The large US businesses with the best and worst customer and employee satisfaction

As explained in my last article here, I have completed my second annual study of the relationship between employee and customer satisfaction for large US companies that sell to consumers. The results confirmed my conclusion that there is almost no relationship between the two for most businesses. The study also allowed me to understand which companies have both customers and employees that are very happy, and those where both are very unhappy.

My meta analysis covers 345 large US companies. I have used the American Customer Satisfaction Index data to measure customer satisfaction, and Glassdoor numbers to measure employee satisfaction. The two tables below show the companies that are in the top 10% on both lists, and those in the bottom 10%. The companies in the upper table are listed in descending order of ACSI score. For the lower table the sequence is from worst ACSI score to best. ‘Touch’ refers to the relative level of contact customers have with company employees.

Top 10% for both employees and customers

Bottom 10% for both employees and customers

So therefore…

If I were looking for a job, the companies on the upper list would be my priorities. And as for those on the lower list… well… Surely it must be frustrating for their boards and leadership teams to know that so many customers and employees hate them. Mind you, some of these are semi-monopoly businesses, so maybe they just don’t care. Remember that employee satisfaction and engagement are two different things. People can be happy with their pay, the distance they have to drive or walk to work, and the food in the company cafeteria. None of these do anything for customers. There is no standard metric for employee engagement, making it difficult to study.

As always, feel free to disagree below or by contacting me at mfg@customerstrategy.net. The rabbit drawing is of course by Peter FitzGerald and is the cover illustration for our book of his business drawings “So Happy Here” which is available from Amazon.

Next time: the counter-intuitive lists, meaning the companies whose customers love them while their employees hate them, and vice-versa.