A recent post in the NY Times entitled “The Secret To Having Happy Employees” got me thinking about the relationship between happy staff members and happy customers or more significantly, unhappy staff and unhappy customers. In my mind, client satisfaction is clearly tied to employee satisfaction.
In the post, Jay Goltz talks about the two keys to happy employees: Treating them well and firing the unhappy ones. Now that may seem somewhat extreme, but as Jay said, what he really meant were people who were “…disrespectful (to others, not me), incompetent, unreasonable, undependable, irresponsible, unproductive, dysfunctional, …angry, whiny or mean”, and I would agree.
If a small firm or business treats their staff well and people are still unhappy, they’re probably not a good fit, and like a bad apple…well you know the rest.
It all comes back to the culture of your firm. Cultures that treat their staff members well are more likely to treat their customers well and vice-versa. But more importantly, when a firm values their staff, it’s natural for the staff to be more invested in the success of the company. When that happens, staff then attaches greater value to the customers that are the life-blood of the company and to their colleagues As a result, client satisfaction becomes more than just company policy, it becomes a priority for each staff member as well.
Looking at the situation in reverse; when management doesn’t treat staff well, they don’t feel valued. Little gripes become big complaints. Motivation wanes. Bad attitudes become contagious and people lose interest in doing a good job. This naturally impacts how they treat customers.
If you want to ensure client satisfaction, treat your staff well, build a culture that supports motivation from within, and make sure that you make employee satisfaction your first priority.
Susan Martin, Business Leadership Coaching
