The Role of People Teams in Migrating EXP

Cat DiStasio
External Contributor - HR Expert (& Huge Geek)
October 22 2024

Migrating to a new employee experience platform (EXP) may seem like just another tech project. And while that’s true to an extent, in reality, it’s so much more. Because your new EXP will impact every employee in your company in one way or another, your People teams have a lot of responsibilities when it comes to planning for, managing, and overseeing the migration process.
In fact, because they’re leading the charge to implement systems and create processes that support your organization’s goals for work culture, employee engagement, and the employee experience in general, successful EXP migration simply can’t happen without a lot of hard work from your in-house People professionals.
In this article, I’ll walk you through all the different ways People teams participate in an EXP migration, including who should be responsible for what, how teams can work together, and tips for a successful migration.
Migration tasks for People teams
Most likely, your People teams have been working toward EXP migration for some time. They’ve been collecting feedback about the employee experience, collating employee suggestions and requests, and exploring technology solutions that can support your company’s culture and engagement goals. Because of their unique perspective on the need for and desired results from a new EXP, your People teams will play an essential role in your EXP Migration Taskforce, a larger team that involves everyone involved in the implementation and rollout.
Throughout the migration process, People teams are typically responsible for:
- Performing a content inventory and audit
- Optimizing content to prepare for migration
- Performing the content migration
- Keeping track of progress with an EXP Migration Checklist
- Proofreading all content during migration
Depending on the structure of your internal communications teams, People teams might also:
- Contribute to employee communication content (before, during, and after launch)
- Conduct employee training sessions
- Prepare responses to employee FAQs and other self-help resources
Ensuring collaboration among teams
A primary function of your EXP Migration Taskforce is project management, a job usually assigned to just one or two individuals on your People team. Your project managers will help keep track of completed tasks and progress, but they are also essential for managing the exchange of information between teams within your taskforce.
While different teams may work on separate parts of the migration, it’s crucial that every team is in alignment with the project goals. Most likely, this will require regular meetings and other set points on your migration timeline for exchanging data, sharing progress reports, asking for help, and so forth. Having a few members of your People teams act as points of contact can help keep everyone on your taskforce engaged and making progress toward your common goal.
How People teams contribute to a successful migration
In most companies, People teams are seen as owners of work culture, whether that’s realistic or not. This usually means People teams spend the most time observing and measuring the culture – through employee engagement metrics like turnover, productivity, and wellbeing – and are also primarily responsible for devising ways to support and improve the culture.
While migrating to a new EXP can’t solve all your culture problems on its own, having the right technology solutions in place can make it easier to bring your ideal culture to life.
While I’d argue People teams don’t ‘own’ culture any more than any other employees, we know that People teams are often responsible for driving culture changes. And we also know that no EXP migration can be successful without essential work from People teams. After all, they know your company’s employees and culture challenges better than anyone else.
When People teams are invested and fully involved in an EXP migration, they can be better equipped to train and support employees on the new system, including educating managers throughout the organization about how to use the new tools to better lead their respective teams, engage with employees as groups and as individuals, and encourage a culture of vibrant collaboration.
The vital role of People teams in EXP migration
The success of an EXP migration is heavily dependent on the active participation and expertise of People teams. Their unique insights into employee needs, work culture, and engagement make them indispensable throughout the migration process.
By effectively managing tasks, fostering collaboration among different teams, and driving cultural alignment, People teams ensure that the new EXP not only meets technical requirements but also enhances the overall employee experience.
Their involvement is key to a smooth transition and the long-term success of your new platform.