In this post, we discuss three elements that you should consider to ensure the happiness of your employees and ultimately improve CX.
Empowerment & Engagement
When it comes to discussing improving employee satisfaction empowerment and engagement are always at the forefront of the conversation. This is for a good reason. According to Gallup, highly engaged workplaces see a 10% increase in customer ratings and a 20% increase in sales. If your employees are empowered and engaged, they will see the success of the company as a part of their own success and vice versa. If employees feel a sense of detachment from the business – like they are working towards their paycheck without a sense of purpose in their work – it will show in how they interact with customers and affect your bottom line.
A great tool for empowerment and engagement is giving your employees direct access to your customer feedback or VOC solution to track their personal progress and performance. This is a good method to help employees to self-motivate rather than rely on feedback from their managers. This enables them to set their own goals and adjust their work accordingly. As a result, they will feel a sense of autonomy, rather than feeling like their every action is being micromanaged by someone else.
Company Culture
Great company culture isn’t determined by pizza parties and nap pods (although these perks can help!). Culture is more about the intangible elements – values, expectations, environment and support being some of the main determining factors of good or bad company culture. In the same way that you communicate a brand externally to your customers, you need an internal brand for your employees. According to Forbes, companies with strong cultures saw a 4x increase in revenue growth.
Culture can be a tricky thing to get right, as it is based on abstract factors and feelings. It’s not about setting rules or agendas for how people should behave. It’s about fostering an environment that is encouraging and transparent so that employees adhere to the values and objectives that are part of the business identity. Ways to create a culture that makes employees feel happy and valued include publicly recognising great performance, investing in training and onboarding programmes that set out the company’s beliefs and values, and creating an environment in which employees are able to relax at times rather than burn out.
Company culture is a key ingredient to long-term CX success and employee productivity. If leadership embodies the cultural identity they set out for the company, employees will follow. It is up to a business’ leaders to set objectives that prioritise the customer and the employee in tandem to set a culture that makes everyone feel valued. For the benefit of CX, It is important to create a culture in which employees truly care about the business and the customers they serve.
Internal Communication
Internal communication is important from every level of the business, from the c-suite down to direct line managers, how a business chooses to communicate between and amongst the hierarchical structure can set that inspires. This means encouraging frontline employees to speak up so that the challenges they face or the issues they encounter can be addressed. This is how you can identify and collaborate on areas of improvement. Communication shouldn’t run only from the top down; it needs to flow in both directions.
The most important aspect of internal communication is transparency. Explain to your employees why a new policy is being implemented rather than just telling them what a new policy is and expecting them to follow it blindly. Constructively sharing customer feedback with them is also an important factor to give them a sense of awareness of what is expected of them. Being transparent with your employees will give them a greater sense of understanding and purpose in their day-to-day tasks or activities and in turn motivate them to improve their performance.
An important tool for promoting internal communication and making employees feel valued is asking for their feedback. This, of course, is only effective if you act upon it, so not to seem disingenuous. One study found that 82% of employees who strongly agree that their company takes action on their feedback are “likely to do something good for the company.” Collect feedback from employees a few times a year and really take the time to consider it and see where changes can be made based on what they have said. Then be transparent with them on the results of the survey and let them know what changes will be made based on their suggestions. Some suggestions may be small, easy fixes – like more vegan snacks in the break room – while others may be more complicated or difficult to enact, like higher pay. But take the time to listen to your employees and respond to contribute to their sense of value and wellbeing – ultimately making them happier to be working for you.
