What are employee experience and customer experience?
Customer experience (CX) shapes the customer’s perception of your brand. From the advertising, they view to their interactions with your sales team, customer experience considers every aspect of their purchasing process. From awareness and consideration to the purchasing stage and even the post-purchase stage, customer experience describes how the customer feels every step of the way. A positive experience can lead to happy customers that are passionate and loyal, whereas a negative customer experience can lead to customers feeling frustrated and giving up on your brand entirely.
Similarly, employee experience (EX) comprises everything that may shape an employee’s perception of their job. From employee onboarding to interactions with colleagues and management to the tools they’re given and the projects they participate in. Just like how a negative experience can turn customers away, a poor employee experience can lead to burnout and dissatisfied employees leaving your organization. A high turnover rate is a poor look for any company and causes difficulty in creating efficient work processes.
The effect of employee experience on customer experience
Employee experience can impact all aspects of an organization. When employees have a positive experience, they are likely to stay with your company longer. By retaining existing employees, organizations can reduce acquisition costs related to recruiting, onboarding, and training new employees. Additionally, employees that feel passionate about their work can become strong advocates for your company, helping promote your brand and its mission to prospective employees and customers.
Investing in your company’s employee experience can not only increase retention and improve acquisition efforts but can lead to a better customer experience. Employees that are engaged and satisfied with their work are more productive, continue bringing new ideas to the table, and have better customer interactions. Engaged employees are willing to go above and beyond within their companies to continually deliver success. As a result of a good employee experience, your customers may have a positive experience resulting in an improved bottom line for your organization.
Ways to improve the employee experience
Negative employee experience resulting from toxic work cultures and burnout can impact performance and absenteeism, causing poor customer experience and reduced profits.
As organizations begin shifting their focus to preventing employee burnout, it’s important to understand ways an improved employee experience can positively impact the entire organization. Here are a few ways to improve employee experience:
Ensure a smooth onboarding process
Help employees get started on the right foot by following a standard onboarding process. This process can include helping employees set up their workstations, providing a training schedule on how to use software, and getting any accounts they may need set up beforehand.
During the onboarding process, introduce employees to the company culture, values, and policies. Make time for the new employee to get to know their coworkers in a casual environment, like taking treating the team to coffee or lunch. This will help new hires feel more comfortable and give them a chance to connect with their new team. By properly onboarding employees, you can ensure they feel welcome and comfortable in their new work environment.
Provide the right resources
By ensuring that employees have the right tools needed to get the job done, organizations can reduce frustration and increase productivity. Common resources include project management systems, internal communication systems such as Microsoft Teams, and additional software or tools needed to complete the job.
While some tools may be related to their technical needs, such as their computer set-up and software, other employees may need resources, including a quiet work environment or private meeting spaces. Providing the right resources can help employees feel valued and empowered to do their work to the best of their abilities. In turn, these resources will help increase productivity and reduce frustration, leading to an improved employee experience and customer experience.
Focus on overall wellness
Employee wellness has become more popular in recent years. Whether it's organizations offering a gym membership, flexible hours, or mental health days in addition to sick pay, wellness incentives can help employees stay engaged and feel valued.
Additionally, setting up regular check-in meetings to assess how employees are feeling and areas in which they may need support can be a great way to improve their experience at work. These meetings can encourage open communication, provide insight into the working lives of employees, and create mindful leadership to any potential red flags.
By checking in regularly with employees and actively working to improve their experience, you can, in turn, improve customer experience by listening to their ideas for improvement and getting a pulse check on the overall organization.
Overall, by improving your organization’s employee experience, you can reduce burnout and employee turnover as well as strengthen your organization’s overall customer experience and bottom line. Whether you’re investing in employee experience by streamlining onboarding, upgrading tools and resources used, or simply focusing on overall wellness and allowing employees to feel heard, it can make a significant impact. By investing in your organization’s employee experience, you can improve productivity, employ happier and more passionate workers, and help staff feel empowered to create an enhanced customer experience.
Ready to elevate your customer experience? Let's talk.