Understanding the Employee Experience – Customer Experience Connection

Employee Experience is finally set to take centre stage this year (and well beyond).

The truth is that the Employee Experience is far from new. Companies have just been so focused on the customer, that their employees have taken a backseat (for far too long).

Ultimately, it has taken an event like ‘the Great Resignation’ for companies to notice that employees are fed up – and to realize the significance of their struggle.

The pressure of ever-increasing revenue goals - in a world which is now predominantly digital - and the expectation to deliver a superior experience to customers (highly informed and ever demanding customers) all the while using pre-pandemic tools and tactics, has reached its limit.

Suddenly the conversation with business leaders is changing from ‘we’ll focus on our employees later’ to ‘we need to focus more on the employee experience and less on customer experience’.

Another inadequate mind-set which can’t help but leave one wondering if organizations fully grasp the link between Employee Experience and Customer Experience?

Let’s take a quick look at the Service-Profit Chain business model (shown below) which was developed by Harvard researchers in the 1990s.

The Links in the Service-Profit Chain

What is the Service-Profit Chain?

It’s a business model that illustrates the relationships between various sectors of business (i.e. profitability, customer loyalty, employee satisfaction, productivity and loyalty) which lead to business growth.

According to the model, successful business growth requires the following:

1. Investment in tools and support services that empower employees to be more efficient and effective in their roles.
2. Empowered employees are satisfied employees and employee satisfaction produces loyal and productive employees.

3. Satisfied, productive employees deliver quality products and services, thereby adding value to the customer.
4. Employee satisfaction therefore influences the quality and value of service provided to customers, in other words, the perceived customer experience.
5. High quality and value of service, or positive customer experience, directly affects customer satisfaction, leading to loyal customers.
6. Customer loyalty stimulates profit and growth.

Each facet of the Service-Profit Chain is directly linked to the other.

Now, almost 30 years later, and most companies still tend to focus largely on the second half of the chain (trying to produce an enhanced customer experience), without empowering their employees to successfully deliver the expected quality and value.

Ironically, this is also the primary reason that most CX initiatives result in unrealistic expectations, stress and frustration.

So, are companies to blame for not placing a larger focus on the second half of the Service-Profit Chain (the employee experience, or employee enablement)?

Perhaps not. After all, how can you invest in something that doesn’t exist, right? Wait, what?

It’s true, the Service-Profit Chain model was developed about 30 years ago - offering insight into the psychology of successful business growth - and yet, it is today, still dauntingly accurate in the current landscape.

Enablement, however, requires technology. The kind of technology that has only become available in more modern-day innovations.

Customer experience platforms only entered the picture as recently as 8 years ago. And, as the power of providing unique and personal digital experiences to customers was enforced as a key driver of revenue, it’s no surprize that organizations started investing the bulk of their effort here – on the second half of the Service-Profit Chain.

But something was still missing. And in the last 2 – 3 years, we gradually started seeing the emergence of employee enablement, or sales enablement platforms, which speak to the first half of the chain.

The impact of the pandemic, remote and hybrid work environments, and, of course, ‘the Great Resignation’ only amplified the importance of enabling employees to be productive, loyal and satisfied – so that they may deliver greater value to the customer.

It would seem that technology has finally caught up with human psychology, and the ability to deliver on what is needed for successful business growth.

It’s up to us now to find the right balance within the employee experience – customer experience link…

Want to get introduced to the tools used in a functioning business growth model, or interested in setting your company up for future success?

We’d love to have a conversation.

About eMSDigital Group

At eMSDigital we believe in doing what we love and loving what we do. This is why we empower our clients daily with the tools, strategies, and guidance needed, to prepare their business for the future. Our passion to help amazing brands prosper - together with our award-winning solutions - has earned us a reputation as a leader in all things ‘digital experience’. If you want to be the envy of your competition, need help moving your B2B business online, or have any questions about creating the perfect digital experience for your customers, we’re just a click away :)

About the Author

Kobus van den Berg is the visionary founder of eMSDigital Group, a global B2B 'Enablement' powerhouse driving revenue growth, elevating CX, and revolutionizing buyer-seller engagement since 2010. Inspired by his wife and son, Kobus is a firm believer in the power of doing ‘good’ business to the benefit of all parties involved, as he strives daily to pursue the elusive balance between work and life. Kobus is a dedicated Espresso enthusiast and master mead-maker, with dreams of retiring on a family wine farm to keep himself busy with the finer things in life.

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