We know loyal customers are worth their weight in gold to any firm. That’s why by 2018 it’s projected more than 50% of organizations will redirect their investments to customer experience innovations. Engaged customers fuel business growth, and working to improve the customer journey is a worthy goal that will pay off big in the end. However, it’s easy to get so focused on providing an excellent customer journey that you forget about some of your most important players, namely, your employees.
Why are employees important to customer experience?
Employees are at the forefront of your business, are the people interacting with your customers, and when they are happy, you can rest assured your customers will also be happy. Not to mention, according to Snacknation:
- Companies with happy employees will outperform competitors by 20%,
- Happy employees are 12% more productive, and
- Happy salespeople generate 37% more in sales.
Yes, happy customers are key to the growth of your business, but so are happy employees.
How do you boost employee happiness?
There are several obvious ways to increase employee happiness including:
- Recognition programs
- Free food
- Offering competitive pay and benefits
- Job security
- Opportunity for promotions
- Fostering friendships at work
- Unlimited PTO
- And more!
This article will present one of the less obvious, but equally as important, ways to boost employee happiness, and that’s through adopting a robust online employee community.
What is an online employee community and why does it matter?
According to HBR, getting open feedback from employees is critical to your organization’s success. That’s why so many companies adopt an open door policy. This policy establishes trust between employees and employers, fosters a closer working relationship, allows for employee feedback, and opens the doors for communication.
However, having an open door policy doesn’t always have to mean literally opening your door and having your more vocal employees drop by whenever they want.
HBR also suggests giving your employees multiple options for providing feedback. This can mean creating a culture where it’s easy to discuss issues publicly, having intimate one-on-one conversations, and going above and beyond by establishing an online employee community.
An online employee community is a way to keep your employees connected at work via the cloud. Through the online community, employees can access company information from one handy, central location, share ideas with bosses and coworkers, get answers to questions quickly, provide feedback, and stay connected with everyone on the team, no matter their location.
An online employee community is the modern day adoption of an “open door” policy and the perfect way for you to show them you value their insights. It’s also the perfect way to leverage information from employees to build a healthier workplace, motivate employees, and help them accomplish their career goals faster.
Wrap Up
When it comes to building a healthy and successful company, remember customer experience starts with happy and engaged employees. Of course, you want to offer good pay, nice benefits, PTO, free food, and create a fun culture. Remember to take employee happiness a step further by offering an online employee community that encourages feedback and makes work more enjoyable in general.
