Employee Lifecycle - Satisfied employees along the entire employee cycle

The topic of employee satisfaction is playing an increasingly central role in the day-to-day work of HR managers. The employee lifecycle maps the individual phases that employees go through during their time at the company, and analyzing these phases can provide important clues for employee satisfaction optimization measures. Which phases are part of the employee lifecycle? What expectations do employees have in the individual phases? Our guide brings some light into the darkness.

All about Employee Lifecycle

Onboarding: The basics

Here you can find out everything about onboarding, the different phases of induction and ...

Offboarding

Find out why you should establish a structured offboarding process and what is important. ...

What is the Employee Lifecycle

The employee lifecycle is a model from the HR sector. The employee lifecycle maps the entire journey of an employee through the company. This journey is divided into individual phases.

The phases follow one another and each entail different expectations, challenges and tasks for both the employer and the employee. The phases follow one another and form a circle, which is why they are referred to as the employee cycle.

Importance of the employee lifecycle?

Today's working world is characterized by an increasing shortage of skilled workers. HR departments are faced with the twin challenges of preventing employees from leaving and attracting the best talent.

Employee lifecycle management focuses on the needs of employees at all times. It is therefore a suitable method for achieving both goals in a natural way. By increasing employee satisfaction, staff turnover in the company is reduced. At the same time, higher employee satisfaction strengthens employer branding and leads to advantages in attracting new employees.

Ultimately, employee lifecycle management has direct benefits for the company. Satisfied, healthy employees are ultimately more productive and are characterized by a higher level of commitment. By reducing churn, recruitment costs are lowered as positions do not need to be filled as frequently.

The stages in the employee lifecycle - the 7-phase model

There is no standardized use of the Employee Lifecycle Model. There are therefore a different number of phases depending on the perspective.

Depending on which phases are included in the model, there are the following different employee lifecycle models:

5-phase model: starts with recruiting and ends with the exit
6-phase model: starts with attraction and ends with the exit
7-phase model: starts with attraction and ends with alumni

In this article, we use the 7-phase model to provide as comprehensive an overview as possible.

1. attraction

The relationship between company and employee does not begin with the first day of work or the job application. Rather, it begins the moment people come into contact with your brand for the first time.

A strong employer brand ensures that potential employees become aware of the company and are interested in working for it and getting to know the culture.

2. recruiting

In the recruiting phase, this interest should be utilized and applicants should be convinced of the position and the work at the company. To achieve this, the recruiting and HR teams have the task of communicating the employer branding and corporate culture in the best possible way.

An essential component of a positive user experience in the recruiting process is a professional, uncomplicated and always transparently communicated application process.

Important: The positive experience should not only be reserved for candidates who get the job in the end. Even rejected applicants can have a positive impact on employer branding, provided they have a good experience during the application phase.

3. onboarding

Your new employees have their first "real" contact with the corporate culture during onboarding. This is why a professionally organized onboarding process is so important. From an employee experience perspective, this is less about professional integration and more about social integration into the company. Create a feel-good atmosphere from day 1 and show your new colleagues that they are welcome and valued.

Close and regular contact in the first few weeks is an important basis for this. Give your colleagues feedback in regular meetings and be available to answer questions. Development opportunities can also be identified during the induction phase.

4th Development

Opportunities for further development are a key cornerstone of employee satisfaction. You should therefore pay particular attention to the development phase together with the area managers and team leads.

What talents and skills does the employee have? How can these be specifically promoted and developed? These questions need to be answered and suitable measures implemented together.

5. retention

After you have invested time and money in the development of your employees, you want them to stay with the company in the long term. This is precisely the aim of the retention phase.

Individual development measures, targeted further training and, in particular, the identification of career opportunities are among the most important tools available to HR managers. In order to take the right measures, you should regularly obtain feedback from your employees on their satisfaction and current situation.

Used correctly, the result is not only more satisfied employees, but also increased employee commitment.

6. offboarding & exit

Whether due to dissatisfaction on the part of one of the two parties or the desire for a new challenge, separations are part of working life. However, the exit of an employee should not be a reason to lose sight of the employee experience.

Departing employees should therefore be given a professional and structured exit management program. This shows your appreciation for the work they have done. At the same time, this type of offboarding, for example in the form of an offboarding meeting, offers you the opportunity to identify important optimization potential with regard to the corporate culture and processes.

7. alumni

Professional offboarding is the basis for winning over your alumni. As satisfied (former) employees, they can serve as brand ambassadors for your company. They can positively influence your employer brand through word-of-mouth recommendations or positive reviews on company portals. Strengthened employer branding in turn offers advantages in terms of attraction and recruiting, which closes the employee lifecycle.

Employee Lifecycle Management

It is initially the task of the HR department to take care of the needs in the individual phases as part of employee lifecycle management. The aim is to make the employee experience as attractive as possible throughout the entire employee lifecycle.

To this end, the phases of the employee lifecycle are analyzed as part of an iterative process.

regularly examined for the status quo
compared with the wishes and ideas of the employees and evaluated
and optimized by means of suitable measures.

The better you succeed in identifying the requirements and optimizing each individual phase, the greater the positive impact on the employee experience.