Designing Employee Engagement and Retention with Jimmy Chebat

Subscribe and Listen

This episode of Amazing Business Radio with Shep Hyken answers the following questions and more:

1. How does employee experience directly impact customer experience?
2. How can leaders intentionally design a workplace for higher retention?
3. What is the difference between corrective feedback and recognition-based feedback?
4. How does gamification improve employee engagement and workplace productivity?
5. How do you build feedback and recognition into workplace infrastructure? 

Top Takeaways:

• Employee experience directly influences how customers perceive and interact with a company. If employees feel valued, engaged, and recognized, that positive environment shows up in customer interactions.  
• High attrition is a design problem, not a people problem. It is a symptom of an organization that fails to support and motivate its employees. 
• Because of technology, the friction that made it difficult for employees to switch companies, like location limits and time-consuming application processes, have largely disappeared. Organizations must not only work harder but also be more intentional about designing a work experience that retains top talent. 
• Feedback and recognition are not just perks. They should be built into the workplace experience, so employees know their contributions matter and feel motivated to keep excelling. Employees thrive when they receive regular, positive feedback for good performance, not just corrective feedback for mistakes. 
• Human behavior is universal, therefore,  can be predictable. Successful companies leverage the science behind that, along with gamification, to make work more interactive, rewarding, and effective. 
• Leaders can intentionally design work environments that create the right behaviors, motivation, and employee satisfaction, creating an employee experience where people want to stay and do their best. 
• Purpose makes the job meaningful. While a paycheck matters, today’s employees want a sense of purpose and belonging. When leaders ignore these needs, employees feel unmotivated and disconnected.  
• Plus, Shep and Jimmy share more insights from his new book, The Engagement Architecture, on why teams underperform and how leaders can design an environment that changes that. Tune in!

Quotes:

“Workplaces that are mundane, repetitive, and have high attrition need to architect a system that is engaging, rewarding, and provides recognition. This is what drives performance, productivity, and retention.” 

“The frontline experience is the customer experience.” 

“Engagement can be designed and measured and not hoped for. It should be intentional. It should be part of the design of your system rather than just your traditional corrective feedback, weekly reports, or monthly reviews.” 

About:

Jimmy Chebat is the founder and CEO of ZIZO Technologies. With over twenty years in frontline operations, his book The Engagement Architecture guides leaders on designing environments that improve team performance. 

Shep Hyken is a customer service and experience expert, New York Times bestselling author, award-winning keynote speaker, and host of Amazing Business Radio.