The Busy Leader's Handbook

39Customer Satisfaction Starts with Employee Engagement:

Have a Process to Regularly Measure Both

Engaged employees create satisfied customers and vice versa. When employees feel their work has meaning and purpose, they are driven to go above and beyond to make customers’ lives better. Then, when customers express that they are satisfied, employees become even more engaged. It’s a virtuous cycle and it positively impacts every part of your business. This is why it’s so important for a company to have a system in place to regularly measure both parts of the equation.

The effort from an engaged employee can take a business from average to great (and the absence of that effort can take it from below average to out of business). Engaged employees think and act like owners; they are emotionally committed to meeting organizational goals. They understand the impact they have on the company’s success. They take care of equipment and supplies as if they were their own. They are deeply invested in the customer’s happiness and success because they understand that these things are directly linked to their own future. All of this leads to better word of mouth, more customers, and better job security and wages.

Ultimately, employee engagement means better financial performance, greater customer satisfaction, higher quality, fewer absences and turnover, better safety, and easier talent recruitment. (See Chapter 19 for tips on creating engaged employees.)

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