Editorial
The Gist
- Tech-driven productivity. Equip employees with reliable, intuitive tech to enhance both employee experience and customer experience.
- Measure EX impact. Track employee experience metrics like engagement scores and internal support resolution to identify and resolve issues affecting CX.
- Prioritize IT insights. Involve IT leadership in strategic planning to create seamless digital transformation that benefits employee engagement and customer satisfaction.
I was recently in line with my family at a fast-food restaurant when I realized we were barely moving. Peering around the customers ahead of me, I saw that half the kiosks were down. Employees were struggling to get them back online while also struggling to use the backup registers to catch up. I noticed that a few people left, walking out with exasperated sighs (and more than a few curse words under their breath).
But what really struck me was the understandable frustration on the employees’ faces. Sure, I was upset, but at least I’d be out of there in 20 minutes. They were stuck until the end of their shifts. This moment highlighted how closely employee experience and customer experience are intertwined.
Building Strong Employee and Customer Experiences Together
With my kids in tow, we were committed. When I finally reached the counter to place our order, the employee was not pleasant. Who would be given the chaotic circumstances? I get it; they had been dealing with an unexpected, never-ending line of angry customers for the past hour. It’s hard for anyone to stay upbeat in those circumstances.
For better or worse, your employees’ experiences will affect your customers’ experiences. This feedback loop is evident in every store, restaurant and airport check-in counter. If the employee is happy and engaged, the customer will probably have a good experience, making the employee even more engaged and empowered.
These days, more often than not, those experiences are defined by technology. Better tech ranks third on a list of things frontline workers say could reduce stress, just behind better pay and vacation time, according to a Microsoft survey. Employees want to be happy and productive, but in a tech-driven world, they need the right resources.
Qualtrics expands on this idea: “When the tools and technologies employees need to do their jobs are unreliable, unintuitive or slow and unwieldy, they can slow down employee productivity despite the employee’s best efforts.”
Given this challenge, what can you do to ensure a positive feedback loop between employee experience and customer experience?
Related Article: The Art of Balancing Employee Experience and Customer Experience
Strengthen Employee Experience to Drive Customer Experience
Organizations that take a proactive approach to improving EX often see results through greater employee retention and satisfaction — as well as better customer experiences. Here are a few tactical ways to improve your CX by starting with EX.
1. Understand What Your Employees Need
Imagine if every new employee was given a device on day one with all the applications they need to do their jobs and deliver exceptional customer experiences, without any extra software or hardware bloat for the company. Being intentional about devices from the start helps with more than employee engagement; it also makes it easier to provision equipment, onboard employees and reduce future IT costs. Many employers are going a step further, using persona planning to map out groups of employees based on their tech needs.
2. Measure EX Metrics
If you’re in a customer-focused role, you’re probably already tracking your Net Promoter Score (NPS), time to resolution (TTR) and sentiment analysis. Consider expanding your KPIs to include EX metrics, including employee net promoter score (eNPS), employee engagement scores, turnover rates and internal support ticket TTR. And don’t forget to consider what I call “silent sufferers” — the 40% of employees who never report their technology issues.
3. Monitor Endpoints
Imagine being able to tell an employee, “Don’t use this handheld scanner today because it’s about to crash.” You can do this with the right tech stack, including sensors that let you predict when a device is about to experience a problem based on how many times it has been dropped, how old the battery is and other factors.
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4. Include IT at the Table
IT doesn’t simply hand people laptops and walk away anymore. There’s a reason the CIO is a C-level position in top organizations. Tech drives positive CX and EX outcomes, which means you need your IT leadership to be actively (and proactively) involved from the start. Bring them to the table when you’re having strategic discussions about improving EX so that they can implement digital transformation initiatives that align with your business goals.
5. Recognize the Importance of High-Quality Data
As AI-driven chatbots continue to transform employee experience and customer experience, pay close attention to what’s fueling your AI. According to a report from the Enterprise Strategy Group, good data leads to more trust in AI, which is crucial for long-term success. Of course, having access to actionable data also helps employees make informed decisions, which leads to better CX outcomes.
As you try to balance employee experience and customer experience, consider this: Customers may come before employees in the dictionary, but everything starts with the employee experience. Understanding the role of EX will help position you for greater CX success and sustainable growth.
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