Is the myth true? Do Happy Employees Provide Better Customer Service?
Customer service is not just another segment of business operations, but rather a key brand differentiator that is becoming even more important than prices and products.
After all, a report reveals that nearly 90% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.
But reaching a satisfactory level of customer service is not easy as almost every organisation relies on different mechanisms to achieve the goal.
Here’s one of the major dilemmas in this field: Do happy employees provide better customer service?
Let us be clear about it straight away: Yes, satisfied workers improve a company’s customer service.
But the story behind this conclusion is what really matters here, so keep reading to learn more about the correlation between employee happiness and customer service.
Why Customer Service Benefits from Employee Happiness?
A report conducted by Glassdoor showed that companies with happy employees are more likely to have high customer satisfaction scores than their counterparts, particularly in businesses where front-line employees directly interact with customers.
How is this possible? What makes happy workers so good at providing customer service? We can give you a few hints:
- Stress-free work: Do you feel comfortable working in a stressful environment? Well, no one does. A worker who enjoys a relaxed atmosphere in the office has no excuses not to give her best.
- The power of a positive attitude: A person who brings a positive attitude to work is much more likely to stay upbeat and really serve clients the way they deserve to be treated.
- Accountability growth: Jake Gardner, a human resource manager at the best paper writing services, says that teams of happy employers build a strong feeling of respect and accountability, so they tend to work more responsibly: “Every member of the organisation knows who’s in charge of what, which leads to enhanced services and customer satisfaction.”
- Happy employees are patient: Dissatisfied workers lose nerves quickly because they don’t have enough patience to listen to customers’ questions and complaints. On the other side, happy workers feel relaxed and they are eager to help their clients.
- Happiness leads to loyalty: A happy employee becomes a loyal employee. If you treat people with all due respect, they will return the favour and give their best for the company.
How to Increase Employee Satisfaction and Improve Customer Service
Now you understand why employee satisfaction is important for customer relationship management, but do you know how to increase the overall happiness score among workers?
Here are four simple ways to do it quickly and successfully.
- Support colleagues and foster communication: The first thing business owners and managers should do is to take care of their employees through everyday support and open communication. Let them consult with you whenever they need to because that’s the only way to build trust and understanding.
- Offer personal development opportunities: If your workers feel like being stuck in one place forever, rest assured they will start feeling bad and neglecting their duties. But if you give them the opportunity to grow and advance, your team members will be much happier. Check out some of our great courses >
- Help workers achieve the balance between life and work: If you call colleagues or send emails after work hours for non-urgent purposes, stop doing it. They have the right to spend some time alone or with their families, so keep that in mind before disturbing anyone late in the afternoon.
- Reward employees for a job well done: Of course, you must recognise workers’ achievements from time to time and reward them for being so great. Here are 25 ways to reward employees with a limited budget >
The Bottom Line
Do you want to improve customer service, but don’t know how to do it?
How about starting with your own employees?
A whole bunch of studies proves that satisfied workers lead to better customer service, so it becomes vital to understand and support your team before asking them to serve customers.
Are you ready to give it a try?
More great tips:
- Read: The real truth about employee engagement in contact centres
- Reference: Benchmark your employee engagement rates in the latest industry survey
- Learn: Search our courses designed specifically for contact centre managers, team leaders and frontline agents >
- Search: View all the upcoming industry conferences, webinars, workshops and more