WIREDGOV

We’ve been celebrating National Customer Service Week (NCSW) at YPO, and Thursday’s theme shines the spotlight on employee engagement.

Nationally, the Institute of Customer Service initiative presents a great opportunity to showcase the vital role that customer service plays in our businesses and communities, highlighting the hard work, dedication and impact of teams across the UK. 

Here YPO’s Joanne Grigg, Head of HR and People Services, looks at the great work that our teams play in delivering first-class customer service across YPO and how we endeavour to support and engage them. 

How important is employee engagement?

Employee engagement is really important as it impacts performance and productivity, recruitment and retention, and customer satisfaction. If we are motivated and performing well, we are more likely to go over and above what is required, more likely to be innovative and want to try new things and build stronger customer relationships. We do this by acknowledging and rewarding achievements, sharing information, asking for thoughts and views and by creating a positive working environment.

How is YPO ensuring it's creating a workplace in which people feel connected to the organisation and the chance to have their say?

Working environments have changed in recent years, thanks to digitalisation, hybrid working, plus growing awareness of inclusivity, diversity and well-being. We now live in a world where a workplace is much broader than just a building. It’s important to create an inclusive culture where people still feel connected and strive to do the right thing. 

YPO has taken the best from evolving work patterns over recent years.   Where we can – with the proviso that it’s not always possible - YPO has enabled greater flexibility and control over people’s working lives, helping to improve and enhance their work/life balance. 

As a result, it’s not always about working in one place. However, it does mean that we must look out for each other more and have those personal connections. 

To help achieve this, YPO has:

• Invested in employee wellbeing and diversity
• Provided lots of support, guidance, signposting, resources etc to staff
• Introduced our SPILL support service
• Won an award for our wellbeing work and is currently a finalist for another.

What is YPO doing to improve employees' experience?

A recent ICS’ report promoted the strong links between employee engagement and customer experience, highlighting five key trends. These are digitalisation, hybrid working, changing customer behaviours, expectations of wellbeing and inclusivity and cost of living. 

YPO is investing as follows:

• Digitalisation – we are currently working through a programme of digitisation and streamlining our processes and ways of working to benefit our staff and customers. We’re running a project to map and understand who our customers are and how they would like to enhance the customer journey. 

We also emphasise that we are “customers to each other”, with focus on self-care training and developing an ethos of respect and key values. 

• Strengthening relationships – our customers understandably expect more from us, and they have more choices in the marketplace. To retain customers, we must understand their requirements and boost trust and loyalty. To do this, we ensure we listen, take their needs on board, and ultimately retain them.  The same applies to our employees.  We need to look after our staff, ensuring YPO is a great place to work, while building loyalty and commitment. 
• Strengthening our Wellbeing Programme – this goes the extra mile by ensuring we have great colleagues, managers and leaders, who understand their teams, look out for them and spot when problems crop up.  The emphasis is on providing support and creating a positive working environment. 

Our wellbeing support covers:

• Mental & physical health
• Menopause
• Nutrition and healthy eating
• Alcohol and substance dependency
• Sleep
• Men’s health
• Financial wellbeing
• Suicide prevention

Our YPO values also support this, particularly “BE KIND”.

The BE KIND ethos is firmly about caring for each other and commitment to supporting our colleagues, customers and suppliers.

As we wrap up our celebration of National Customer Service Week at YPO, it’s clear that employee engagement is not just a theme; it’s a cornerstone of how we deliver exceptional service, from investing in wellbeing and inclusivity to embracing flexible working and digital transformation.

YPO is committed to creating a workplace where people feel valued, connected, and empowered. By supporting our teams and fostering a culture of kindness and collaboration, we ensure our employees are engaged and inspired to go above and beyond for our customers daily.