Friday, May 21, 2010

The Forgotten Customer, The Employee

We often talk about the customer experience in terms of those who make a financial commitment to our business in the terms of purchase power, life cycles, renewable financial resources etc., But we fail to realise that there is a significant financial investment made by those who work for us or those whom we manage. It isn't measured in direct sales revenue or in terms which are reported on any financial statement, but the investment made by these employees into the success structure of any business or department is of definite note. When working with clients and their businesses, or when I worked as a manager, there was always a separate report that evaluated this investment.

A managers success isn't because of what he accomplished, but is measured in the success of those who served/worked under him. Employee satisfaction can have a positive or negative impact on the bottom line, balance sheet, or it can have a positive impact increasing net worth for the directors or owner.

How do you make the employee experience one where they want to be where they are? It should be addressed in the same way that you do the customer experience. There is a brand promise made by you, the company, the product or manager that always needs to be fulfilled in order to build a trust relationship. Such trust fulfillment generates exceptional employee performance, reduced fraud and and instills a brand pride into their everyday work experience.

Such pride can produce as much as 30% increase in overall performance and revenue generation. If you want to out perform during a financial downturn or recession maybe you should be looking inward in order to grow outward.

As always we invite your comments and insight.