Employee productivity relates directly to how satisfied employees are with their jobs. Improved customer service comes from satisfied, productive employees. Your employees are the frontline of your business. So, doesn’t it make sense to make sure they love their jobs? Here’s how.
How employee productivity relates to employee satisfaction
It’s easy to say that every minimum wage, part-time worker is easily expendable, but this outlook precludes that customer and employee satisfaction are easily expendable too. Most people wouldn’t argue that CSAT is unimportant, but the link between employee satisfaction and employee productivity is often overlooked. Granted, focusing on the happiness of your team doesn’t need to be costly. It doesn’t mean that you need to provide your staff with monthly trips to the spa or fly them to Europe (although, undoubtedly, you’d receive no complaints!). Just genuinely understand that your employees are actual people and not automatons. Realize that an employee’s personal life sometimes crashes into work and that some things, such as occasionally being late and taking sick days, are unavoidable.
How employee productivity relates to good customer service
Have you ever walked into a grocery store to be immediately assaulted by an employee that was overly enthusiastic (possibly borderline manic) to show you where you can find those canned peas you so desperately need in your life? How about that cashier at the gas station that has perfected the art of the death stare – a death stare so judgey that it makes your insides melt and kittens cry? Do you also find having to go on a safari to find an employee in a warehouse to answer your questions to be less than enjoyable? Then, once you actually find an employee to help you, it’s much like disturbing a slumbering lion. They’re often startled and in a state of disarray. Do you tend to tread cautiously, being vigilant not make any sudden movements or direct eye contact?
In the age of technology, receiving good customer service in retail shouldn’t be like winning the lotto. So, this introduces the obvious question: what does good customer service mean? Good customer service means employee output is high because workers are happy with their jobs. They want to be at work, and they want the company to succeed.
How to increase both employee productivity and satisfaction
Try scheduling employees for shifts that are actually plausible for them to work. For example, try to avoid scheduling an employee for opening and closing shifts back to back. As a retail veteran, I promise that working “clopens” really sucks! (And in some areas, it’s actually illegal.) As a minimum wage, part-time worker, I struggled to take care of customers. Why was this so difficult? I was often the only employee in my department. On top of that, my job required me to stock the shelves on a deadline. Otherwise, I faced a written warning. Regardless of how skilled one may be at “multi-tasking”, managing an entire store would be stressful for any part-time worker.
But, as a manager, you’re in luck! There is any easy remedy for this employee satisfaction – and, as a result, employee productivity – problem: staff enough employees at appropriate times. TimeForge even has tools to help you do this. Setting minimum and maximum hours for each employee, as well as using the AutoScheduler and templates configured to avoid those clopening shifts will keep your employees happy. Happy employees are more productive and make your customers’ experiences more enjoyable.
