When it comes to creating exceptional customer experiences, we often focus heavily on customer-facing strategies and tactics. But there’s a fundamental principle I’ve championed throughout my career that deserves more attention: the Employee Golden Rule.
This principle is straightforward yet powerful: treat the people we work with the way we want our customers treated. It’s a concept I’ve seen transform organizations from the inside out, creating alignment between internal culture and external customer experience.
Why Internal Treatment Reflects External Service
Think about it logically. How can we expect employees to deliver warm, helpful, and attentive service to customers when they don’t receive the same treatment from their managers and leaders? The disconnect creates a credibility gap that’s impossible to bridge.
You simply can’t be one way to employees and expect them to act completely differently toward customers. Human behavior doesn’t work that way. When employees feel undervalued, micromanaged, or disrespected, those negative emotions inevitably seep into their customer interactions.
Conversely, when employees feel valued, supported, and respected, they naturally extend that same positive treatment to customers. It’s human nature to reflect how we’re treated.
Creating Congruence in Your Organization
The key word here is congruence. Your organization’s values must be consistent across all relationships – not just customer-facing ones. This means:
- If you want employees to listen attentively to customers, leaders must listen attentively to employees
- If you want employees to go the extra mile for customers, the company must go the extra mile for employees
- If you want employees to show appreciation to customers, leadership must show genuine appreciation to employees
This alignment creates authenticity that customers can feel. When an employee genuinely enjoys their workplace and feels valued, that positive energy transfers directly to customer interactions.
The Business Impact of the Employee Golden Rule
Following this rule isn’t just good for morale – it drives business results. My work with organizations across industries has consistently shown that companies with strong employee experience metrics also excel in customer satisfaction and loyalty.
The connection makes perfect sense. Happy employees stay longer, reducing costly turnover. They take fewer sick days. They bring more energy and creativity to problem-solving. They build stronger relationships with customers. All these factors directly impact the bottom line.
We treat the people we work with, our employees, the way we want our customers treated.
This principle works at every level of the organization. It’s not just about how executives treat managers or how managers treat frontline staff. It’s about how everyone treats each other throughout the company. The mailroom staff deserves the same respect as the C-suite executives, and the newest hire deserves the same consideration as the most tenured employee.
Putting the Rule into Practice
Implementing the Employee Golden Rule requires intentional action. Some practical steps include:
- Audit your employee experience through the lens of your customer experience goals
- Ask employees how valued they feel and what would make them feel more appreciated
- Examine policies and procedures for inconsistencies between how you treat employees versus expectations for customer treatment
- Recognize and reward managers who exemplify the Employee Golden Rule
The beauty of this approach is its simplicity. We don’t need complex frameworks or expensive consultants to tell us how to treat people well. We already know how we want our customers treated – with respect, attention, care, and appreciation. We just need to extend those same qualities to our internal relationships.
I challenge every leader reading this to reflect on how consistently you’re applying the Employee Golden Rule in your organization. Are you creating the conditions that allow your team to authentically deliver the experience you want for your customers?
Remember, exceptional customer experience starts with exceptional employee experience. Go do something nice for your employees today – your customers will ultimately be the beneficiaries.
