The impact employee experience has on the customer experience.
When solving problems as service and customer experience designers, it is essential to look at the business holistically to find patterns in each area. Otherwise, we could be focusing on aspects that might only be symptoms of the real problem. People sometimes overlook the staff experience performing the service and because, like customers, they also run into frustrations and pain points. Their importance lies in an essential pillar in all services and a significant factor in achieving customer satisfaction.
I want to share some context before getting into the story. I’ve worked as a service provider for three years; therefore, now, as an experience/service designer, I have evolved a sensitivity for interpreting what I observed. For this, I’ve seen how the staff’s experience in some cases was left out (perhaps unconsciously), affecting the customer experience.
In 2018, while studying for a Business Certificate in Dublin, Ireland, I started working part-time for a 4-star luxury hotel. Early in the application and interview process, I heard from the management that various employees were resigning; I was surprised by this. It looked like a nice place from the outside, but anyhow I decided to take the challenge; I think you can learn from every experience, or so I see it.
My primary position was at the lobby bar receiving customers and as a waitress. During my first day on the job, I received informal training; I remember being mostly curious about the ordering system. As I had prior experience in positions alike, I knew this was an important tool that I needed to master as soon as possible to perform my job well. When my former colleague showed me the system, I got intimidated; this was by far the least user-centric system I have come across. She said, “Yeah, I know, it’s terrible, I’ve been here five months, and I still don’t know how to use it.” It was incredibly confusing, and its primary intention seemed to be: to make mistakes. This tool's bad design was already a significant problem that could start a chain of other issues. Just imagine when the place was full, the staff busy with many orders in their heads and new customers waiting to place their orders. In these stressful situations and with this system, it was almost inevitable to make mistakes. Imagine the kitchen staff; how would they feel if they had to cook a dish that could take up to 40 minutes to prepare to find out later, it’s a mistake? Without mentioning the time customer has to wait to end up experiencing poor service.
The management style in this place was somewhere like “if you make mistakes, we’ll punish you,” so there was no room for questions. Female employees had to wear high heels as part of the uniform for the 8-hour shift while still be quick, elegant, and smiling. There was little trust in the employees, and going to the toilets was another problem in itself.
On top of all, public transport in Dublin stops running around 11:30 pm, and the shift could finish around 12–1 am or until 2 am depending on the night; This meant that if you didn’t live nearby or didn’t have a car, you’d have to pay for a taxi yourself (plus Ubers are taxi drivers in Ireland), which in my case was around 40 euros at least. Well, why work there if there are more pain-points than good ones?
What happened? This business, whose main mission is a one-of-a-kind experience, did not empathize with its staff needs, leading to dissatisfied employees and high turnover leaving positions and tasks unfilled. However drastic the story example doesn’t make it far from true that sometimes the main and only focus tends to be the customer without observing the bigger picture, leaving staff experience not considered and services falling short.
In conclusion, understanding that we as designers advocate for people’s needs, our solutions should encompass all people involved in the experiences. Indeed, customers are the purpose of the service system, but we also have to make the system functional, where we need to see all factors involved. If we as service and experience designers learn from the staff and remove the uncertainty from different processes, we can provide the ideal environment to satisfy their job goals, ensure motivation, decrease turnover, and as a result, employees ready to provide an outstanding customer experience. The main takeaway would be: Do not ignore what doesn’t appear to be the focal point.
