Want better customer service? Treat your employees better

Fast Company

23-07-2025

Poor customer service can hurt your business. But just how badly might surprise you.
Just ask United Airlines. In 2008, musician Dave Caroll and his band Sons of Maxwell were traveling on United Airlines when the airline allegedly broke Caroll's $3,500 Taylor guitar. United Airlines refused to pay for or replace the guitar, so Caroll and his band did what musicians do best. They wrote a song about the incident called ' United Breaks Guitars ' which details Caroll's frustrating experience with the airline's customer service reps. The song went viral on YouTube with 25 million views (and counting). Travelers who came across the humorous video took to the internet to vent, recounting their own poor experiences with the airline industry, with United Airlines bearing the brunt of the criticism. It may be a coincidence, but a week after the video was posted, United Airlines lost 10% of its stock value —a value of $180 million.
In today's age of sky-high digital connectivity, the need for companies to deliver remarkable customer experience has never been more important. While not all customers will be creative enough to record a viral music video detailing their experience with brands, customers can leave product and service reviews on sites like TrustPilot and Yelp, or take to social media and with just one post, share their experiences with thousands, hundreds of thousands, or even millions of followers. And, as we have seen with the examples of United Airlines, those negative reviews can have an impact on a company's bottom line.
And even though research shows that consumers are more likely to share negative experiences through social media (49%) compared to positive experiences (38%), many companies such as Zappos, Southwest Airlines, and Ritz-Carlton are renowned for their remarkable customer experience.
Despite acknowledging that their level of customer experience can make the difference between their company's success and failure, many companies still struggle to provide even mediocre service to their customers. The reason is that these companies treat poor customer service as a core problem to be solved, when poor customer service is actually a symptom of something much more dangerous to their businesses. That 'something' is poor employee engagement.
Treat the cause, not just the symptom
Each year, companies invest billions of dollars in workplace training. According to Statistica, U.S. companies alone spent US$101.8 billion on training in 2023. And for some pretty good reasons. When employees receive practical and effective customer experience training, they gain valuable skills needed to successfully manage a range of customer interactions—from problem-solving customer concerns to answering complex customer queries, resolving issues in a timely manner, and salvaging negative customer experiences and transforming them into positive ones.
While customer service training can provide employees with valuable clarity on how they should engage with customers, if the organization treats its employees poorly or has a toxic work culture, much of the training will fall on deaf ears. As Sybil F. Stershic, author of Taking Care of The People Who Matter Most, notes, 'The way your employees feel is the way your customers will feel. And if your employees don't feel valued, neither will your customers.' Simply put, companies that invest in customer experience training but don't treat their employees well will often find that their investments result in minimal improvement in their customer experience delivery. Remember, if your employees don't feel valued, neither will your customers.
On the other hand, companies that focus on building a highly engaged culture, treating their employees fairly, and valuing their efforts are more likely to benefit from customer experience training. Why? Because when employees are fully engaged and feel valued, they are more likely to want the company to succeed and will do their part to help the company meet its business goals, objectives, and targets—including delivering the type of remarkable service that turns casual customers into raving fans of their organizations.
This idea that engaged employees deliver better customer service is backed up by research from Gallup, which showed that companies that scored in the top quartile of employee engagement saw 10% higher customer loyalty/engagement compared to companies in the bottom quartile. These companies with higher levels of employee engagement also benefitted from 23% higher profitability.
Treat your employees better
If your organization is struggling with delivering poor customer experience, the best way to deal with the issue is to focus on both the symptom and the problem with equal measure. Yes, you should most definitely provide your employees with customer experience training, but you should also invest in employee engagement programs that help ensure that employees feel valued. Always remember this simple adage: 'Your customer experience will never exceed your employee experience.'
Want to improve your customer experience delivery? Then be relentless in finding ways to treat your employees better. Here are a few examples of how you can make your employees feel appreciated for the work they do:
· A simple 'thank you' goes a long way towards making employees feel valued. Publicly thank, recognize, and (If necessary) reward them for a job well done. Or, if more conducive to your workplace culture, write them a meaningful 'thank you' note or email.
· Give them the opportunity to make recommendations on how to make your business stronger. Listen to their ideas and give them credit for any suggestions you decide to implement.
· Be sure that your employees' pay and benefits package is commensurate with the value they bring to the organization.
· Pay attention to their workload and give them the opportunity to achieve an appropriate work/life balance that reduces the chances of burnout.
Treating poor customer experience as the problem rather than the symptom will produce, at best, a temporary increase in customer experience delivery. Only by treating both the symptom and the cause will you achieve the customer experience results your company is working towards. And that starts with treating your employees better.