When was the last time you had a negative experience with someone who was servicing you? How were you feeling at the moment? Did you make a vow never to return there again? On other hand, when was the last time you had a positive experience with an employee? The connection between employee attitude and customer satisfaction is very important. If employees mistreat customers, then customers might not return. However, if customers have positive, memorable experiences, then customers will keep coming back. They might even recommend your store to their friends. It all starts with the employee.

BlueShirtNation.com

So, what exactly is BlueShirtNation.com? BlueShirt Nation, which is named for the polo shirts worn by store staff, is the employee social network of Best Buy. Best Buy executives first introduced the social network because they wanted to tap into their store employees for marketing ideas. Instead, they have seen higher participation in Best Buy’s 401(k) plan, lower employee turnover, and even photos of staffers’ pets.

Employee turnover at retail stores can reach double digits; however, employees utilizing BlueShirtNation.com are likely to stick with the company. The employee turnover for BluShirtNation.com users is slightly more than 8 percent.

We’ve all had the experience. You walk into a store and can’t find what you need. Searching for an employee, you wonder if you’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone and you’re the last person on the planet. Then you spot an employee…. shuffling slowly down the aisle. You call out, “Excuse me. Where are your widgets?” But he keeps on walking. You catch up to him and say again, “Excuse me. Can you tell me where the widgets are?” He looks at you, shrugs his shoulders, points to the left and mumbles, “cmwlbgxxylkh.” You have no idea what he said but it sounded like Aisle 4, so you thank him, but he’s already walking away.

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If your employees are often heard grumbling under their breath or, worse yet, amongst themselves, you might want to consider surveying your employees to find out what they’re really thinking.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal Online, June 18, 2007, there’s a trend among human resource professionals to survey employees as part of an ongoing effort in ‘employee engagement.’ Engaged employees are more cheerful, more helpful, contribute more to the workplace, take initiative and speak well of the company in their off hours. With benefits like these, no wonder more companies are jumping on the engagement bandwagon.

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