The moments IT is judged by - and why most organisations underestimate them

When organisations talk about employee experience, they often talk about platforms, tools, and architectures.

Employees experience something else entirely.

They experience moments.

Joining the company.

Receiving equipment.

Getting refreshed.

Handing everything back and leaving.

These journeys are where IT, workplace, and HR are actually judged. And yet, in most global enterprises I work with, they are anything but holistic.

A fragmented sense of reality

One pattern I encounter again and again is a fragmented and skewed sense of how journeys actually work in practice.

I often ask simple questions.

• What does your goods receipt process look like?

• How do devices enter the building from a delivery perspective?

• Who receives them?

The answer is usually detailed - but only for one location.

Then I ask: at this site you have a shared receptionist. How does this work across all your locations globally?

Silence.

The same fragmentation appears in hiring. Recruitment might start in Workday in some countries, while other regions use different systems entirely. IT onboarding happens in ServiceNow. Ordering flows through SAP Ariba. Invoices are processed in country-specific ERP systems. Each step works in isolation. Nobody has linked the journey end to end.

On paper, everything functions.

In reality, hidden costs accumulate everywhere, and the end user is left with a broken experience.

Employee journeys are not owned - they are handed off

The challenge is not lack of intent. It is lack of ownership.

Employee journeys cut across HR, IT, workplace, procurement, logistics, finance, reception, and often local onsite support. Each team optimises its own part. Very few step back and ask what the experience looks like end to end.

As a result, onboarding, refresh, and leaver journeys feel inconsistent and improvised. What should be predictable moments become sources of friction.

This is where experience quietly erodes trust.

Gartner reinforces this reality in Use a DEX Blueprint to Mature Your Digital Workplace Strategy, where employee journeys are positioned as a primary lens for assessing digital workplace maturity. Gartner highlights that fragmented ownership across HR, IT, and workplace functions is one of the main reasons organisations struggle to deliver consistent joiner, refresh, and leaver experiences at scale.

The implication is clear. Without end-to-end visibility and accountability across these journeys, investments in tools and platforms rarely translate into better employee experience. The experience breaks in the handoffs, not in the technology.

Joiner journeys: where credibility is formed early

Joiner journeys are the clearest example.

A new employee’s first day is shaped by small details. Is the equipment ready? Does everything work out of the box? Are accessories included, or does the user need to chase cables, docks, or headsets?

When joiner journeys fail, the organisation rarely connects it back to systems fragmentation or unclear ownership. Instead, the cost is absorbed as lost productivity, frustration, and support tickets.

The damage is subtle but lasting. First impressions are hard to undo.

Refresh journeys: treated as logistics, not experience

Refresh journeys are often handled as transactional events.

• A device reaches a certain age.

• A ticket is raised.

• A box is shipped.

What is rarely considered is whether the refresh actually improves anything for the employee. Is it ready to use? Are peripherals aligned? Is data migration smooth? Does the refresh reduce friction or introduce new one?

This is also a missed opportunity. Refresh journeys can be used proactively to communicate what is coming, what will change, and what the employee should expect. Simple, structured pre-communication - for example through drip-style messaging - can significantly reduce uncertainty, support demand, and frustration.

When refreshes are treated purely as logistics, they miss the chance to reinforce trust and consistency. Worse, they often generate new issues immediately after deployment.

Accessories: the detail everyone avoids

Accessories deserve special mention because they expose organisational discomfort.

In many organisations, accessories are seen as politically sensitive. They sit between budgets, policies, and preferences. So they are excluded, decentralised, or pushed onto the user.

The result is predictable. Incomplete setups. Ad-hoc purchases. Hidden cost. Inconsistent experience.

Accessories are not optional details. They are part of the journey. Ignoring them does not remove complexity - it simply hides it.

Leaver journeys: designed too late, governed too loosely

Leaver journeys are often framed purely as a risk exercise.

• Recover the device.

• Secure the data.

• Close access.

What is rarely discussed is how fragmented leaver execution can become, especially when data sanitisation is handled locally through unvetted partners. This introduces unnecessary security risk, inconsistent standards, and limited auditability.

Leaver thinking should be designed into the lifecycle from the start. When it is not, organisations see higher loss rates, delayed returns, write-offs, and avoidable replacement purchases.

Once again, fragmentation creates cost and risk that could have been avoided upstream.

The sweet spot between perfection and reality

The devil is always in the details. But that does not mean organisations should aim for perfection.

Employee journeys are rarely a perfect global fit. What works in one country may not work identically in another.

The goal is not one rigid global journey, but a global standard with defined local nuances. One journey, with clear “if this, then that” logic built in.

But there is a critical question many organisations avoid:

If the journey is not mapped end to end, are you actually in control?

Holistic journeys are not about controlling everything. They are about making complexity visible and intentional.

Why journeys matter more than strategies

Employee journeys are where strategies become personal.

They expose whether personas are real or theoretical.

They reveal whether lifecycle thinking is operational or aspirational.

They show whether sustainability and security goals are grounded in behaviour or just reporting.

If you want to understand how mature an organisation really is, do not start with its roadmap.

Look at how it handles joiners, refreshes, accessories, and leavers across locations.

That is where reality lives.