There are thousands of voices out there telling us that employee engagement is important. The benefits are huge and when we boil it down, we all know that we would much prefer to enjoy coming to work everyday rather than feeling like it’s a drag. The benefits of workplace engagement for each individual employee are obvious; it’s even clear how employee engagement can benefit the organisation but how does employee engagement help your clients?
Doug Conant, the former CEO of Campbell Soup, is credited with saying “To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.” He is clearly saying that the attitudes within your organisation matter immensely – so much so that they can impact your sales. With 85% of the world’s workers disengaged from their work, the stats lend themselves to worry – how do the customers of all the organisations these workers are employed by feel?
In Gallup’s 2017 ‘State of the Global Workplace’ report, this idea that engagement and culture can drive both customers’ perception of your organisation and satisfaction with your products and services, is revisited. Gallup found that when businesses with high engagement levels were compared to those with lower levels, those with higher engagement experienced:
- 20% higher sales
- 10% higher customer metrics
- 41% lower absentee rates
- 40% fewer quality incidents
These statistics shouldn’t be a surprise. After all, employees who are engaged in their work show up every day and are committed to moving the organisation forward through their everyday activities. This includes customer service, safety procedures, quality control and countless other tasks. Engaged employees want to go the extra mile because they are aligned with the organisation’s values and want to do everything they can to be contributing to the success of the organisation.
Customers are more satisfied when they’re interacting with an organisation that has engaged employees simply because attitudes are contagious. If employees love coming to work, use the products and services of their own organisation when they can and are loyal to the organisation, they boost the chances of customers doing all those things too.
The employee engagement relationship flows in both directions. Of course, the more employees are engaged, the more likely customers are to be satisfied with the end product or service but in turn, the more customers are satisfied the more employees are spurred on and encouraged in their work to continue providing quality products and services, increasing their engagement in their work. It’s a positive cycle to be involved in.
************
Greg Weiss is Australia’s Leading Career Coach. He is the author of “So You Got The Job! WTF Is Next?”. The book prescribes a proven, practical 7-step framework for new employees so they succeed, rather than fail their probation periods and beyond. Find out more about the book at https://www.wtfisnext.wtf/
He is the Founder and Director of Onboff an online training and coaching platform that helps HR specialists, coaches and recruiters to deliver exceptional onboarding and offboarding experiences for employees.
He also hosts The Keep: The Employee Experience podcast and runs CareerSupport365.
