How Does Employee Experience Impact Customer Experience?

Would you agree that customer experience is an organization-wide responsibility?

Every single activity that every employee in an organization does impacts the customer experience.

We discussed this in one of the roundtable discussions and a participant, an executive-level consultant, said, “the incentives of all our managers are dependent on their ability to align employee experience and customer experience.“

After all, aligning employee experience with customer experience would result in happy workspaces.

Customer Experience and Employee Experience

Listen to what the customer experience expert Shep Hyken has to say. “If we consistently exceed the expectations of employees, they will consistently exceed the expectations of our customers.“

In his book, Customer What? CX specialist and author Golding discusses the direct link between customer experience and employee experience.

The biggest underlying principle of customer experience is the principle of empathy, Golding said. But empathy isn’t just towards the customer – it has to be towards your employees. If you don’t get it right for your people, they won’t get it right for your customers.

Golding adds that most customer-centric organizations have found CX success by putting employees first rather than customers.

We have spoken about what the experts feel about employee experience and customer experience. Let us look at how people perceive them on the ground.

• 85% of the respondents mentioned that an improved employee experience and higher employee engagement translate to a better customer experience
• 62% said there is a definite causal relationship between EX and CX and that the impact was “large” or “significant” and measurable.
• 58% indicated that customer satisfaction is a key metric in evaluating employee productivity.

Well, with all these, we have established that employee experience impacts the customer experience.

How Do You Measure the Employee Experience?

Key metrics to measure employee experience include employee satisfaction (eNPS), health and happiness metrics, diversity and inclusion index, and indicators linking digital investments and employees’ behavior.

Before determining what we do with employee experience, let us look at the Salesforce survey finding on the experience advantage.

Salesforce Survey – The Advantages of Good Employee Engagement

1. Companies are leaving money on the table. Breaking silos between employee experience and customer experience can lead to a massive opportunity for revenue growth of up to 50% or more.
2. Companies think they have to choose between prioritizing employee or customer experiences. And customer experience is winning. Approximately nine in 10 C-suite members (88%) say employees are encouraged to focus on customers’ needs above all else, even though the C-suite knows that a powerful customer experience starts with an employee-first approach.
3. There is a disconnect between C-suite perception and employee experience.
   71% of C-suite leaders report their employees are engaged with their work, while only 51% of employees say they are. 70% of leaders report their employees are happy, while only 44% of employees report they are.
4. The disconnect is undermining EX, CX, and ultimately growth. The report found that 74% of C-suite executives say that no one at their company truly owns the employee experience. Only one in three companies excel at creating a seamless EX-CX experience.
5. Outdated technology and siloed data strategies deepen misalignment between employees and the C-suite. 52% of C-suite members believe their corporate technology is working effectively, compared to just 32% of employees. The majority of C-suite leaders (73%) say they do not know how to use their company’s employee data to drive change.

You can also check our article on: Customer Effort Score

How to Improve the Employee Experience?

These are the five key elements to impacting employee experience.

• Transparency, trust, and communications from employers – company culture is inclusive, promotes diversity, and provides a space where employees feel listened to and empowered to be themselves.
• Recognition – employees feel valued and integral to the company’s success. The organization listens to the employees and makes them part of the company’s vision, making it a happier workplace.
• Alignment of EX and CX – every metric should align. For instance, ESAT should be aligned with CSAT, and NPS should be aligned with eNPS. When they are in alignment, there cannot be a better place for organizations to promote growth.
• Feedback loop and EX prioritization – seek constant feedback from your employees and act on them proactively. This should be driven top-down, where the C-suite should have skin in the game. This conveys that EX and employee engagement are the organization’s priorities.
• Technology powers vision – ensure that the technology used helps progress the organization in the right direction. Employees should work together seamlessly, promoting productivity and reducing the time taken to accomplish tasks.

Take stock of the employee experience at your organization – it can lead to happier customers and a competitive advantage.

Besides, a great employee experience can lead to increased talent acquisition and retention.