Show Your Employee Appreciation (Hint: It’s Better Than Your Average SWAG)

Employee Appreciation Day has arrived! Yes, that’s right, Employee Appreciation Day 2024 is March 1!

Now, one might argue that EVERY DAY should be Employee Appreciation Day. We all know that happy employees make happy customers and exceptional CX is dependent on a great employee experience.

And we also know that hiring and retaining contact center employees is an on-going challenge.

So, in honor of Employee Appreciation Day, I’d like to offer four steps you can (and dare I say, should?) take to make sure your employees feel valued and are fully engaged in creating the very best experiences for your customers.

Valued and engaged employees tend to stick around and seek to have a long and successful career with your company.

Step #1: Give your employees the flexibility they crave

Life happens!

Much attention has been paid to the importance of flexibility in the workplace. This can mean everything from flexibility in scheduling to create a better work/life balance to even offering remote or hybrid work options.

Scheduling resources and managing time-off to ensure coverage that meets your organization’s changing needs is an age-old challenge. But imagine if you could allow agents to make their own changes to their schedules without negatively impacting the needs of the business?

The Verint TimeFlex Bot does just that by allowing agents to manage their Verint Workforce Management schedules while calculating the impact on service-level and ensuring your business rules and service goals are met. Agents can earn “FlexCoin” when they make a schedule change that they can see is beneficial to the company; for example, when they choose to work a shift for which the company is understaffed.

Conversely, agents can choose to spend the FlexCoins they’ve accrued when they want to make schedule changes that are better for them but are less beneficial to the company. The power is now in the employees’ hands!

Step #2: Make sure your employees have the tools and knowledge they need to be successful at their jobs

It used to be that working remotely was virtually unheard of—especially for contact centers. But then the pandemic came along, and everything changed. Part of the fallout from this change has been the challenge of supporting employees in the moment with the tools and information they need.

It used to be simple for an agent to call out to a supervisor for assistance. Or for a supervisor to see an employee struggling and offer guidance. Obviously, this doesn’t work in quite the same way for remote workers.

You need to be able to provide employees with the contextual knowledge they need at just the right moment to address whatever issue is at hand. The Verint Knowledge Suggestion Bot does just this. Knowing they have support like this and aren’t left to flounder gives employees the confidence that they can do their jobs well.

And, when some extra guidance is needed, real-time coaching can provide real-time guidance to help agents drive interactions to positive outcomes.

Step #3: Build employee confidence and engagement with regular, specific feedback

Use performance management tools to gain insight into individual and team performance throughout your organization. Armed with this crucial information, you’re able to uncover specific areas where employees appear to struggle and then be able to implement a plan to provide the extra training or coaching they may need to feel more confident, empowered, and engaged.

With the help of our Performance Scoring Bot, besides constructive feedback, you can highlight employees who are routinely excelling in their roles. Managers can recognize these individuals with positive feedback, rewards, or even promotions—all key to developing long-term, productive employees.

This bot is part of our three Quality Bots and is here to help supervisors give non-biased, more objective feedback, as well as provide your team with quality dashboards to improve the transparency of performance reviews.

Step #4: Help employees see how they fit into the big picture

Don’t underestimate the importance of helping ALL your employees feel invested in your organization’s success. Virtually everyone likes to feel like they are part of a team and making a contribution.

Make sure you take some time to share the “wins” that they were part of—maybe through a regular newsletter or other communication that goes to your whole team. Let those who are doing great work have their time in the spotlight.

Other activities, such as opportunities for giving back to the broader community, are great ways to build team spirit, camaraderie, and engagement (as well as doing some good)!

What are your plans for Employee Appreciation Day?

Sure, gifts are a great way to show appreciation—but who really needs another coffee mug with the company logo?

This year, show your employees how much you appreciate them by making their lives easier with tools designed to help improve work/life balance and the resources they need to feel successful and satisfied in their jobs.

Those are the gifts they’ll truly appreciate!