Companies are investing billions to improve the customer experience (CX). For good reason: superior CX delivers improved customer loyalty, market share and revenues. Employee experience (EX) also provides competitive advantage; it is a priority for many of our clients that are exploring change and transformation. Leading companies have discovered a secret weapon—they are using their CX playbooks to achieve EX excellence.

There are striking similarities between CX and EX:

In a digital age where transparency is high and products and services quickly commoditize, CX provides differentiation. Customers want personalized, relevant and convenient interactions. Above all, they want to choose—and even customize—the experiences companies offer. If a company fails to meet their “liquid” expectations, they simply walk away. Similarly, as the lines between professional and personal life blur, employees increasingly want the relevant, convenient and engaging experiences they have outside of work to be replicated on the job. There are compelling reasons why companies should be providing employees with the opportunity to shape their workplace experiences on their terms.

CX and EX—where’s the value?

• Companies that get CX right outperform their peers on a number of important dimensions, including customer loyalty (+17 percentage points) and revenues (+11 points), according to Forrester Research.
• Companies with highly engaged workforces (EX excellence) are 21 percent more profitable than those with poor engagement. In fact, companies with great EX outperform Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500 by 122 percent.

Leading companies are starting to recognize the connection between CX and EX. Accenture Strategy’s 2017 HR/Employee Experience study shows that half (51 percent) of all business leaders surveyed are planning to create individualized employee experiences comparable to consumer experiences in the next two years. Insurers are slightly ahead—66 percent indicate they have plans to create individualized employee experiences.

              

But exceptional EX is not about giving employees unlimited choices, nor is it characterized by onsite climbing walls or artisanal coffee—it’s about giving employees a set of options that will help them achieve their full potential and drive business value.

Join me next week as I look into three key insights from CX that can help FS organizations provide a set of options that increase productivity and, ultimately, business returns.

For more insight on this topic, read Accenture’s recent point of view, the Employee Experience Reimagined.