Employee experience is about creating a great work environment for people, and helping them to be their best.

It’s about understanding the role that line management and trust plays in the employment relationship, and how to design and develop approaches to employee engagement that enable people to have a voice. It also looks at other factors which impact the worker experience, such as employer brand, and the way communications channels are used.

NIE Network case study: Power to
the people

How a framework for listening and responding to every voice has given the change-weary employees of NIE Network their spark back.

Read NIE Network’s story
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Employee experience standards

Each standard progresses through four levels of impact. Which level do you most embody in your day-to-day work?

Foundation level Associate level Chartered Member level Chartered Fellow level
At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand: At this level you'll understand:
Engagement approaches Your organisation’s approach to employee engagement Tools and approaches to drive employee engagement How to design approaches to drive and assess employee engagement across the organisation How approaches to engagement can be used to create organisation value and improve the employee experience
Employee voice tools Your organisation’s approaches to listening to workers The pros and cons of a range of worker voice tools and approaches How to align and evaluate worker voice tools and approaches and drive forward the outputs How to anticipate future trends in worker voice, and assess their strategic value
Worker experience How the relationship a worker has with their manager can positively or negatively impact engagement How to assess management practices and behaviours and their impact on the worker experience How to evaluate and improve management practices and behaviours to create a better worker experience The link between management practices, worker experience and organisation performance
Onboarding Your organisation’s onboarding approaches Different elements of onboarding and how to administer them How to design an integrated onboarding programme The impact of onboarding on the employer brand
Trust How trust affects the working relationship Different trust models and how they can be used to improve relationships at work How to build a culture of trust across the organisation for workers and other stakeholders How to build a culture of trust and its impact on wider organisation culture, performance and reputation
Improving employer brand Your organisation's current employer brand How to assess brand perception and different ways to enhance the employer brand How to align organisation brand and employer brand How to create a unique employer brand aligned to culture, mission and values
People policy People policies that impact the worker experience in your organisation How to assess the impact of people policies on the worker experience How to shape people policy frameworks that positively impact the worker experience How to integrate worker experience into wider policy frameworks
Communication Communications channels in your organisation How to use and assess the effectiveness of different communications channels and approaches How to design communication plans which positively impact the worker experience How to assess the impact of strategic communications on the worker experience

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Next: Employee relations

Ensuring the relationship between an organisation and its people is managed through transparent practices and relevant law

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The Profession Map

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  • Data

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    Compare your health and wellbeing practices with the latest trends, drawn from CIPD 2026 research data.

  • Data

    Work life balance

    Benchmark your employees' perceptions of work life balance against 2026 CIPD research data

  • Data

    Employee-employer relations

    The latest data on job satisfaction, employee perceptions of their organisations, and employee contributions to their organisation's productivity

    • See all resources
    The Profession Map

    The Profession Map is for everyone in our profession – individuals and teams, members and non-members. Learn more about the Profession Map and how you can use it. 

    The Profession Map overview