Better Employee Engagement — Your Next Customer Experience Solution?
By WalkMe Team
Updated May 2, 2023
If you’re like most organizations, you’re on the lookout for that magical customer experience solution to boost engagement and retention. However, business leaders often fail to realize that the answer is already there beside them: their employees! The level of employee engagement in your organization has an impact on every customer interaction. Sadly, 85% of employees worldwide are either not engaged or actively disengaged at work. Keeping your employees happy is integral to delivering a first class service. In other words, if optimizing the customer experience is a goal of your company, you need to start by prioritizing employee engagement.
The link between employee engagement and customer experience
The challenge of delivering a solid customer experience starts and finishes with your employees. As Robert Tas, Chief Marketing Officer of Pegasystems, once said, “customer experience is not a technology problem – it’s a culture problem.” Building an employee-centric culture is an integral first step to improving customer experience. But the vast majority of employers are failing to deliver a fulfilling employee experience. Gallup’s 2017 State of the Global Workplace study found that only 15%of employees are engaged at work. Employees that don’t feel invested in their roles will carry this attitude over to their interactions with customers.The level of engagement among non-customer-facing employees also influences the quality of CX, as every employee’s work contributes to the product or service customers use in some way, even if not directly. The link between customer experience and employee experience is no secret to the top CX providers. Brands like Starbucks are renowned for providing an excellent CX, and employee engagement has been instrumental in that journey. For example, Starbucks leadership refers to employees as partners. To show its support of its partners, Starbucks provides employees with competitive benefits, such as profit sharing and tuition assistance, which help to build a company culture that empowers employees. When you display authentic support of your employees, you’re actually enabling them to do their best work.
Boost employee engagement and your CX will automatically improve
Before you set out to develop an employee-centric company culture, it is important to remember that no two organizations are the same. Here are our top tips for improving employee engagement.
1. Recognize employee contributions
Recognizing your employees’ contributions is one of the easiest ways to show them that you value what they do. Recognition is the number one thing employees say their manager could give them to inspire them to do great work. While constructive criticism is an essential part of employee growth and development, providing regular positive feedback is key to making them feel valued in their position.
2. Improve your employee training
Inadequate employee training can contribute to low employee engagement because when employees don’t receive the resources and support necessary to do their jobs well, their instinct is to shut down. Digital adoption solutions such as WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) provide users with onscreen guidance and real-time support so they can complete any digital process with ease. In the digital era, when the bulk of knowledge workers’ responsibilities take place on digital software, completing online processes efficiently is critical to maintaining high engagement. DAPs are ideal for helping employees to learn on the job. They use contextual guidance to proactively deploy prompts while a user is interacting with a software platform so that they can learn in real-time.
3. Incorporate flexible working
The era of employees staying at their desks 9-5 is steadily being left behind. Now, employees are starting to gravitate toward organizations that offer flexible work schedules, as well as a chance to work remotely. Nearly three-quarters (73%) of employees say that flexible arrangements increased their satisfaction at work. Offering flexible work options increases employee engagement because it enables employees to work where they are most productive.
A massive 58% of employees say poor management is the biggest thing getting in the way of their productivity. It’s important that managers provide ample support and set realistic expectations for employees. It’s also important that managers are receptive to employees’ ideas and opinions. Open communication with your employees will help you to incorporate their feedback and develop a more productive working environment.
Employee engagement: The customer experience solution you’ve already invested in
If your employees are unhappy, you can bet your customers will be too. Once you understand the impact of employee engagement on the customer experience, it’s easy to see why prioritizing the employee experience is a strategic necessity. Putting your team first is essential for building engagement, eliminating resistance, and maintaining a positive customer experience.
WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) transforms the user experience in today’s overwhelming digital world. Using artificial intelligence, engagement, guidance, and automation, WalkMe’s transparent overlay assists users to complete tasks easily within any enterprise software, mobile application or website. Discover how a DAP can revolutionize your business.
WalkMe pioneered the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for organizations to utilize the full potential of their digital assets. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning and contextual guidance, WalkMe adds a dynamic user interface layer to raise the digital literacy of all users.
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experience is not a technology problem – it’s a culture problem.”
Building an employee-centric culture is an integral first step to improving customer experience. But the vast majority of employers are failing to deliver a fulfilling employee experience.
Gallup’s 2017 State of the Global Workplace study found that only 15%of employees are engaged at work. Employees that don’t feel invested in their roles will carry this attitude over to their interactions with customers.
The level of engagement among non-customer-facing employees also influences the quality of CX, as every employee’s work contributes to the product or service customers use in some way, even if not directly.
The link between customer experience and employee experience is no secret to the top CX providers. Brands like Starbucks are renowned for providing an excellent CX, and employee engagement has been instrumental in that journey.
For example, Starbucks leadership refers to employees as partners. To show its support of its partners, Starbucks provides employees with competitive benefits, such as profit sharing and tuition assistance, which help to build a company culture that empowers employees.
When you display authentic support of your employees, you’re actually enabling them to do their best work.
experience is not a technology problem – it’s a culture problem.”
Building an employee-centric culture is an integral first step to improving customer experience. But the vast majority of employers are failing to deliver a fulfilling employee experience.
Gallup’s 2017 State of the Global Workplace study found that only 15%of employees are engaged at work. Employees that don’t feel invested in their roles will carry this attitude over to their interactions with customers.
The level of engagement among non-customer-facing employees also influences the quality of CX, as every employee’s work contributes to the product or service customers use in some way, even if not directly.
The link between customer experience and employee experience is no secret to the top CX providers. Brands like Starbucks are renowned for providing an excellent CX, and employee engagement has been instrumental in that journey.
For example, Starbucks leadership refers to employees as partners. To show its support of its partners, Starbucks provides employees with competitive benefits, such as profit sharing and tuition assistance, which help to build a company culture that empowers employees.
When you display authentic support of your employees, you’re actually enabling them to do their best work.
instinct is to shut down.
Digital adoption solutions such as WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) provide users with onscreen guidance and real-time support so they can complete any digital process with ease. In the digital era, when the bulk of knowledge workers’ responsibilities take place on digital software, completing online processes efficiently is critical to maintaining high engagement.
DAPs are ideal for helping employees to learn on the job. They use contextual guidance to proactively deploy prompts while a user is interacting with a software platform so that they can learn in real-time.
realistic expectations for employees.
It’s also important that managers are receptive to employees’ ideas and opinions. Open communication with your employees will help you to incorporate their feedback and develop a more productive working environment.