Rethinking Engagement with Employees and Customers

Businesses have begun to change how they perceive employee engagement before the pandemic. Now, it’s more about taking your people’s interests and preferences into account and creating friendly policies that help them adjust to the new normal.

It’s going above understanding how HR software can help employees engage in processes better. Your customers are no exception in this context and need equal attention. In the end, you need the support of both your employees and customers to drive change.

As per a Bain and Facebook study about the growth of digital consumer behavior during the pandemic, 47% of consumers in Southeast Asia decreased offline purchases, and 30% increased their online spending due to lockdown restrictions. Companies that could assess this change paved the way for others who gradually picked the pace.

It’s crucial to understand the role of technology in rethinking engagement with employees and customers. As a consumer, you would want to promote contactless deliveries and cashless payments. It applies to the employee segment too. Whether it’s food delivery, e-commerce, or digital payments, everyone encourages safety practices, and rightly so.

Let’s understand how you can engage your employees and customers in a changing business landscape.
Create a safer working environment
Now that organizations have initiated a dialogue with their employees if they wish to join the office, you must consider discussing a similar point with your clients. We understand a client meeting can be fruitful if you are there for them at the right place at the right time. We are not just talking about physical locations, but attending online meetings has been the best way during the lockdown to materialize things. The idea is to put your people first.

Even when you are inviting clients to your office or visiting them, follow standard safety protocols. If you enter into a partnership, you should encourage cashless payments. Earlier, if you relied on checks, you can choose to be relevant and do what’s safe and best for both parties.

The best way is to ask your customer how they would want to work now. Your client may be delighted upon receiving an email containing the best safety practices to follow in the post-COVID era. Take small steps in the right direction. This way, you involve them in a productive discussion about workplace safety, and you may learn a thing or two from them. It’s a win-win situation for both parties.

Don’t forget your employees in your hustle of impressing a client. Remember, you need your people on your side to make things happen. You can conduct team meetings or one-on-one discussions to understand their fears and doubts. If they have apprehensions about something, make sure to come back with a logical solution. Involvement is the key.
Use technology to your advantage
Now’s the time to prioritize automation and vouch for self-service technologies. We have already talked about the need for cashless payments and contact-less deliveries. It’s also the time to move beyond the obvious and bring personalization into the frame to retain employees and customers. It’s a good idea to train your employees on using cloud based HR software so that they can access the knowledge bank and other things easily.

When onboarding a new client, you can introduce multi-channel touchpoints or launch digital loyalty programs. The idea is to open multiple communication channels to grab an opportunity to serve a customer to the best of your ability. You can use a similar method while onboarding a new employee. Since we are talking about engagement here, you can ease your employee’s day by offering access and assistance in completing the onboarding details.

For employees who have been with you for years, you can involve them in the decision-making process. If you’re considering replacing your existing HRMS with self-service HR software, you may discuss the relevance of employee-centric HR portals to make things easy for them. It’s about finding points to connect with your employees and understanding their pain points.
Loyal vs. less-engaged
You must have heard the phrase, Know your customers well. It’s the same for the employees. In both cases, you should be able to determine the loyalty factor so you can plan engagement programs accordingly. It’s wise to follow the loyal vs. less-engaged approach.

Knowing your customer’s priorities is one thing but knowing if they are loyal to your firm is another. For loyal customers and employees, you can build incentive programs or offer training courses to help them grow. This way, you are not only upskilling your workforce, but you are also making efforts to retain talent, both employees and customers. An All-star client and a high-performing employee are an asset to your organization.

For non-performing assets, you can build incentive programs or train them to become skilled at their job. If one of your distributors is not bringing in the desired sales numbers, you can approach them and understand what’s holding them back. It could be due to the lack of product knowledge. You can introduce a training schedule for them. And if one of your employees has not performed well this quarter, training them is the best way to nurture them and turn them into star performers.
Encouraging mindfulness in the workplace
The past year has been difficult for all of us. Your employees may have experienced a difficult financial phase, or they may have had anxiety bouts owing to the severity of COVID-19. That’s why you should promote mindful activities at the workplace. You can start by sharing gratitude notes with each other. How about organizing yoga sessions for your employees every week? Or a Zumba dance session.

Isn’t it great to offer your employees a quiet place to work rather than making them work from their designated areas? We see no harm in that.

You can do similar activities for your customers. Inviting your client to inaugurate the new recreational room in the office is an unusual idea to encourage customer interaction. With that said, make sure you follow the best hygiene practices.
Winning the trust of both
Besides doing all that said above, you should make an effort to revisit your organizational policies concerning employees and customers. If you think you can take a lenient approach to things to make it easy for your people, go ahead. Even the tiniest effort like offering flexible working hours to your employees or travel-based incentives to your clients would help.

For an HR practitioner, it has become crucial to understand the need for personalization now more than ever. Earlier, you may have relied on your HR management software to generate accurate reports. Now, it’s time to initiate a dialogue with your employees and ask how to make an impact. It is how you win the trust of your people.

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