Want Happy Customers? Start by Making Your Employees Happier!

Happy employees mean happy customers!

BY MARY SHULZHENKO 

A truly great customer service and customer experience can only be provided by the employees who feel happy and engaged at work. When your employees are happier, so are your customers. And when your customers are happy, they become more loyal to your brand, spend more money with you while your business makes more profits.

But the fact is that only 13% of employees worldwide are actually engaged at work, according to the Gallup’s study on the State of the Global Workplace. In other words, about one in eight workers are psychologically committed to their jobs and likely to be making positive contributions to their organizations. 63% are ‘not engaged’ and 24% are ‘actively disengaged’ indicating that they are unhappy and unproductive at work.

So how do you make them happier and more engaged? Besides improved compensation packages, there might be other ways to encourage long-lasting employee satisfaction. Here’s 5 basic steps to increase engagement in the workplace and make your employees happier.

1. Set SMART goals for your employees

Even though your organization definitely has big goals, you certainly can’t expect and demand your employees to achieve them overnight. Instead, set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time-based) goals. Every big goal should be broken down into smaller SMART goals to make it easier for your employees to achieve them while staying focused, motivated and engaged.

2. Listen to their concerns and ideas

Transparent communication is critical for creating a positive and supporting working environment. Sometimes all your employees want is to be heard and know that their voice is important. According to the DDI Trend Research, 35% of the surveyed employees said their boss never, or only sometimes, listens to their work-related concerns. To increase engagement, make sure to actively listen to your employees, let them know that their voices matter and take action whenever needed. What’s more, your employees might have really valuable ideas to contribute to your business.

3. Train, empower and provide room for growth

Investing in your employees through professional development and training will ensure that they never feel they have reached a dead end. It will give them a sense that there are always opportunities for learning, advancement and growth, and that your organization has an interest in helping them fulfill their potential. When it comes to customer service employees, it’s also important to provide them with all the necessary customer service tools and empower them to respond flexibly to customer issues. The last point is critical because customers react positively to employees who listen and take action based on their individual needs rather than simply following the script.

4. Keep their motivation up

Absence of motivation results in lack of interest and lack of productivity, that’s why you need to keep your employees constantly motivated. Employers often miss the mark when trying to motivate their employees. Money, benefits and lavish perks surely matter, but not as much as you think. Studies find that money is actually a short-lived motivator. Leonard J. Glick, Professor of management and organizational development at Boston’s Northeastern University, says that the employee motivation comes from the challenge of the work, the purpose of the work, the opportunity to learn and the opportunity to contribute.

5. Choose the right managers

According to Gallup, one of the main reasons of low employee engagement are poor managers. Poor management can have a negative impact on your employees’ morale, the level of customer service they provide and even the quality of your product. Truly great managers are leaders displaying emotional stability, enthusiasm and self-assurance. Good managers are effective communicators and problem solvers. They are well organized and they are able to create a productive, collaborative and lively work environment.

Employee satisfaction as a key driver of higher customer satisfaction and repeat business. How do you keep your employees happy and engaged? Feel free to share your success stories in the comments!