Most business owners will agree that they’d like their staff to be happy, but you’d be hard-pressed to find people who actively try to make their employees as happy as their customers.
And that’s a shame, because if you don’t show your team the same warmth and appreciation that you do your customers, your business could suffer.
Now, some may argue that a business’s staff may take advantage of this treatment — use it as an opportunity to goof off or avoid work — but studies have shown that to be patently false.
Employee engagement
The more engaged employees are, the more productive they become.
A joint-study by economists from the U.K. and Germany found happiness could boost employee productivity by 10 to 12 percent.
And, if you think about it, that makes sense.
You may have a bad apple or two who only respond to negative reinforcement, but the office as a whole will be happier and more enthusiastic at work if they’re treated well. Would you honestly work harder for a manager that barked at you eight hours a day? Or would you do the bare minimum and go unnoticed until you could slink home?
A more effective leader
Normally, if a customer complains, you respond.
Sometimes that’s as simple as issuing a refund, other times you actually adjust your business to better accommodate your customers. After all, without them, you wouldn’t have a business. But the same can be said about your staff, so why wouldn’t you do the same for them? Both your employees and your customers like seeing that they have an impact on how you do business.
Everyone likes to feel valued. So talk to your staff, see what they have to say about how you do business. Do they have any complaints about management? Any ideas they’d like to see implemented? Remember that a good leader leads from within, not from way out front.
It really pays off
A study by the Bureau of Labor Statistics found that businesses ranked amongst Fortune’s Best 100 Companies to Work For increased revenue by 22.2 percent in 2013, and hired employees at a rate over five times the national average. It seems that both happy customers and happy employees bring in more business.
Companies also have a better chance of attracting and retaining good employees if it pays as much attention to its staff’s happiness as its customers. A business is like a machine — there are a lot of parts that make it work, so take care of all of them. Customers and staff are equally important to the company’s success.
The last thing you want is for your staff to feel like they are unneeded. And yet, it can be easy to forget to recognize the importance of employees. Business owners will often bend over backwards to make their customers happy, but rarely do they offer the same service to their team.
Treat employees with the same respect, care and warmth that you do your customers — your business will be stronger than ever. ●
