HR Technology Collection
• Hybrid Work Collection
• Insight Series
• Irresistible 2022
• Irresistible 2023
• JB Authenticate
• Latest News
• Learning superclasses
• Listing Research
• Listing Topics
• Membership Account
• Membership Billing
• Membership Cancel
• Membership Checkout
• Membership Confirmation
• Membership Confirmation2
• Membership Invoice
• Membership Levels
• Your Profile
• My Bookings
• My Credentials
• Newsletter Subscribe
• Organization Design Collection
• Privacy Policy
• Profile Community
• Recent Activity
• Register Community
• Register for events
• Reset Password
• Sample Page
• Site Registration
• Subscriptions
• Super Classes
• Systemic HR
• Systemic Rewards Collection
• Talent Acquisition Collection
• Talent Marketplace
• Terms and Condition
• Testing PDF
• The Big Reset Collection
• The Global Workforce Intelligence (GWI) Project: The Healthcare Industry
• Token authentication
• Upload Users
• Upload Users data for Perceptyx
• User Profile
• Verify your Email
• You are about to be redirected

Stay in the know

Sign up for the Josh Bersin Newsletter and stay up to date with the latest insights on work, talent, learning, leadership, and HR technology

• Log in to Your Account

New to Joshbersin.com? Sign Up.

Get Started

Create a free account for essential insights on work, talent, learning and HR technology.

Paid Memberships

Explore our paid memberships plan and become a part of an exclusive community with access to research reports, analyst briefings, development programs and more.

Already have an Account? Sign In.

Verify Email

Sign up to purchase a membership plan..

This content is only available to our individual premium members.

Interested in exploring an individual premium or corporate membership?

This content is only available to our corporate members.

Interested in exploring a corporate membership for your organization?

If you have a corporate account please sign in below.

This content is only available to registered users. If you have an account please sign in below.

To create a registered account and access this content, please click below.

Thank you for purchasing a Joshbersin Company Premium membership. Your membership is now active. The details of your membership account and a receipt for your initial membership invoice are listed below. We have sent a copy of your initial membership invoice to . You now have unlimited access to premium content and research as well as our community of HR professionals.

Password reset link is sent to your registered email.

Restricted Content

This page content is exclusive

Unauthorised

As a security precaution, your account has been logged out due to inactivity. to access this content, please log in again using the link below..

• Service Awards
• Performance
• Social Recognition
• Spot Awards
• Rings & Jewelry
• Trophies & Awards
• Company Celebrations
• ACE Technology™
• For Employees
• For Champions
• For Paying Tribute
• Online Store

Covered California Collaborates with Google Public Sector to Accelerate and Simplify Health Insurance Enrollment Using AI

Google Cloud AI integration will enable Covered California to verify more than 50,000 health care documents with an 84 percent verification rate monthly, providing residents with affordable, high-quality health care options at unprecedented speed.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Covered California , California’s health insurance marketplace, announced today that it is leveraging Google Cloud’s AI solutions to help streamline the organization’s efforts to provide California residents with affordable, quality health insurance.

Google Cloud’s AI solution, Document AI , will help improve the consumer and employee experience by automating parts of the documentation and verification process when residents apply for coverage. Once the solution is live in June, residents will be able to securely upload their documents through the Covered California online application and receive instant verification status, simplifying access to health insurance.

In 2013, 17.2 percent of the state’s 39 million residents lacked access to basic health insurance. By 2022, that number was 6.5 percent. Covered California launched a pilot program in 2023, with Google Cloud and Deloitte, to test the viability of Document AI. This AI-powered solution uses machine learning (ML) to automate the repetitive task of verifying resident information, improving speed and accuracy of data extraction, and gaining insights for data-driven decision making.

The initial results proved successful, with Covered California achieving a document verification rate of 80 to 96 percent, depending on the document type, for an average of 84 percent. The previous solution had a completion rate of only 18 to 20 percent. And Covered California officials believe the new Google Cloud-powered system’s success rates will only continue to improve.

“This whole journey started with broad conversations about what Google Cloud can do and where AI is going,” said Karen Johnson, Covered California’s chief deputy executive director. “The effectiveness of Google Cloud’s solutions on its open-cloud infrastructure enabled our team to automate document verification, meet high validation thresholds and consistently keep up with shifting state legislation. We are very pleased with these initial results; Document AI has reliably fulfilled its promises and we are confident in our ability to effectively leverage it.”

Processing a significant volume of documents manually, Covered California recognized the lag that manual systems have historically created in getting people the coverage they need. While essential to authenticating sensitive, personally identifiable information (PII) such as identity and income, health insurance verification processes have traditionally been time consuming. To improve the experience of both its customers and employees, this new solution will meet accuracy, efficiency, and scalability requirements.

Covered California is also using Google Cloud’s Assured Workloads to manage and maintain FedRAMP compliance and Google Security Operations to help eliminate security blind spots and safeguard against attacks, part of the organization’s broader efforts to protect the integrity of consumer personal information.

“We are excited to collaborate with Covered California in its mission to make healthcare more accessible and affordable for all Californians,” said Brent Mitchell, Google Public Sector’s vice president, U.S. state and local government and education. “Our AI-powered solutions, including Document AI, are helping to streamline the enrollment process and ensure that residents can get the coverage they need more seamlessly. We are committed to working with Covered California to help the organization continue to find innovative ways to improve the enrollment experience for everyone across the state.”

To learn more about Covered California’s mission to ensure Californians have access to high-quality, affordable insurance, please visit www.CoveredCA.com .

About Covered California Covered California is the state’s health insurance marketplace, where Californians can find affordable, high-quality insurance from top insurance companies. Covered California is the only place where individuals who qualify can get financial assistance on a sliding scale to reduce premium costs. Consumers can then compare health insurance plans and choose the plan that works best for their health needs and budget. Depending on their income, some consumers may qualify for the low-cost or no-cost Medi-Cal program.

Covered California is an independent part of the state government whose job is to make the health insurance marketplace work for California’s consumers. It is overseen by a five-member board appointed by the governor and the Legislature. For more information about Covered California, please visit www.CoveredCA.com .

About Google Cloud Google Cloud is the new way to the cloud, providing AI, infrastructure, developer, data, security, and collaboration tools built for today and tomorrow. Google Cloud offers a powerful, fully integrated and optimized AI stack with its own planet-scale infrastructure, custom-built chips, generative AI models and development platform, as well as AI-powered applications, to help organizations transform. Customers in more than 200 countries and territories turn to Google Cloud as their trusted technology partner.

SHARE THIS STORY

Learn more about health insurance plans for individuals and families.

Obtenga más información sobre los planes de seguro de salud para individuos y familias.

• Accessibility and Nondiscrimination
• Terms of Use
• Privacy Policy
• Protecting Our Consumers

CoveredCA.com is sponsored by Covered California and the Department of Health Care Services , which work together to support health insurance shoppers to get the coverage and care that's right for them.

Copyright © 2020 Covered California