Tying Performance to Customer Satisfaction Results

By Greg Coleman

When looking at how companies measure the performance of their employees, it is clear that the process of tying customer satisfaction results to support personnel performance is not very refined. Companies are generally doing a poor job of focusing employees on customer satisfaction.

So why is it that tying customer satisfaction to employee performance is a problem for some companies? One reason is that many companies have poor processes for actually measuring customer satisfaction. In some instances, companies are not collecting a sufficient amount of data to drill down to the support representative or team level. Surveys are conducted randomly but not in a manner that allows for more even distribution across individuals or teams. Without hard data, the process of determining if the support staff delivers quality customer support becomes difficult. Those companies that are successfully tying satisfaction to employee performance are doing so for several reasons.

Collect Enough Data to Evaluate Individuals or Teams

First, they collect enough survey data to support evaluating individuals or teams. These companies are performing an adequate number of surveys to allow for segmentation of results down to the team or individual level. If there is not enough data to measure the individual, then setting goals and measuring performance at the team level is a great alternative. In fact, many companies are moving towards rating customer satisfaction performance at the team or workgroup level.

Setting satisfaction goals for teams or workgroups is an effective way to motivate and target results from the staff. By setting team goals, you get people working together and focusing on delivering a high level of service. Another reason this is effective is that there may be a broad distribution of responsibilities in the team, with some team members having more customer interaction and others providing technical mentoring or escalation support. By targeting performance at the team level, you can ensure that everyone will contribute to driving a higher level of satisfaction. The key is to ensure that enough data is collected so that all teams can be adequately evaluated. Targeting a sample size of two percent of closed support cases, or fifty total surveys per team, will provide a good sample size.

Set Measurable Targets and Evaluate Based on Results

Second, they set measurable targets and evaluate employees based on results. This eliminates any "soft" evaluation derived purely from the perception of a manager or supervisor. Many companies attempt to focus support staff members on delivering excellent service by referencing satisfaction in performance evaluations. In most instances, there are no hard metrics associated with the performance evaluation.

The problem with this is that having weak references to customer satisfaction in a performance review does not focus employees on delivering higher levels of service. Having specific target objectives for satisfaction ratings that affect the compensation of the individual will focus them on delivering better results.

Weight Satisfaction Highly in Performance Evaluations

Lastly, the successful companies are ensuring that customer satisfaction is highly weighted in performance evaluations. The weighting should have a direct impact on compensation for the employees. If possible, a bonus program should be put in place to reward the staff for achievement of customer satisfaction results. The bonus program could be administered quarterly or semi-annually to ensure that there is a constant focus and that the staff is invested in the process of achieving the desired results.

Three Principles to Improve Your Satisfaction Program

So, if you are interested in improving customer satisfaction levels, target employee performance objectives directly to your satisfaction results. Follow these three simple principles to improve your satisfaction program:

1. Collect adequate data in order to segment results by individual, workgroup, or teams. Get a reasonable sample size for each team in the department. Two percent or fifty surveys per team will provide an adequate sample.
2. Set specific measurable targets for individuals or teams. An example would be a target of 90% of customers rating support as satisfactory or better, or team satisfaction results of 4.3 on a one-to-five scale.
3. Ensure that the customer satisfaction component of employee performance evaluations is highly weighted and has an impact on employee compensation. This will motivate the staff to deliver results. If possible, implement a quarterly bonus program based on satisfaction results.

Following these simple suggestions will have a positive impact on your overall customer satisfaction program and drive the staff towards delivering improved results on a consistent basis.