How Employee Engagement Drives Customer Experience
Being a leader in Customer Experience (CX) goes beyond just delivering quality products and services to customers. It requires applying a human-centric and empathetic approach to all organizational practices and customer touch points.
Many organizations, however, fall short in applying a human-centered mentality when it comes to their employees. And this trickles down to how customers interact with Government organizations.
If employees are engaged, they are passionate about the mission of their organization and align with organizational values. An engaged workforce results in a culture of enthusiasm and commitment to the mission where employees are willing to go above and beyond to meet and exceed customer needs.
To more effectively engage employees, consider the following tips:
Define and Communicate Core Values – If your organization does not already have clearly defined core values, make it a priority to develop them. Developing core values is a great opportunity to engage employees. Use interactive platforms such as public surveys, workshops, or whiteboarding sessions to get to the root of what it means to be an employee of your organization. Consider having a core value be directly related to customer service, such as “Integrity” or “Customer Obsessed”. Encourage employees to commit to these core values to establish your culture. Go beyond just displaying them in eye-catching graphics and incorporate them into daily routines, such as meetings and training. Leaders must embody this culture
Strengthen Professional Development Opportunities – When employees feel that their employer cares about their professional growth, they are more driven and motivated to deliver quality work products and services. Organizations should formalize career pathways and performance review processes so that employees feel supported and challenged in their role. In doing so, employees will find more value in their day-to-day, resulting in stronger customer interactions
Track and Optimize – Once your organization has strengthened how it engages and involves employees, be sure to continually track employee engagement and incorporate feedback. Go beyond annual engagement surveys and find ways to institutionalize regular employee check-ins with supervisors and leaders to facilitate open, honest, and transparent lines of communication. Share insights across the organization and regularly assess opportunities to optimize the employee experience
Organizations that strive to enhance CX will benefit from investing in the satisfaction of their employees. After all, happy employees can mean happy customers.
