Employee Experience & Engagement Glossary
Employee experience and engagement is about how it actually feels to work somewhere — and whether people are committed enough to give their best and stay. This topic gathers the terms senior HR and People leaders use to understand and improve life at work, from engagement to quiet quitting, each defined on its own page.
The idea connecting these terms is that retention and performance are earned daily, not bought once. Engaged employees are more productive and far less likely to leave; disengagement shows up first as quiet quitting and then as attrition. Tools such as stay interviews, employee resource groups, flexible-work arrangements, and employee-assistance programmes are how organisations listen, include, and support their people before problems become resignations.
For GCCs competing hard for scarce senior talent, experience and engagement are a direct lever on retention and employer brand. The terms below give People teams a shared vocabulary for what keeps people committed.
11 terms in this topic · see all 277 in the A–Z glossary →
Terms 11
9/80 Work Schedule A 9/80 work schedule is a compressed work arrangement in which employees complete 80 hours of work across nine days in a two-week period instead of ten, earning one full day off every other week. It is a common alternative work schedule used to give staff a recurring three-day weekend without reducing total hours. Read Culture Add Culture add is a hiring principle that values candidates for the new perspectives, experiences, and strengths they bring to an organisation, rather than for how closely they match its existing norms. It is the modern successor to “culture fit”, chosen because fit can quietly entrench sameness and exclusion. Read Diversity, Equity & Inclusion DEI Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DEI) is a framework for building workforces that are demographically varied, treated fairly, and made to feel they belong. Diversity refers to who is present, equity to fair treatment and access, and inclusion to whether people can fully participate. Read Employee Assistance Programme EAP An Employee Assistance Programme (EAP) is an employer-funded benefit that gives employees confidential access to support services — most often counselling for mental-health, personal, and work-related problems, and often legal, financial, and wellbeing help too. It is designed to help employees address issues before they affect health or performance. Read Employee Engagement Employee engagement is the degree to which employees feel committed to, motivated by, and invested in their work and organisation. Engaged employees tend to be more productive and more likely to stay, making engagement a key driver of performance and retention. Read Employee Experience Employee experience is the sum of everything an employee encounters, observes, and feels across their entire journey with an organisation, from recruitment through to exit. It shapes engagement, productivity, and whether people choose to stay. Read Employee Handbook An employee handbook is a document that sets out an organisation’s policies, expectations, benefits, and code of conduct for its staff. It gives employees a single reference for how the workplace operates — from leave and pay to behaviour and grievance procedures — and helps ensure consistent, transparent treatment. Read Employee Resource Group ERG An Employee Resource Group (ERG) is a voluntary, employee-led group formed around a shared identity or experience — such as gender, ethnicity, disability, LGBTQ+ status, or life stage — to provide community, support, and a collective voice. ERGs advance belonging and inclusion and often advise the organisation on related policies. Read Flexible Work Arrangement A flexible work arrangement is any working pattern that gives employees choice over when, where, or how much they work, rather than a fixed schedule in a fixed location. Common forms include remote work, hybrid schedules, flexitime, compressed weeks, and part-time or job-share arrangements. Read Quiet Quitting Quiet quitting is when an employee does only what their job strictly requires and no more — meeting the basic expectations of the role while withdrawing extra effort, discretionary work, and enthusiasm. Despite the name, it does not mean resigning; it describes disengagement expressed as doing the minimum. Read Stay Interview A stay interview is a structured conversation with a current employee — usually one the organisation wants to keep — to understand what keeps them engaged, what frustrates them, and what might make them leave, so issues can be fixed before they resign. Unlike an exit interview, it happens while the person is still there. ReadFrequently asked questions
What is the difference between employee experience and employee engagement?
Employee experience is the sum of everything a person encounters at work — tools, culture, management, environment. Engagement is the emotional commitment that experience produces. Experience is the input; engagement is the outcome.
What is quiet quitting?
Quiet quitting is doing only what a job strictly requires and no more — not resigning, but withdrawing discretionary effort. It is usually a signal of disengagement, and a warning sign of attrition to come.
What is a stay interview?
A stay interview is a conversation with a current, valued employee about what keeps them and what might make them leave. Unlike an exit interview, it gathers that insight while there is still time to act on it.
Why does employee experience affect retention?
People stay where they feel supported, included, and able to do good work. A strong employee experience raises engagement and loyalty, while a poor one drives the disengagement that leads to resignations — so experience is a direct driver of retention.