In brief
- CX is how customers experience your company. EX is how employees experience working there. HRX™ is how people experience HR, every day, in every interaction.
- EX programs tend to focus on big moments. HRX covers the everyday, and it includes EX.
- The three connect in one direction: how HR is experienced shapes how employees feel, and how employees feel shapes what customers get.
When I talk with leaders about this, the terms tend to blur together. Someone says “employee experience” and means the whole of working at the company. Someone else says it and means onboarding and the benefits portal. HR experience usually doesn’t come up at all, because most people have never heard it named.
The words matter, because each one points you to a different place to look. Here’s how I define each one, and how they fit together.
CX: customer experience
What it is: how customers experience your company across every interaction. Finding you, buying from you, getting help, coming back.
Who it’s about: your customers.
When it happens: every time a customer deals with you, whether that’s a website, a phone call or a person behind a counter.
Who usually owns it: marketing, sales, operations or a customer experience team.
Most companies already think about CX on purpose. They decide how they want customers to feel, and they measure whether it’s working.
EX: employee experience
What it is: how employees experience working at your company.
Who it’s about: employees. And that depends on how a company defines “employee.” Does it include hourly staff? Contractors? Managers? Executives?
When it happens: in practice, EX work tends to center on the big moments of a career. The first day. A benefits change. A promotion. An exit.
Who usually owns it: HR, often with help from leadership and internal communications.
Those big moments matter. But they’re a small share of the days someone actually spends at work.
HRX™: the HR experience
What it is: how people experience HR, and through HR, the company. Every call, every question, every request, from recruiting through performance management to the day someone leaves.
Who it’s about: everyone HR serves. Employees, managers, leaders and candidates who haven’t joined yet.
When it happens: every day.
Who usually owns it: HR delivers it. But the company decides what it should feel like, the same way it decides what the customer experience should feel like.
HRX is where culture and HR service delivery meet. It’s how HR lets the people in your organization experience your company’s culture, not just read about it. I explain it in full in What Is HRX™?
How they fit together
HRX is broader than EX. It covers the everyday experience of HR, not only the big moments, so it includes EX rather than competing with it. A company that designs its HR experience is designing a big part of its employee experience along the way.
I’m not saying HR owns everything in EX. Relationships with coworkers and how leaders communicate aren’t HR’s to run. But HR’s products and services are what shape and correct those areas, which is why EX can’t be separated from how HR is delivered.
The three also connect in a line:
HRX → EX → CX
How HR is experienced shapes how employees feel about working there. How employees feel shapes what customers get. I walk through that second link in Your Customer Experience Can’t Be Better Than Your HR Experience.
That’s why I say HRX is the new EX for CX. If you want to improve what your customers experience, the HR experience is one of the most direct places to start.
Side by side
| CX | EX | HRX™ |
|---|
| Who it’s about | Customers | Employees | Everyone HR serves |
| When it happens | Every customer interaction | In practice, mostly big career moments | Every day, in every HR interaction |
| Who usually owns it | Marketing, sales, operations | HR and leadership | Delivered by HR, shaped by the company |
| What it answers | What is it like to buy from us? | What is it like to work here? | What is it like to get help from HR here? |
The verdict
CX and EX are familiar terms, and most companies already have someone thinking about them. HRX is the one that usually goes unnamed, which means it usually goes undesigned.
It’s also the one your people deal with most often. Naming it gives the company a way to decide what HR should feel like, the same way it already decides what customers should feel. And that decision starts with knowing who your company is, so HR has a culture to deliver.
Questions worth asking
- When people in your company say “employee experience,” do they all mean the same thing?
- Who decides what the HR experience should feel like at your company today?
- If you designed your HR experience the way you designed your customer experience, what would change first?
Read next: HRX Is the New EX for CX
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between EX and CX?
CX is how customers experience your company. EX is how employees experience working there. The two are connected, because how employees feel shapes how they treat customers.
What is HRX?
HRX™ is the HR experience: how people experience HR, and through it the company, every day and in every interaction. It’s where culture and HR service delivery meet.
Is HRX the same as employee experience?
No. EX programs usually focus on big career moments. HRX covers the everyday experience of HR, from recruiting to exit, so it’s broader and includes EX.
What does “HRX is the new EX for CX” mean?
It means the HR experience is one of the most direct ways to improve what customers get. How HR is experienced shapes how employees feel, and how employees feel shapes the customer experience.
