What if the secret to skyrocketing profits and satisfied customers lies in a metric that most businesses barely even measure? Employee happiness.
For years, organisations have focused on squeezing every ounce of productivity out of their teams. And it’s been even more significant in the contact centre industry. Companies have reengineered processes, doubled down on monitoring workforce movement, and pushed workers to do more with less. However the concept of focusing on employee happiness has already proved transformative.
Take Hitachi a Japanese industrial and tech company. Several years ago, Hitachi set out to improve organisational productivity by focusing on a single, unexpected metric: worker happiness[1]. They didn’t focus on squeezing more out of each work hour or reinventing processes to save time. Instead, they used wearables and an accompanying mobile app to offer workers suggestions for increasing feelings of happiness throughout the day. Thereby boosting psychological capital (such as self-confidence or motivation), psychological safety, and alignment with management objectives[1]. The results? A remarkable 33% increase in employee engagement, job satisfaction, and happiness[2]. And the business outcomes were just as impressive: a 10% rise in profits, a 15% growth in retail sales, and a 34% boost in call centre sales per hour[3].
At QStory, we have seen that prioritising employee experience (EX) isn’t just about making work better for employees—it’s a game-changer for businesses. When eBay partnered with us to empower their teammates, they didn’t just aim for operational improvements—they focused on creating an experience. Their vision of empowerment was about introducing real, powerful, flexible options for their teammates which were instantly accessible, required no explanation, and removed the stress from the process. The outcomes of eBay’s ‘experience play’ were greater unity, stronger engagement, and a return on investment (RoI) exceeding 300%.
The tools to revolutionise the employee experience already exist. Technology now enables organisations to balance the employee experience with operational efficiency and customer experience. It is no longer a zero-sum game. But this isn’t just a task for HR. It’s a challenge for leaders and managers to envision a better future for their teams and bring HR along as enablers.
For decades, we’ve clung to outdated 20th-century productivity measures, recognisable from a century past—how many calls per hour, how many tasks completed, how many people were late—to evaluate success. But these measures no longer reflect the complexities of today’s workforce. While there has been greater focus on the customer experience over the last decade, made more possible by the increasing availability of data, consumer willingness to trade data for personalisation, and enabling technology. Why can’t we do the same for the employee?
Employees are telling us that they want more. Gallup’s surveys continue to report that the global workforce remains disengaged[4]. In the UK, only 10% of employees are actively engaged; in the US, it’s 33%. Yet, we do little to meaningfully move the needle. It’s easy to blame disengagement on “COVID hangovers”, or “quiet quitting”, yet, engagement scores remain low. The biggest factor influencing engagement? The performance and behaviour of the direct line manager.
Of those engaged and declaring an intent to stay with their current employer, the factors that contribute to them staying are also clear:
Employee motivation theory gives us interesting insights. In the mid-20th century, psychologist Werner Herzberg proposed his “Two-Factor Theory of Motivation”. This theory suggested that job satisfaction and dissatisfaction are caused by different factors in the workplace:
- Motivating factors: factors that make people feel satisfied or happy at work.
- Hygiene factors: factors that make people feel unsatisfied or unhappy at work if they are absent.
Salary, for example, is a hygiene factor. A standard of pay is necessary, but it doesn’t lead to long-term satisfaction. A positive work culture, establishing trust, and empowering employees are all motivating factors.
Hitachi and eBay’s results demonstrate that prioritising motivating factors in the workplace pays off. It’s not just about making employees happier, it’s also about making the business stronger, as engaged employees deliver better customer experiences. As explained by James Stewart, Director of CTP Solutions at eBay in a webinar with QStory and The Forum in late 2024: “Lead with the experience and really be dogmatic about being for your people. I firmly believe if you do that, your people will then engage with what you’re trying to get them to do. And that’s what we’re seeing.”
So, how do you balance the drive for better customer experiences, enabled by better employee experiences with the desire for control and cost management? How do we tell a story that resonates with senior leaders to understand that customer service remains a true differentiator, where each interaction—especially human engagement—matters?
Digitalisation has made it easier than ever to change after a poor experience, making customer service vital for retention. QStory clients tell us that service quality, not speed, matters most. Yet, the industry often equates phone performance with customer satisfaction.
Building strong agents is one thing; retaining them is another. Research by McKinsey shows regular feedback and coaching are critical to employees, but satisfaction with these areas often lags behind[5]. Unsurprisingly, when asked “How do Managers allocate their time? How should this change?”, employees were unequivocal in how they say the role of their roles should change:
So, what’s next for customer service leaders? It’s time to plan and forecast beyond the traditional performance metrics, and focus on both the customer and employee experience. Delivering an outstanding employee experience may seem like ‘radical autonomy’ in a heavily controlled and measured contact centre environment, but isn’t it really just delivering the type of empowerment and flexibility that so many other roles and functions enjoy every single day? What is radical autonomy in this world is really parity – is ‘fairness’ – compared to opportunities we extend to others in the organisation.
And now there is no excuse. Organisations are only limited by their paucity of ambition. Change is here now, so it’s time to take action.
Simon Beck, CRO, QStory
[1] Satomi Tsuji, Nobuo Sato, Keita Shimada, Koji Ara and Kazuo Yano, “Happiness Planet: Support system for promoting management objectives in partnership with employees,” Hitachi Review 70, no.1 (2021) pp.78-79
[2] American Psychological Association, “Psychological capital: What is it and why employers need it now,” August 21, 2023
[3] Suchit Leesa-Nguansek, “Hitachi’s AI for employee joy”, Bangkok Post, February 7, 2020
[4] Gallup, “State of the Global Workplace: 2024 Report”, Employee Engagement Survey 2023-2024
[5] Indraneel Banerjee, Avinash Chandra Das, Jatin Pant and Shikha Sharma, “Employee experience still matters: Talent retention at GCCs,” McKinsey Digital, October 03, 2023.