AI Communications
Every company says people are its greatest asset, but not every company builds a culture that proves it. When employees feel overlooked, the impact shows up quickly: customers notice disengaged service, innovation slows, and competitors pull ahead.
But when organizations commit to building a people-first culture, the results are transformative. Employees feel supported, customers receive better experiences, and the entire business gains a stronger foundation for growth.
In this blog, we’ll explore why the path to a high-performing, customer-centric company begins from the inside out, with how you treat your own people.
Cisco’s transformation: a case study in listening to employees
In 2014, Cisco launched Our People Deal, an internal initiative designed to strengthen employee experience and culture. Instead of adding surface-level perks, Cisco restructured how leaders and employees interacted.
Quarterly reviews were replaced with weekly check-ins that created space for recognition, coaching, and personal development. Leadership emphasized open dialogue, greater transparency, expanded opportunities for advancement, and even renewed focus on corporate social responsibility initiatives that employees could be proud of.
Kelly Jones, Cisco’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition, explained: “The most powerful thing we do is listen to our people. And if you think about some of the big things we have done over the last few years, it has all come from our employees.”
The results validated the effort. Cisco consistently ranks among the best companies to work for, including the #4 spot on Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2020.
Ninety-eight percent of Cisco employees reported that they love where they work, compared to a national average of 85 percent.
Cisco’s example demonstrates that culture is not a slogan or campaign. It is the cumulative result of leadership choices that employees see and feel every day.
The key to building a customer-centric team: Enterprise edition eBook
Happy employees are better for business
The link between employee engagement and business performance is no longer theoretical.
Highly engaged teams innovate faster, adapt more effectively, and remain with organizations longer. Engaged employees deliver customer interactions that feel authentic rather than transactional, which strengthens loyalty and drives repeat business.
Disengaged employees, by contrast, drain resources quietly but significantly. Productivity declines, turnover increases, and customers notice the difference in service quality. One study estimated the cost of disengagement at $20,000 per employee annually, underscoring the financial risk of neglecting culture.
Employee satisfaction is not an HR initiative. It is a business strategy that directly influences growth, profitability, and customer success.
5 steps to creating an employee-first culture
Building an employee-first culture requires consistent action, not abstract values. Here are five steps organizations can implement immediately:
1. Engage with employees to get feedback and insight
Many organizations make the mistake of holding reviews bi-annually or, even worse, only when they’re necessary.
But without holding regular reviews, employers miss out on two major opportunities. The organization won’t understand its shortcomings, and employees won’t get the recognition and personal development they deserve.
Employees want to know that their companies are invested in their employees’ futures, and that starts with initiating conversations with them on a regular basis.
Cisco eliminated quarterly reviews and instead switched to weekly check-in meetings with employees. This gives managers an opportunity to evaluate performance, discuss updates, provide training and coaching, praise achievements, and understand each employee’s career and life goals.
In short, check-in meetings do wonders for helping employees feel emotionally valued within the organization.
2. Prioritize flexibility to promote better employee wellness
Today, the notion of 9-5 work hours feels outdated. A survey of 1500 people showed that 96% of employees want flexible work hours and a better work-life balance, and that 25% of employees would take a 10-20% pay cut in exchange for flexibility. The demand for flexible work is there, and organizations are starting to meet those demands.
As of 2019, 66% of companies offer some sort of flexible work schedule where employees can split time between office and home.
Some organizations have begun experimenting with reduced office hours or four-day workweeks. These more flexible schedules allow employees to not only complete tasks at their own pace but handle other life priorities without being bound to the office.
Employees with the freedom to manage their own time show lower levels of stress, higher levels of happiness, and most importantly, higher productivity.
3. Give employees the right technology to be successful
It may not seem apparent at first, but poor technology can have a significant negative impact on work culture. For example, outdated computers that take ages to load a new page not only waste time, but cause employees to lose focus. In fact, 57% of employees surveyed said that working with inadequate and obsolete technology has negatively affected workplace productivity and morale.
What happens when technology doesn’t meet the needs of employees? Tasks take longer to complete, employees work longer hours, and the quality of work suffers. This leads to higher employee stress and higher turnover.
With that in mind, technologies that combine multiple functions and tasks into one have the greatest chance to improve productivity, focus, and morale.
For example, many organizations use separate apps for team messaging, video conferencing, and phone, but an integrated communications solution that combines them into one unified app can dramatically improve the employee experience.
Employees only need to learn and manage one app, reducing the stress of “app overload” and allowing them to focus more on their tasks.
4. Offer more growth and development opportunities
Organizations are increasingly realizing the importance of employee retention. The cost of replacing an employee can be as high as 150% of his or her annual salary.
It should surprise no one that employees who feel they’re on a career path are less likely to leave. As a result, consider actively coaching employees and create new opportunities for them to expand their skills. Leaders can challenge them by putting them on more important projects and including them in decision-making meetings. Leverage one-on-ones to provide feedback and mentorship, and connect them with important people who can change their lives.
5. Promote social activities to create a sense of unity
One common misconception is that employees don’t enjoy socializing with coworkers. The reality is that many employees enjoy connecting with their colleagues, but not when it carves into their own personal time.
Socializing in the workplace is great for developing personal relationships and teamwork, driving innovation, and reducing workplace stress.
Company-driven social activities, such as hosting cornhole tournaments or installing a basketball arcade, can help foster that interaction.
If it’s in the budget, consider hosting department off-sites where employees come together to bond and discuss ideas.
10 principles of customer-centric culture
Employee-first and customer-centric cultures are deeply interconnected. Annette Franz, in her book Built to Win, outlines ten principles that explain why starting with employees ultimately creates better outcomes for customers:
1. Culture is the foundation.
Culture doesn’t happen without the right leadership. Ideally, culture should be designed and delivered.
Companies either get the culture they design, or the one they allow. While it may be easier to acquiesce, companies that are active in creating a positive culture will reap the rewards.
If leaders do it, employees will follow, regardless if that behavior is good or bad.
2. Leadership commitment and alignment are critical.
Leaders must be committed to the culture being designed, and that culture should be aligned across the board.
Not only that, but every person needs to work together toward a common goal and be committed to the mission. When members of the executive team do their own thing, the customer-centric culture suffers. Unfortunately, this happens all the time.
Leaders need to take the reins and ensure every team player is on board with the same goal. Being a role model is critical here. While sometimes culture begins from ground up, most success comes when it’s driven by leaders.
3. Put employees first.
If a company is going to put customers first, they need to put employees “more” first because employee experience drives customer experience. The customer experience may be the focal point, but it can be difficult to provide a positive experience if employees are not taken care of first. Happy employees equal happy customers.
4. People before products.
Seth Godin once said, “Find products for your customers, not customers for your products.” This makes perfect sense, but some companies don’t understand this concept.
Companies shouldn’t blindly design products and expect people to want and buy them. What problem is being solved? What pain point is being alleviated?
Instead, companies should first be speaking with their customers to get to know what they want and need, then develop products around that.
5. People before profits.
Profits are the ultimate outcomes that businesses need. However, success can only come when customers are happy and keep coming back for more. Ultimately, this means that businesses should be putting people before their profits. Doing so will allow the profits to come naturally.
Companies should take care of their employees before taking care of anyone else. Happier employees will better engage with customers, which will inevitably boost the bottom line.
6. People before metrics.
Contact centers may use a variety of metrics to gauge how well their businesses are operating. But focusing too much on metrics could damage the experience of the customer.
For instance, handle time may be a good metric to look at to see how quickly a customer’s question is answered. But a short call handle time means nothing if the caller’s issue isn’t resolved.
Ultimately, it’s the person that should be focused on, and not necessarily the metrics used to improve customer experience.
7. Customer understanding is essential.
Understanding the customer is the cornerstone of customer centricity. It’s what sets the foundation of the business. Everything else a company does radiates from that.
No matter what question a company may be asking, it’s crucial to bring the customer’s voice in. There are three key ways to understand your customer:
- Listen. Mirror feedback and understand what the customer is looking for.
- Characterize. Understand the customers’ personas.
- Empathize. It’s all about the journey-mapping process to understanding where the customer is coming from and where they want to be.
Setting expectations and communicating is key to building relationships with customers.
8. Governance bridges organizational gaps.
Governance is a big part of bridging the silos within an organization.
There must be a cross-collaborative model in place. A business cannot have different departments with different models.
Silos break down the communication piece, but by bridging these gaps and bringing everyone together, everyone can move in the same direction.
At the end of the day, you’re only as strong as your weakest link, so it’s imperative that each team member is on board with what the end goal is.
9. Shift from inside-out to outside-in thinking.
An “inside-out” mentality means a company thinks they know what’s best for their customers and who they are. But phrases like “I think” are bad for business because this assumes the company knows what’s best for the customer without bringing the customer’s voice in.
There needs to be a shift in that thinking. Rather than “I think,” team members should be confident in what the customer wants and what their paintings are. In this case, the phrase should be “I know the customer thinks.”
10. Treat customers as they want to be treated.
The golden rule suggests treating others as you would like to be treated, but in customer service the better principle is treating customers according to their preferences and expectations.
By understanding customers’ pain points and needs, companies can then treat them accordingly. You might like to be treated one way, but your customers might prefer something else.
Together, these principles emphasize that employee-first and customer-centric strategies are not separate. They are two sides of the same coin.
Technology as the bridge between employees and customers
Technology is more than an efficiency tool. It is the link that connects how employees experience their work with how customers experience the company.
Unified communication platforms give employees the ability to collaborate instantly, access knowledge when they need it, and resolve issues before they escalate. Customers feel the difference through faster responses and more consistent service.
For remote and hybrid teams, the right technology also signals inclusion. It ensures that employees, regardless of where they work, have equal access to recognition, mentorship, and growth opportunities.
When leaders align technology with culture, it sends a powerful message that employees are valued. In turn, employees use those tools not just to get work done, but to deliver service that is empathetic, responsive, and deeply human.
Why the future belongs to people-first organizations
Building a people-first culture is not a short-term initiative or a box to check. It is an ongoing commitment that requires leaders to consistently model the values they expect, align decisions with those values, and adapt as employee needs evolve.
The reward is not only happier employees or more loyal customers, but a culture resilient enough to withstand disruption and strong enough to sustain growth in any environment.
The real measure of success is not how quickly a company can hit quarterly targets, but how deeply it can embed respect, trust, and shared purpose into its DNA. Organizations that achieve this will not just perform well today, they will continue to thrive tomorrow.
Updated Oct 10, 2025
