Are you doing employee experience management right? 5 questions to ask yourself

How’s your full experience management program doing? And we don’t just mean focusing on your customers—are you engaging with your employees in the best way?

After all, a customer experience (CX) management strategy is table stakes these days for customer-facing brands. But checking in with—and listening to—your employees is just as important, and you absolutely cannot treat the programs the same way. After all, you may not need to check in with employees after every experience like you do with customers, but you also need to have a plan to communicate improvement efforts back to employees if you want to be successful.

Good EX is more than just checking in

When it comes to employee experience (EX) management, it’s easy to assume that simply gathering feedback is enough. But the truth is, EX management goes far beyond just asking for input. The real questions are: Are you doing it right, and are you acting on it?

Many companies struggle to find the right approach to EX. If you’re not sure whether your employee feedback strategy is driving the kind of change your team needs, it might be time to reevaluate your process.

So, how do you know if you’re on the right track? Here are some key elements to look for in your EX program—and areas where you might need to make adjustments.

1. Are you collecting feedback at the right times?

One of the first signs of effective EX management is having a thoughtful feedback frequency. It’s not just about how often you’re surveying employees, but when you’re doing it. Do you have key moments mapped out across the employee journey—such as onboarding, promotions, anniversaries, or significant company changes? And just as importantly, are you giving your team time to see the effects of any changes before soliciting more feedback?

A mature EX strategy is built around strategic touchpoints. If you’re consistently engaging employees at key moments, you’re setting yourself up for success. If not, it may be time to rethink your approach and ensure you’re not overwhelming employees with surveys at the wrong times—or completely missing opportunities.

2. Are you ready to take action?

At SMG, we have a simple but powerful mantra: don’t ask unless you’re ready to act. Asking for feedback without a plan to follow up can be more damaging than not asking at all. Are you prepared to turn feedback into meaningful action?

Readiness is a critical part of EX management. To be successful, you need to have the right people in the room—decision-makers who are empowered to make changes quickly and team members who will be carrying out those adjustments. If your feedback process drags on for months with no visible actions or unrealistic ones, employees will lose confidence in the process and you could see a sharp drop not only in response rates, but in employee morale. So, ask yourself: Do we have the capacity to act swiftly on the insights we collect? If not, it may be time to streamline your decision-making process or involve the right stakeholders earlier

3. Are your surveys focused and actionable?

Effective EX management also hinges on survey design. If you’re sending out long, complicated surveys too often, your employees might suffer from survey fatigue. Conversely, if your surveys are too short or shallow, you won’t gather the insights needed to make meaningful improvements.

The key is finding the right scope. Shorter, more frequent surveys can help you keep a pulse on day-to-day engagement, but make sure they still provide actionable data. Longer surveys, on the other hand, should be reserved for specific moments where you’re gathering deep insights. For these, SMG still sees brands benefit the most from at least one full-system engagement survey for yearly or bi-yearly action planning. If you’re finding that employees are starting to check out—either not responding or giving less detailed feedback—you might need to rework your approach to focus on the data that drives real action.

4. Are you showing and communicating change resulting from feedback?

Perhaps the most important question to ask is: Are you using feedback to create real, tangible changes? Employees are much more likely to engage in surveys when they see that their feedback leads to positive improvements. If feedback seems to go into a black hole with no clear outcome, your employees may stop taking the process seriously.

Data transparency is a key starting point. Employees want to know the results and outcomes of the feedback, so sharing a high-level overview of the aggregated information shows employees that you are willing to be held accountable for your results.

To avoid employe disillusionment, also you need to be transparent about your process. Let employees know what changes are being made based on their feedback and give them regular updates on the progress. Action breeds trust, and trust leads to higher engagement.

5. Is your team set up for success?

Lastly, consider whether your managers and front-line teams are set up to succeed. Are they equipped with the right tools, resources, and training to act on feedback?

EX management isn’t just about gathering data—it’s about empowering your team to use that data effectively.

Make sure your managers understand the goals, have the necessary resources, and can implement change quickly. Frontline managers have a lot on their plates, so you need to make it as easy as possible for them to take action or the program will remain stagnant with little change to EX. The more supported these managers feel and the easier it is to act, the more impactful your EX strategy will be.

Final thoughts: building a stronger EX strategy

So, are you doing EX management right? If you can confidently answer yes to all the following questions, you’re well on your way:

• Are you collecting feedback at key moments in the employee journey?
• Do you have the capacity and readiness to act on feedback quickly?
• Are your surveys focused and actionable, without overwhelming your employees?
• Are you communicating about the changes you’re making based on feedback?
• Are your managers set up to take action?

If you’re still unsure, it may be time to refine your approach and ensure you’re not just asking for feedback but actively using it to improve the employee experience.

The best EX strategies are dynamic and evolving. As you move forward, keep evaluating your feedback process and ask: What more can we do to improve the employee experience? Remember, EX management is a continuous journey. The better you get at gathering and acting on feedback, the more engaged and satisfied your workforce will become.

Ready to take your EX strategy to the next level? Contact us at SMG to learn how we can help you drive better customer experiences and financial performance through employee feedback.

Tara Agustin started at SMG over 9 years ago as a Research Analyst after graduating with her master’s in industrial organizational psychology and later shifted into consulting within the Employee Experience space. As Director of EX at SMG, she utilizes her experience to partner with restaurant and retail clients, helping set up and maintain successful EX programs that get clients the data and frontline employee feedback they need to act and improve their employee experience.