Employee engagement: as important as customers' one
- CXpro.me
- Oct 21, 2024
- 5 min read
Updated: Apr 9
Share customer feedback, celebrate success, embrace a culture of learning from mistakes, and provide more support to engage employees.
21/10/2024; 5 min to read
Once we start talking about employee engagement, almost everyone thinks about customer service or frontline employees. Definitely, those two groups are very important in the context of customer experience; however, there are many more who remain "invisible" but are sometimes even more important. It depends on the type of business, but it might includes those creating products and processes, IT professionals, accountants, legal and compliance officers, HR specialist, etc.
The so-called "invisible" staff (from the customer's perspective, of course) plays a critical role as they predefine, directly or indirectly, the experience for the customer. Let's name a few. Legal, for example, influences the volume of paperwork customers have to sign; IT has an impact on the speed of the printer in a shop or the performance of the website; HR drives employee recruitment and affects the profile of people coming on board and the right place for them. You see, everyone has their role. Sales and after-sales people only reflect what has been created in advance.
Everyone should understand what impact they have to overall company performance and customer experience in particular.
Employee experience is as important, if not more important, as customer experience. This center of gravity requires a lot of effort. Engagement is not the same as experience. However, employee experience impacts engagement.
Making employees feel that what they do is important, their efforts are valued and recognised, the employer is investing in them, and providing relevant training. Many other aspects may complement this list.
Engaged Employees Create Better Customer Experiences
Engaged employees play a crucial role in enhancing customer experiences. When employees are actively engaged in their work, they tend to exhibit higher levels of motivation, commitment, and enthusiasm. This positive attitude translates into better service delivery, as engaged employees are more likely to go above and beyond to meet customer needs.
Employee engagement is crucial as well for good customer experience (CX) for several reasons:
Motivated Workforce: Engaged employees are more motivated and invested in their work. They tend to go above and beyond, which directly translates into better service for customers.
Positive Attitude: Employees who feel valued and engaged are more likely to exhibit a positive attitude. This positivity is infectious and can enhance the customer’s interaction with the brand.
Reduced Turnover: High employee engagement often leads to lower turnover rates. When employees stay longer, they build stronger relationships with customers, leading to more personalized and consistent service.
Better Communication: Engaged employees are more likely to communicate effectively with both colleagues and customers. Clear communication helps in resolving issues swiftly and ensuring customer satisfaction.
Feedback Loop: Engaged employees feel comfortable sharing insights and feedback, which can help improve processes and products. This responsiveness can lead to a better overall customer experience.
Alignment with Company Values: When employees are engaged, they are more aligned with the company's mission and values. This alignment helps ensure that their interactions with customers reflect the brand's core principles.
Innovation and Problem Solving: Engaged employees are more likely to be proactive in identifying problems and suggesting improvements, which can lead to enhanced services and better customer experiences.
Customer-Centric Culture: A culture of engagement fosters a customer-centric mindset among employees. They understand the importance of their role in delivering a great customer experience and strive to meet customer needs effectively.
In summary, when employees are engaged, they not only deliver better service but also contribute to a positive brand image, fostering loyalty and satisfaction among customers.
The link between customer and employee engagement is undeniable. Engaged employees are the backbone of excellent product offering and customer service, which, in turn, leads to satisfied and loyal customers. Nurturing a positive relationship between the two can drive business success and establish a strong reputation in the market. Companies that prioritise employee and customer engagement will create a winning formula for sustained growth and prosperity.
Strategies to Enhance the Link
Employee Training: Invest in comprehensive training programs to equip employees with the skills to engage customers effectively.
Recognition and Rewards: Implement recognition and reward systems to acknowledge exceptional employee efforts in engaging customers.
Internal Communication: Foster open communication channels to ensure employees feel valued and connected to the company's mission.
Saying everyone, means literally everyone
It may sound unreal; however, in many organisations, we need to motivate mid- and senior-level staff to not only "think" about customers but also meet them in real life. Engagement regarding customers and building a customer-centric culture requires systematic activities and actions to establish and then sustain.
A very good practice is to create an annual calendar with events that foster customer engagement and define which audience should attend each event. Also, incorporating an annual or monthly target for "meeting the customer" for non-client facing functions could change the game. Involving various employees in idea generation for processes or customer journey improvements would provide you with a different point of view and enrich the potential outcome.
Who’s responsible?
Okay. Having a Customer Experience team and a CX leader at the operational level is key for integrating a customer-centric way of thinking into the business as usual for your company. Those people should be playing a transversal role in fostering conversation and collaboration among the different teams in your company.
If you want to demonstrate the level of importance of customer experience in your organization, you might need leadership support as well so there is no doubt about what the priorities are. For those organisations which are not differentiated on CX, it is crucial to create, establish, and execute the company CX strategy in order to sustainably provide excellent customer experience for its clients.
Change management (most probably) is needed
Change management is essential for fostering a CX culture as it ensures alignment with customer needs, engages employees, maintains consistency, minimizes disruption, promotes continuous improvement, and builds a customer-centric mindset within the organisation.
Good practice is to establish a daily routine tailored for different teams, considering the customer in all they do. From a business perspective, integrating CX in job descriptions, for example, is very powerful. This goes hand in hand with setting NPS targets and shared KPIs to eliminate silos.
By clearly communicating the reasons for change and providing necessary training to everyone, you can engage better and maintain a focus on customer experience. This is also critical during the CX strategy execution phase.
Share customer feedback, celebrate success, embrace a culture of learning from mistakes, and provide more support to engage employees.
Good luck!
コメント