As a business professional, you are likely all too aware of the importance of satisfying the customer. Whether you are a B2B or B2C company, pleasing your customers is typically your number one priority as it’s what drives sales. However, recent studies have shown that employee satisfaction is just as important as customer satisfaction when it comes to building a successful company and increasing profits and ROI. 

This is because there is a link between employee satisfaction and productivity levels. Simply put, if your employees aren’t satisfied with their job, they won’t be as motivated to produce quality work, which can affect the company’s overall performance, even your marketing campaigns. 

Why Employee Satisfaction Matters

Your employees are like the foundation of your business. While your customers matter as they help support you through sales, the way you run your business and the people that work for you are ultimately what help drive those sales. Because without your employees, you wouldn’t have a business or be able to provide services or products to your customers in the first place. So the happiness and well-being of your employees are crucial if you want to run a successful business. 

And there is a direct correlation between employee satisfaction and the customer experience. When you’re employees are unhappy, they are more likely to do the bare minimum, which means your customers aren’t going to get the best service possible. In contrast, if your employees are happy and engaged, they will be more productive and provide better experiences for your customers. 

Thus, happy employees equal happy customers. And the happier your customers are, the more loyal they will be to your brand and the more sales you will make, helping you grow your business over time. 

However, employee satisfaction and engagement aren’t solely linked to customer satisfaction; they can affect nearly every aspect of a business. Employee engagement can impact your HR department, workplace culture and morale, your brand identity and public opinion, your finances, and your overall company performance. 

Unfortunately, statistics show that nearly 71% of employees today are not fully engaged, which is a result of dissatisfaction. Furthermore, companies on average lose around $11 billion annually due to employee turnover, and employee turnover rates are, of course, higher when satisfaction is low. When companies do have more engaged and satisfied employees, however, they tend to outperform those that don’t by up to 202%. 

The Connection Between Employee Engagement and Marketing Campaigns

As mentioned above, employee engagement can play a role in brand identity & messaging, and how your audience perceives you, which are primary focuses of the marketing department. If employees aren’t satisfied, especially those on the marketing team, it can result in poor performance and productivity, which can negatively affect your marketing campaigns. 

Essentially, the work put into your campaigns won’t be as good if your employees are unhappy and unmotivated. And if your campaigns aren’t good, then you won’t successfully reach your target audience or appeal to them, which means you won’t drive as much traffic to your business. And less business means fewer sales. 

Dissatisfied employees can also mess with your brand image and how you present yourself to the public, which can ruin your brand reputation. With information so readily available on the internet, it’s not hard for people to find out when a company doesn’t treat its employees well and doesn’t have an ethical workplace culture. 

So if your employees aren’t happy, it could negatively impact your public image, which can further hinder your marketing efforts. Thus, it’s essential to improve employee engagement to have more marketing success and protect the overall image of your brand.  

Improve Employee Satisfaction to Benefit Marketing and Overall Company Success

As the importance of employee satisfaction becomes more apparent, particularly for marketing teams, companies are taking steps to remedy the situation and ensure better engagement. And some of the best ways to improve engagement and the well-being of your employees include:

Onboarding Practices

The onboarding process is the first experience a new employee will have with your company. So it’s crucial to ensure your HR department is providing a satisfactory onboarding experience as this is the first impression employees will have, and that impression can influence the rest of their experience with your company. 

Overall, companies that have a quality onboarding process see 50% greater productivity levels and are 69% more likely to retain employees in the first three years. And the four key components of a good onboarding process include compliance, clarification, culture, and connection. 

Unfortunately, companies don’t place enough emphasis on their internal customers’ experience – i.e their employee experience. Many expect their new hires to hit the ground running in their first few days or weeks without providing adequate support or guidance. These new hires tend to feel overwhelmed or confused as a result, affecting their satisfaction levels in the long run. This is why it’s important to implement the best practices in employee onboarding at every key stage of their journey – Day 0 (before they join), Day 1 (their first day), all the way to Day 365 (completing their first year).

Benefits and Wellness Programs

The benefits provided to employees can also play a significant role in overall satisfaction. Companies with poor benefits packages tend to have poor workplace culture because employees don’t feel taken care of or appreciated, especially when their basic needs aren’t being met. So by providing better benefits and even wellness programs, your employees will be physically and mentally healthier and thus will be more productive and motivated in the workplace. 

Flexible Work Environments

Though hybrid and remote work environments have existed for decades, they have only recently become quite popular as new generations prioritizing their well-being enter the workforce. So offering flexible work opportunities is a fantastic way to improve employee satisfaction. 

This can include hybrid work environments, telecommuting, fully remote options, or even coworking spaces. However, when employees work from home or from a coworking space, it can make managing everyone a bit more challenging. So just make sure you use the right tools and systems to keep everyone engaged and communicating. 

Leadership and Communication 

Another great way to increase employee engagement and satisfaction is to make sure your team leaders and managers are communicating effectively. Poor communication can have a negative impact on employee experiences, so if your managers don’t know how to speak professionally to your employees and adequately engage them, then it can affect morale, motivation, and productivity, 

And good communication isn’t just about clearly and effectively getting your point across but also includes nurturing employees and their skills, building quality relationships, and showing employees that you appreciate them and all that they do for your company. 

Wrapping Up

By following the tips provided above, your company can significantly improve retention rates, productivity, and overall employee satisfaction—which are key to building successful teams, such as your marketing department. The happier and more engaged your marketing staff are, the better your campaigns and brand image will be. And the better your campaigns are, the more likely you are to reach your audience, boost sales, and experience growth.