Empowered employees are vital to improving the delivery of federal services for meaningful customer outcomes

This article is the first in a three-part series on the link between employee and customer experience at federal agencies, and approaches to improving both. Read parts two and three. 

Improving customer experience (CX) remains a critical focus for federal agencies striving to meet the public’s growing expectations for seamless, on-demand, user-friendly interactions on par with the private sector. From health and federal financial agencies to defense and civilian programs, the public values efficient and personalized access to government resources that align with modern standards of service delivery. 

Equally important is the often-overlooked influence of employee experience (EX). By fostering a positive and empowering environment for federal employees, leaders can enhance public interactions and create a stronger bridge between government services and the people they serve. Prioritizing both CX and EX advances public trust and ensures government agencies deliver results that resonate across the political spectrum.  

Understanding the CX-EX link 

Employees are working much differently today than they were just a few years ago. The pandemic saw the move to remote offices, and workers have now adapted to protocols for hybrid environments. They are learning new skills, adapting to new processes, evaluating their goals, and seeking a sense of professional purpose. Organizations seeking to improve EX have noticed and are looking at what workers truly value and the tools they need to succeed.  

EX is increasingly vital for optimal service delivery. Successfully meeting customer demands and corresponding CX benchmarks requires an understanding of how to best empower and equip employees to serve those customers. This logic is backed up by research as well. For instance, 86% of respondents to Gartner’s 2018 Customer Experience Innovation Study indicated employee engagement was of equal or higher importance than other factors in impacting CX. The study found that organizations with satisfied employees are: 

• 48% more likely to achieve customer satisfaction goals
• 89% more likely to achieve innovation goals 
• 56% more likely to achieve reputation goals 

Taking inventory of EX to set a path toward improvement

As government agency leaders acknowledge the link between EX and CX, taking stock of the current state of EX will help establish a foundation for continuous improvement. Considerations include:

1. Do I understand the factors that make our employees feel empowered and motivated?  Some team members feel motivated by a sense of purpose to the service they provide, while others feel empowered by accessible technologies, tools that enhance efficiency, or opportunities to develop new skills and advance in their careers. Understanding these factors is a first step to improving EX, benefiting customer interactions and service delivery.

2. Are outdated or inefficient tools and processes draining employee energy? Have we identified new tools that can empower them to work more effectively? Federal organizations looking to deliver digital-first, omnichannel, seamless CX can only be successful if employees also have tech-forward, modern experiences in delivering those services. Logically, investing the time to equip teams with the technologies and systems needed to deliver digital-first public services will pay dividends in CX growth. 

3. Where can we reduce system complexity or friction points with employees and customers?  Mapping both employee and customer experiences can help leaders understand where services can be designed to streamline interactions and processes for both.

4. Do we have feedback mechanisms in place for innovative ideas or process improvements? Innovative CX considers the public’s real-life challenges, and employees on the front lines of their interactions with government often gain valuable insights and ideas for CX innovation.

5. How are we measuring the impact of EX on our interactions with the public?  Analysis of EX and CX data can help quantify the impact of employee satisfaction on public service delivery, providing insight about how improvements to EX make a difference over time. 

Improving EX and CX with thoughtful service design

Federal agencies’ approach to service design is a key opportunity for improving both CX and EX. For government, service design offers a comprehensive approach to integrating all processes, touchpoints, and communication channels between the customer’s front-end experience and the back-end organizational processes that make it possible. Thoughtful service design requires design thinking – a collaborative, phase-based approach with corresponding tools to guide the way. 

By adopting thoughtful, human-centered design thinking principles, agencies gain an understanding of customers’ needs and experiences and can apply that learning to services that improve CX. The same approach can be useful to help organizations understand employees’ needs and the factors that motivate them, yielding CX gains in the process. 

In the next installment of this series, we’ll take a closer look at thoughtful service design, including the stages of design thinking and valuable service design tools that can help federal leaders gain useful insight to optimize satisfaction for both employees and customers.