How satisfied are your employees? If you haven’t tried to answer that question lately, it’s possible that your customers are more aware of employee satisfaction levels at your business than you are. A 2011 study by researchers at the University of Missouri found that customers are strongly influenced by employee attitudes. Successful companies understand the link between employee satisfaction and customer loyalty and use it to improve performance, researchers concluded.
“You might think that as an owner, you only need to pay attention to the customers, providing them with what they want. Yet, we found that keeping your employees satisfied with their work experience, providing them with challenges and allowing them to have a sense of ownership in the business can have a tremendous effect on customer satisfaction and loyalty,” said Christopher Groening, a co-author of the study and assistant professor of marketing in the university’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business.
Management is “not a one-way street where companies implement policies and can expect to experience gains solely through customer service,” Groening said. “The relationships among the CEO, the employees and the customers are all linked. It’s important for CEOs to know that they can have a large impact on customer service without ever talking with a customer or implementing a new customer service policy.”
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