Increasing Customer Engagement Is Your Goal? Start With Employees First

Engaged customers are one of the significant factors of every successfully running business. Having great products and services alone won't suffice to attract new customers and retain the existing customers. Customer engagement is the level of passion that an organization produces among its customers. It is not just a one-time process. It’s a continuous process that is crucial to generating repeat business and preserving a good brand reputation. In this unprecedented situation of Covid-19 and its variants, Big Resignations, Great Attrition, and rising recession etc are keeping customers at the center is really a challenge. How can you retain your top customers? To stay on top of customer and stakeholder satisfaction, you must ensure your employees are satisfied and engaged. Investing in employee engagement will help organizations attract customers and improve performance so that they can remain competitive. Enhanced employee engagement reduces absenteeism, attrition, and safety issues while increasing employee productivity, business ROI, and customer ratings. As reported by Alida, when you have highly engaged employees backing your organization, you will exceed the competition by roughly 150%. Furthermore, you should expect a 10% growth in customer satisfaction measures.

When it comes to improving your customer engagement strategy, you don't need to wander too far. Put your efforts into creating better employee engagement. This blog will highlight the importance of employee engagement in boosting customer engagement.

Defining Employee Engagement

Employee engagement is the degree to which the employees are able to associate with their workplace. It is the level of understanding they have for their company’s ideals and goals, and it measures the alignment of personal goals with workplace objectives. Highly engaged employees hold a favourable view of their workplace and encourage themselves and others around them to work harder and contribute to the company’s growth. Disengaged employees struggle to identify with their workplace. They are demotivated and struggle to be productive in their current workplace. They do not believe in what they work for and lower the productivity of those around them. The base of a company is formed by its employees, and disgruntled employees make for an uncomfortable experience for every customer. According to Gallup, only about 36% of US workers are actively engaged in their occupation, while globally around 20% of employees are engaged at work. If the firms can motivate and boost employee productivity from this part of the population, the economy could see a tremendous boost in output levels.

Read: Top 10 Employee Engagement Platforms For 2022 

Top Benefits Of Engaged Employees

1. Engaged Employees Are More Committed Towards Work
   
   Engaged employees always show a high level of commitment towards their work, as well as a strong connection with their workplace. As a result, employees are more likely to put in discretionary effort daily, and feel passionate about their jobs. A company's employee engagement impacts nearly every aspect of its operations, whether it is profitability or ROI, or customer service, or employee retention. Hence, engagement has emerged as a critical aspect of evaluating the success of a business since employees with a solid connection to their organization are more likely to work harder and motivate others.
   
   
2. Less Absenteeism
   
   Engaged employees show lower absenteeism rates than disengaged ones. They report to work, put in a 9-hour shift and remain productive throughout the day. As per Gallup news, engaged workplaces show 41% lower absenteeism rates.
   
   
3. Engagement Leads To Higher Retention Rate
   
   Employees who are satisfied with their workplace tend to stay in a job for longer than disengaged ones. They enjoy coming to work and are aligned with the goals and ideals of the organization. Thus, such companies see higher employee retention rates.
   
   
4. Engaged Employees Boost Customer Satisfaction
   
   Engaged and satisfied employees resolve problems quicky, and show a dedication to his work and organization. A customer service agent’s primary responsibility is to build and support strong relationships with customers on a daily basis. When your employees are happy, your customers will be happy; happy customers become loyal customers, and loyal customers are more valuable (they spend more and cost less to acquire).
   
   

How Companies Can Enhance Employee Engagement?

1. Improving Leadership And Management
   
   Managers are at the core of the employee engagement philosophy. A manager is a bridge between the employees and high-level executives, as the employees rarely interact with them. Thus, a manager or team leader must ensure that the employees’ opinions are heard, and their opinions are incorporated into ideas, so that every employee can make a significant impact on the work done around him/her.
   
   
2. Ensure Effective Communication
   
   By ensuring effective two-way communication and rewarding good work, managers can establish the foundation for high employee morale. The employees need to see a plan for the future, they will work better and harder if they can see some potential for personal growth at the company in the next decade or so. Making the employees feel like they matter can be a key step in helping them build loyalty towards the organization and feeling a sense of purpose.
   
   
3. Prioritize Employee Feedback
   
   It is critical that employees provide feedback on the work environment around them as well as ways to improve the workplace and help connect them to the ideals with which they work. It is also necessary that the managers and leaders incorporate this feedback into their performance to help boost overall company productivity and increase engagement.
   
   
4. Ensure That Employees Are Fit For Their Jobs
   
   This is important to make sure that the employees are enjoying the task they have been assigned to. It helps the workers connect more with their work and also understand what they do better. If the employees enjoy what they do, they do not need any more motivation to work hard and do their best.
   
   
5. Recognize Top Performers
   
   One of the best ways to boost engagement is to incentivize the employees to work hard. This can be done by offering them rewards and bonuses for good work. This ensures the employees stay motivated and work hard to help boost company productivity.
   
   
6. Ensure Workplace Flexibility
   
   In a post-pandemic workplace, a flexible, resilient and positive work culture is a priority for employees. It helps employees achieve a better work-life balance, leading to enhanced employee satisfaction and morale. When employees get a workplace that prioritizes ‘flexible work hours,’ they are more likely to stay with the organization for a long time. A positive work-life balance reduces stress and can help prevent sickness. Positive well-being and engagement clearly impact the individual and their performance.
   
   

How Can AI Service Desks Technology Help?

As per Accenture, AI can boost workplace productivity by 40%. Contrary to popular belief, AI technology is simple to implement and manage. Needless to say, if you want to improve your customer engagement, you should invest in employees. You need to provide personalized experience and modernized support to them. When your employees do not receive appropriate solutions/support to their problems and appropriate answers to their questions, they may likely lose interest in working with your company, feel disengaged at work, and reduce productivity- ultimately impacting customer service and the company's ROI. 

Integrating advanced technology like AI or ML into your service desk can carry out many tedious, mundane tasks and processes without the intervention of humans, thereby connecting several parts of the organization. This allows employees to focus better on the job at hand and be more well-equipped to tackle issues in the workplace. It allows your employees to receive rapid and efficient solutions to their problems in seconds. As a result, employee engagement will increase when your staff receives complete support and individualized attention from an updated service desk solution. This will eventually increase employee satisfaction, boost engagement, enhance productivity, and improve customer engagement and business profitability.

Relevant Article: How IT Service Desk Enhance Employee Engagement?

Conclusion: Invest In Employee Engagement For Better Customer Engagement

An organization's front-line employees are its face and brand ambassadors. Customer service representatives are responsible for building and supporting strong relationships with customers daily. An engaged employee responds to problems, solves them, builds trust, and is committed to the organization. A happy workforce translates into a happy customer; a happy customer becomes loyal, and a loyal customer is more valuable to your business (they cost less to acquire and tend to spend more). It is also proven that happier employees are more likely to stay in their jobs for longer, making their jobs more enjoyable for customers and getting better at what they do. Motivating and managing employees mutually beneficially is the key to employee engagement. 

All employees do better when they know what their brand stands for, and its values are. Customers should have a consistent experience when interacting with the brand based on common expectations across the organization. A Northwestern University study also found that employee engagement impacts customer service, with customers for companies with engaged employees using the products and services more frequently and reporting higher satisfaction than customers for companies with disengaged employees. Despite a common consensus that increasing employee engagement is vital to boosting customer satisfaction, companies still do not pay enough attention to their employees and business. 

If you are looking for a cutting-edge tool to enhance your employee engagement, Rezolve.ai is your catch. Rezolve.ai is an AI-powered employee service desk that provides automated and personalized employee support via a conversational chatbot that works across Microsoft Teams and Slack. It enables your employees to get rapid and effective solutions to their concerns in a matter of seconds. Finally, when your employees receive comprehensive support and customized attention, you may expect a rise in employee and customer engagement.

Relevant Article: Benefits Of Prioritizing Employee Engagement In This Hybrid Era