How I Stumped a Panel of EX Experts

Why This Silence Matters

After the session, multiple attendees approached me to say they liked my question. One HR director said:

That's exactly the conversation we need to have but aren't having.

Their reactions revealed a critical disconnect: while EX has become a buzzword in the boardroom, many practitioners still struggle to articulate its business value. We're great at describing programs, initiatives, and feel-good stories. We're not great at connecting the dots to revenue, retention, productivity, or other strategic objectives.

This gap isn't just academic—it's a threat to the credibility of EX and culture practitioners. When business units are increasingly being asked to justify their ROI and/or hiring plans, running expensive "engagement" programs without outcomes is asking for trouble.

My Mental Model for EX

In my previous article about ​defining changes​, I said my training influences my thinking about ​resistance​. Similarly, my time at McKinsey changed how I think about EX, primarily due to the ​Organizational Health Index​ (OHI).

Unlike engagement surveys that focus on the individual mindset, OHI shines a very bright light on how the organization behaves.

McKinsey's ​approach​ starts with business strategy and works backward to people practices, not the other way around.

Instead of asking "How can we make employees happier?" the question becomes "What organizational capabilities do we need to win, and how do our people practices enable them?"

There’s more to it, obviously, but now you see why I think the way I do about driving EX as a product (see ​Chief of Work​) with desired business outcomes.

Three Examples of EX Done Right

The panelists eventually responded to my question, although still without the clear line to business objectives that I was seeking. But, to be fair, connecting EX to business outcomes is hard in any situation, much less on the spot.

Here are three examples from the conference where I saw stronger initial connections between EX programs and organizational performance.

PepsiCo's Frontline Focus

Before my question, panelist ​Allyx Teel​ shared how PepsiCo's real estate team enhances the workplace experience for frontline employees. The majority of their 300,000+ workforce, who work in non-office sites and directly interact with products and customers every day.

Their Facility Condition Assessment program identifies improvements in operational facilities—e.g., better coffee, cleaner restrooms, comfortable break rooms—the simple things that may be overlooked but can make or break someone's day. Feedback loops include visible "You Said It → We Did It" boards so "deskless" workers know their voices matter.

Allyx didn't frame these stories around business outcomes in the moment, but the connection is clear. When frontline workers feel valued and equipped to perform their jobs effectively, it is reflected in safety metrics, quality indicators, and customer relationships. Every operations leader wants to know that an improved driver or warehouse employee's experience leads to fewer incidents and delays.

Campari's Culture-Driven M&A Strategy

One of the people who complimented my mic-dropping question was ​Lorenzo Fedele​ from Campari. He was the next presenter and seemed to take the moment of silence as a dare to prove how an EX program can be oriented toward business objectives.

For Campari, culture work isn't about employee satisfaction—it's about deal success. With roughly 40 acquisitions completed since 1995, they've learned that preserving organizational identity while enabling agility is essential to M&A performance.

Their approach of "distilling, codifying, narrating, and activating" organizational culture creates both continuity and adaptability. Cultural integration programs and clear ​ways of working​ support their acquisition strategy by ensuring faster team integration and preserving what made acquired companies valuable.

The business impact shows up where it matters: post-acquisition retention rates, time-to-productivity for integrated teams, and revenue performance of newly acquired brands. When you're completing a major deal every nine months for three decades, culture integration becomes a core business capability, not an HR nice-to-have.

Wix's Onboarding Overhaul

At another session, ​Dr. Eli Bendet-Taicher​ from Wix delivered a masterclass in connecting employee development to hard financial outcomes.

Here's the scenario: Wix's support agent onboarding used to take two full months before new hires could interact with clients, and they would reach only 60% productivity by month three. For 800 agents annually, this represented $5.8 million in costs with suboptimal results.

Rather than accepting "the way things are," Wix redesigned the work.

Now a one-month intensive program is followed by blended learning—two-thirds client engagement, one-third continuous development—with remarkable results. New hires now reach 60% productivity in month two and 80% by month three, while reducing per-employee development costs.

The business impact? Faster ROI and faster time-to-value for new employees who can start making meaningful client contributions months earlier.

From an EX perspective, imagine the difference between two months in orientation vs. being trusted with real clients in just four weeks.

Making the Business Case Stick

That uncomfortable silence at Future of Work USA revealed something profound: we've built an entire industry around EX without consistently connecting it to business outcomes.

The path forward isn't complicated, but it requires discipline:

1. Design backward from business strategy. Start with the capability you need (see ​“North Star” vision​), then work toward the EX that enables it.

• PepsiCo's frontline focus improves customer experience.
• Campari's culture work enables M&A success.
• Wix's learning programs deliver measurable ROI.

2. Establish your business hypothesis upfront. Before launching any EX initiative, complete this sentence (and don’t start the program until you can):

If we improve [specific employee experience], we expect to see [specific business outcome] because [logical connection].

3. Measure business impact, not just employee satisfaction. Engagement scores and NPS are inputs, not outcomes. Track metrics that matter to your execs: retention costs, time-to-productivity, safety incidents, customer satisfaction, revenue per employee.

​Forward this email to a colleague​ to engage them in the next steps.

The uncomfortable truth? If you can't connect your EX work to business results, you're running a discretionary program. The most successful EX professionals speak the language of strategy, not just sentiment.

What EX initiative at your company drives measurable business results, and how are you proving it? Please get in touch to let me know so I can share your story.