Businesses need to change with the times to remain competitive – harsh but true
For many years, product, price and quality have enabled businesses to stay ahead of their competition.
With an increasingly volatile marketplace, economic uncertainty, increasing operational costs, increasing competition, businesses are having to find alternative ways to grow their business and differentiate.
Customer experience (CX) is fast becoming that differentiator. It is inextricably linked with the experience your employees have with your business (EX). In fact, you cannot do one well with-out the other.
With twenty-five years’ experience of managing both EX and CX to deliver increased business growth, we’ve identified ten critical factors to HELP YOU create a motivating and fulfilling employee experience, which will elevate your customers experience and... GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
Employees are the lifeblood of an organisation
Every interaction employees have with your business will determine whether they will stay and how productive and valuable they will be during their time with your company.
Whilst this is largely common sense, it’s surprising how many businesses fail to prioritise their employee experience.
Quite simply, if you have happy, healthy, loyal employees, fulfilled in their work and sharing in the company’s vision and values, the impact they will have on delivering a consistently positive experience for your customers will be significant. And it starts with creating a positive work environment.
In the words of Richard Branson, ‘“Clients do not come first. Employees come first. If you take care of your employees, they will take care of the clients.”
From attracting the right talent all the way through to when that employee leaves your business, the experience you provide that employee will have a direct impact on how well they manage your customer's experience. This applies to both back office and frontline, everyone has a responsibility to the customer in some form.
This e-book explores the link between employee and customer experience, outlining the recommended strategies to create a positive workplace environment that will elevate your customer experience. And the data speaks for itself.
[1] A recent study by Glassdoor found that each one-star improvement in a company’s employee rating led to a 1.3 point improvement in customer satisfaction scores
[2] 70% of engaged employees show a greater understanding of how to meet customer needs, as reported by Qualtrics.
[3] Businesses that prioritise their EX typically have half the turnover (and related costs) as their peers. 90% say their company is a great place to work and feel cared for.
This is compared to ‘average’ workplaces where only 52% of employees feel management sincerely cares about them as a person and 57% say their workplace is great.
With data so clearly supporting the criticality of prioritising employee experience (EX), why are businesses continuing to miss this opportunity to grow their business?
Probably because it falls into the ‘difficult’ box with a long-term rather than short-term business benefit and impact on profits. Read on to learn more about what you can do create a motivating and fulfilling employee experience, that will elevate your customers experience and GROW YOUR BUSINESS.
10 Proven Strategies to Improve your Employees’ Experience and Increase your Profits!
1. Aligned Company Purpose and Values
According to research by McKinsey, companies with a strong purpose outperformed the stock market by 42% over a 10-year period.
It is without a doubt that having a clear company purpose that inspires employees is essential. Take that one step further, having a company purpose that has their customers at its heart, will be even more inspiring and set the direction for your business.
There has been much talk about customer centricity and how important it is for a business. Controversially, I don’t agree with this fully, there will be times business needs outweigh customer needs. However, having the customer feature in your company’s purpose will ensure that each person in the organisation is driving in the same direction. When decisions are made, the customer will always be a consideration (just not always the primary factor).
An example here is Best Buy, a tech retail giant whose purpose and vision inspires its employees throughout the organisation; that is, to improve people’s lives through technology. It is so clear, that every employee in their organisation can really get behind it.
Customer experience isn’t just the job of the CX or customer service teams, it is the responsibility of everyone in the business, whether back office teams that maintain the health of critical platforms / systems or the finance team who ensure processes are secure, abide by financial regulations but also easy for the customer. Having a clear purpose that includes the customer will help employees understand this more clearly and take accountability.
It is also true that people are more likely to buy from purpose led companies, particularly if they can clearly understand the desire that business has, to improve their lives. This applies whether B2B or B2C.
[4] 94% of consumers say it’s important to them that the brands they engage with have a strong purpose (ZenoGroup).
When talking about purpose, we should consider 1) the company purpose, 2) the customer’s purpose. Businesses that understand their customers purpose in buying from them, provides employees with a greater understanding of their customer’s needs. This in turn enables them to consider them when making decisions in their role. When this happens, employees are more focused on the customer which in turn elevates the customers experience and drives longevity and advocacy, reducing costs and increasing revenue. A win-win situation.
When it comes to values, they should underpin behaviour at all levels and be a key-criteria in decision making.
[5] Employees whose company values align with their own are more likely to recommend their employer as a great place to work (70% vs. 25%) and say their work gives them a feeling of personal accomplishment (72% vs. 29%)
Building a healthy and productive work environment that enhances customer experiences hinges on company values aligning with the beliefs of its employees and the overarching brand purpose.
From the initial recruitment processes to brand messaging, and the consistent reflection of company ethos across all touchpoints, every aspect must resonate harmoniously to attract and retain the right talent. These core values serve as the guiding principles that dictate the behaviours of the business. They should shape the language and messaging consistently used by the company, ensuring that both employees and customers experience a unified brand identity. Whether emphasising the customer explicitly or implicitly, these values must govern every aspect of business conduct, serving as the driving force behind the company's mission.
In essence, company values act as the North Star, guiding the behaviour and decisions made at every level of the organisation and sets an expectation for its customers. They are not merely words on paper; they should propel the business towards its ultimate purpose and goals.
The world of employment is currently dealing with high levels of presentism due to low engagement.
According to a Gallup poll, 59% of employees responded that they were not engaged in their work and 18% were actively disengaged. The labour market is a challenge for many businesses right now, with increasing attrition causing rising costs.
[6] 56% of employees in a recent Qualtrics study have reported they wouldn’t even consider a job at a company that did not align with their values. This is becoming essential.
When the company values align with employees own, they become more motivated and dedicated to the company. With an entire workforce moving towards the same goals in the same way, you will be building a more collaborative workplace. From weaving values into the recruitment process through to ensuring they are lived throughout all processes within your organisation is key.
If your business has increasing customer or employee attrition, it may be time to revisit your company values. Are they visible? Are they deeply embedded in the company’s behaviours? How is this measured?
Understand from your employees how they feel about these essential components and critically, how far they believe the business lives them. This is a good starting point.
A company that exemplifies this strategy is Patagonia Inc. Their purpose is super simple and easy to engage in, “We’re in business to save our planet” and this purpose underpins everything their organisation and employees do. It sets the direction their employees follow willingly and passionately. It attracts the right people to their organisation, people who believe in Patagonia Inc.’s beliefs and purpose. Every decision that is made in the business, is true to this. If you’d like to hear more on this, my book ‘You’ve Got the Power. Six Principles for Business Success’ is for you!
2. An inclusive and collaborative culture driving employee engagement
Without people, you have no business. Period. Take this one step further, without the RIGHT people that have a good experience with your company, you will not have a SUCCESSFUL business. Without an inclusive and collaborative culture, you are unlikely to provide an experience that will keep the best talent and enable then to fulfil their potential and contribute their best work for your organisation.
[7] “To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.” – Doug Conant, former CEO of Campbell Soup Company.
Companies that invest in employee experience typically see greater improvements in business performance than those that do not.
[8] Forbes reported that businesses in the ‘Best Companies to Work For’ ranking, observed significantly higher stock price listings (14%) than those absent from the list (6%).
A key component of this happens to be creating a positive working environment, a culture that encourages collaboration and transparency.
When we look at organisations that have built cultures based around collaboration and innovation, Google and Microsoft certainly come to mind. Both have articulated a clear purpose, values, culture, and culture guardrails (i.e. clear ways of working and acceptable behaviour). I have personally seen how cultural transformation can change how a business operates, and how it can spur employees to improve their productivity and excel. I have seen how this can increase collaboration and drive business growth. Changing a culture is not easy, it takes committed resources, and time. I know this from experience. Culture is also never a ‘job done,’ it constantly requires maintenance. Let us look at Microsoft under Satya Nadella, as an example. Having worked his way through the company he deeply understood it is vision, purpose, and values. Under his leadership, the company revised its mission statement, to highlight how it wanted to empower every person and every organisation to achieve more.’ This in turn prompted a cultural shift, prioritising empathy, collaboration, and a growth mindset.
More and more companies find that adequately engaging employees through fostering emotional connection results in stronger ties, higher loyalty and overall better profits. Whether we're considering customer or employee experience, it ultimately boils down to how they feel when engaging with your business.
At their core, people are social and emotional beings. In today's workplace, fostering an inclusive culture, where everyone feels able to fulfil their potential is key. An important component of this is leading with empathy and creating emotional connections across your organisation. This is no longer simply beneficial—it's essential. Failure to prioritise these elements may result in the loss of valuable team members and customers.
Decades of research highlight the transformative power of empathy in the workplace. Employees who perceive their leaders as empathetic often report lower burnout rates, fewer sick days, improved mental well-being, and a stronger commitment to staying with the organisation. This, in turn, boosts productivity, lowers costs, and increases profitability—a win-win situation.
But, not everyone is born with a natural inclination towards empathy. ‘Soft skills’ typically are neglected when it comes to training. It is essential that business leaders understand that to improve their culture they must invest in training all employees with communication models to improve understanding of each-other and how to work better together. Like all elements of performance, it takes training and practice to achieve brilliance.
Having strong ‘soft skills’ like empathy, ability to empower others and communication is becoming more critical than having exceptional hard skills (i.e., the technical capabilities).
[9] Havard analysed several professional groups across differing organisations and concluded that ‘EQ matters more than IQ’ (intelligence quotient) for group success. And this starts with leadership.
The degree to which you connect with your entire workforce directly impacts customer experiences. Cultivating a sense of belonging, understanding, and emotional connection within your organisation will inevitably translate into the experiences your customers have with your employees and brand.
Leaders would be wise to prioritise building stronger connections with their employees, creating a culture of collaboration and inclusion. Companies that prioritise empathy tend to foster a greater sense of psychological safety among employees, resulting in increased ideation and mutual care and teamwork within the workplace.
Benefits of organisational empathy and a culture of inclusion? Employees are willing to give more of themselves, are healthier and fitter to work productively and lowers operating costs with increased employee longevity (less recruitment, training and lost revenue during training).
A question to ask is, what does your culture look like? How well do employees collaborate and feel able to be themselves in your organisation. And where does empathy fit into your organisation today?
3. Creating a safe work environment physically and psychologically
Feeling safe is a basic human requirement. For employees to feel safe in their working environment is essential, and the first key to achieving a positive employee experience. When we look at Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of Needs’, a motivation theory comprising the various stages of human needs where goal is self-actualisation, it is a fundamental need. In the model, self-actualisation sits at the top of a pyramid above four other stages, including physiological safety, love /belonging and esteem. Each level, starting with physiological safety, must be fulfilled before the person is able to elevate to the next level.
Of course, it is essential that employees feel safe in their work environment in a physical sense. This can be more challenging in warehouse or factory environments, where employees are using machinery or electrical equipment. Regardless of industry, employees must feel safe when they come to work. With hybrid working now becoming common place, the business has a responsibility to ensure that employees feel safe in all environments, which also means ensuring ergonomic requirements are fulfilled in all situations.
Whilst many organisations are governed by health and safety guidelines and legislation, ensuring your employees truly feel able to do their best work at all times is critical. Therefore creating a culture of psychological safety is also essential.
84% of employees consider psychological safety one of the most valued aspects of the workplace. But a survey found only 26% of leaders successful create psychological safety for their teams (McKinsey).
Businesses that foster an environment of psychological safety generate a growth mindset organisation, one that is open to feedback, invites collaboration & inclusion, with the result being continual innovation and business growth.
Psychological safety doesn’t mean being too nice. It’s about feeling able to share your views, ideas, feedback, without retribution. Being able to speak openly throughout the organisation and knowing that you will be heard and considered, even when they may not be right.
Google is an example of a business that has done this well. They encourage risk taking, trying new ideas out, giving feedback for which they have several channels. Critically, all feedback is acted upon, another necessary element to establishing psychological safety. They have feedback loops established that ensure continual improvement and that their employees feel heard. With innovation at its core, cross team collaboration is underpinned by processes to ensure diversity of thinking and expertise.
Amy Edmondson is known for her pioneering work in this area. In one of her studies, 85% of respondents reported at least one occasion when they felt unable to raise a concern with their bosses, though they believed the issue to be important.
The question has to be asked, how much did the question not being asked cost the business?
When it comes to ideation and innovation, ideas come from different areas across the business and in our largely hierarchical organisations, from all levels. Organisations with inclusive cultures and high employee engagement, are twice as likely to exceed financial targets and three times more likely to be high performing, as employees innovate, ideate and work together more effectively. Nurturing inclusivity is paramount to achieving this.
If your business operates in silos, with departments that struggle to communicate effectively, efficiency and many business objectives may remain elusive. After all, as the saying goes, "it takes a village." It's crucial for all employees to grasp their role in consistently delivering exceptional customer experiences and understand its significance. By fostering cross functional collaboration, teams can make better decisions more swiftly, leading to heightened employee engagement and a shared commitment to achieving common goals.
In fact, it has been proved that when organisations actively foster an environment where everyone feels included, feelings of employee wellbeing also increase. Create psychological safety in your organisations, allow your employees to be the individuals they are, value them for this and make sure inclusive practices enable consistent, cross functional collaboration and diversity of thinking.
4. Transparent and Trusted Leadership
[10] Companies with high-trust cultures have 50% higher employee satisfaction and 40% less burnout compared to low-trust cultures.
Leadership teams are fundamental in instilling confidence and trust among employees. Authentic leadership, characterised by honesty, openness, integrity, and accountability, is increasingly emphasised in business today. Leaders not only shape the organisation's culture but also set the benchmark for expected behaviours, fostering inclusivity and collaboration at all levels of the business.
Trust is a cornerstone of any relationship, and by cultivating trust among employees, leaders earn respect and empower their teams to deliver their best work for the business and its customers. Consistency in behaviour, coupled with high emotional intelligence and respectful treatment of employees, is paramount for effective leadership today. It generates feelings of psychological safety amongst employees, essential for a healthy, happy workforce who feel able to share their views and ideas consistently without fear of retribution.
A successful business leader who is renowned for having elevated levels of emotional intelligence is Richard Branson. [11] An entrepreneur and business magnate, he founded the Virgin Group in the 1970s, setting up a mail order record business and shortly after opening a chain of stores that became Virgin Records (later known as Virgin Megastores). Branson went on to launch Virgin Atlantic, branching out into telecoms and rail transportation. His success has been phenomenal. What is little known about Branson is that he suffers from dyslexia and ADHD. He dropped out of school at sixteen. Branson accounts much of his success to the fact that he had a clear set of values. One of his values was a deep desire to have a positive effect on people. You could say this desire is what gave him an almost natural inclination towards being emotionally intelligent. [12] As Branson has said, "I think being emotionally intelligent is more important in every aspect of life - and this includes business. Being a good listener, finding empathy, understanding emotions, communicating effectively, treating people well, and bringing out the best is critical to success. It will also help you build a business that really understand people and solves their problems, and it will make for a happier and healthier team too.”
Leaders must understand their workforce, what they need from their leadership and provide this for them, consistently. To be trusted, they must do as they say they will do, communicate with confidence and steadiness. Be open and transparent.
Trusted leadership that ‘walks the walk’ is a key driver of employee engagement and retention. It also directly influences customer trust and loyalty by shaping the company's reputation and brand image. Customers are more likely to trust and remain loyal to a company whose leaders demonstrate integrity, authenticity, and a commitment to customer satisfaction. Employees who are empowered and inspired by trusted leadership contribute to building strong customer relationships and foster loyalty and advocacy.
Furthermore, a genuine passion for customer experience, emanating from leadership, is crucial. Creating an environment where employees feel valued, motivated, and empowered to excel results in improved customer experiences. Trusted leadership, exemplifying the desired behaviours, sets the tone for the entire organisation, ultimately influencing the experiences customers receive.
But there will always be instances where transparency is not possible. In these cases, ensuring that leadership act with emotional intelligence and self-awareness, this includes how you manage meetings - in my experience when leadership teams keep nipping into meeting rooms, employee trust declines.
Here are a few questions to ask yourself. How well do your employees trust your leadership? How well do you trust your employees and what practices do you have in place that demonstrate/ contradict this? Take time to review, ask your employees and involve them in improving trust within the organisation.
5. Technology enhancing employee efficiency and satisfaction
[13] 63% of employees say their work satisfaction is driven by how efficiently they can perform their tasks.
The productivity of your business hinges entirely on the experience your employees have within it. When employees feel empowered to make decisions that benefit both the business and its customers, encouraged to drive change when necessary, and valued for their contributions, they are poised to make a significant impact on your business.
To achieve this, it's crucial for the business to establish clear expectations for employees, outlining how they can implement changes to enhance efficiency, and take ownership of projects aimed at improving productivity and enhancing the customer experience.
While there is much discussion about the potential of Generative AI to replace human employees, the most successful implementations involve Gen AI working in tandem with employees. Certain customer groups continue to seek the human touch in certain business interactions, preferring genuine human connections over interactions with e.g., AI chatbots.
Technology is there to help not only improve the business but improve your employees’ experience. According to the [14]Harvard Business Review, “successful businesses that use AI have a clear strategy, strong foundation and a culture that embraces innovation.” AI and Generative AI are being used effectively in customer service areas (e.g. chatbots and virtual agents), cyber security, customer relationship management, accounting, and supply chain management. The opportunity to improve and speedup internal processes, automate the boring and mundane elements of daily tasks is massive.
The benefits to employee experience are significant. Just think of all the time those employees could be saving; - redirecting them to be utilised to deliver added value for your customers, giving them greater purpose to deliver positive impact in some shape or form. It is worth exploring for your business.
A word of warning, however, ensure that you include frontline teams, those that will use the technology, in deciding if the solutions are right for your business and tasks. Customer support agents using an AI tool to guide their conversations saw a nearly 14% increase in productivity with 35% improvements for the least experienced agents.
Amazon is a prime example of a business that is focused on operational efficiency. If you consider the Prime model, delivery of a product within 24 hours, it is critical that their warehouse and delivery processes are efficient and consistently so.
Amazon uses data to track and measure warehouse efficiency, capturing and monitoring data relating to deliveries, orders, out of stocks and incorrect shipments. This data is continually checked to ensure they are operating at optimum efficiency. If you have ever seen an Amazon warehouse, they are enormous! Automating as much as possible, with the most up to date software and warehouse management tools, Amazon is streamlined in how well it operates. This is an example of technology and people working symbiotically to work towards operational excellence.
Whilst Amazon has significant resources available to employ the latest technology and automation tools, there are still lessons to be learned. If your business is completing a task repeatedly day in, day out, the likelihood is it can be automated and often at low cost. This could be simply using email or marketing platforms through to warehouse operations, it really depends on the size of your business.
Generative AI is the ‘shiny new toy’ and whilst the potential AI poses is phenomenal, it must be considered carefully and tested. Start with the outcome you want to achieve and involve the individuals that will use the technology in designing it, managing it and training it.
6. Regular employee recognition and appreciation
Research found that organisations with a recognition-rich culture have a 31% lower voluntary turnover rate than companies that do not have such programs
It's a straightforward equation: employees who receive recognition consistently outperform those who don’t. This positive impact extends to customers as well, with engaged employees demonstrating a higher likelihood of delivering exceptional customer service—both internally and externally —resulting in elevated customer satisfaction and loyalty.
[15] Tom Rath, a well-known employee engagement expert, having ran research on how to increase employee engagement, found that: “Employees who report receiving recognition and praise within the last seven days show increased productivity, get higher scores from customers, and have better safety records”
Unsurprisingly, employees are 4x more likely to be engaged when they feel recognised for their work. Recognising and rewarding employees for their hard work and accomplishments has a profound effect on their morale, motivation, and engagement levels. When employees feel valued and appreciated, they become more deeply invested in their work, going above and beyond to provide outstanding service to customers.
Furthermore, they are inclined to stay longer with their employer, experiencing heightened job satisfaction as they receive recognition for their contributions. This, in turn, reduces turnover costs and ensures consistency in the customer experience (in fact, according to Tom Rath, the result may be ‘enhanced’ customer experiences).
Best Buy is a business that truly values employees and demonstrates this with praise and recognition well. [16] While Best Buy has traditional recognition programmes like the Employee of the Month, they also have more frequent and ad hoc awards that celebrate employee contributions.
They have schemes to recognise individuals who have given feedback or generated ideas that have had a positive impact on the business in some way. This encourages employees to actively provide feedback and insights to their managers and to the central head office teams. Best Buy recognise that their employees are essential to a successful business. They foster employee participation and inclusiveness, involving them in selecting products, choosing services to offer, and setting prices that boost engagement. This provides employees with a sense of being recognised for the value they bring the organisation.
Best Buy understand employees are experts in their areas; having regular contact with their customers they are best placed to generate ideas that will create a positive impact on their customers’ experiences. Can you imagine how you may have felt at the start of your career, being listened to, and having your ideas implemented? I personally would have felt very valued and equally empowered to continue to contribute.
Hubert Joly began these practices on joining Best Buy. The turnaround of this retail technology giant stemmed from feedback Joly had received from his employees. He went out and spoke to employees first hand and, recognising no one knows your customers as well as your frontline staff do. Joly’s experience was that of unhappy, frustrated workforce. They were asking Joly for help, and highlighted areas that were not working both for them and, their customers. Move on a few years and Joly was actively seeking feedback and ideas from his employees. He sowed the seeds for the feedback and recognition processes Best Buy have in place today.
Whether through ad hoc recognition or formal rewards, fostering a culture of appreciation contributes to the creation of a supportive and collaborative work environment. In such an environment, employees feel empowered to excel, resulting in naturally enhanced customer experiences across the board.
7. Attractive compensation and benefits
When we consider compensation (after all, that’s one of the main reasons we all go to work, isn’t it?), companies must make every effort to remain attractive and compare their offering to other businesses, not just in their sector.
Employees today now have so much choice. It is a ‘buyers’ market with new generations prioritising lifestyle benefits over pounds (though this is still important). When people are looking for their next employment, they are no longer simply looking at the salary package. They are looking at the company culture, their values, their purpose (which we have covered already) as well as the benefits, flexibility to name a few.
A company that is held up as being a fantastic company to work for with truly inspiring compensation and benefits is Microsoft. Now you may think ‘of course, they have huge resources’. Actually, some of the benefits are really simple and inexpensive to provide. Here are some insights into how Microsoft prioritises their employee value proposition as it’s not simply about money. Also key to remember, is that there are many financial benefits for businesses too.
1. Clear Employee Value Proposition (EVP): Every business must create value propositions for their products or services. Few create them for their employees. Having a clear employer brand can have significant positive impact on a business. According to the data provided by [17] LinkedIn, compelling employer branding can decrease employee turnover rates by 28% and reduce the cost of hiring by 50%.
Microsoft’s EVP is clearly defined and easily located on their website. They have a tagline ‘Be what’s next,’ a truly inspirational statement that excites.
2. Recognised as a ‘Great Place to Work’: Having this award, being ranked high as a Global Employer with the best workplace culture, will certainly help in attracting the best talent. Workplace culture is in a state of huge transformation and being seen as a ‘good employer’ is vital to finding the best people. 105"Your number one customers are your people. Look after employees first and then customers last." — Ian Hutchinson, author of People Glue
3. Benefits: Pay and benefits will always factor amongst the reasons people stay with a company. Microsoft have fantastic benefits, from health insurance, competitive pay & bonuses, stock awards, plus access to benefits to help employees live more healthily. They operate a hybrid flexible working environment, and today, people truly value this Microsoft’s.
Whilst Microsoft have enormous resources, lessons can be learned and applied to small businesses. Small incentives that will be valued by employees can be offered. For example, ‘duvet days’ to relax and recharge at home, or days off to carry out voluntary work in their community. The point is, providing employees with incentives they value in addition to their compensation, will help recruit and retain talent.
Perhaps start with asking your employees the types of benefits (outside of monetary) that they would value. It pays to listen to what they have to say and could create significant impact on profits when you get it right (reducing employee churn, increasing productivity).
8. Personalised training and career development
Companies that offer comprehensive training programs have 218% higher income per employee than companies without formalised training.
Traditional training programs are no longer sufficient in meeting the diverse needs of today's workforce. Adopting a 'one size fits all' approach is outdated and fails to address the unique requirements of individual employees. Instead, embracing a 'pick and mix' approach to training across various areas is essential.
Tailoring training programs to align with employees' specific job roles and individual needs cultivates a sense of empowerment and confidence in their ability to deliver exceptional experiences for customers, whether internal or external, frontline or back office.
Customised training programs consider individuals knowledge gaps, skills, and their long-term career aspirations. When employees feel their training needs are understood and addressed, the result will be engaged and motivated employees that will participate more actively in training. This enthusiasm translates into improved performance and a more positive attitude towards serving their customers.
Offering opportunities for both soft and hard skill development is essential, as a balance is necessary regardless of the employee's role. It's imperative to incorporate customer-centric training modules relevant to each employee's role, enabling everyone in the organisation to understand the impact their contributions have on the end customer.
To ensure that learning remains a priority, fostering a 'growth mindset' culture, led by senior leadership, is paramount. This approach ensures continuous performance improvement and perpetuates a cycle of delivering a good customer experience, ideation and innovation with the customer the central consideration.
[18] A study by Deloitte found that organisations with a strong learning culture are 92% more likely to innovate, 52% more productive and 56% more likely to be first to market with their products and services.
Whilst a study by the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that companies that prioritize learning and development enjoy 37% higher employee productivity.
Research also found that customer loyalty increases as employee tenure increases – providing opportunities for advancement is crucial. Having a clear career path or opportunities for growth and advancement is pivotal for attracting top talent and retaining high-performing employees. Even if you’re a small organisation, it's essential not to dismiss this as too challenging. Employees must envision a future with your business to feel engaged and motivated consistently.
Recognising that everyone's aspirations vary is important; some employees may be content in their current roles but still seek opportunities to learn new skills or take on additional responsibilities to increase their earning potential. Advancement should not only be upwards but also broadening roles and increasing the employees value to the company.
Organisations that prioritise employee growth are better positioned to retain top performers and subject matter experts (SMEs), reducing turnover costs and maintaining positive experiences for customers.
[19] Engaged employees who have clear advancement opportunities tend to be more productive. High engagement rates are linked to a 23% increase in profitability and 18% in productivity
Providing these growth opportunities enables employees to develop new skills, expand their knowledge and gain expertise, potentially outside of their chosen field. It has been proven that employees with diverse skill sets are better equipped to innovate, solve problems, make quick decisions all of which ultimately benefits the customers experience.
It is important that employees embrace learning and the opportunities they have within your organisation to develop. This can be achieved by incorporating a ‘growth mindset’ element without your organisation to ensure employees are motivated to learn and develop, helping them to realise that continual learning is a significant opportunity for them.
An example of a leader and organisation that truly encourages this and leads by example is Spanx founder Sara Blakely, a billionaire and one of the most successful entrepreneurs and business leaders of our time.
As a leader, Sara encourages growth mindset within her business consistently. Her leadership style has been described as ‘a cocktail of empathy, innovation and a dash of humour’ by Julien Forkin in the article ‘Sara Blakely, 7 Inspiring Chapters from Her Phenomenal Journey’. She incorporates a mantra into her business ‘failure is a stepping stone to success.’ This permeates her organisation, creating psychological safety and employee empowerment. Sara demonstrates true entrepreneurial spirit and instils this in her organisation.
Investing in employee growth is essential for businesses to survive, thrive and increase profits. It also facilitates succession planning, which is vital for safeguarding the business's future. Identifying and nurturing talent enables companies to cultivate future leaders internally, ensuring smoother transitions and retaining valuable knowledge within the organisation. This, in turn, fosters continuity of a seamless customer experience.
9. Employee well-being prioritised consistently
Companies that prioritise employee wellbeing have a 41% lower absenteeism and 17% higher productivity.
The COVID-19 pandemic prompted a significant shift in organisational and leadership attitudes towards employee health and well-being. The phenomenon known as the "Great Resignation" highlighted burnout as a primary driver of employee turnover, prompting businesses to prioritise the well-being of their workforce. The substantial costs associated with absenteeism and the emerging issue of presenteeism—where employees are physically present but unable to perform optimally due to health or well-being concerns—have spurred businesses to reassess their approach.
When employees perceive that their organisation values their physical, mental, and emotional well-being, they become more engaged, feel appreciated, and subsequently, are more productive and motivated. This fosters an environment where employees feel supported, helping to mitigate the risk of burnout and reduce employee turnover. Whether through offering flexible work arrangements or providing mental health support (often available through low-cost services), companies that prioritise employee well-being are also regarded more favourably by customers.
To achieve this, it’s key that employers support their leadership and employees in understanding how to identify potential mental health signals and critically, how to support individuals.
In a recent study by Early Careers, 84% of respondents emphasised the need for developing mental health awareness skills at work to support colleagues.
You should also bear in mind that employees wellbeing directly influences their interactions with customers.
When employees feel well supported and fulfilled in their roles, they are more likely to approach customer engagements with empathy, professionalism and enthusiasm. This is the same for back office teams, prioritising the positive impact of their operations both with the end customer and their internal customers (colleagues).
Let us look at Google. They have created a vision of what working at Google should be like for its employees. [20]They have committed to ‘create the happiest, most productive workplace in the world.’ As we have already seen, happy employees’ equal greater productivity.
In fact, the [21] University of Oxford claim happy employees are 13% more productive than unhappy employees.
Google are so committed to employee happiness that they allow theirs to spend 20% of their working time doing anything they like. This could even be sleeping if that is what the employee chooses.
As we discussed in a previous chapter, one of Google’s core values is innovation. For any organisation to innovate, they must generate ideas from all areas of their business, create an environment of freedom; where employees feel empowered to share their ideas, without judgment. Google created an environment of psychological safety, there is no such thing as a bad idea, something my teams and colleagues have heard me utter many times.
For example, if an employee is passionate about an idea, Google will give them the opportunity to move ahead with it as a project and explore it further. Employees are also encouraged to express themselves, to the point where they can even write on walls (not any wall, a specific wall) if they feel they need to share something. Employees can pretty much wear whatever they choose, can take their dogs to work, and basically have fun. Their offices are innovative working spaces designed to encourage divergent thinking.
Providing this environment, one where wellbeing, employee happiness and freedom has been created, creates a workforce that is healthy, happy and able to deliver their best work. Failing to focus on this can result in increasing sick days, employee attrition and increasing presenteeism.
Ultimately, prioritising employee wellbeing is essential for creating a positive employee experience and has far reaching implications for customer satisfaction, loyalty and business growth. By fostering a positive work environment, demonstrating care and concern for employee's well-being creates a sense of belonging that reduces turnover and ultimately benefits the customer experience.
10. Open communication & feedback – listening and learning
Having good, open, two way communication throughout an organisation is essential. Fact. From establishing a Voice of the Customer (VoC) programme, to ensuring your Voice of the Employee (VoE) programme is enabling honest feedback; - listening is essential to understanding where to improve on your people strategy.
Have regular open feedback channels for both customers and employees. Incorporating structured routes for people to feedback to an organisation, not purely to measure metrics and scores to report back to the board/leadership team (e.g., Net Promoter Scores or Customer/Employee Satisfaction Scores) but to truly and authentically want to improve, is critical.
Businesses often do not invest enough in understanding the customer / employee journeys and addressing pain points. For smaller businesses, this may be due to resource or a lack of expertise in this area. However, this can result in poor people experiences, dissatisfaction, and a decline in loyalty. It is a false economy (i.e., saving money and resource which will impact revenue, cost, and profit in the long term).
In the words of [22] Ken Blanchard, author, and motivational speaker, “Feedback is the breakfast of champions.”
Ken Blanchard is not alone when believing in the power of feedback. [23] “We all need people who will give us feedback. That is how we improve.” This is from Bill Gates, former Microsoft CEO. Developing a culture of giving, receiving, and acting on feedback is essential to managing a successful business and retaining employees that will continually evolve and grow.
Google are another democratic organisation, putting employees at the heart of their business. They believe everyone has a voice and should use that voice for good. Google offer various platforms and channels for their employees to provide feedback through. [24] Examples are - Google+ conversations; - ‘Fixits’ (which are 24 hour sprints to fix issues); - a number of different ad hoc and regular surveys (including their Googlegiest), and a larger company survey seeking feedback on many different issues with the aim of resolving them swiftly.
There are regular people surveys through the year, requesting feedback on functional leaders and managers from their direct reports. Google do not just listen; they act on the feedback and are dedicated to solving issues their employees are facing.
As demonstrated by Google and Best Buy, successful businesses listen to their employees. Not once a year, but often. Not only do they listen, but they act upon the feedback.
One element that appears common in each example is transparency. Prioritising transparency and sharing why you are seeking feedback, what you will do with that feedback and finally then what you did is critical in developing trust amongst your employees.
[25] “It’s important to recognise that a feedback system only works when people believe changes will be made as a result of their feedback.” Vinton G. Cerf, Vice President, and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. It is not just the ‘why,’ it is the ‘what’ and the ‘how’ too.
Employee experience and customer experience are interlinked, they are symbiotic in nature; - you cannot have happy customers if you do not have happy employees. [26] There is much data to support this. As Howard Schultz, ex-CEO of Starbucks says, “There is a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction.” Delivering a consistently good employee experience is vital for business success
Conclusion: Employee experience really does drive customer and business metrics...fact
Here’s some hard data for you (figure 1), from a business that is going strong today. This data not only links employee experience with the direct influence on customer experience and but also the impact on business metrics. When employee morale was low, employee engagement declined and with this, quality. The impact? Declining customer and business metrics.
When critical employee metrics were declining with attrition increasing, the impact on customer and business performance was undeniable. The ten factors outlined here, have been proven to significantly contribute to improving the employee experience that directly elevates the customer experience and will grow your business.
By prioritising employee experience, you will:
Increase employee empowerment & engagement
Increase customer focused innovation
Increase cross team collaboration
Increase talent retention
Increase revenue and reduce costs increasing profit
Enhance brand reputation
The strategies outlined in this e book, when applied to your business, will help your business improve its performance in all three areas.
EX+CX = Business Performance – it’s up to you what the performance is, and it starts with your employees.
If you would like to discuss any of the strategies highlighted in this paper, please get in touch.
Or contact Clare White directly: clare@connectedcx.uk
About the Author
Clare is an Amazon bestselling author and ‘people (employee & customer) experience consultant.
Her 25 years working in corporate businesses within the shopper activation sector, with clients including large grocery retailers and big named brands, has given her experience across a range of business disciplines. From developing customer strategy and aligning employees, to developing and leading go to market plans, to improving customer retention and loyalty for her client’s customers.
Instrumental in leading culture transformation in a past business, Clare understands the importance of removing business silos, increasing cross functional collaboration to achieve a common customer purpose and focus to increase business growth.
A Certified trainer in Everything DiSC® a model proven to improve organisational communication and collaboration; Clare helps business improve their overall people experience driven by a passion to make businesses more human.
Clare’s understanding of critical elements that make a business successful has led to her writing her first book ‘You’ve Got the Power. Six Principles for Business Success’. Passionate about helping businesses succeed and improving employee and customer experiences, Clare now consults, working with clients to solve their business problems with customer focused solutions.
If any of the strategies in this book resonated with you, but you’re not sure where to start, get in touch today for your FREE consultation.
Connected CX will help grow your business, and it starts with people.
Get in touch via the ‘contact us’ form, so we can help you ‘unlock’ your potential and increase your profits.
[1] Glassdoor study on relationship between employee & customer experience
[2] Qualtrics ‘Employees Engagement and the Customer Experience
[3] Foture.com, ‘Employee experience is as strong as ever at the 100 Best Companies’
[4] Forbes Global Study Reveals Consumers Are Four To Six Times More Likely To Purchase, Protect And Champion Purpose-Driven Companies. 2021
[5] Sources: Gallup study ‘Employee Engagement & the Impact on Organisation
[6] Gallup Study’ Employee Engagement & The Impact on Organisation’
[7] Beam AI, ’30 Inspiring Quotes on Employee Engagement’
[8] Forbes ’10 Examples of How Employee Experience Impacted Business Performance’
[9] Inc.com EQ Matters More than IQ for Group Success, New Harvard Study says
[10] Better Up survey into workplace trust
[11] Wikipedia, ‘Richard Branson’
[12] Inc.com, ‘Richard Branson Says EQ is More Important than IQ for Success.
[13] The Workforce Institute at Kronos Incorporated.
[14] Harvard Business Review, Building Growth and Trust with Generative AI on a Hybrid Platform
[15] Tom Rath’s Study on Employee Engagement
[16] EIX, How Best Buy Engages Employees in Putting Customers First
[17] The Muse.com, Improve Employee Retention with your Employer Brand
[18] The Association for Talent Development (ATD) report on employment
[19] Corporate Executive Board research on employee longevity and impact on customer experience
[20] The New York Times, Looking For Lessons in Googles Perks
[21] Phys.org news, Happy employees are 13% more productive than unhappy employees by Oxford University
[22] Reve Chat, 50 of the Best Customer Experience Quotes to Boost Business Strategies
[23] Inc.com, Bill Gates: Good Feedback is the Key to Improvement
[24] Forbes, Google Secrets of Innovation, Empowering it’s Employees.
[25] Forbes, Growing a Culture of Innovation: 5 Lessons from Google
[26] Reve Chat, 50 of the Best Customer Experience Quotes to Boost Business Strategies
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