When choosing an employee experience platform, you can’t go wrong with a solution that offers a particularly recherché selection of features. Here is the complete guide to help you choose the right employee experience platform. https://blog.empuls.io/employee-experience-platform/

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How to Choose the Right Employee Experience
Platform: A Comprehensive Guide
Written by Karishma Bhatnagar
March 03, 2023
When choosing an employee experience platform, you can’t go wrong with a solution
that offers a particularly recherché selection of features. Here is the complete guide to
help you choose the right employee experience platform.
If you want to increase your annual revenues, see your stock prices
skyrocket, and your employee attrition plateau, you need it. But don’t
just settle for ‘anything.’
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2. An all-in-one experience platform can help you curate the best
experiences for your employees, from onboarding to exit.
Adobe moved to a digital credentialing platform that uses advanced
analytics to identify employee interests and made changes based on
their feedback. They monitored the employees’ sentiments and made
company-wide changes to offer their employees better experiences,
including:
Ὄ 20 additional paid days off for employees affected by natural
disasters and pandemics
ὕ flexible work schedules to fit around caregivers and childcare
routines
Ὃincreased wellness reimbursement of $600
☕bi-weekly coffee break series
In 2021 Adobe replaced Zoom as the number #1 company with
the happiest employees. (Source: CNBC)
Adobe’s example proves two important points:
Employees look beyond nominal gifts. They want phenomenal
experiences that show the company ‘cares for them.’
The right tool/platform plays a vital role in customizing these
experiences for a multi-generational workforce.
Key Evaluation Checklist
What’s the first thing to do when you want to buy a good laptop?
Research the different laptop brands and create a comparative list
based on your needs. Does it run something like this: Intel vs Mac?
256GB or 1TB RAM? What features and software do you need? Does
it fit your budget? Do you need it for work or basic surfing and
emails?
Evaluating an experience platform/tool for your company works
similarly. The fact that the market is full of options doesn’t make it
any easier. Draw up a list to ensure that your final choice ticks the

3. any easier. Draw up a list to ensure that your final choice ticks the
right boxes for the employees and the company.
An ideal employee experience platform should have these:
For Employees For the Company
Offer real­time and tailored
experiences aligned with
interests and career goals.
Support a productive and
positive environment.
Connect hybrid teams and offer
collective experiences such as
virtual team­building events.
Enable anytime access with a
responsive web and mobile app.
Empower employees and offer
company­wide visibility.
Provide employees access to
the right information when they
need it.
Align with overall business
goals, culture, and mission.
Deliver customized experiences
based on real­time employee
feedback.
Accurately measure individual
and collective employee
performances before and after
each experience.
Analyze revenue increase and
shareholder returns to calculate
Experience ROI.
Determine experience­based
employee engagement scores
and overall business ratings in
the market.
Capabilities of an Employee Experience Platform or
Tool
While evaluating an employee experience platform/tool to find a good
fit, look for a solution that also addresses the needs of your
employees by mapping it to the drivers of your experience strategy.
Platform/Tool
Capability
Addresses Business
Need
Mapped to Employee
Experience Driver
Communication and
Collaboration
Connect and align
employees with each other
and with the leadership to
build trust
Communication
Surveys
Get actionable insights from
employee engagement
surveys
Feedback

4. surveys
Rewards
Attract, nurture and retain
talent by rewarding good
performance and milestones
Total Rewards
Recognition
Engage your employees with
a culture of appreciation
Engagement
Analytics
Track performance analytics
to identify needs and areas
of improvement
Performance
Resources
Provide the right tools
(including
HRIS/HRMS/HCM/LMS)
processes and learning
resources for continuous
improvement.
Growth and
Development
Goal tracking Align your workforce to
realize the collective
ambitions of employees and
the organization
Values
Intranet
Empower your employees to
be a part of the bigger
picture and participate in
informed decision­making
Empowerment
Cloud­based, digital
app
Improve work­life balance by
offering anytime, anywhere
and any device access to
your remote and hybrid
employees
Flexibility
Sentiment Analysis
Gauge the financial, physical,
social and psychological
wellbeing of your employees
Wellbeing
To take it a step further you could map the platform capabilities to
each of the five stages of your employee lifecycle journey to further
streamline your employee experience strategy. While it is difficult to
find a platform that will have all the capabilities, it’s advisable to
choose one that offers the maximum capabilities to help tick your
checkboxes. Use the guide below as a reference:

5. Criteria for Choosing the Right Employee Experience
Platform or Tool
59% of companies expected their new workplace platform to be
easier to use, but only 35% actually achieved that benefit.
(Source: Bersin)
Choosing the right employee experience platform isn’t only about
raising your standing in the market and making 47% of your
employees highly performant. (Source: Gartner)
Today’s digital Experience platform or tool has to be cloud-based,
UX-designed, user-centric with an easy-to-use interface,
collaborative, integrated, and provide employees access on the go to
everything they need to engage with their peers, leadership, and the
company.
As we’ve moved from “point solutions” in HR to integrated, end-to-
end employee experiences, so must we move from transactional
systems to what I call “systems of productivity” or systems that make
an employee’s work-life easier. — Josh Bersin
No pressure, right? Well, a wrong selection can become a costly
headache so use the following criteria as a guide when making your
final choice:

7. 1. Packaged vs custom coding
When deciding between an out-of-the-box tool or platform that
involves no/low code and an in-house solution that must be coded
from scratch, it's vital to carefully weigh the pros and cons.
Custom-coded solutions require a highly-specialized IT team and
hardware, which can drive up the overhead costs. A platform built
from scratch may have all the components you desire, but it's also
heavy on code, configuration, and maintenance.
Complex global enterprises with more than 50,000 geographically
distributed employees, with sufficient space, budget 몭IT, hosting, and
energy costs), in-house teams 몭IT, data, and security) and a need for
heavy customizations prefer to build their own platform/tool to fit
their business requirements.
Suppose you’re looking to explore some of the specialized packaged
offerings in the market. In that case, the solutions mentioned below
are usually fully mature, easily implemented (low/no-code),
compliant, customizable (to a degree), quick to scale, maintain,
configure, and protected by strong encryption.
Since they also integrate with most existing business tools and data
sources via APIs, it saves a lot of time and effort for the in-house IT
teams. This packaged, self-sustaining employee experience solution
is ideal for small or mid-size businesses 몭SMBs) with 50 to 1000
employees.

8. employees.
➡ Automation: Most digital Experience solutions in the market use
Machine Learning 몭ML몭 capabilities, Artificial Intelligence 몭AI몭, and
Performance Analytics to automate the process without sacrificing
employee interests. This makes HR's job easier, leaving them time to
concentrate on the strategic planning of different experience
initiatives.
➡ Customization: While a custom-coded solution offers a greater
degree of customization (hard-coded from scratch), digital
platforms/tools come with visual builders that allow super users and
admins some degree of flexibility. Some components can be
modified/moved to customize the platform, such as adding a custom
logo, branding, and other intellectual property; for further changes,
it's best to reach out to the vendor with change requests (these are
usually agreed upon and honoured).
ᾞIntegration: Most modern Experience platforms/tools integrate
with a wide range of tools for seamless working across all
departments and these include:
Collaboration 몭Google Workspace, Zapier, JIRA, Outlook),
Single sign-on 몭Google Workspace, Azure AD, Bitium SAML,
Okta SSO/Inbound SAML몭,
Communication 몭Gmail, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Skype, Duo),
Social media 몭LinkedIn, Workplace by Facebook, Amazon)
HRIS/HRMS, LMS 몭Workday, MS Azure, Inbound SFTP, Keka,
Darwinbox, Namely, Timely, Toggl Track, SCHM, Zoho
People, Bamboo HR몭
Productivity tracking 몭Hubstaff, Clockify, Groupe.io, Asana,
Monday – you might want to compare Asana with
Monday.com before you make your choice)
Wellbeing 몭Headspace, Calm radio)
ὒMaintenance: A low/no-code Experience platform/tool is easy
to maintain without the heavy involvement of an IT team. These
tools are designed to be easy to use and update.
὆ὒConfiguration: Detailed guides, quick-starts, and other user
documentation make it simple to install and configure a pre-
designed, packaged solution vs hard-coding a custom-built

9. designed, packaged solution vs hard-coding a custom-built
solution.
ὑSecurity: Packaged solutions offer a range of security
measures and encryption levels including SSH keys, SSL , HTTPS,
TLS to prevent unauthorized access, protect data security and
prevent network and systems breaches.
ὑData privacy: Experience platforms store, transmit and deal
with critical employee and business data, making them vulnerable
to attacks unless secured by data privacy laws and legislation
including CCPA, EU GDPR 2016/679, DPA 2018 몭UK몭, The Privacy
Act 1988 몭Australia), Information Technology Act 2000 and
Information Technology Rules, 2011
☑Compliance: Check if the Experience platform/tool of your
choice incorporates the necessary regulatory compliances and is
in line with state/federal/international laws including ISO, VAPT,
SOC몭2, InfoSec, GDPR, EU몭US Privacy shield.
2. Cloud-based vs on-premises
It is easy to decide between a cloud-based solution and an
infrastructure-heavy on-premises solution. With speed, flexibility,
quality, and scalability on the line, it’s easy to guess in whose favour
the scale will tip.
Given the current trend of hybrid working, an on-demand, cloud-
based, SaaS solution is the go-to choice for companies inclined
towards efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Opting for a cloud-based
platform/tool saves time, space, and money. It offers greater security,
prevents data loss, updates in real-time, and can be scaled to
demand.
On the other hand, on-premise tools are preferred by companies with
100% in-office teams that are looking to make extensive
customizations and with the IT resources and space to spare.
3. Predictable vs Unpredictable costs
Choose your experience platform tool wisely because it will impact
your overall budget. If your licensing fees are higher than your
returns, it is not worth the investment. An important point to consider

10. returns, it is not worth the investment. An important point to consider
is predictable vs unpredictable costs.
For enterprises that choose to build their experience platform/tool,
there is a certain unpredictability in hosting, total resources,
consulting, and infrastructure costs. These tend to vary and rise year
by year, adding to the overhead.
On the other hand, companies that opt to buy an experience
platform/tool can expect to pay a uniform fee with little or no change
over the years. Most of the platforms offer a complete package that
includes communication, integrations, analytics, system features,
Security and Compliance, Surveys, Billing, and Support in the total
pricing.
Additionally, the vendor bears all price fluctuations in IT, network and
infrastructure, which are absorbed into the licensing fees. This
makes the pricing structure of a packaged experience solution simple
and transparent. Such platforms also come with an option to divide
the budget for different experience initiatives. It could be between a
monthly and an annual plan.
ὋGeneral budget: A default or overall budget which is allocated
as a lump sum across the experience program.
ὋCustom budget: These are specific budgets allotted for
different initiatives under the umbrella of the experience program.
For example, Adobe introduced three different initiatives – $600
wellness reimbursement, 20 additional paid days off, and bi-
weekly coffee break series – each with a different budget.
ὋMonthly plan: Companies evaluating different platforms/tools
can choose to explore their options with monthly plans. Since
there is no long-term commitment, you can try out several
platforms till you find one that fits your business needs, team size,
and budget. Once you find the perfect fit, it’s wiser to switch to an
annual plan.
ὋAnnual plan: High on savings, annual plans are ideal for
companies that know what they want and have found the right
platform/tool for their business.
4. Personalization vs generalization

11. 4. Personalization vs generalization
Companies that feature high on the Employee Experience Index have
emerged as winners in the game because they pay attention to their
employees and consider their needs while aligning their offerings to
the overall business goal.
This is where a digital Experience platform/tool offers the
convenience of surveys, feedback, chatbots, and email notifications
and analyses the data from these into actionable insights in real-
time. These insights can be further used to deliver personalized
experiences to the employees, much like Adobe, which used
employee survey feedback to increase their wellness reimbursement
to $600.
In comparison, companies with a limited/no experience program that
offer generalized experiences see a high employee attrition rate, low
productivity, declining revenues, and low stock prices in the market.
It’s a chain reaction – when your employees are unsatisfied, it affects
your business. The 2014 General Motors case was a classic case that
highlighted the dangers of giving your employees a less than
satisfactory experience.
5. Dynamic insights vs historical reports
Ask yourself a simple question: would you prefer dynamic reports
with actionable insights or complex historical data to build your
reports? Think of which one can make your job easier, and you have
an answer. While historical reports and data are essential in the
overall analysis, they alone cannot present an unbiased picture of
your experience program.
Modern digital experience platforms create dynamic reports and
custom dashboards that offer in-depth insights that drive informed
decision-making. These reports track the employee’s lifecycle and
interactions in real-time to understand the engagement from each
initiative.
ὌIntelligent reports: Performance, revenue, stock and
productivity reports, surveys, feedback forms, etc., can help
calculate the Experience ROI, engagement scores, program
usage, impact, and adoption across the organization, just like

12. usage, impact, and adoption across the organization, just like
Arby’s did with its Brand Champ program.
ὌCustom dashboards: Custom dashboards and other data
visualization from actionable insights can help the company tailor
its program to the employees and align it with broader objectives.
6. Hybrid vs in-office teams
Most enterprises with experience programs have already moved to
factor in the current trend of a hybrid working model. One of the first
considerations when choosing your experience platform/tool is to
see if it’s a good fit for your team.
Do you have a 100% in-office team, a fully remote workforce, or a
hybrid team distributed across a small or large geographical area? An
in-office team can do with an on-premise experience tool with
desktop and web access since most experience initiatives are
conducted from/initiated at the office.
However, a remote/hybrid team needs the convenience of a cloud-
based, digital platform/tool with any time, anywhere, any device
connectivity. A mobile app for iOS and Android with an intuitive UI or
a desktop app for laptop/PC with offline access offers the employee
visibility and collaboration in a hybrid/remote working environment.
For example, remote teams can join virtual team/social events to
engage with their peers and leaders.
὇Blue-collar workers & Executives: A further breakdown to
identify and categorize experience initiatives for blue-collar
workers and company executives is crucial because it ensures a
fair distribution. Both sections should be equally
included/engaged, and the experiences should be appropriately
personalized to each category. Executives who give strategic
direction to the company and regular employees who do the work
on the ground—together form the collective body, which is the
'company.'
὆ὋMulti-lingual support: A hybrid team is usually spread over
several geographic locations and speaks several languages. The
solution must offer multi-lingual support to appeal to all of them

13. COMPANY QUICK LINKS SUPPORT
and bring them together using a single experience platform/tool.
Employee Experience is a Hill to Die on
Align your employees' experiences with your company's purpose,
brand, and culture, so every interaction they have with you is
authentic, sustainable, inspires employee commitment, and
improves your company's performance. (Source: Gallup)
If you treat your employees right, they will swear by you till the
kingdom come! Don’t cut corners when choosing a good experience
platform, and you will be rewarded with higher revenues, improved
productivity, an increase in eSAT, and low employee turnover. Happy
employees mean a flourishing business, so choose wisely.
Karishma Bhatnagar
Karishma is a passionate blogger who comes with a
deep understanding of SEO tactics. When she isn’t
working, you’ll find her in the mountains, experiencing
the fresh breeze & chirping sounds of birds.
Let's begin this new year with an engaged
workforce!
Empuls is the employee engagement platform for small and
mid-sized businesses to help engage employees and
improve company culture.

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