Long before the onset of the pandemic in early 2020, organisations preached a people-centric approach to business. Nevertheless, the impact of Covid-19 accelerated a demonstrable commitment to this goal.  71% of respondents in our upcoming research, due to be published later this summer, agree or strongly agree that their organisation has become more people-focused since the start of the pandemic.

71% of respondents in our research survey agree or strongly agree that their organisation has become more people-focused since the start of the pandemic

Our research suggests that leaders aren’t just talking the talk but walking the walk too. Business leaders are showing more interest, as well as actively investing more in EX.

There is, however, a potential risk that business leader interest could wane after the pandemic subsides, as over a quarter of respondents agree that an increased interest in EX is short-lived. 

EX leaders find themselves in a crucial performance window. Employees expect their experience at work to be constantly improving. Executive stakeholders need to see quantified impact against their specific business or functional objectives. CEOs and Boards want evidence of progress quickly as proof that investments are yielding.

To see quantified impact, and evidence of this improving experience at work, it’s vital to be able to measure the customer experience of HR.

In our bitesized learning video taken from our online course Creating a Digital HR Foundation we examine how you can measure the customer experience of HR and create meaningful data on the employee and manager experience of the HR function. Watch the video below to learn more.

So how do we measure the customer experience of HR?

Customer Satisfaction (CSAT)

In a fantastic article in the Journal of Marketing, Lemon and Verhoef note that it is useful to compare customer experience with other customer focused constructs, such as CSAT. They suggest that CSAT is a key component of the customer experience construct, reflecting the customer’s cognitive evaluation of the experience.

Building on this, CSAT is generally considered to be the result of a direct comparison between actual delivered performance verses the customer’s expectation. The outcome of this comparison (if positive) has been shown to improve satisfaction, which is linked to improved firm performance.

Here lies our first CxHR measurement hypothesis. If we can measure the satisfaction of HR customers at the touchpoint level, then we can use that information to optimise the touchpoint and improve the experience during moments that matter. In turn, this will drive outcomes such as intent to stay and discretionary effort.

Practically speaking, the exact wording of the CSAT question and the corresponding rating system used in surveys tends to differ from organisation to organisation. This means that there is no industry-standard way to measure CSAT. A few commonly used questions include:

– Were you satisfied with ….? (Yes/No)

– On a scale of 1-10, how satisfied are you with ….?

– How would you rate your satisfaction with ….? (very unsatisfied, unsatisfied, satisfied, very satisfied etc)

Interested in learning more about measuring Employee Experience? Take a look at our online Digital HR Certifications on myHRfuture

Net Promotor Score (NPS)

While CSAT is an entrenched measurement practice, new measures have been suggested as an alternative such as Fred Reichheld’s NPS measurement, a measure of customer loyalty. A word search for “NPS” within the majority of large company investor reports is almost guaranteed to yield results. While the academic / practitioner landscape is once again fragmented, many argue that NPS is more intuitive and forward looking than CSAT.

NPS is calculated by asking the following question: on a scale, how likely is it that you would recommend our company/ product/ service to a friend or colleague? Respondents answer the question with a number from 0 to 10, with 0 being extremely unlikely and 10 being extremely likely.

NPS scores are divided into three brackets: (i) 0-6 are considered detractors: customers who are unhappy and can damage a brand; (ii) – 7-8 are passives: satisfied but unenthusiastic customers; and (iii) – 9-10 are promoters: loyal enthusiasts who will fuel growth.

NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage difference between the promoters and the detractors. Companies can score anywhere from -100 to 100.

While some argue that NPS is a better predictor of behaviour than CSAT, research by the likes of De Haan, Verhoef and Wiese suggest that the predictive power of CSAT and NPS for customer retention are similar. Interestingly, they note that combining both metrics improves predictive performance. This brings me to our second measurement hypothesis.

If we can measure the NPS of HR customers at the touchpoint level, then we can use that information to optimise the touchpoint and improve the experience during moments that matter. In turn, this will drive the outcomes mentioned at the start of this article (intent to stay, discretionary effort).

As recommended by De Hann, Verhoef and Wiesel, there is a benefit to combining both CSAT and NPS within a single measurement strategy. There is also a significant need to ask the free text question, ‘why have you given this score?’. Qualitative data will add the context and explanation needed to make tangible improvements at the touchpoint and journey levels.

Customer Effort Score (CES)

When it comes to HR’s services it is important to reiterate the distinction between moments that matter and transactional interactions. Moments that matter shape the employee’s opinion of the company and impact their engagement. Transactional interactions (which could include activities such as updating the payroll system) are less likely to represent a defining moment. That said, they can take up employee time and cause frustration if poorly delivered and should therefore represent an ‘effortless service’. With this in mind allow me to introduce our third measurement – Customer Effort Score (CES).

The simple logic behind CES is that service organisations can create loyal customers by decreasing effort. CEB, now Gartner, authors of the research which sits behind CES, found that 96% of customers reporting high-effort experiences became more disloyal in the future, compared with only 9% of those with low-effort experiences.

Early criticism of the work (inconsistent interpretation of the scale, poor language translation of the word ‘effort’) resulted in further research and validation. Today, we sit with the following measurement approach.

‘To what extent do you agree or disagree with the following statement:

The company made it easy for me to handle my issue.

1. Strongly disagree 2. Disagree 3 Somewhat disagree 4. Neither agree nor disagree. 5. Somewhat agree 6. Agree 7. Strongly Agree’

When applied to transactional HR activities, we do not necessarily believe that we can improve employee loyalty to the company by improving the ease of a payroll interaction. Companies do not typically have competing HR services either, so the employee does not have the option to choose one HR provider over another. We do however believe that a consistently poor service will reinforce an employee’s perception that their company is slow and cumbersome. This could damage an employee’s intent to stay and discretionary effort. There is also a logical link between slow and frustrating HR service interactions and reduced employee productivity. We believe that if we can reduce the level of effort required to interact with HR’s transactional services, we can a) safeguard employee engagement and b) improve productivity, which in turn will have a positive impact on overall employee experience.

While examples of exciting and novel EX practices are plentiful, demonstrating the tangible business impact of EX is limited. Without demonstrating business impact, EX teams are at risk of underinvestment, reduced influence and short-lived glory.

Insight222 and TI-People have joined forces to identify the activities and capabilities EX teams need to better demonstrate business impact. Be the first to receive our upcoming report, Delivering Business Value with Employee Experience: Lessons from People Analytics and learn more about the activities and capabilities EX teams need to better demonstrate business impact. Click below to register to be one of the first to receive this research.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Manpreet Randhawa is the Head of Digital Content for myHRfuture.com. In her previous role as the Change Management Lead for People Planning, Design & Analytics at Cisco Systems, she was responsible for defining and executing on the change management strategy to successfully implement and sustain the digital and cultural transformation across the enterprise. Manpreet is very passionate about change management and technology and how to use both to transform the employee experience and prepare companies for the Future of Work.