What are employee personas?

An employee persona is a semi-fictional profile of an employee. These profiles are created using employee data, such as age demographics, professional goals and work experience. When developed correctly, a persona will mirror the attitudes and needs of its real-world counterpart.

Once you’ve created a set of personas, you can use them to guide your decision-making. For example, say you have two employees: Entry-Level Ernest and Senior Manager Samantha. You’re looking to implement a new training and development program but can’t decide which initiatives to focus on. To figure things out, you decide to turn to your employee personas.

Ernest will likely benefit from introductory courses designed to help him build a general skillset. On the other hand, Samantha would prefer strategy-driven courses where she can hone her management techniques. Considering each persona helps you understand which courses are right for your team before making any investments.

Because employee personas are modeled after members of your team, their fictional perspectives provide valuable insight. Consulting them regularly can help you tailor each decision in favor of their real-world counterparts.

Why employee personas matter

Just like clients or customers, your employees all have unique needs and goals. As a leader, it’s your job to cultivate an environment that helps each team member thrive.

Unfortunately, it’s not possible to consult your entire team whenever you’re faced with a decision. Instead, you must attempt to see things from their side and choose the course of action that best fits. This is where employee personas come in.

Personas give you the chance to “consult” each individual without pulling them from their own responsibilities. That way, each affecting decision you make will take on a personalized effect.

Beyond making better decisions, the use of employee personas can help you better understand the members of your workforce as individuals. With this approach, they’re more likely to feel seen and heard, improving their satisfaction overall.

Developing employee personas

Now that you understand the importance of employee personas, it’s time to start developing them within your own team. Here’s how to add these profiles to your workforce in just five easy steps.

1. Turn to experienced coworkers

Because persona-building is often done by those on the client-facing side of things, you may have direct access to a valuable resource. Before you start constructing any profiles, take the time to seek out those on your team who already have some experience.

Don’t hesitate to turn to your team for guidance — after all, it’s likely no one knows personas better than them. Take note of their research and formatting strategies to get an idea of what your own should look like to get the most out of each profile.

2. Communicate with your employees

The closer your employee personas are to their real-world models, the more effective they’ll be. So, crafting quality profiles means conducting plenty of research.

To truly understand the needs and personalities of your employees, all you need to do is ask them. Go directly to the source by having one-on-one conversations with each team member to really get a sense of their goals and obstacles. Or consider holding an employee focus group so they can build on each others’ ideas.

3. Identify defining characteristics

Once you’ve gathered your information, it’s time to start breaking it down into distinct profiles. To do this, you’ll need to identify a few key characteristics that will serve as the distinguishing features of each persona.

One simple method is to separate personas by job level (entry-level, senior manager, etc.). If your team is geographically split, one persona per location is another possibility. Keep in mind that too many personas can do more harm than good — consider keeping it below five to get the most out of the exercise.

4. Document employee personas

Now that you’ve decided what your defining characteristics are, you can finally start documenting your employee personas. At this point, how you build your profile is up to you, though there are a few elements that most employers choose to include, such as:

• Descriptive, easy-to-remember names (like HR-Rep Maria)
• A list of their defining characteristics, whether it’s age, department or seniority level
• Obstacles or frustrations
• Goals or motivating factors

Once you’ve organized your information into a set of profiles, you’re ready to reference them whenever you have a decision to make.

5. Test and adjust

Even with extensive research, your employee personas probably won’t be perfect in their first form. In most cases, you’ll have to put them into action and adjust them based on performance.

Sometimes, external factors can change the effectiveness of your profiles. For example, the global pandemic was a source of mental strain for many that resulted in additional pain points for many. But because employee personas are always changeable, you can make adjustments however you see fit.

Persona-building for small teams

If you’re part of a smaller team, you might not have unlimited time to spend developing employee personas. But luckily, working in close quarters means you likely already have a good idea of your team’s goals, characteristics and frustrations. If this is the case, you probably have everything you need to develop some informal profiles.

As the leader of a small group, there’s a good chance you already consider each team member’s needs before making any decisions. In the future, try documenting some defining characteristics as you notice them, so they can be turned into fully-fledged personas later.

Using employee personas

Now that you’ve developed your employee personas, you can put them into action whenever you need a shift in perspective. Naturally, this is a useful decision-making tool, but your carefully constructed profiles can go even further than that.

From employee development programs to conflict resolution, personas can help you identify what your employees need and how you can best help them achieve it. Above all else, they’ll help your entire team feel heard and valued.

FAQs about employee personas

How can an employee persona improve communication?

Not everyone communicates the same way. And while practicing a variety of communication strategies is useful, it can be hard to tailor them to individuals in the moment.

This is where employee personas come in. As you build your profiles, pay attention to the way each group receives information. Refer back to this information later to make your delivery more constructive.

What are some common employee personas?

Employee personas come in all forms, but some are more common than others. Among your team, you might recognize creators, educators, networkers and researchers. In some cases, you might find team members who fit easily into more than one group. Get to know your team and you might just be surprised by the attributes you find.