Why you can’t create amazing customer experience without happy employees.
As the inspirational Alex Kjerulf founder of Woohoo Inc. says “If you feel crappy you do crappy (work), if you think great you do great (work)”.
During our pandemic we have had a myriad of experiences, but one thing that seems to come through, is our frontline staff have been delivering more, with less under more pressure than ever before.
It’s more important than ever that we look at slowing down to speed up. Taking care of our people in a more intentional way ensuring we do not burn them out.
Here are some of tips on taking care of our teams during this crisis.
Acknowledge that things are still difficult.
One thing I have noticed is slowly since March, workplaces have crept back to “normal”. Normal levels of work, normal levels of meetings, normal levels of output required from staff. This has happened so slowly that many people find themselves now in the middle of summer, expecting the highest level of productivity and output ever at work with the least amount of resources we have had.
It is important for workplaces to pause, remember that people are overwhelmed, and many are still juggling children, schools, caring responsibilities, supporting their colleagues and lack of a normal support network. Do you need to review and revise what you are asking from your staff? Giving them clear understanding of what
Another online meeting/drinks/quiz meetup is not the answer.
We are experience online meeting fatigue! And at the end of the day the last thing our people want is to have another meeting where they “need” to have fun! Instead now is the time to create space, and time for meaningful connections with your people. Host a one-to-one coffee meeting during work time. Gift your teams an experience they can use at home.
Offices are gone as are “perks and benefits”. We are left with only connections and our people.
What does this mean? At Happy Coffee we teach that all the perks and benefits which companies have come to believe create a happier workplace only lead to an increase in job satisfaction.
What does that mean? It means when we objectively think about our workplace we can say “Yes….but I get paid well, and I get free coffee, and I have a good job title, and we get free smoothies, fruit bowl, nap pods….” And so we stay, but we aren’t any happier.
Well the pandemic has forced us from our office environments, which means we have lost all the “things” which have been brought in to create happier employees (and therefore increase productivity & employee engagement).
Now we can use this time to change and focus on what really does make employees happy at work. Results & Relationships.
Results: Knowing that what we do matters. Being able to achieve our goals. Making progress in meaningful work.
Relationships: Doing great work, together with great people. Feeling connected to our colleagues. Taking care of each other.
If we do not take care of our staff in this time, when people are the most important assets we have, then they will be incapable of delivering the service we need to our customers. Stress and burnout lead to lower empathy, productivity, not to mention the physical aspects for the person themselves.
By giving time, and resource back to our frontline staff your business will reap the benefits and your team can get back to creating the amazing experiences for your customers at this critical time.
If you’d like to learn more about happiness at work why not join us for our free online summit with speakers and experts from around the world.
