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Picture this: Jane, a busy mid-level professional, is juggling deadlines and meetings when she needs to update her work location, request time off, and review her direct reports’ schedules. None of these tasks should be hard. Yet, Jane spends half her day navigating between tools, logging into scattered systems, and chasing down the resources she needs.

It’s not just frustrating for Jane. It’s unproductive for her organization too. Disjointed processes and siloed information waste time, sap energy, and chip away at employee satisfaction. This fractured experience is a common challenge, especially for businesses relying on a patchwork of digital tools that lack cohesion.

That’s where the Employee Experience Designer (EX Designer) steps in. This emerging role blends expertise from internal communications, HR, and IT to remove barriers, streamline tools, and build cohesive experiences that help employees like Jane succeed.

How Did We Get Here?

Traditionally, HR managed workplace wellbeing, crafting programs to keep employees connected and engaged. Meanwhile, IT managed infrastructure, and internal communications focused on messaging. Each team operated in silos with minimal overlap, using separate tools to achieve independent goals.

Then the pandemic reshaped work. Hybrid setups, remote onboarding, and distributed teams forced organizations to rethink their employee experience approach. Heavy reliance on corporate intranets, enterprise tools, and digital systems blurred the lines between HR, IT, and internal communications. Unfortunately, while responsibilities began to overlap, the systems themselves often didn’t adapt. Employees were stuck navigating complex, disconnected workflows that dampened productivity and morale.

Today, companies use powerful intranet systems and software, but they still face inefficiencies. Employees, like Jane, delay important decisions fixing broken workflows. This cascade of issues impacts engagement, productivity, and employee wellbeing.

What is an Employee Experience Designer ? Definition

An Employee Experience Designer is a strategic architect who focuses on crafting a positive and effective journey for employees throughout their time with a company. Think of them as the user experience (UX) designers for the internal workings of an organization. Just as UX designers optimize a product or service for customer satisfaction, Employee Experience Designers (EX Designers) enhance the workplace for the people who power it.

Their goal is to understand the needs, motivations, and pain points of employees at every touchpoint of the employee lifecycle – from the initial recruitment and onboarding to their daily work, professional development, and even their eventual departure. They then use these insights to design and implement strategies, processes, and environments – both physical and digital – that foster engagement, productivity, well-being, and a sense of belonging.

An EX Designer operates with a people-first mindset, employing methods like employee journey mapping, feedback gathering, and persona development to truly understand the employee perspective. They collaborate across departments – HR, IT, operations, and leadership – to ensure that all aspects of the employee experience are aligned and contribute to a positive and seamless journey.

Ultimately, the work of an Employee Experience Designer helps to cultivate a workplace where individuals feel valued, supported, and inspired to do their best work, contributing to higher retention, increased engagement, and a thriving organizational culture. They are instrumental in building a forward-thinking intranet and overall employee ecosystem where people can connect, collaborate, and grow.

Think of the EX Designer as the architect of modern workplace solutions. Their mission isn’t limited to redesigning interfaces or features; they’re reshaping the entire digital employee experience. From improving communication to simplifying workflows, the EX Designer’s focus is on removing friction and creating intuitive ecosystems that support employees at every stage of their lifecycle.

For example, one of our clients in the aviation industry brought in an EX Designer after realizing their intranet was creating unnecessary barriers for employees. Onboarding challenges, fragmented workflows, and poor communication were common pain points. The role of the EX Designer was to dig deep into employee needs, identify pain points, and recommend both processes and the right tools to solve these challenges.

What Does an Employee Experience Designer Do?

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Tools that Turn Insights into Action

One key resource the EX Designer used was intranet microapps. These lightweight, customizable tools simplify everyday tasks. By integrating them into the company intranet, the EX Designer transformed the portal into a personalized employee hub. Tasks that used to take hours—from submitting expenses to locating HR policies or scheduling time off—were consolidated into seamless workflows.

With intranet microapps, performance reviews, employee knowledge sharing, and other daily actions became effortless. Employees spent less time resolving frustrations and more time focusing on meaningful work that drives business impact.

The EX Designer’s expertise lies in connecting these tools to employees’ real needs. By pairing strong analytical insights with targeted technologies like intranet microapps, they build work environments where every action feels natural, productive, and aligned with employee goals.

Addressing Information Silos in the Workplace

Modern organizations are rife with digital clutter. Employees toggle between dozens, sometimes hundreds, of tools—from enterprise intranet software to standalone SaaS platforms. These silos result in wasted time and prevent teams from finding the information they need quickly.

A well-designed intranet can change this. Acting as a central hub for communication and workflows, a unified intranet eliminates inefficiencies. Intranet microapps enhance this by embedding tailored workflows directly into the platform. For example, a retail company streamlined cafeteria reservations, updates to schedules, and knowledge-sharing tasks through microapp integrations, boosting usability and employee engagement.

The result? Simplified processes, collaborative knowledge sharing, and improved overall satisfaction.

Enabling Seamless Workflows with Microapps

We’ve all been on a "digital treasure hunt" before, searching for files or actions buried in cluttered systems. Microapps, however, make this a thing of the past. They transform traditional intranets into tailored, AI-driven hubs. Employees can find resources, complete tasks, or access training programs on personalized dashboards, reducing frustration and increasing efficiency.

For example, AI-powered dashboards provide proactive reminders for compliance tasks, highlight team KPIs, or recommend tailored learning paths. These personalized features ensure employees can focus on their core responsibilities rather than navigating complex workflows.

Collaboration at the Core of Design

The Employee Experience Designer is more than a role focused on technical fixes. They are the bridge between HR, IT, and internal communications, aligning their goals and breaking down silos. Successful execution depends on collaboration. HR provides insights on engagement, IT ensures systems are user-friendly, and internal communications maintains clarity and consistency. Together, they create tools and workflows that prioritize employee needs.

Why An Employee Experience Designer Role Matters

A seamless employee experience is more than a nice-to-have; it directly affects productivity, morale, and retention. Tools like intranet microapps close communication gaps and ease workflows, giving employees intuitive access to everything they need. Reducing touchpoints and improving engagement doesn’t just benefit employees like Jane; it strengthens the organization as a whole.

A Unified Future for Workplaces

Organizations that invest in roles like the Employee Experience Designer, supported by smart tools like intranet microapps, position themselves ahead of the curve. Together, these investments create an environment where employees feel supported, connected, and empowered to perform their best work.

For companies, the equation is simple. Fewer silos mean faster decisions, better collaboration, and higher productivity. For employees, every day becomes smoother, more meaningful, and free of unnecessary hurdles. The future of work isn’t just about doing things faster—it’s about doing them smarter, with the employee experience at the center.

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