How to Improve Digital Employee Experience (DEX)

Digital Employee Experience (DEX) is one of those terms that everyone kind of knows what it means. There's a general consensus about what you're trying to achieve with DEX (workplace engagement, efficient employee services, etc.) but there isn't an exact definition. At its highest level, DEX can be considered the digital side of employee experience - that is the digital touch points between an employee and employer, reflected in an employee's digital interactions across the digital workplace.

This might be both in their everyday experience of workplace technology, but also at "moments that matter"  – critical, HR-focused processes that occur through the employee lifecycle including initial employee onboarding or being promoted. DEX supports eveyrthing from employee satisfaction to productivity enhancement to even shaping modern workplace culture. DEX is also much more than just providing a good user experience  – it is about taking a more strategic view of how employees experience digital workplace solutions and delivering a consistent, coherent and considered approach. But how do you improve DEX? And what employee experience strategies should you employ? Read on, to find out!

What are the advantages of good DEX?

DEX has obvious benefits:

  • It drives efficiency and delivers productivity enhancement by helping employees find what they need more quickly and complete tasks successfully.
  • It supports employee self-service and supports employee services, which again drives productivity and relieves pressure on busy help desk staff.
  • It supports the adoption of preferred and recommended tools and channels, including the intranet, while also increasing trust in these platforms.
  • It reduces employee frustration and feelings of being overwhelmed or bamboozled by the digital workplace and its constituent tools, helping to boost workplace engagement.
  • It supports a streamlined tool and application landscape, resulting in less effort from the IT function required to manage so many digital workplace solutions, as well as potentially a reduction in costs.
  • It supports the use of the digital workplace as a strategic asset.
  • It helps align the digital employee experience with wider emplyee experience strategies that in turn can also support talent retention and attraction, and engagement.
  • It encourages the business and IT functions to work closely together and take a user-centric view of the world.

Common challenges with DEX

Here are some of the things that undermine a decent level of DEX

Problem 1: Employees have to use too many apps

Gartner reported that the average number of apps that employees have to navigate get things done nearly doubled between 2019 and 2023. And that's likely to have grown since. There are basically way too many tools and apps across the digital workplace. This is contributing to a poor DEX with feelings of being overwhelmed, confusion about what to use when, terrible findability, increased cognitive effort and wasted time from inconsistent interfaces and infrequent use, broken and fragmented user journeys, inefficiencies from context switching and more. Basically, all the bad stuff.

Problem 2: Some individual apps have terrible usability

Over the years the usability of most applications has generally improved, but there is still the odd example of a legacy tech or application that is genuinely horrible to access. Sometimes it's because a company has never upgraded from an ancient version or has not been able to migrate over to a cloud version for cost or risk reasons. (Or perhaps it's a procurement system which all seem to be stuck in about 2005.) Having to complete a task using an app with poor or outdated usablity can result in very negative DEX.

Problem 3: Interfaces are inconsistent leading to confusion

When there are multiple apps in play, employees are exposed to a wide variety of different interfaces with very little consistency across the UI of all your digital workplace tools. This not only makes it harder to find information quickly but also increases the learning curve associated with using new or infrequently accessed tools. That leads to more wasted time and more cognitive effort with a mass of different sites and tools that are designed and used in different ways.

Problem 4: Fragmented user journeys make it hard to get things done

Getting some things done in the digital workplace should be relatively straighforward, but that is not always the case and actually it's a right palaver. Some tasks within different user journeys might require the use of multiple applications to carry out what becomes a set of diconnected transactions. Perhaps uou might need to try and find information across a number of different buckets. Or carry out some weird workarounds because of a glitch in the system that nobody knows how to fix. Rather than a simple and straightforward experience, the user journey is fragmented with disruption, frustration and annoyances along the way. No wonder so many people give up and don't bother…

Problem 5: Poor search with feeble and flaky findability

Poor search and findability are a very common pain point for employees and a major blocker for successful task completion. The reasons for poor findability are multiple and often to do with:

  • outdated and irrelevant content producing noise in search results
  • information architecture that replicates the org chart rather than how employees think and work
  • having multiple content respositories so nobody knows where to find anything
  • a search experience that is never optimised or improved
  • elevated and unrealistic employee expectations of the quality of search: Why doesn't this search work just like Google? (which may or may not soon be Why doesn't this search work just like ChatGPT?)

Problem 6: Content and features lack value and purpose

Sometimes content and features on intranets and other key digital communication channels are focused on engagement. This is still very important, but these might not support task completion and getting stuff done which are the main reasons people use intranets and digital workplaces. If there is too much "fluff" and not enough "substance" it can contribute to a negative DEX.

Problem 7: Siloed tech and legacy applications

Is your digital workplace a singular environment with applications and tools that seamlessly integrate with each other through out-of-the-box connectors and top notch APIs so it feels like one coherent and cohesive ecocystem with a unified search experience? No, we thought not. Unfortunately even the best digital workplaces usually have some examples of siloed tech or legacy applications that refuse to play ball and stay resolutely standalone driving inefficiency and frustration.

What does good digital employee experience (DEX) look like?

What good DEX looks like as it will heavily depend on user needs, the scope of what is covered and areas such as brand alignment, but at a high level, good digital employee experience incorporates:

  • User-centred design with intuitive interfaces and good levels of usability and accessibility
  • One tool to do the job rather than multiple options to confuse the employees
  • Integration which limits the number of apps or tools a user has to access to get things done
  • Largely consistent, brand-compliant interfaces
  • No additonal log-ins required to complete a task or user journey  – think Schengen convenience rather than Brexit nonsense
  • Strong search and findability and task-focused navigation so people can find what they need quickly
  • Content that helps employees get things done and is not out of date, driving employee trust
  • An overall coherence that is architected and designed around the employee to support good adoption (while still meeting stakeholder needs).

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DEX is also much more than just providing a good user experience  – it is about taking a more strategic view of how employees experience digital workplace solutions and delivering a consistent, coherent and considered approach.

What can you do to improve DEX?

Digital workplace teams can improve Digital Employee Experience (DEX) through a variety of different tactics and practices that usually starts with user research. However, its not always straightforward and can be difficult to know where to start. Many teams also don't have either the resources, bandwidth or thinking space to drive improvement, and get overwhelmed by the grind of the day-to-day.

Sometimes you need an external view and expert input to give you an objective view of where you are, identify the opportunities for improvement, and a roadmap to improving DEX. If you think this is about to take a turn for the pitchy, you are absolutely right!

At Spark Trajectory we have years of experience in the intranet and digital workplace space, a ready-to-go user journey mapping framework, and a range of other complementary services to set you on the right path for improving DEX. Need some DEX help? Get in touch!

How user journey mapping results in DEX

A user journey summarises how a user might go about achieving a task, their motivations, state of mind and the decisions they then might take. Inevitably this will include interaction with the digital workplace and its constituent tools.

User journey mapping provides analysis and usually a visual representation of the key user journeys that employees take. When we carry out our Task Trajectory user journey mapping framework we cover areas from communications and search to employee services such as HR processes, IT support processes, travel, expenses, health & safety and learning & development. We also cover more specialist areas relevant to a particular organisation or sector.

Journey map diagram for digital workplace employee experience, showing a story flowing into a system with connected tasks. Notes highlight blockers, motivations, and key points in blue, with arrows indicating how failures may lead to other journeys.

User journey mapping is brilliant in supporting DEX:

  • It provides an insight and understanding of the view of the world from the user which is fundamental for implementing DEX, and ensuring decisions are not made on assumptions.
  • It cuts through stakeholder and application-driven silos that invariably limit DEX, instead proving an end-to-end view of a process to avoid fragmentation and broken journeys.
  • It provides stakeholders with a united view to help build consensus and the common understanding that helps get DEX done, and can even flip the mindset to a more user-centred view of workplace tehcnology.
  • It helps inform digital workplace strategy and business cases for investment in DEX.
  • It exposes the common issues and pain points that occur across different user journeys, helping to identify tactics and investments that will have the most benefit in driving better DEX.
  • It provides the detail that can help with design, change management and more
  • It ensures employees feel listened to and helps underpin adoption of the digital workplace.

Seven strategies for improving digital employee experience

1. Focus on task completion and getting things done

The best starting point for improving DEX is to help people get things done smoothly, successfully and quickly. It's what people fundamentally use the digital workplace for and by making it easier to complete tasks, you support efficiency, engagement and more.

2. Undertake discovery and user research

You cannot improve DEX based on assumptions, either your own or those of your stakeholders. It is absoutely essential you take the time to understand your users and their pain points with a thorough disovery and research exercise. No discovery, no DEX. It's as simple as that.

3. Carry out user journey mapping

As we've already noted, a user journey mapping exercise as part of the discovery and analysis exercise provides an excellent foundation for improving digital employee experience. If you need help, Spark Trajectory's structured framework Task Trajectory is waiting for you, ready to go.

4. Go beyond structural and technology silos to improve DEX

Silos are the enemy of good DEX. All too often teams don't look beyond their responsibities or sphere of influence, and don't work effectively or coordinate efforts with other teams. Meanwhile product owners are wedded to driving adoption of their solution and don't really care that much.

5. Start with the problem, not with the solution

We all like cool tech and seeing it do fantastic things. But a neat solution that doesn't solve a user problem or have a purpose will just end up not getting used and make your digital workplace more complex. Never introduce a solution that is there for the sake of it (AI, we're looking at you). Always start with the issue and work about the best way to tackle it which might not be AI.

6. Use content to support task completion and answer employee questions

There can be a tendency to overthink issues. Not every solution has to involve AI, chatbots or app integration. If you want to encourage people to carry out a particular procedure or stop emailing a team with the same question again and again, use intranet content to support employee self-service. Self-service reference content that is focused on task completion helps employees get things done and find answers to common questions. It's direct, cost-effective and absolutely supports better DEX and smoother user journeys.

7. Continually improve through content and operational governance

Improving DEX doesn't happen overnight and there is always more you can do. It's always best to work on the basis of continual improvement with smaller, iterative steps. One important caveat for that model is to establish a foundation of of content governance and operational governance (roles, rules, processes, policies, guidance etc.) that helps preserve standards across your content and digital workplace, and guides content owners and product owners to support DEX more consistently. You'll be moving forwards rather than backwards.

Using the 7Ps model

At Spark Trajectory, we wanted a way to explain the complexities of the modern digital workplace to people. It struck us that the whole experience of the digital workplace and even the whole experience of a task depended on fruitful collaboration with a series of system owners and stakeholders within each organisation. One aspect, say the Travel and Expenses process might be great but if you can't find it on the intranet or search, everything is lost.

No one single improvement will lead to a great experience.

Tasks

Employees need to complete tasks relating to employee processes (such as subitting expenses). Imagine a line for each task.

Someone gets the motivation to complete a task and can then Pull various solutions from the digital workplace through a Path of connecting systems (intranet, email, Teams, Copilot etc) into a Product (such as Workday, Concur, Service Now) that will lead to some form of fulfilment through Process (like expense reimbusement).

Someone might be triggered into starting a process from a Push (email, notification, message) which are also things that we can apply some improvements to.

Very often, there is a Problem that the Product can't resolve. Some confusion leads the user into resolving the issue, firstly with guidance and then if still not resolved, they need a conversation with an appropriate Person to get things sorted.

If, broadly, there is very little to be changed in the Product, the challenge of modern digital workplace management is to ensure that any blockers are dealt with elsewhere:

  • Pull - awareness, training
  • Push - notifications
  • Path - navigation, search, personalisation (and increasingly tools like Copilot)
  • Problem - consistent and useful guidance and,
  • Person - access to people that can resolve difficult edge cases.
Framework diagram mapping digital workplace journeys across six areas: Pull, Push, Path, Product, Process, Problem, and Person. Orange arrows show how motivation or triggers lead to a story and journey, supported by system choice, intranet navigation, enterprise search, personalisation, and permissions. Outcomes include interaction, fulfilment, guidance, and conversation.

Blockers

Anywhere along this path for any task at all, someone might hit a blocker that stops them completing their task. This could be from anything at all. They might not know what system to complete the task in, or not be able to find it. Maybe they don't have permissions to be able to use it. Maybe they need some guidance and that it isn't available, or they are getting caught in repeated ticketing doom-loop.

Digital workplace journey framework showing six areas: Pull, Push, Path, Product, Process, Problem, and Person. The diagram highlights four blockers—at motivation, along the journey, at interaction, and at guidance—illustrating where employee experience can break down.

Example: "I need to make an expense claim

Digital workplace journey framework example: travel and expenses process. Motivation is making an expense claim, with monthly email reminders as triggers. The path includes intranet navigation, AI bots, search, and personalised tasks, leading into Concur for approvals and payroll reimbursement. Support options include policies, guides, training, or contacting coworkers and the help desk.

In Push we can encourage people to regularly do their expense claim. Maybe they get a monthly email or notification. Maybe they get reminders after they've taken a trip. For awareness in Pull perhaps there's a bit of training in new starter induction or a link to a how-to after they've booked their first trip.

In Path we can make it easy to find the product (Concur) by putting the app prominently in the enterprise apps on the intranet, and making sure that the application is returned when people search for related terms. We can use personalisation to propose it under different circumstances. We can pray (another P) that Copilot answers sensibly. We can encourage people to install the Concur mobile app from the company approved app store, so they can log their expense items as they go.

In Product there is SAP Concur. Pretty immutable so there isn't much we can do with the interface, but there are probably a bunch of really annoying line items for people to book expenses against that make no sense to humans (Think "ZZ32 Subsistence and refreshments" that could be better renamed "Food and drink").

In Process there is load of behind the scenes stuff that the user doesn't even see such as workflow and approvals to various managers, but there are still things can be improved. Maybe the approvals steps are unnecessary, and that some stuff can go through without the line manager rubber stamping it.

And then there is Problem. We always assume that everything is going to go smoothly and, well… things just don't. A good proportion of people are going to have queries, or be confused about something. Firstly, we can offer consistent and friendly guidance: the expenses policy that applies to you, a user guide, some simple training. Secondly we can provide means of contact to communicate with an actual Person: an email address, a phone number, a ticketing system. Anything to prevent the horror of interrupting someone else's day and someone else's work to ask them how to do it.

Multiply that by 120

All of the above just relates to one task! Typically, with the Task Trajectory framework, we look at 120 tasks. Each one different and spread across around 18 to 20 user journeys. Think about how different your organisation would be if you looked at each of those 120 very obvious tasks and considered how you could improve each of those seven steps. Reflect on the chaos and confusion that is going on right now because you haven't.

Task Trajectory framework visualising the complexity of 120 workplace tasks. Multiple overlapping orange paths flow across the seven stages—Pull, Push, Path, Product, Process, Problem, and Person—showing the chaos and confusion employees face without structured digital workplace journeys.

First steps with the 7P model

  1. Understand who owns all the key systems in Path and Product.
    You need to map your stakeholder community - who needs to be involved in a concerted effort to improve? They need to understand how interdependent you all are in collectively improving DEX. This will include the people able to improve the path systems (intranet and search in particular) as well as process owners of key employee facing systems such as HR, travel, expenses, IT support etc.
  2. What are the key paths?
    What are the key paths that people use to access employee services? Catalogue them for completeness and get data about the flows of traffic through them and how effective they are. Also look for unauthoritative paths that might be important but might be outside of formal control (like lists of systems on departmental SharePoint sites or cheat sheets in customer services departments.) Look for blockers and eliminate them.
  3. Understand the key user tasks and user journeys
    What are key moments that employees need to conduct processes or information? First get an idea of the range of tasks that form the vast majority of user need. Then, as you can't throw your efforts at everything, you need to understand where the squeaky wheels are. This will involve speaking to employees to understand what does and doesn't work for them. Then, once identified, you can look to eliminate the blockers that are in the way of task completion.
  4. What is the state of all of the support information?
    If people can find and do the processes they need, great! But there are always problems to resolve in large, complicated organisations. Take a look at all the support information for each user journey. Is it complete? Is it usable? Can you easily log a ticket or call a helpdesk or find a contact for everything or does it run into a dead end.
Never introduce a solution that is there for the sake of it (AI, we're looking at you). Always start with the issue and work about the best way to tackle it which might not be AI.