Employee experience has emerged as the critical differentiator between organisations that attract and retain top talent and those watching employees leave for competitors. EX encompasses every interaction employees have with an organisation – from recruitment through retirement – shaping how people feel, perform, and contribute. organisations with exceptional employee experience outperform on engagement, productivity, innovation, and business outcomes, while poor EX creates disengagement costing billions in turnover and lost performance.
The challenge is that employee experience can’t be fixed through isolated perks or programs. It requires understanding the complete employee journey, identifying friction points undermining experience, and designing systemic improvements addressing root causes. The right employee experience consulting firm brings the expertise to diagnose current reality, design better experiences, and guide implementation creating lasting positive change.
This guide examines the top 5 employee experience consulting firms in the UK, evaluating their methodologies and expertise to help you select a partner capable of transforming how your people experience work.
Quick Comparison: Top Employee Experience Consulting Firms (2025)
| Rank | Firm | Location | Core Focus | Best For |
| 1. | scarlettabbott | York & London | Behavioural science + EX design | organisations needing sophisticated EX transformation |
| 2. | PeopleLab | UK-based | Research-driven EX strategy | Companies prioritizing evidence-based approaches |
| 3. | Berkeley Partnership | UK-based | Cross-functional EX delivery | Enterprises requiring organisational change expertise |
| 4. | Culture Consultancy | London | EX integrated with culture | Businesses connecting EX to broader culture work |
| 5. | We are The Loves | UK-based | EX + employer branding | organisations strengthening employer brand through EX |
1. scarlettabbott
Overview:
scarlettabbott approaches employee experience as the foundation of engagement, performance, and organisational success. With nearly two decades combining behavioral science, strategic insight, and creative execution, they design employee experiences that don’t just satisfy – they inspire people to bring their best selves to work and contribute meaningfully to organisational goals.
What Distinguishes scarlettabbott’s EX Approach:
Most EX consulting focuses on measuring satisfaction or improving isolated touchpoints. scarlettabbott takes a comprehensive view, examining the entire employee journey through behavioral and cultural lenses to understand what actually drives positive experience versus what organisations assume matters. This evidence-based approach reveals the real drivers of EX in your specific context rather than applying generic best practices.
Comprehensive EX Methodology:
Journey Mapping & Diagnosis: Rigorously mapping employee journeys from attraction through departure, identifying critical moments that shape experience and uncovering friction points undermining engagement and performance.
Behavioural Science Integration: Applying evidence about human psychology, decision-making, and motivation to design experiences that work with how people actually think and behave, not how we wish they would.
Experience Design: Creating intentional employee experiences at key touchpoints – onboarding, development conversations, recognition moments, change communications – that reinforce culture and drive engagement.
Strategic Storytelling: Helping employees understand their role in the bigger picture through compelling narratives that create meaning and emotional connection alongside practical information.
Implementation Support: Moving beyond strategy documents to guide execution, ensuring designed experiences actually get implemented within organisational realities and constraints.
Service Capabilities:
- Employee Journey Mapping: Comprehensive mapping revealing experience reality across the employee lifecycle
- EX Strategy Development: Designing strategic approaches to systematically improve employee experience
- Onboarding Programme Design: Creating onboarding experiences that accelerate belonging and performance
- Internal Communications: Communications designed to enhance rather than clutter employee experience
- Culture & EX Integration: Ensuring employee experience reflects and reinforces desired organisational culture
- Leadership EX Coaching: Equipping leaders to create positive experiences through their daily interactions
Why Organisations Choose scarlettabbott:
When employee experience directly impacts business performance – retention of critical talent, innovation capability, customer satisfaction – organisations need partners combining strategic thinking with practical implementation expertise. scarlettabbott’s nearly two-decade track record with global brands demonstrates sustained EX impact. They don’t just measure experience or recommend improvements – they partner to design and implement experiences that genuinely enhance how people experience work.
Ideal For: organisations where EX is business-critical, companies facing retention challenges, businesses in transformation requiring intentional EX design, and enterprises needing sophisticated behavioral approaches to experience improvement.
2. PeopleLab
Overview:
PeopleLab specializes in employee experience consulting grounded in rigorous research and behavioral science, founded by Emma Bridger, author of “EX by Design” and leading EX expert.
Key Strengths:
- Research-driven methodology: EX strategies based on evidence and proven frameworks
- The EX Space: Accredited EX Master programmes – the only global accreditation of its kind
- Behavior-based personas: Deep employee segment understanding driving targeted experiences
- Science-backed interventions: Solutions grounded in organisational psychology
- Proven case studies: Success with NATS, Starbucks, DNV demonstrating measurable impact
Approach: Three-stage methodology – uncovering key focus areas through research, mapping strategic improvement plans, and implementing science-backed ideas that enhance EX, engagement, culture, and performance.
Ideal For: organisations prioritizing evidence-based EX approaches, companies building internal EX capability, businesses wanting academic rigor alongside practical consulting.
3. Berkeley Partnership
Overview:
Berkeley Partnership provides employee experience consulting with deep expertise in cross-functional delivery, working across organisational silos to implement EX transformations that stick.
Key Strengths:
- Cross-functional delivery: Breaking down silos for coordinated EX improvement
- Business benefits focus: Connecting EX investment to tangible commercial outcomes
- Change management integration: EX transformation as organisational change requiring structured approach
- Hybrid working expertise: Designing EX for distributed and flexible work models
- Stakeholder engagement: Securing buy-in from IT, facilities, workplace services beyond HR
Approach: Understanding organisational culture, listening to what employees value, mapping opportunities for sustainable change, and working across divisions to drive coordinated transformation focused on real EX drivers.
Ideal For: Large enterprises with complex organisational structures, companies requiring cross-functional coordination, businesses implementing hybrid working models, organisations needing change management expertise.
4. Culture Consultancy
Overview:
Culture Consultancy integrates employee experience work within broader culture transformation, recognizing that EX and culture are inextricably linked and must be addressed holistically.
Key Strengths:
- EX-culture integration: Ensuring employee experience reflects and reinforces desired culture
- EVP development: Defining Employee Value Propositions articulating experience promise
- Culture Assessment integration: Understanding EX through comprehensive cultural diagnostics
- Stakeholder impact: Recognizing EX improvements benefit customers, investors, and broader stakeholders
- Journey mapping: Comprehensive employee journey analysis from recruitment through exit
Approach: Viewing employee experience as the overall journey and interaction throughout employment, considering culture, purpose, values, strategy, processes, technology, and physical environment shaping how employees feel and perform.
Ideal For: organisations connecting EX to culture work, businesses clarifying employer brand through EVP, companies needing cultural and experiential transformation together.
5. We are The Loves
Overview:
We are The Loves is an employee experience and employer branding agency providing consulting and creative services, specializing in the connection between exceptional EX and powerful employer brands.
Key Strengths:
- EX-employer brand connection: Leveraging positive experience to strengthen employer reputation
- Creative services: Combining consulting with design, storytelling, and content creation
- Recruitment marketing: Using EX insights to attract top talent through authentic employer brand
- Hybrid working strategies: Designing EX for remote and distributed work realities
- Holistic approach: Covering entire employee lifecycle from recruitment to retirement
Approach: Constructing environments where employees thrive and feel valued, promoting higher productivity and engagement while enhancing employer reputation through positive word-of-mouth and authentic employer brand storytelling.
Ideal For: organisations strengthening employer brand, companies in competitive talent markets, businesses needing creative EX communications, employers wanting recruitment advantage through authentic EX.
What to Look For in Employee Experience Consulting Firms
- Journey mapping expertise: Ability to comprehensively map and analyze complete employee journeys
- Behavioral science foundation: Evidence-based approaches grounded in psychology rather than assumptions
- Cross-functional delivery capability: Experience working across HR, IT, facilities, communications to coordinate improvement
- Measurement frameworks: Clear methods for assessing current EX and tracking improvement progress
- Implementation support: Partners helping execute, not just recommending in strategy documents
- Change management integration: Understanding EX improvement as organisational change requiring structured approach
- Technology enablement: Expertise in digital tools and platforms enhancing employee experience
- Culture-EX connection: Recognizing that experience and culture must align and reinforce each other
- Employer brand understanding: Connecting internal EX to external reputation and talent attraction
- Proven methodology: Documented approaches with case studies demonstrating measurable impact
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the difference between employee experience and employee engagement?
Employee experience encompasses everything affecting how employees feel about work – culture, tools, processes, physical environment, manager relationships. Engagement measures the outcome: how committed and motivated employees feel. Strong EX enables engagement; poor EX makes engagement nearly impossible regardless of other efforts.
How long does EX improvement take?
Initial improvements in specific touchpoints can happen within 3-6 months, but comprehensive EX transformation typically requires 12-24 months for meaningful, sustained change. Quick wins build momentum while systematic improvements create lasting experience enhancement across the employee journey.
How do you measure employee experience?
Measurement combines quantitative surveys assessing employee perceptions at key journey stages with qualitative methods revealing actual experience reality – journey interviews, focus groups, behavioral observation, and exit analysis. The best measurement reveals both how EX feels and how it actually functions in practice.
Can you improve EX without significant budget?
Many high-impact EX improvements require more attention than money – clearer communication, better manager behaviors, streamlined processes, recognition practices. However, some improvements (technology, space, programs) do require investment. Smart EX work prioritizes high-impact, lower-cost changes first while building the business case for larger investments.
Should EX be owned by HR or another function?
EX responsibility should be cross-functional with HR coordination, as experience is shaped by multiple functions – IT, facilities, communications, operations. A dedicated EX function or leader coordinating across silos often works best, ensuring holistic experience design rather than fragmented functional improvements.
What’s an Employee Value Proposition and why does it matter?
An EVP articulates what employees receive in exchange for their contribution – the tangible and intangible benefits, growth opportunities, culture, and purpose defining your employee deal. A strong EVP guides internal EX design and external talent attraction, creating consistency between employer brand promise and actual employee reality.
To read more content like this, explore The Brand Hopper
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