Do you invest in your people?
I know you’re likely to say, “Of course we do!“
But read that question again.
Do you invest in your people?
I was discussing this question with a contact centre client recently, who gave a whole list of how they’re investing:
🐝 AI to improve the knowledge management for advisers
🐝 Gamification of performance through a new agent dashboard
🐝 Improvements to call routing, so that agents receive fewer calls that need to be transferred out
Each of these “improve the adviser experience“, I was assured.
I’m certain they do.
After all, who wants calls that you can’t deal with and have to transfer?
But are these really investments in your people?
They’re certainly investments in the business.
They’ll likely improve the customer experience (right first time scores, accurate information etc.), but:
🐝 Are your individual employees better people for these investments?
🐝 Are they healthier, wealthier or wiser?
🐝 Do they contribute more to their community?
🐝 Have they grown as person – not as a resource?
These, I would argue, are what happen when we invest in a person.
It might seem like an ideological or philosophical point.
Surely improving the working practices or environment results in people being invested in?
Let’s look at it another way.
There are plenty of studies that show the casual connection between employee fulfilment and productivity – both positively and negatively.
But did you know there are also studies that link engagement and fulfilment to societal factors?
Yes, engaged employees are more productive, less likely to take absence, and have fewer accidents.
But they are also more likely to put the bins out for their neighbours; to donate their personal time to community and charitable causes.
There are links between disengagement and lack of employee fulfilment with rates of domestic violence, mental health interventions, and family break ups.
Employers “rent” employees from their familes, communities and friends.
Are we returning them in a better position than when we met?
Do we really invest in our people?
