Forget about “customer first”
For as long as I can remember, the most frequent business mantra I’ve heard is this:
“customer first”
This notion is rooted so deeply in our culture that it has become mainstream, even outside of business.
While I won’t discuss the obvious benefits of the “customer-first” attitude and how this creates a virtuous circle of revenues and customer retention, I wanted to shed light on a somewhat new concept: “employee-first”.
The employer-employee relationship is changing
As people look for a higher sense of purpose in their professional life, many companies fail to provide one. They keep implementing one-size-fits-all HR policies because they lack the appropriate tools to understand and act on the diversity of needs and wants within their organization. This creates frustration for employees who, on their personal time, are getting used to businesses adapting to them.
There is no way to justify why companies know their clients better than their employees.
The results are an increase in employee turnover, low engagement and a growing interest for freelancing or entrepreneurship.
Candidates, who used to aspire to work for big-name companies, are now turning more and more to startups, because they feel their work will have more impact and significance, and they will not be as entangled in processes and old-school hierarchies as in big corporations.
In this context, it is easy to see how HR’s top missions — attracting talents, keeping them AND keeping them efficient — are more critical than ever. And that also means that focusing on improving the employee experience is rapidly becoming a strategic and top priority for employers.
This is where the “employee-first” attitude comes in
Not only is it important to keep employees happy in a world where they are not as inclined as before to come work for you (and stay). But this is also great from a business standpoint.
Instead of thinking this way: shareholders > customers > employees, try and think the other way around. Happy employees will make for happier customers (this is factual), which will grow your business and please your shareholders.
So let’s recap
Employee-centricity is becoming increasingly important, because the war for talents (whether attracting, keeping or making them happy) is becoming fiercer. But it’s also a great business opportunity, with plenty of stories of companies out-performing their competition when focusing on employee engagement.
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