Businesses are grappling with The Great Resignation/The Great Reshuffle. The statistics are daunting; at least 4 million Americans having quit their jobs every month since July 2021, according to the latest Job Openings and Labor Turnover report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics released in March 2022. It’s crazy that nearly 33 million people have quit their jobs.
As if that’s not enough to keep you up at night, add this to the mix. According to Gallup, the workforce that you currently have is at risk because only 36 percent of employees are engaged with their company — which means that 64 percent of your team could quit at any time. And given the volume of job openings available, they have a lot of opportunities to leave.
What does it mean?
The employer/employee relationship has been disrupted, and studies indicate organizations will face this challenge for several years. That means businesses need to be intentional about enhancing the employee experience (EX) if they hope to retain the talent who will deliver an excellent customer experience (CX).
Simply stated, the employee experience equals the customer experience (EX = CX). The good news is that you don’t have to do this alone. Leaders can lean in to make a difference in the professional and personal lives of their team by committing to a renewed focus on enhancing EX as a strategic goal. Winning the minds and hearts of a team centers around actions and communications that meet the three human principles that all individuals crave.
- To be heard and understood
- To be valued and respected
- To be meaningfully involved in decisions that involve their life and their work
What is the employee experience?
Good companies are mindful about employee and customer satisfaction and loyalty — and this has a smart and successful reactive strategy. It revolves around a proactive understanding of the total wellbeing of employees in today’s workplace, challenges organizations to evolve to meet those needs. EX is all the experiences team members have with the company, from recruitment to onboarding to learning and development to retention and offboarding. These experiences shape their engagement with the company and, ultimately, the performance they deliver to customers.
Think about an employee who is totally engaged — their work product is good or excellent, customers compliment them, they volunteer for projects that impact the company, they refer others to join the business and their team members value them. Imagine how powerful an organization can be if employees consistently had an amazing work experience and how that would translate into ways they treasure their customers and co-workers.
Ideas in action
Seventy percent of the employee experience is directly impacted by their immediate manager. The retention of talent is primarily entangled with the effectiveness of the managers who lead these individuals.
Leaders don’t have to be the smartest people in the room when it comes to EX. A good practice is to launch a listening initiative in which conversations are hosted with small groups of employees, either live or virtually, to enlist their feedback, insights, ideas and wisdom to create the future EX.
Focusing on EX will positively impact CX, which ultimately creates financial value for the organization. Yes, this takes time, but it is worth every minute invested. ●
Judy Bodenhamer is Founder & Managing Director of Client Experience Group
