Peer communities are valuable assets for heads of employee experience at enterprise organizations in the modern, complex corporate environment. From helping you save time and resources through research and strategic peer insights, to mitigating risk and staying on top of evolving trends, joining a peer group can help you take your strategy to the next level.
But not all communities are the right fit for everyone. Each peer group will have different standards on who is allowed to join, confidentiality policies, fees, the level of support you get from facilitators, and more. Let’s examine how the Employee Experience Board compares to other peer communities in the EX space.
| Employee Experience Board | Other top employee experience peer communities | |
| Strict Membership Criteria for Companies & Individuals | Yes – Only heads of employee experience at Fortune 1000 companies and their senior team members are allowed. | Not always – A lot of groups have little or no restrictions around seniority or company size and will often allow nonprofits, SMBs, and junior team members in the group. |
| Sponsor / Vendor Influence | No – Our community is strictly vendor-free, our events are not sponsored, and all insights are unbiased because they come directly from your peers. | It’s a mix – Some communities have subtle to no vendor influence, while others have vendors as members, event sponsors, or utilize vendors as “outside experts.” |
| Dedicated Support | Yes – Our Membership Directors are expert advisors who give our members white-glove service, connecting them to other members who have faced similar challenges, ensuring all their questions get answered, and facilitating and moderating challenge-based, member-led calls. | Varies – Support levels vary with other EX peer communities. Some have no dedicated support, some offer a minimal level of support, while a select few have dedicated support. Virtually all groups have significantly higher member-to-staff ratios, making it harder to sometimes access what support exists. |
| Peer-to-Peer Connections | Yes – Peer-to-peer connections are one of the pillars of Employee Experience Board membership. Membership Directors make direct connections between members to help with specific challenges, vendor recommendations, and more. | In a few cases – Most communities offer no formalized avenue of peer-to-peer connections, while a select few do. |
| Confidentiality | Yes – All members are bound by a strict confidentiality agreement. This is an off-the-record space to discuss your toughest challenges amongst your peers. | It’s split – Some peer communities have strict confidentiality, while others have no formal confidentiality agreements in place. |
| On-Demand Q&A | Yes – Our email discussion forum combined with dedicated support from Membership Directors provides members with an avenue to get fast answers to tough challenges from their peers. | Varies – Avenues for Q&A vary from group to group. Some have it, while others don’t, however very few have dedicated staff to make sure those questions get answered or to moderate off-topic content. |
| Benchmarking | Yes – We offer real-time benchmarking on your employee experience programs via email discussions, video calls, informal polls, and direct connections. | Maybe – Some formalized examples of benchmarking include frequent surveys of members, analyst reports, or other research that, while robust, typically takes months to publish. |
| Outside Experts | Sometimes – We occasionally bring in experts to help give additional insights on specific topics, but the majority of value comes from members who have firsthand knowledge on handling challenges when the playbook goes out the window. | Almost always – A lot of the value of other groups comes from experts, influencers, and other thought leaders that can benefit your high-level strategy |
| Conferences | Yes – Our annual Board Meetings are unique in that they are not open to the public, confidential, and do not allow vendors or sponsors. It’s part business conference, part family reunion for employee experience leaders. | Mostly – Most peer communities have events — from small meetups to giant expos. They typically feature vendors and sponsors too, with an agenda that’s set months in advance by meeting planners. We haven’t seen another one yet that builds the agenda based on real-time attendee needs. |
