Written by StaffConnect founder and CEO, Bulent Osman

The recent article from Lord Price Employee happiness is the key to a fairer and more prosperous society refers to the “John Lewis happiness principle” and has got me thinking about the connection between employee happiness and the impact it has on the customer journey. We all know that job satisfaction and happiness lead to more productivity, but do we really understand how it can affect customer satisfaction and revenue?

Last week my wife and I had a few days away at a lovely hotel in Devon. After a long drive and chilling out in the spa we felt so relaxed that we opted for the more casual dining option over the more formal restaurant upstairs. Whilst the food was lovely and the environment was ideal, we noticed that our waiter seemed stressed and the service was a little below par.

After engaging in conversation with our waiter, it transpired that due to company restructuring his role had temporarily changed from sommelier in the restaurant upstairs to a waiter downstairs.  Our waiter felt that he had somehow been demoted, although it was not the case. It became clear that he was less than happy in his work, changes in the hotel dining hierarchy and his new location had left him disengaged and dissatisfied. Ironically our wine (which should have been chilled) was on the warm side and our food took an age to is materialise. Would this have happened if our waiter was still working upstairs, probably not?

Research by Gallop tells us that only 30% of US employees are engaged in the workplace. Poor employee experience is infectious and bad for company morale and leads to poor customer experience (think warm wine!).

So, how can you improve the happiness of your staff in the workplace? Communication is key. Firstly, you need to find the root of any issues and conflicts and address them. Take our waiter for example, was he feeling disengaged due to poor internal communication or unclear expectations?

A proactive internal communication strategy and process need to be in place.  When you listen to your employees and give them a voice you raise engagement levels which lead to increased productivity and happy customers.

The Deloitte Humans Trend Report highlights that the main frustrations for employees are a poor internal communication system, out of date information on company intranets and lack of follow up on feedback. StaffConnect resolves these frustrations and empowers your entire workforce to interact, share and collaborate with any form of internal communication via their mobile device, no matter where they are, what they do or what time of day it is.

At Staff Connect we are passionate about delivering positive customer experiences and will be sharing our thoughts on this subject in the coming weeks.

We would love to hear your views and customer experiences where your satisfaction has been impacted by disengaged employees. Email us at hello@staffconnectapp.com

Learn more about enhancing your employee experience at: