How to figure out what you need from an employee experience platform

This post – which kicks off our five-part series on the journey to a better employee experience – tackles the first step to selecting your new employee experience platform: laying out your EX needs. Read on for tips and tactics to help you get clear on requirements so you can make decisions with confidence. 

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Thinking about a new employee experience (EX) platform, intranet, or internal comms software?  

Before you start comparing features and prepping for EX platform demos, it’s important to take a step back and get real about your EX strategy. Because no two organizations are alike, every successful EX project must begin with a deep understanding of unique needs and pain points.

When you’ve finished reading this article, you’ll have a new approach to asking the right questions, defining your employee experience platform needs, and getting your team on board.

Why is defining your needs essential to choosing the right EX platform? 

Taking time to determine employee experience needs upfront saves time, money, and headaches in the long run. It ensures your platform solves real problems specific to your workplace instead of simply adding another tool to the pile.

What does it look like when organizations skip this crucial step?

Take this example: A company invests in a shiny new EX platform packed with bells and whistles. It promises better communication, higher engagement, and a sleek interface – so it should work for any workplace, right? Wrong. Six months later, employees barely use it, IT is frustrated, and leadership wonders why adoption is so low.

Several factors could be at play here. Maybe the platform failed to address waning frontline engagement. Perhaps it lacked the ability to personalize comms for different regions. Or maybe it didn’t have the self-service capabilities needed to support overstretched HR and IT teams.

The truth is, these issues are avoidable – but only if we rethink how we approach EX software selection. Instead of starting with a feature checklist, start with your organization’s needs. Define what matters most, then look for a platform that delivers on those priorities.

Tips to identify employee experience needs

Your first step to defining your EX needs is observing what is and isn’t working for you right now. This helps you get clear on exactly what to look for, so that you’re more likely to land on a platform that meets your specific requirements.

Common employee experience gaps to look for 

Depending on your organization’s structure, geography, and culture, you’ll likely notice several common employee experience problems as you take a look around.

Here are a few issues we see all the time: 

• Missed updates: Critical news and messaging end up buried and unseen. This tends to happen when comms aren’t personalized, which makes employees tune out. 
• Subpar knowledge management: Policies are in one system, benefits are in another, platform governance is lacking, and there’s no searchable, single source of truth for employees. (This one is especially common – 47% of digital workers struggle to find the information they need to do their jobs)
• Low engagement: Employees ignore existing digital workplace tools because they’re clunky, don’t have enough relevance, or aren’t useful enough.  
• Disconnected teams: Remote or frontline workers feel out of touch with broader organizational goals and culture.
• EX is a black box: Poor analytics fail to capture employee sentiment, engagement, and other data, making it difficult to replicate what’s working and shift what’s not.

In the next section, we’ll dive deeper into how to identify these and similar pain points in your employee experience so that you can better select a platform that suits your needs. 

Mistakes to avoid when defining employee experience needs 

Here are several common missteps to steer clear of when exploring your EX needs: 

• Jumping straight to features. Before creating a wish list of capabilities, lay out current problems and desired outcomes. 
• Only asking leadership. Include employees, managers, and frontline staff in your discovery. 
• Leaving out key stakeholders. Be sure to loop in any relevant players in HR, IT, and other departments – forgetting just one person can make your findings less accurate and a potential solution more difficult to implement.
• Overcomplicating requirements. Keep your list of needs focused and actionable by separating the “need-to-have” from the “nice-to-have.”
• Ignoring culture. Culture is hard to define, but it’s a crucial part of the employee experience. Consider which aspects of your culture employees engage with the most and which could use a boost.

Three steps to identify your organization’s employee experience needs

1. Review usage data from your current digital workplace tools

If you have any analytics from your current tools, it’s time to put them to use. 

Look at data from your intranet to answer questions like: 

• Which pages or features get used most?  
• Where do people drop off?  
• How does mobile engagement compare to desktop engagement? 
• What does frontline engagement look like? 
• How effective is search?  
• How often do tickets get raised about your intranet?

Internal comms metrics are helpful as well. For example, identifying which emails tend to get opened and read the most tells you what type of content employees are interested in, and which aspects of your current strategy are working well. The more information you have, the better. 

2. Use pulse survey questions to evaluate EX needs 

Pulse surveys are a strategic way to assess EX without overwhelming employees. Aim to ask five to ten questions, with each targeting different pillars of the employee experience (more on that below). Try these: 

• How connected do you feel to coworkers in different departments or locations? (What it measures: Community) 
• Agree or disagree – I receive the amount of credit and positive feedback I deserve when I do good work. (What it measures: Recognition) 
• How easy is it to find the people and information you need to do your job? (What it measures: Self-Service and Knowledge) 
• Agree or disagree – My personal values align with the company’s vision and mission. (What it measures: Alignment) 
• Do you receive the right amount of communication about company news, updates, and decisions? (What it measures: Communication) 
• Do you have access to the right technology to do your job well? (What it measures: Tool access) 

3. Use the seven employee experience pillars to rank what matters  

Form a focus group of internal experts 

Once you’ve gathered some initial data, it’s time to assemble a cross-departmental team that knows your organization well. This group – whether it’s three people or ten – will provide insight into your current experience and help determine which facets of EX you should focus on improving. 

First, share any research you’ve done already, including digital workplace data, pulse survey results, and any anecdotal observations or feedback.

Then, open up the discussion. Ask the group to use the seven key pillars of the employee experience as a rubric to measure current performance and establish which needs are most important. These pillars are: 

• Communication: Are messages timely, relevant, and reaching everyone who needs them? 
• Self-service: Can employees easily find answers and complete tasks without help? 
• Tool access: Is it simple to get to the apps and resources people use every day? 
• Knowledge: Is information accurate, up-to-date, and easy to search? 
• Community: Do people feel connected and able to share ideas or feedback? 
• Alignment: Is company strategy visible and understood at every level? 
• Recognition: Are wins and contributions celebrated in meaningful ways? 

Individuals in different departments, roles, or locations may have different views and priorities, but that’s a good thing. You’re looking for a wide range of perspectives, so take note of every contribution.  

Decide on your top three EX priorities 

Once you’ve landed on a collaborative, big-picture ranking of what’s important, it’s time to lay out your top three pillars. They’ll be the areas you’ll focus on optimizing and will be at the center of your project’s goals.

Laying out your top three pillars is especially useful when it’s time to decide on your must-have features. For instance, you may rank Knowledge, Communication, and Self-service as your top three pillars. This means you should prioritize solutions that offer a centralized, searchable knowledge hub, personalized comms, and tools that make it easy for employees to complete tasks without assistance. 

When looking for a new EX solution, you’ll still want it to address every pillar of the employee experience. That said, your top three pillars are non-negotiable. Treat them as deal-breakers and monitor them more closely during the decision-making process – this means seeking them out in feature lists and asking extra questions in product demos.

How do you start the process for selecting an EX platform? 

It’s time to turn that newfound knowledge about your EX into a clear plan of action. Once you’ve gotten clear on your EX needs, you’ll want to summarize them in one place, link them to desired outcomes and specific features, and use them to create a list of next steps.

Build a strategic wish list 

Translate your findings into a focused list of goals. These goals should cover all seven EX pillars, but be sure to lead with those related to your top three. 

Below each goal, note any potential features that could help achieve it. This exercise will help you get granular about your EX strategy without losing sight of your why.

Want a comprehensive list of modern features to pair with your goals? Check out our 28 things to look for in EX tech resource – it maps must-have capabilities by pillar to simplify the process. 

Summarize your EX needs and desired outcomes 

 Create a simple summary that includes: 

• An overview of the EX gaps you identified using digital workplace data, pulse surveys, and conversations with internal leaders
• A rundown of the three EX pillars you’re prioritizing, and why
• The feature wish list you crafted above
• A short explanation linking proposed EX improvements to business outcomes

This document will help you maintain focus during the search for better EX tools (especially when those shiny new tools threaten to pull your attention away from the essentials). You can also use it to brief coworkers who join the process later on, and even to get started on building a business case for a new EX platform. 

When you’re done creating your summary, share it with any relevant stakeholders as an FYI. The information you’ve gathered will help them understand the need for change before you propose potential solutions – priming them for buy-in. 

Plan what’s next in the process for selecting EX tech 

Next, use your insights to plot out the rest of your EX project. Decide what other tasks are involved, when they should happen, and how you’ll use your new findings about the employee experience to inform them. Here are a few steps you’ll want to plan for: 

• Explore potential solutions 
• Define success metrics 
• Outline a realistic timeline that covers the entire process – from search to EX platform onboarding to launch
• Secure stakeholder buy-in 
• Draft your business case 
• Compare vendors strategically 

Mapping out these pieces of your project turns your employee experience needs into a practical, actionable roadmap, ensuring you choose an EX solution that provides real value for years to come. 

Defining your employee experience needs: Frequently asked questions