Workforce Management Featured Article
Employee Satisfaction Improvements Lead to Double Customer Satisfaction Improvements
There is a trend in workplaces today that most Americans can relate to. Companies, faced with shrinking profit margins, are continuing a push on their employees that began several years ago, and continues to this day. American workers are frazzled, burned out and disengaged in large numbers. Frightened with the prospect of losing their jobs, workers continue to put up with unrealistic demands, grumpy bosses and stagnant salaries.
While pressing employees for more may result in short-term gains, in the long run, it’s not a great management tactic. Companies that squeeze workers to the point where employee engagement is low or completely absent aren’t looking to succeed in the long term. A recent New York Times article noted that the best long-term results are gained by companies that find ways to boost employee engagement, and this means better bosses, better work schedules and more appreciation for workers.
“It…makes a big difference to explicitly reward leaders and managers who exhibit empathy, care and humility, and to hold them accountable for relying on anger or other demeaning emotions that may drive short-term results but also create a toxic climate of fear over time — with enormous costs,” wrote the Times’ Tony Schwartz and Christine Porath.
This is particularly critical in the contact center, where workers are engaging directly with a company’s customers. Keeping these workers truly pays off: a study by the SQM Group found that every one percent increase in employment satisfaction resulted in a two percent increase in customer satisfaction, according to a recent blog post by Monet Software CEO Chuck Ciarlo.
“So the question becomes, how can a contact center induce happiness, while meeting the other productivity and budget obligations of the business?” asks Ciarlo. “When it comes to employee satisfaction, respect and inclusion can mean as much as money.”
This is good news, since most businesses today don’t have a lot of extra money to throw at their employees to make them happy. Just as important as monetary reward, respect and kindness can also go a long way. This might involve listening to contact center agents and taking their opinions and recommendations seriously. Listening leads to employees feeling like they and their skills and experience are valued. Positive training techniques can also lead to happier employees who feel better equipped to do their jobs.
“Make sure training sessions are not just about errors, but also provide encouragement and support,” writes Ciarlo. “Some agents may view training as a necessary evil, but if these sessions are used to teach new skills, it provides motivation for the agent by adding variety to their daily obligations.”
When employees feel that training is benefiting them – improving their skills, making them more valuable and giving them goals to strive for – they will be more receptive to it and absorb the information more readily.
Another great way to keep employee satisfaction high is to be flexible on employee schedule. Many of today’s workforce management solutions allow employees to swap schedules, bid for vacation time based on performance and/or seniority, and view their schedules from mobile devices.
It’s considered conventional wisdom that happy employees make for happy customers, and happy customers lead to profits. Now it’s time for more companies to put that wisdom into play and stop squeezing.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi