Listening To Employees: ESX Presentation

Avantguard’s VP of Human Resources, Rich Slater, was invited to participate in a panel at ESX 2019, discussing the importance of listening to employees and the effects it has on the customer experience; and, ultimately, a company’s profitability.

Here, we have summarized the main points of the presentation and provided links additional learning resources.

We were proud to have an AvantGuard representative present on a topic that is very important to our culture, and know that each of the points will help you in your own business.

Listening To Employees And The Customer Relationship.

The very first slide in the presentation was a video of the classic episode of I Love Lucy where two characters are given a task, explained the expectations and the consequences of disobedience. See for yourself:

After watching the clip, the audience was asked to consider: “What Went Wrong?”

What do you think? What are the consequences of running a business in this way?

Using Employee Feedback And Gaining New Perspectives

A major point that Slater made was the importance of gathering employee feedback. In his presentation, he talked about how employee feedback fills in the gap between customer reviews, and making measured improvements to service quality.

Because employees, and especially service representatives, are directly connected with customers, they are more aware of the improvements that can be made in the service they provide.

Here Are Some Sample Questions To Understand Company Culture

• How likely are you to recommend (company name) as a place to work or our services?
• Compared to our competitors, how competitive do you think (company name) is with the following?
• Company Paid Holidays / PTO policy / Base salary / Benefits
• Are you aware of the following company provided benefits and do you utilize them today?
• What form of company communication do you prefer?
• I.e. - Email / Company Newsletter / Intranet / Video Message

Using NPS Scores To Measure Employee Engagement

One method Slater encouraged companies to use when measuring employee engagement was a Net Promoter Score (NPS). This metric, gauged on a 1-10 scale, asks participants to answer a single question: “How likely are you to recommend (company name)?”

The average score from the responses to this question represent your NPS. When measured periodically over time, you can best measure your progression and take measures to improve or scale the quality of your products or services.

Customer Retention And Employee Engagement

Finally, Slater gave six tips on how to improve customer retention and employee engagement.

They are:

1. Develop a compelling, shared, strategic direction
2. Build collective and distributed leadership
3. Adopt a supportive and inclusive leadership style
4. Give your staff the tools to lead service transformation
5. Establish a culture based on integrity and trust
6. Place staff engagement firmly on the board agenda

AvantGuard has put these tips to dedicated practice over the last year, and significant improvements have been made, especially on the employee engagement and retention side. It truly goes to show that a company that listens to, follows the feedback of its employees and customers is able to improve itself and provide a place where people want to go, and then return, because of the positive experiences they gain.

To Learn More About AvantGuard Presentations At ESX 2019, Click HERE.