Creating a Positive Employee Experience: What Employers Can Do to Make a Real Impact

In municipal workplaces, where budgets are tight and recruitment takes time, investing in employee experience can be a key strategy for attracting, retaining, and engaging employees. A well-crafted employee experience touches every stage of the employee lifecycle, from onboarding to offboarding, and requires intentional effort from HR teams. Here’s what municipalities can do to create a meaningful and positive employee experience:

1. Start with a Thoughtful Onboarding Process

A structured and engaging onboarding experience sets the tone for an employee’s entire journey with the employer. Go beyond paperwork and system setups and engage new hires with a personalized welcome, mentorship pairings, and a clear 30-60-90-day onboarding plan. Share your municipality’s mission, values and strategic priorities, including an overview of how the employee’s work contributes to those objectives. Clearly communicate expectations and the municipality’s policies early on to provide clarity, confidence, and mitigate against performance and legal issues moving forward.

2. Foster a Culture of Recognition and Appreciation

Employees want to feel valued and recognizing and appreciating contributions can boost morale and motivation. Consider implementing tools or programs that make it easy for peers and managers to do so, where warranted. Tie recognition to the municipality’s values to reinforce what behaviors are most appreciated.

Keep in mind that recognition should not replace performance management. Where feedback is required, ensure it is regular, honest, and constructive. Maintaining transparency surrounding expectations will help employees improve and grow.

3. Invest in Growth and Development

One of the top reasons employees leave is a lack of growth opportunities. HR leaders should work with managers to create clear career paths and provide access to learning resources, training programs, and mentorship. When employees see a future for themselves within the municipality, they’re more likely to stay engaged and committed.

Be mindful that unequal access to advancement is one of the leading drivers of discrimination complaints. To mitigate risk, ensure promotion, mentorship, and development opportunities are equitably distributed and available to all employees.

4. Prioritize Wellbeing

An exceptional employee experience includes genuine care for an employee’s overall wellbeing. Offer robust health benefits, mental health resources, and flexible work arrangements, where possible. Create an environment where employees feel safe to ask for help. Train managers to recognize signs of burnout and mistreatment in the workplace, and to engage in conversations around accommodation, where needed, in a sensitive and legally sound way.

5. Ensure a Fair and Inclusive Environment

Diversity, equity, and inclusion are principles that must be embedded in a municipality’s policies, practices, and culture. Various legal obligations exist under the Ontario Human Rights Code, Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, Employment Standards Act, and Pay Equity Act to ensure equal, equitable and accessible treatment in the workplace. HR can lead the way to a more diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace by conducting equity and accessibility audits, offering flexible work arrangements, establishing accommodation processes, training leadership, and using inclusive and accessible language and practices throughout the employee experience.

6. Listen and Act on Feedback

Employees want to be heard. Surveys, check-ins, and open-door policies provide platforms for feedback. Acting on feedback is equally important, as it builds trust and shows employees that their voices matter. Close the loop by communicating changes made as a result of employee input.

7. Empower Managers as Experience Leaders

Managers are the linchpin of the employee experience. They influence daily engagement, performance, and retention. HR should work closely with people managers to equip them with the tools, training, and support they need to lead effectively.

Conclusion

A positive employee experience doesn’t happen by accident – it’s the result of deliberate, people-centered design. For HR professionals, the challenge is to continuously ask: Are we creating a place where people want to work, grow, and stay? The municipalities that can answer “yes” to that question will be the ones that build more resilient teams and deliver better service.

Written by Ozlem Yucal