Inside Asian Gaming

INSIDE ASIAN GAMING JULY 2018 30 COLUMNISTS Companies who proclaim that they are the best in CX delivery seldom expend any effort in Voice of Customer (VoC) initiatives or employee engagement studies. which employees only communicate to senior management what management wants to hear. At other times, employees are led to believe that management’s time is precious and the bosses should not be bothered by low-level employees. In every CX or employee engagement study I have been involved with, frontline staff have cited communication with management as the single biggest problem facing employee engagement or CX delivery. When communication lines between employees and senior management are opened, staff feel valued and empowered. Their inputs regarding customer experience tend to be accurate and timely. Blockages in upward communication deprive management of vital information and invariably promote cultural toxicity. DISPROPORTIONATE ADHERENCE TO COMPLIANCE ISSUES Gaming is one of the most regulated industries and is getting increasingly so. Usually, the first topic new hires hear about in their corporate orientation is the 30 ways they will be fired for violating company policies. While issues of compliance are no doubt very important, sometimes an obsession with compliance can result in losing sight of the very customers employees are supposed to serve. Compliance matters should be stressed in communication with employees at all levels, however the messages should be delivered in a manner that is not threatening in appearance or disempowering in consequence. Fear and disenfranchisement among frontline employees often leads to rote behaviors, where over time, employees begin to hate their jobs and develop an apathy for those they serve. Effective reframing of company policies and compliance issues such that they become more palatable to lower-level employees goes a long way toward creating a humanized workforce that focuses on serving targeted humans, their customers. POWER DISTANCE BETWEEN MANAGEMENT AND FRONTLINE STAFF Power distance is a key dimension along which the Dutch social psychologist Geert Hofstede classified cultures. Individuals in cultures demonstrating a large power distance are very deferential to figures of authority and generally accept an unequal