Human first. Employee second.

Picture one of your middle managers. What are they doing right now? Are they happy? Do they feel supported? Do they believe in what they’re doing? 

One of the greatest predictors of whether your employees stay, thrive and recommend your company to others, is their employee experience (EX). So it’s little wonder that, according to a survey by Willis Towers Watson, 92% of employers worldwide say EX will be a priority over next three years.

Companies doing well in this area are those looking beyond the traditional occasions and employee milestones, to the day to day. Because, as well as delivering on the employer promise, the employee experience needs to be redesigned to show up in a consistent, human and – dare we say it – caring way. Do that, and you’ll create the conditions for people to be their best and deliver for your business.

At McCann Synergy, we’ve developed a new – Employee Solutions Suite based on design-thinking, an iterative process that really gets to the heart of what your employees want and what the business needs to grow. Here’s our thinking…

When employee experience matters

Ten years ago, the employee experience wasn’t likely to keep CEOs awake at night. But post-Covid and with the Great Resignation or Realignment still at large, companies are struggling to recruit and retain top talent. Suddenly improving the employee experience has been elevated to a critical success factor. Fifty percent of HR leaders say positive employee experiences are the most important element needed to accelerate transformation across the business.

What does the data tell us?

If you want to get a sense of what today’s employees value, the global stats for 2022 make for great reading. Work/life balance is still listed in the top three employee needs in a study by Randstad. And while there’s certainly a focus on career-building (progression, recognition and a sense of purpose are all important), the more human factors such as culture, inclusion, wellbeing and the basic need to feel like they’re cared for are also high on the list.

Who’s in charge? (And who will be?)

Traditionally, employee experience fell firmly in the lap of HR teams. Now, the link between brand experience, customer experience and employee experience is much better understood. If employee experience isn’t on your CMO’s priority list yet, it probably will be soon. Experts predict that over half of CMOs will make EX essential to brand planning – and you can expect much greater crossover between the work of the CMO, CPO, and CHROs. Together, they’ll be joining the dots between the brand experience, the customer experience and the employee experience: intentionally re-designing the relationship between the three.

The power of design thinking

It can be all too tempting to design and roll out the employee experience quickly, without properly testing it with your people. But if it’s not based on their actual needs, then it’s unlikely to land well. Instead, at McCann Synergy, we use design thinking. It works like this: co-creation with your people, testing, learning and evolving in an iterative way.

Our new Employee Solutions Suite

We’ve recently launched an exciting Employee Solutions Suite – a new approach to boosting attraction, retention and engagement. By choosing one of our Employee Experience Solutions, you’ll get the results you need to effectively turn your employee experience into a human experience from hire to retire.

For more information about our Employee Solutions Suite, please contact

Blair Meyler
Head of Growth
blair.meyler@mccannsynergy.com