Do all of your employees care about their work, the company and its customers? They better, or the customer experience will suffer.
That’s the finding of new research by the Temkin Group.
Companies with the most engaged employees — people who like their job and colleagues, and care about the company doing well — deliver better customer experiences and financial results, the study found.
Some good news: Among the most engaged group of employees are the people on the front lines serving customers every day. One reason is that they see the impact they, the company and its products or services have on customers and their lives. They get an opportunity to connect with people who like and believe in their employer and the products they support.
Even more reason to get them engaged
If a better overall customer experience and increased financial results aren’t enough incentive to do something to improve employee engagement, consider this:
- 96% of engaged employees always or almost always try their hardest at work
- Highly engaged employees are twice as likely to work after hours to help someone as less engaged employees would be, and
- Engaged employees are also six times more likely to recommend their employer as a great place to work.
What to do now
So how can you get your employees more engaged? Try what the Temkin Group calls the Five Is: Inform, Inspire, Instruct, Involve, Incent.
Here are tips for each I:
- Inform. Regularly give employees all the information they need to understand the company’s vision and values, and how customers feel about the company, its products and people. Gather and direct customer feedback to everyone — not just those in customer-facing positions.
- Inspire. Live the company mission and values from the top-down. Ask the top brass to regularly share why a value or particular part of the vision statement was created and is now important to the company and customers. Have leaders share why they take pride in their job and the company.
- Instruct. Support employees with training, coaching and feedback so they can A) do their job well, B) succeed in the profession, and C) move into positions they desire within your company.
- Involve. Get employees involved in designating their jobs, improving processes and solving problems the company, industry or customers face.
- Incent. Measure, reinforce and reward the job and professional behaviors you want employees to uphold.
