Are employees customers?

Satisfied customers are more loyal, spend more, refer other customers, and are overall more profitable than the average customer. But where does the satisfaction come from? Probably from a good interaction (experience) with an employee who was able to handle that encounter in a professional, accurate, and timely manner. So why is it that some companies don't invest enough time and money in employee satisfaction? Aren't all employees customers as well?

Employees have to be committed to the organization in order to deliver great service; they need to buy into the culture to sound authentic and share this authenticity with the end customers. Customer satisfaction does not happen by chance or simply because a manager tells his/her employees to treat customers well. Great customer service is a matter of attitude and this behavior is a direct result of how satisfied employees are with the organization they work for.

Keeping the workforce well informed of what's going on, providing timely and accurate feedback, and rewarding & recognizing superior performance are a few things that organizations can do to maintain a high level of employee satisfaction. At a deeper level employees must have meaningful and challenging work; a continuing learning environment and opportunities for growth will also go a long way in maintaining a healthy level of satisfaction.

Next time you get a customer survey showing that the satisfaction level is low or dropped from a previous high, don't go too far looking for answers. Look within your workforce and more often than not, you will understand what happened...