Employee Retention Linked To Better Customer Service.

If you think there's a link between employee retention and service quality, a new survey suggests you're right. Unifi Network (www.unifi.com), a division of PricewaterhouseCoopers, and Roper Starch Worldwide conducted a joint study that examined the impact of employee turnover on customer satisfaction within six different industries. In each case, the results show a strong link between employee retention and quality of service as rated by the customer.

A total of 3,005 interviews were conducted online and facilitated by an existing partnership between Roper Starch Worldwide and America Online. Consumer respondents were qualified by having had recent service encounters in at least one of the six industries: personal computing, banking, retail, telecommunications, investment management or property and casualty insurance.

Overall, more than 60 percent of the respondents were less than satisfied with the service they received from companies in one or more of the target industries. Additionally, more than 80 percent of the respondents perceive employee retention as a problem within the six industries. Twice as many respondents said that personnel issues are a challenge facing their service providers than said that product or price issues are a problem -- a factor service providers must consider when seeking to secure and retain customers.

Across all six industries, on average, only 20 percent of the participants say their service provider would be a good company to work for. One in three consumers cite employee turnover as a significant and even crucial factor in examining quality-of-service delivery. Fifty-seven percent of respondents identified poor employee training as a leading aspect of service deficiencies, while only 20 percent were satisfied by their service provider's ability to retain their best employees.

"The emergence of innovative technologies, new workforce attitudes and a drop in the birth rate have caused turnover and recruitment cycles to skyrocket across many industries," said Tom Casey, the leader of Unifi Network's Talent Management Practice. "The negative effects of the increase in employee turnover are no longer being felt exclusively by the human resource managers. It is apparent that consumers are directly impacted by turnover as well."