How Candidate Experience Impacts Employee Experience

The Most Loved Workplace® and the CandE Benchmark Research and Awards Program gathered insights on the business impacts of quality candidate and employee experiences from over 230 respondents from HR leaders, TA leaders, talent management, and recruiting teams in May of 2024 across sectors like healthcare, manufacturing, hospitality, education, consumer goods, construction, finance & insurance, and many other industries.

It’s important to note that specific data relationships are limited for any of the below categories due to the sample size of the survey.

In the continuously volatile and competitive job market today, employers face the challenges of attracting top talent and retaining skilled employees, both of which are inextricably linked. Quality candidate and employee experience strategies are critical for the long-term success and sustainability of any employer big or small across industries.

Today the job market is tighter than it’s been for a couple of years, and candidate resentment is higher than ever according to the 2024 CandE Benchmark Research. Candidate resentment means the percentage of candidates that said they had a poor candidate experience and they’re no longer willing to engage those businesses and brands they had applied to.

Resentment is at 15% overall in North America, the highest we’ve ever seen. Earlier in the year resentment was hovering at 17% in North America, and the report notes it is up all over the world compared to the past few years. There are a lot of frustrated candidates looking for jobs today who can negatively affect a business and its brand.

According to Gallup, in the first quarter of 2024, engagement dropped three percentage points to 30% among both full- and part-time employees. This decline represents 4.8 million fewer employees who are engaged in their work and workplace, marking the lowest reported level of engagement since 2013.

According to the Gallup survey, “disengaged employees cost U.S. companies between $450 billion to $550 billion annually in lost productivity”. That is a staggering loss.

Also, according to the same data, 17% of employees were actively disengaged in the first quarter of 2024, one point higher than the 16% for the full year of 2023 and equivalent to the percentage actively disengaged in the fourth quarter of 2023. The U.S. now has a ratio of 1.8 engaged employees for every actively disengaged employee. This compares to a ratio of 2.1-to-1 in 2023.

Sustaining a high-quality candidate experience and strong employee retention rates poses significant challenges for employers today.

Competitive job market: the demand for skilled talent often exceeds the available supply, making it difficult for employers to attract and retain top candidates. Companies must continuously review and improve their recruitment and retention strategies to stay competitive.

Changing workforce expectations: today’s employees prioritize different aspects of work than previous generations. Company values, flexibility, work-life balance, career development opportunities, and a positive workplace culture are now critical factors. Employers must adapt to these changing expectations to attract and retain top talent.

Candidate experience: a poor candidate experience means that fewer candidates would be willing to apply again in the future, refer others to the organization, be a brand advocate, or be a customer if the employer is a consumer-based company. A positive candidate experience ensures candidates will continue to engage the business and the brand. This also impacts retention for current employees looking for internal mobility opportunities.

Employee retention: once talented employees are on board, retaining them becomes even more crucial than attracting them in the first place. High employee turnover can be quite costly and disruptive. A stable workforce fosters a positive work environment, leading to higher productivity and better overall performance.

To overcome all these challenges, today’s most successful organizations must invest in both quality candidate experiences and employee experiences, which ultimately improves retention and creates a workplace where employees belong and thrive.

The joint research found that one of the key ways employers are overcoming these challenges is through better partnerships between HR, talent management, and talent acquisition. 53% of respondents said that they had a very strong partnership between HR and TA.

Historically, when senior leadership’s responses are compared with mid-managers, recruiters, and specialists, senior leadership’s perception is usually more positive than those reporting to them. This has been seen repeatedly and always indicates an opportunity to improve communication and feedback loops with individual contributors.

All of these activities are enhanced further when a strong partnership between HR and TA is sustained by investing in research, awards, and certification programs. Candidate and employer experience feedback and research can provide valuable data employers need to understand their strengths and to inform them of weaknesses to improve upon. And certifications and awards can boost attraction and retention efforts.

For CandE Awards Research Program participants, the rating of very strong partnerships increases from 53% to 67%. Winning a CandE Award boosts this further to 86%. CandE Awards are based on employers having above-average candidate experience ratings in the benchmark research.

Organizations with a Most Loved Workplace® certification see a 25% increase in very strong partnerships (from 53% to 68%). Winning additional top Most Loved Workplaces® awards and certifications boosts this further to 86%.

The report also measured what Employer of Choice certifications (like Most Loved Workplace® certifications) changed for employers: 72% of respondents report that the quality of candidates has improved since obtaining them; for those that also won CandE Awards, improved candidate quality increased 104% (from 23% to 73%). 93% said such certifications are important to candidates when deciding to apply to their company.

60% said that since achieving certification, retention rates among new hires have increased; for those that also won CandE Awards, retention rates among new hires increased significantly by another 97%, and for those that also won CandE Awards and Most Loved Workplace® certifications and awards, by another 90%.

68% said certifications were more effective in attracting high-quality candidates compared to other recruitment strategies they use; for those that also won CandE Awards, effectiveness increased another 82%, and for those that also won CandE Awards and a Most Loved Workplace® certification, another 92%.

The joint research clearly showed that investing in both quality candidate and employee experiences benefits an organization by attracting more high-quality candidates and improving retention rates. These organizations also have stronger partnerships between HR, talent management, and talent acquisition, and they are more likely to participate in the CandE Benchmark Research Program and achieve the Most Loved Workplace® certification.

When they do participate, the report states that the ultimate measures of success include: employers with above average CandE Benchmark ratings will have candidates who are 30%-50% more likely to apply again, refer others, have brand affinity, and be customers for consumer-based companies; employees at Most Loved Workplaces® are 2-4 times more likely to stay; employees at Most Loved Workplaces® are 2-4 times more likely to give extra effort and outperform; and 92% of candidates decide to apply for a job because it is a Most Loved Workplace®.

There are many activities that employers can engage in to improve both their candidate and their employee experiences. The report recommends that employers:

A quality candidate experience and effective employee retention are critical for the success of any employer in today’s competitive job market. Employers that deliver both a positive candidate experience and a workplace where employees love to do their best work will outperform their peers.

Most Loved Workplace® (MLW) helps companies transform themselves into workplaces where employees love to do their best work. Most Loved Workplace® uses trained machine learning models to analyze extensive employee data sets and provide clear recommendations on how to become a Most Loved Workplace® where employees love to work at their best. The Most Loved Workplace® Index is based on proprietary research in organizational psychology from its parent company Best Practice Institute.

The Candidate Experience (CandE) Benchmark Research and Awards Program is the first program of its kind focused on the elevation and promotion of a quality candidate experience. Also known as The CandEs, the program was founded by Talent Board in 2011 and is now part of ERE Media. The CandE Benchmark Research Program delivers annual recruiting and hiring industry benchmark research that highlights accountability, fairness and the business impact of candidate experience.