What is the Secret to Great Customer Service? Happy Employees!

Employees are Your First Customers - Happy Employees

By Noelle E. Ifshin

 

All too often, restaurant owners take their employees’ job satisfaction for granted. They focus all their energy on achieving financial results, acquiring new customers, launching new marketing ideas, and driving guest satisfaction, but they forget about the people who actually turn all those HR action verbs into real-life actions. Treating employees as internal customers is the first step in providing a productive, positive environment, which reinforces your company’s hospitality and service culture.
Here are 4 reasons you should consider employees your customers:

Happy Employees = Happy Guests – Front-line employees are the key connection between your restaurant and your guests. As a result, if your employees aren’t happy, your guests won’t be happy with their experience in your restaurant and your restaurant won’t be happy with the business results. A rude, surly or unhappy server does not provide the best possible experience for your guests and can often turn guests off. In today’s economic environment, poor service will not be tolerated and can drive you out of business.

Happy Employees Are Engaged - Engaged employees care about the end results and the quality of work that they do. They want to perform their job well and provide great service to their customers. They enjoy coming to work, interacting with their co-workers and making their customers happy. They tend not to cut corners; approach jobs with energy—which enhances productivity—and come up with creative service improvements, which enhance the customer experience. Unengaged employees do not care about co-workers or customers, need constant supervision and lose interest in what is best for the team, which increases operating costs.

Happy Employees Exceed Expectations - Happy employees are more likely to help out without
being asked, are willing to pitch in when needed, and will not say the dreaded “that’s not my job”. When employees come in on short notice to cover a shift, stay late for the good of the team, and/or clean without being asked, it makes it easier to manage and run the business.
Also, by going above and beyond for your guests, happy employees deliver an enormous payoff: creating passionate, loyal patrons who spend more money, stay longer, return often, and tell their friends; all of which generates sustainable growth.

Happy Employees Become Brand Ambassadors – Happy employees will speak positively of your restaurant and unhappy employees will speak negatively of your restaurant. In social situations, often the first question asked is “What do you do?” or “Where do you work?” Such moments can add or take away value to current and future customer experiences; increase or decrease loyalty; and leave positive or negative impressions. All employees, not just management, can build or detract from your restaurant’s brand.

Employers need to take care of their employees first, in order for their employees to provide the best experience for guests. Employees with high job satisfaction remain with their employers longer, reducing turnover. This in turn, lowers the cost of constantly having to recruit, hire and train new staff and provides stability to grow your business.

For more on this article and on the author, please see Hotelier.com