Emoloyee first or customer first

1. EMPLOYEE FIRST OR CUSTOMER
FIRST
A Presentation By-
DAKSH KAUSHIK
AMAN SINGH
DEV SHAH
HANISH SHARMA
ABDULLAH
PRINCIPLES OF MANAGEMENT (LLB 113)

2. INTRODUCTION
 We all know that a company operates in two markets – the market for customers and the market
for talent (employees). Both these markets have changed significantly. The changes in the market
for customers have been well chronicled and needs no illustration. For most products and
services, we are in a ‘buyer’s market’ where the customer has a choice – the balance of power is
in favor of the customer.
 The talent market has not been studied so well, particularly by managers in organizations, partly
because the customer is looked upon as “somebody else” while employee is “us” It is
always easier to study others than ourselves.

3. Who Should Come First? - Employee or
Customer
 What we miss in our obsession with studying the behaviors of the younger generation is that, like
our customers, they have a choice and they are exercising their choice. The balance of power has
shifted.
 Most organizations, not just the best workplaces, know that to win in the market for customers
they have to win in the talent (employee) market first. Most organizations have specific initiatives
that they have launched to win in the talent market, just like the steps they have taken to win in
the market for customers.

4. REASONS WHY EMPLOYEES COMES FIRST
Yet most of our organizations have different standards when it comes to customers and employees.
Here are reasons why we should put employees first:
 The customer is always right, employees are sometimes right – It seems everyone
understands that the customer is the king. Who is an employee? The accepted axiom is that even
if a customer is wrong, apologies first and figure out what to do later. The best workplaces we
study are often obsessed about ensuring the right customer experience, but not at the cost of
the employee. In one of the best workplaces, the global CEO of the company flew down to
inform one of their biggest customers in the local country office that his business was no longer
solicited because he mistreated an employee.

5.  No hierarchy for customers, only for employees - In a recent interaction with a
manufacturing organization, the senior management team opined that while it was not easy for a
junior person to walk into the cabin of a senior executive without an appointment, even the
most person would find the doors of the senior -most executive open – if he said he was from a
customer’s organization. In contrast, over 80 percent of employees in the global best workplaces
list of Great Place to Work® Institute say that management is approachable, easy to talk with.
 Proactive communication versus reactive justification - Some months ago, the
manufacturer of a famous car wrote to its customers stating that based on their internal checks,
a measure of abundant caution, they would like to change one part. The part was working well
customers were impressed that this company was going to such lengths. Much later customers
read in the newspapers that they had recalled/ replaced this part in thousands of cars of a
model. It was a great feeling that customers got to know from the company before they got to
know from the newspaper. But had the company informed their own employees first? Whether it
Cadbury or Mindtree, employees of best workplaces know that they will hear both good and bad
news first from their managers.

6.  Individualized treatment versus one size fits all - Every time you try and purchase
something at Amazon.com you are amazed by how books that you like are on top of the screen!
Amazon tracks your reading choices- it does not try to force you to buy what they want to sell, it
takes you to what you want to buy. How many times has an employee come with a request only
be told it cannot be sanctioned as per current policy! RMSI, one of the best workplaces studied,
a policy exception site- to enable employees to log in their requests for policy exceptions with
reasons, so that management can transparently take decisions on policy exceptions.
 Even an average customer is important - We will hate to break a commitment, even to a
customer who is giving us average revenue. Priority will be given to commitments made to
customers rather than commitments made to employees, particularly employees with “average”
performance. We hear a lot about programs for “strategic talent”, very little about average
performers.

7.  Instant gratification versus unnamed future rewards - If a customer cannot wait, we will
have to stretch to meet his deadline. An employee has needs too, but our assumption seems to
that surely if he works hard and performs well, he will ultimately get what he deserves. (“Deserve
before you desire”). Best workplaces like AmEx have published their compensation bands so that
employees know what they can hope to get based on what level of performance.
 Companies exist to serve the Customer; Employees exist to serve Companies! - Though
expressed half in jest by senior managers in a workshop, this can very well summaries the
of senior managers in many organizations which exist with the duality that the customer is the
and the boss is the customer.

8. CONCLUSION
No amount of People or Employee First slogans will help if our entrenched mindset reflects the
above. What is interesting is that so many organizations have been able to change the mindset that
comes in the way of recognizing that to be successful you cannot treat your employees as less
important than your customers. The Ritz-Carlton hotel sums it up aptly when it refers to its
employees as “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.”