Why Customer Experience Depends on Employee Engagement

Employee engagement has always been hard in the world of Business. Most quality leaders read a lot of leadership and management books. They always say the same – use McGregor’s two theories which I’m calling in this article “The Carrot” and “The Stick”. Unfortunately, the world of work has changed A LOT. Expensive PR and templates on LinkedIn are no longer enough to entice quality candidates to your business and for them to remain engaged.

Remote and hybrid working has made everything much harder and therefore employee engagement is also much harder. As a leader, you now have to think about how to foster cohesion and inclusion, considering the needs of all employees. Obviously, employee engagement is important for building a loyal, motivated and productive workforce – and this has a ripple effect. Engaged and satisfied employees are more likely to work to ensure customer service is good and they will also take extra pride in their work. Happy employees pass on positivity to your customers.

There is so much work yet to be done – you only have to read social media websites like X and LinkedIn to see that only one in five employees worldwide say they feel engaged with their work. Low level engagement usually leads to underperformance, and speaking with lots of people regularly across various industries I usually hear the same thing; that employees would work harder if they were respected and appreciated.

Making sure people feel connected to their work is a responsibility of a manager/leader. Simple things like being able to understand what makes them tick, having a sense of belonging, having access to resources to do their jobs properly, being challenged and paid appropriately should be basic requirements but in some businesses, this isn’t the case. How can we tell? Just take a look at their customer experience.

Appreciated employees appreciate customers

Employee engagement is a virtuous cycle in which appreciated employees deliver a better service to customers.

HAPPY EMPLOYEES = HAPPY CUSTOMERS

Employees who feel appreciated automatically keep their word, with sales being generally more higher. The levels of discretionary effort also increases. Why wouldn’t you as a manager/leader want this for your business? The ripple effect of improving employee engagement is directly proportional to better customer experiences and all the benefits that come with it.

Now what happens when your employees are not treated properly by your leadership/management team? Well, turnover increases and no matter how sophisticated your PR and recruitment drives are, employees share their stories with others. So, as a leader, you have to ask yourself a fundamental question: Am I storytelling about what actually happens in my business or am I just telling stories? If it’s the latter, then also be prepared for losing the war on talent. Talent which could easily pass on positivity to customers, give more discretionary effort, drive up sales, and increase productivity.