An average employee experience is too common

Published in December 2025, Fosway Group’s HR Realities research analyses all the critical trends and opportunities for HR leaders in the next 12 months. Here, Fosway analysts find that an average employee experience happens far too often.

Creating a compelling employee experience continues to be a challenge for HR teams and the desire to improve this is being pinched by a challenging economic climate. Less than half believe their organisation differentiates itself through their employee experience (EX), with around half identifying the EX they deliver as being ‘average’ at best.

Only 8% believe that their employee experience is excellent

Despite the perceived importance of the quality of the employee experience, actually delivering it with HR’s existing solutions is challenging. HR systems need to be transformational systems of engagement and outcomes, not just systems of record. But there has been only marginal improvement on EX over the past four years.
The only consistent change appears to be a continued slow shift to mediocrity. And despite a slight increase in those reporting an ‘Excellent’ experience, when you consider the four-year trend and the level of investment involved,
HR is still far from creating the differentiating employee experience that would make its organisation an employer of choice. Although, as we have seen in our 2025 HR Priorities and Challenges infographics, fewer companies seem to be pursuing this as a priority anyway.

C-Suite commitment to improving employee experience wavers

This year saw a fall in those reporting a positive sentiment from their executive teams to improving employee experience. Those reporting a complete commitment fell by close to 10% from 2023 levels. Tightening budgets and a more challenging business environment along with reducing concerns about the availability of talent have pushed being an employer of choice down the pecking order too, as organisations prioritise profitability and cost cutting.

The inability of HR systems to deliver the quality employee experience that HR teams want to deliver should be a real concern for all involved in HR technology. HR systems often set the tone of organisational culture and underpin the foundation of both the manager’s and the employee’s experience.

This year 65% of HR professionals don’t think that their current solutions are able to support the quality of employee experience (EX) they want to deliver.
But creating a differentiating EX is not easy. There is little genuine difference in the look and feel of most Cloud HR solutions. As a result, many buyers continue to look for niche solutions to supplement their HR tech stack and enrich specific experiences. The focus of those experiences is shifting though, to something more pragmatic and more profitable – both to employees and their organisations.

This is an excerpt from HR Realities 2025. Get the full insight and discover all the latest insight for corporate learning leaders by reading the whole report here.

What should you do next?

• Build your evidence-based AI strategy with Europe’s most experienced HR industry analysts. Sign up here

Other recommended reading

• The full research into EMEA’s HR leaders is here for you to benchmark you and your team’s experience: HR Realities 2025.
• The 2025 Fosway 9-Grid^TM for Cloud HR – full report. Released in September 2025, it’s the latest market and solution trends in Cloud HCM.

For corporates looking for deeper insight on this and other similar topics, please consider joining our Fosway research network to get access to corporate roundtables, private 1-1 analyst time, benchmark reports and other analyst services or project support. Click here to find out more.

Please also visit the Fosway Knowledge Centre.

Check out other relevant Fosway research and insights, including filters for segment category, key topics, type of content and vendor-specific information.