How does Employee experience exponentially accelerate Customer experience?
Who does not want to be at their own accord and achieve their physical and emotional goals? We all are driven to make impact in our daily lives. This is basically how the employee experience serves a major role in customer experience. Any successful organisation prevails through its win-win-win mantra deep down.
Improving the employee service experience can benefit not only employees but also customers and an organization’s bottom line through increased employee productivity and engagement. We all have heard Mark Zuckerberg saying, “Treat your employees right so they won’t use your internet to look for new jobs.” Giving the best to your employees is the foremost step in paving the foundation for a successful organization with a loyal customer base.
According to the author and futurist Jacob Morgan, there are four chapters in the development of employee experience. Decades ago, it was all about utility. Companies had jobs to be done and people had bills to pay. The relationships were purely transactional. Over time, savvy employers began to shift their approach to prioritize productivity. Managers started to care about the quality of workplace resources because they realized it could help them yield better results. Off the back of this idea came the engagement stage. Organizations concentrated their attention on finding out what their employees cared about and how and why they work. They started shifting some of the focus away from their bottom-line payoffs, and instead began considering what their organization could do to benefit their employees. So, one step further, employee experience came as the final stage in this evolution. It is about creating a company that people want to work for. Experiential enterprises create an environment where people genuinely want to show up and contribute to their company’s success.
To retain the best talent, organizations must step up to the plate and give their staff more than just a job. The focus is on employee experience more than ever before, particularly in the world of work-from-anywhere, as the digital workplace becomes the only workplace. Improving the employee experience isn’t just about new systems, strategies, or processes. It’s reimagining the purpose of why and how all these elements can service employees in the flow of work while enhancing their daily lives for higher productivity.
“The prevailing factor to drive employee engagement, and therefore create exceptional employee experiences, can be summed up in one word: impact.” Lior Arussy – Author & Consultant. And we can see this impact on customer experience. Employees want a sense of belonging and to feel engaged in their everyday work. When employee happiness and engagement is lacking, it impacts the satisfaction and quality of work—and could mean missed business growth. The impact is the difference between employees wanting to work and needing to work. “When people are financially invested, they want a return. When people are emotionally invested, they want to contribute.” Simon Sinek – Author. This contribution is what we can see in sales revenue, retained customers, customer growth, goodwill etc.
Why is employee experience important for organizations?
It’s not a coincidence that so many esteemed CEOs and thought leaders are emphasizing the value of employee experience.
“To win the marketplace you must first win the workplace” – says, Douglas Conant, an internationally renowned business leader, New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author.
“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.” Says the British business magnate, investor, and author, founder of the Virgin group – Richard Branson.
Particularly as enterprises refine their strategy to thrive in the new world of work, the employee experience has become a top priority. Experiential organizations benefit from engaged employees who will give their all, regardless of where they are based and the obstacles they may encounter. Some of the core benefits associated with improving employee experience include:
Happy staff leads to happy customers.
(Employee experience EX is related to Customer experience CX)
When your employees are happy and engaged, your consumers will take note. Inspired employees will go the extra mile to deliver unparalleled customer service and have the knowledge needed to answer any question that comes their way. The enterprises that invest most heavily in employee experience are likely to be found faring good results in the Customer Satisfaction Index.
Good employee experience leads to better profits
Ultimately, a good employee experience means more money. When your workforce is comprised of employees who are motivated and engaged, you can expect output levels and performance to skyrocket. Simultaneously, your organization will save on the costs associated with voluntary resignations because your employees will want to continue their journey with your enterprise. As a result, companies that invest in EX outperform those that don’t by manifold in terms of average profit.
Improve retention
It is noted that in US alone, businesses lose more than $1trillion annually to voluntary resignations. Sidestep the crippling effects of high turnover by ensuring your employees are truly happy. Not only can the costs of hiring, onboarding, and further training wreak havoc on your bottom line; they can also detract from your culture. Engaged employees are less likely to resign than their counterparts working at organizations that aren’t experiential.
Take innovation to the next level
Engaged employees are your company’s most valuable assets. When you give your employees the tools, they need to reach peak performance and create a culture that empowers everyone, you can expect next-level innovation to follow. Companies shifting from manual to the digitization of workflows, or from high-touch human support to minimal touchpoints, gives employees time and energy to be more creative. Digital transformation of the companies gives employees the opportunity to work on strategic activities and be more productive. In fact, the heaviest investors in EX are 28x more often listed among Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies.
Attract top tier talent
Regardless of your size or sector, attracting top talent is a necessity. More than ever, companies are competing against each other to attract the best talent, and the battle is often won by whoever can offer the best employee experience. Satisfied talents typically have higher morale and capabilities that shine through when working with customers. It is worthwhile to note that the enterprises that invest most heavily in employee experience are 4.4x more likely to be featured in LinkedIn’s list of North America’s Most In-Demand Employers.
Conclusion
Employee experience has evolved over time and now it has become a commodity for organizations to keep up with for survival. Best employees give superior services and superior services attract and retain loyal customers. Now that customers have many options to choose from, keeping customers happy, needs relentless efforts and that’s exactly what engaged employees can do. This is a win-win-win situation for the business, the employees, and the customers. Co-founder and Director of Talent – 10xDS, Anoop Thomas says, “In this hybrid workplace, keeping our people engaged is the biggest challenge and we are finding new ways to do that because only engaged employees can give our customers quality output and services and that’s our priority.”
Talk to our experts to know more on how digital transformation can help improve the employee experience.
