{"id":12472,"date":"2014-05-08T07:54:12","date_gmt":"2014-05-08T06:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/?p=12472"},"modified":"2019-09-12T05:12:26","modified_gmt":"2019-09-12T09:12:26","slug":"customer-behavior-consequences-low-high-employee-trust-employer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-behavior-consequences-low-high-employee-trust-employer\/","title":{"rendered":"What Are the Customer Behavior Consequences of Low (and High) Employee Trust in Their Employer?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\">A recent <\/span><b style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\"><i>Wall Street Journal<\/i><\/b><i style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\"> \u2018At Work\u2019<\/i><span style=\"line-height: 1.5em;\"> column led with this sentence:\u00a0 \u201cU.S. employers have a trust problem.\u201d\u00a0 According to a newly-released report on work and employee well-being research conducted by the American Psychological Association:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Only about half of U.S. workers feel their employers are upfront with them<\/li>\n<li>One quarter of American workers simply don\u2019t trust their employers<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>That\u2019s not good news for business, and it\u2019s not good news for customers.<\/p>\n<p>Companies display their humanity, stakeholder-centricity, and cultural investment in a number of key ways, two of which are employee compensation and opportunity for professional growth and advancement.\u00a0 In the APA study, conducted in January and February among over 1,500 working adults, under half of the employees felt that they are sharing in the gains realized by their employers as they recover from the 2008 recession.\u00a0 This is, as reflected in the above statistics, a disturbing finding because of the impact it has on employee commitment to the company, to the company\u2019s product and service value proposition, and to the company\u2019s customers.<\/p>\n<p>It has been well-documented that empowered customers are demanding more from brands \u2013 convenience, anticipatory service, and (ideally) real-time and contextual personalization, at all points of interaction.\u00a0 However the experience is viewed, in most of the touch point situations, employees are directly or indirectly involved.\u00a0 It\u2019s vital that they be positive and supportive of the brand value proposition, and the organization itself, as well as the customers &#8211; &#8211; in other words, to be ambassadors.\u00a0 Trust is central to employee ambassadorship, and every enterprise must understand where it is practiced well and where low levels of it can impact both employee and customer behavior.<\/p>\n<p>For companies to create and sustain higher levels of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/blog\/employee-retention-engagement-and-ambassadorship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">employee ambassadorship<\/a>, it\u2019s necessary to have customer and employee intelligence specifically designed to close gaps between <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/\">customer experience<\/a>, outmoded internal beliefs, poor hiring practices, and rudimentary support and training.\u00a0 It\u2019s also essential that the <i>employee experience<\/i> be given as much emphasis as the customer experience.\u00a0 If ambassadorship is to flourish, there must be value, and a sense of involvement and shared purpose, for the employee as well as the company and customer \u2013 in the form of recognition, reward (financial and training), and career opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>Some well-known companies clearly understand the employee behavior-customer behavior connection.\u00a0 At <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/blog\/the-new-zomm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zappos<\/a>, the highly successful online footwear and clothing retailer, there\u2019s a strong belief that \u2018your culture is your brand.\u2019\u00a0 During the hiring process, prospective employees, however talented and experienced, must fit into the culture.\u00a0 Following hiring, all employees \u2013 regardless of function or title \u2013 are trained in <a href=\"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/customer-experience\/customer-loyalty\/\">customer loyalty<\/a>, service, and company values and vision over a four-week period.\u00a0 Two of those weeks are spent are spent on the phone taking calls from customers.<\/p>\n<p>Zappos has defined its company culture in terms of 10 core values, the first of which is <i>\u201cDeliver WOW Through Service\u201d.\u00a0 <\/i>\u00a0As explained by CEO, Tony Hsieh:<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cEvery employee can affect your company\u2019s brand, not just the front line employees that are paid \u00a0to talk to your customers.\u00a0 It can be a positive influence, or a negative influence.\u00a0 We decided a long time ago that we didn\u2019t want our brand to be just about shoes, or clothing, or even online retailing.\u00a0 We decided that we wanted to build our brand to be about the very best customer service and the very best customer experience.\u00a0 We believe that customer service shouldn\u2019t be just a department, it should be the entire company.\u00a0 Our belief is that if you get the culture right, most of the other stuff \u2013 like great customer service, or building a great long-term brand, or passionate employees and customers \u2013 will happen naturally on its own.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>For more than a decade, leading-edge companies have understood that they needed to move beyond employee engagement, to build the mutual trust and positive behavior that results in ambassadorship.\u00a0 In August, 2004, Honeywell International, Inc.\u2019s \u00a0former Chairman and CEO, David Cole, sent a message to the company\u2019s 120,000+ employees, in which he described their role in the company\u2019s program to build and protect their brands:<\/p>\n<p><i>\u201cEvery Honeywell employee is a brand ambassador.\u00a0 With every customer contact and whenever we represent Honeywell, we have the opportunity either to strengthen the Honeywell name or to cause it to lose some of its luster and prestige.\u00a0 Generations of Honeywell employees have built our powerful brands with their hard work, spirit of innovation, passion for quality, and commitment to customers.\u00a0 I am counting on every Honeywell employee to continue that legacy.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<p>Again, ambassadorship is most successful when employees are trusted, recognized, \u00a0and appreciated, and can participate in the benefit and value they provide to customers.\u00a0\u00a0 Hal Rosenbluth, former CEO of the highly successful, multi-billion dollar travel management company, Rosenbluth International (which is now part of American Express Travel Related Services), said in his book, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/The-Customer-Comes-Second-People\/dp\/0060526564\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\">The Customer Comes Second<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re talking about a change that puts the people in organizations above everything else.\u00a0 They are cared for, valued, empowered, and motivated to care for their clients.\u00a0 When a company puts its people first, the results are spectacular.\u00a0 Their people are inspired to provide a level of service that truly comes from the heart.\u00a0 It can\u2019t be faked.\u00a0 Companies are only fooling themselves when they believe that \u2018The Customer Comes First.\u2019\u00a0 People do not inherently put the customer first, and they certainly don\u2019t do it because their employer expects it.\u00a0 We\u2019re not saying choose your people over your\u00a0customers.\u00a0 We\u2019re saying focus on your people <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">because<\/span> of your customers.\u00a0 That way, everybody wins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Whether an organization is a major international corporation, or a small, embryonic start-up, these words represent the spirit of what <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/training-courses\/employee-engagement\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">employee ambassadorship can accomplish for a company<\/a>.\u00a0 Stated simply, ambassadorship is the partnership, and shared destiny, between employees and their employer.\u00a0 When this is done well, all stakeholders win.<\/p>\n<table style=\"background-color: #dfdddd;\" border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>\n<div style=\"padding: 10px; float: left; padding-left: 20px;\">\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-lovwenstein.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-5619\" title=\"Michael Lowenstein - Beyond Philosophy\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/Michael-lovwenstein.jpg\" alt=\"What Are the Customer Behavior Consequences of Low (and High) Employee Trust in Their Employer? by Michael Lovwenstein\" width=\"98\" height=\"130\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<td style=\"padding-right: 20px; text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/our-team\/michael-lowenstein\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Michael Lowenstein<\/a> provides strategic consulting, research design and in-depth, leading-edge analysis that helps clients deliver outstanding business results through deeper customer experience, communication, relationship, employee and brand equity insights. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.beyondphilosophy.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Beyond Philosophy<\/a> provide consulting, <span class=\"GINGER_SOFATWARE_correct\">specialised<\/span> research &amp; training from our Global Headquarters in Tampa, Florida, USA.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A recent Wall Street Journal \u2018At Work\u2019 column led with this sentence:\u00a0 \u201cU.S. employers have a trust problem.\u201d\u00a0 According to a newly-released report on work and employee well-being research conducted by the American Psychological Association: Only about half of U.S. workers feel their employers are upfront with them One quarter of American workers simply don\u2019t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":106,"featured_media":12474,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-employee-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/106"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/beyondphilosophy.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}