If you asked ten managers the reasons they let their last few employees go, few of us would argue if chronic tardiness and absenteeism ranked high on the list.
However, according to this article by Business First, presenteeism is just as great a threat to your business as absenteeism, at times more so.
A workplace culture that creates the perceived threat that employees can’t take time for themselves, can’t fall ill, can’t have a life – else they will suffer unspecified consequences – will affect your bottom line as much as unproductive, reliably absent or marginal employees.
What does this have to do with my marketing?
No matter how what percentage of your budget you spend on marketing, your staff, and how well they provide service, will always be your primary source of marketing. You can spend every cent of your profit on getting the word out about your exceptional staffing services, but if Alex gives callers the impression that they’ve interrupted his tweeting or Chris doesn’t return her phone calls, you’ve wasted your money.
While the article addresses changes you can make to allow your employees the peace of mind to take time away from the office, it doesn’t address the fallout from both your ‘best’ and ‘worst’ employees’ behavior.
Your reputation is important.
Over time word gets out about who is the best – or worst – at providing a service. We all have heard stories of bad brake jobs, unfinished home repairs or unfair refund policies. We take the advice the complainer jettisons at us with a grain of salt. We judge them before we accept their complaint as gospel. Do they complain about everything? Are they even-keeled? We take that into account and then decide whether to take their advice.
Online, you’ll find more reviews from complainers than at your last family reunion – with no baseline to assess the writers’ experiences. Couple that with dozens of other negative reviews and future readers will only determine, through quantity, that the bad experiences must be universal.
If Chris and Alex aren’t doing their jobs, your prospects might not be telling you, but many of them will go online, leaving their bad experiences out there forever.
Get in front of the issues that your best and worst employees cause. Give your visitors a chance to let you know what they are thinking. Let them tell you that Chris and Alex didn’t leave a good impression AND that Pat and Kelly (both of whom must have a good work/life balance) have wowed them with their service.
Find out what chronic problems your company has. Dilute the negative reviews that former employees’ bad service left you to deal with. Give future readers a chance to see that service has improved in the last couple of years.
