Boosting Employee Experience to Drive Great Customer Experience

When the Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO) of a prominent U.S. federal agency operating within the United States defense and aerospace sectors identified issues impacting its customer experience (CX) landscape, it engaged The Clearing to help. Read on to learn how our team of CX experts helped the OCIO in steering their CX strategy towards success, enhancing the employee experience, and fostering a culture of growth.

The Situation

The OCIO employs more than 17,000 individuals dedicated to providing technical and mission-critical support for various high-profile, strategic projects both within government and in the commercial space. However, they were facing morale challenges in the technical and mission support office.

Because of the complex, high-dollar, high-visibility nature of its projects both within and outside of government, the OCIO could not afford to let these challenges degrade its customer experience or team performance, as dissatisfied employees within such a critical support function could quickly create a spiral of inefficiency that could cost taxpayers billions. Recognizing this challenge, forward-thinking agency leadership knew that improving its employees’ experience (EX) was crucial to improving its overall customer support. This is where The Clearing’s customer experience experts learned to support the agency.

Our Support

Our engagement with the OCIO kicked off with the launch of a ‘Voice of the Employee’ (VoE) program to identify the root causes of employee satisfaction challenges. This included conducting interviews with 77% of the OCIO’s employees, spanning all divisions and employee levels.

The VoE program found that communication breakdowns at the middle management level resulted in a need to repair trust, enhance transparency across OCIO, develop greater clarity on roles and growth avenues for employees, and increase levels of accountability at all levels.

In response, we worked with OCIO leadership to establish new, consistent touchpoints to address and resolve challenges transparently while also using these touchpoints to highlight internal employee successes and advancements. This approach nurtured a more open culture, which helped foster innovation and continuous progress by incorporating cross-discipline viewpoints on improvements that had not previously had an outlet. For example, engineers and biologists partnered to resolve challenges using their unique skill sets, providing a richer pool of diverse problem-solving.

Ultimately, the OCIO community turned a cultural corner, responding more and more favorably to efforts to encourage collaboration and engagement across its missions to ensure their shared success. The change management plan laid the groundwork for ongoing enhancements in employee experience and organizational culture, setting the stage for continued and sustainable success in the future.

The Results & Impact

The VoE initiative’s impact on the OCIO organization has been significant. Over the past three years, the Office has seen a noticeable improvement in employee satisfaction scores and a positive shift in the OCIO community’s behavior toward greater trust and openness. Individuals within the community now feel more empowered to take ownership of their roles within the OCIO culture.

According to OCIO leadership, The Clearing’s strategy for enhancing employee-driven customer experience is the first to truly resonate and endure within this function. However, OCIO leadership also deserves credit, both for recognizing employee challenges and tackling them head-on sustaining its commitment to cultural advancement. In fact, post-implementation reports indicate that continual improvement practices have become embedded within the organization’s DNA.

If you or your organization is wondering about the state of your customer experience landscape, a great place to start is with CX Spark. This virtual assessment tool helps quantify an organization’s current level of CX maturity to understand how well it is meeting its customers’ needs. We are also always ready to chat about your needs and opportunities. Reach out anytime – we look forward to speaking with you.