If you think about how employees affect customer satisfaction and sales, it’s easy to see why employee engagement impacts the bottom line. Happy employees who feel valued do better work and are more likely to stick around. We’re not just talking about the morale here, but the actual impact on the business – which is measurable in terms of boosting productivity and customer feedback ratings. 

Imagine a restaurant that served stale bread, overpriced food, and cold coffee. Nobody would want to go there. Or a hotel that didn’t clean its sheets and messed up your reservation. Again, nobody would want to stay there. Yet, these analogies can be used when talking about employee experience. 

Who wants to stay in a workplace where you don’t feel like you matter? The employee experience is just as important as the customer experience. 

Employees who feel valued stick around 

Your recruitment expenses are not the only expense, of course. It also has to do with how quickly your business starts to lose steam without the proper resources. If a worker leaves every month, you’ll be in a constant state of replacing people. This takes up time and money, both of which are best spent on improving your employee experience and strengthening your business’ core competencies rather than on replacing workers who have already left the ship. 

On average, employers spend 33% of a worker’s annual salary to replace one person. This includes the cost of recruiting, onboarding, and training replacement workers. Other research suggests that the average costs of replacing an employee can even be higher, ranging from one-half to two times the employee’s annual salary. 

Employee retention is a key factor in the success of any business. If you’re having trouble keeping your staff, it’s time to examine what you can do to improve the employee experience. 

If an employee feels like their work is unappreciated or that they aren’t getting the recognition they deserve, or that they’re not properly compensated or are not given autonomy (or at least space), they’ll quickly start looking for greener pastures.  

Employee engagement leads to higher productivity and better customer feedback ratings. 

Engaged employees are more productive, and it’s easy to see why: engaged employees are happier and more fulfilled in their jobs. 

But there’s another way that employee engagement impacts your bottom line: it makes your customers happier. 

A happy customer is a loyal customer, and loyalty is everything in business these days. So, if you want to ensure that the people you’re serving are going to come back again and again, then you need to focus on giving them an experience that they’ll remember fondly. 

One way to do this is by creating an environment where your employees feel valued and appreciated. In turn, they will be more likely to go above and beyond your customers—and they’ll be more motivated when they come in each day because they know that their work matters. 

Employees who feel engaged and satisfied with their work are more productive, which means they can produce more products or services for you. They’re also more likely to have positive interactions with customers, which will result in higher customer feedback ratings and fewer complaints. That’s good news for everyone! 

Organizations can create an optimal EX 

The way you treat your employees has a big impact on the bottom line. If you want to attract and retain top talent, then you need to create an environment that makes your employees feel valued. But it’s not just about how employees feel; it’s also about how they perform. A happy employee who feels like they are being heard is more likely to be a high performer. 

• Set clear expectations and communicate those expectations clearly.  

• Give your employees autonomy over their schedules and responsibilities. 
• Make sure that they’re rewarded for their achievements. 
• Invest in training programs for managers so they know how to coach effectively and develop their employees’ skills instead of simply giving them tasks to complete. 
• Create opportunities for collaboration between teams so people can learn from one another instead of feeling isolated from others who have different backgrounds or experiences than their own. 
• Encourage open communication by providing forums where people can talk openly about problems without fear of consequences. 
   

Employee experience and company culture often get brushed to the side when it comes to business decisions. However, improving EX has a direct impact on the consumer experience. As consumers, if we want great products, products that last and are effortless to use, then we need great employees to make those products possible. People are, after all, what makes the brand. 

To get ahead of the curve, you need to start investing in employee experience. If your business does not focus on creating a best-in-class employee experience, you may find that it is becoming increasingly more challenging to attract and retain top talent. 

In our white paper, “The Business Case for Employee Retention”, we emphasize the high costs of employee turnover. Check out the full details of this must-read research by downloading our white paper here.