I’ll explain in a moment. But first, let’s recap. One week ago today, on April 13, a video was posted on YouTube showing a few Domino’s employees doing some really disgusting things with food, as they appeared to be preparing it for customers. The video has since been taken down, so I don’t know how many people ultimately viewed it-but I read that on April 15, it had been viewed 562,627 times by 8 a.m., 728,816 times by 3 p.m., and 930,390 times by 9:30 p.m. A stellar example of social media’s viral nature.

The employees have been fired and face felony charges. And Domino’s is now fighting for its reputation. A two-minute video created by the Domino’s organization, featuring an apology by Patrick Doyle, president of Domino’s USA, was posted on YouTube on April 15. I just checked, and it has received 540,896 views in five days-not bad, but certainly no comparison to the number of views the damaging video received just in one day.

So here’s why I’m feeling just a teensy bit smug. A year ago-on April 16, 2008-I wrote a blog post titled, “The Domino’s effect.” I detailed an experience of mine with the big pizza chain-or more specifically, with an extremely apathetic Domino’s employee. It had to do with being charged $16.00 for two medium pizzas, although three mediums cost $15.00.

The point of my post wasn’t that the employee was a bad person or even a bad employee. My point was that Domino’s clearly did not empower its employees to make even the smallest decisions in order to make customers happy. I wrote, “Somewhere up the line, a manager at Domino’s decided that this low-paid, hourly worker was not important to the success of the company. Someone made the decision that he didn’t need to understand the goals of the company and that he didn’t need to understand how he contributed to the achievement of those goals. And it’s clear that no one thought he should be empowered to give the customer a good experience. Who can blame the kid for not caring?”

Unempowered employees become apathetic employees. It’s the only way they can really survive that kind of work environment. If they continue to care, but can’t do anything about it, they’ll be miserable, frustrated, and angry. Stop caring—and it’s much easier to get through your shift.

As far as I can tell, Domino’s still doesn’t get it, even in the face of this supreme (go ahead and groan!) reputation nightmare. In the video, Doyle says, “Nothing is more important or sacred to us than our customers’ trust.”

That way of thinking is faulty, Mr. Doyle. There is something more important than the trust of your customers. It’s the commitment and loyalty of your employees, which only happens when they are empowered, respected, communicated with, valued, thanked, and made to feel that they are an important part of the company’s success.

Doyal also says, “We are re-examining our hiring practices.” Well-that’s never a bad idea. But I suggest, Patrick, that you re-examine the way employees are treated, too.  Even the best employees become negative and apathetic if they are not empowered, respected, communicated with, valued, thanked, and made to feel that they are an important part of the company’s success.

“It sickens me that the actions of two individuals could impact our great system,” Doyle says in the video.

It’s tragic that any well-intentioned organization should have its reputation threatened by the sickening actions of two employees. I have genuine compassion for everyone affiliated with Domino’s and sincerely hope they weather this storm.

But Mr. Doyle, as you evaluate the cause of this crisis and implement policies to prevent anything like this from happening again, please don’t miss a very important lesson.  It can be found in the three words I used to end the blog entry I posted almost one year ago to the day before the corporate giant’s image went south: “Employee morale and reputation go hand in hand. Domino’s got eight bucks from me that day. But my opinion of the company tanked. Every employee matters.”

To wit: Once in awhile, I’ll really want to give my money to some company, because I want their product or service. I’ll have the money, and I’m planning to give it to them. But the transaction is aborted because an employee of the company can’t help me, can’t answer my questions, can’t find the item I want, can’t explain the difference between two similar products, can’t give me the exact price of something, can’t tell me if the purchase comes with a guarantee, or can’t provide me enough information to inspire confidence in giving that business my money.

At the moment, I’m irritated with the employee. But that irritation quickly expands and morphs into a completely negative view of the company itself. After all—it’s the company that either hired the wrong person for the job, or didn’t provide the person with adequate training.  So even if the company’s products or services are phenomenal, and every other person working there would have provided me with exquisite service, I now have a very, very low opinion of the company. If someone asks me what I think about that company, I’ll tell them about my disappointing experience.

During that conversation, I’ll communicate much more than my negative opinion of that company. I’ll communicate my perception of that company’s brand.

Here’s a good quote from Drew’s brand communication and design blog: “Brands that are successful communicate the same core message and level of service throughout all customer interactions.” He lists 10 (plus a bonus) free do-it-yourself branding tips for businesses—and they include employee education, telephone protocol, and removing the word “no” from your company’s vocabulary. The bonus branding tip is to empower your employees to be able to take care of customers.

And here’s another bonus. When you train, educate, involve, communicate with and empower your employees, you not only strengthen your brand—you increase employee morale.

The words?  I screwed up.

I’ve frequently said, and will continue to say, that a class called Humility 101 should be a required course in every MBA program. There are just way too many bosses and people in leadership positions who mistakenly believe that they will lose respect if they acknowledge that they made a mistake. They believe it will make them look weak.

But on the contrary, leaders actually demonstrate and convey great strength when they humbly acknowledge of an error, apologize, admit that they don’t know an answer, or own up to making a lousy decision.  Assuming a leader is competent and isn’t apologizing for something every other day, these actions are all indicators of real, true human beings who accept the fact that none of us are perfect, we all bungle things from time to time, and everyone has strengths and weaknesses.

Leaders who can admit their own shortcomings inspire people to work harder and to be more creative, because they aren’t terrified of making a mistake.

I was wrong. I’m sorry. I screwed up. Important words that leaders and every single one of us should use when called for.

It’s good to see some news coverage discussing the impact this battle is having on employee morale. There’s talk of job cuts to fend off the takeover—who wouldn’t be nervous? And when one’s employer is embroiled in an ongoing tumultuous situation, with the relentless publicity (in this case, shall we call it brewhaha?) that comes with it, employees experience fear, anger, and ambivalence. Their sense of loyalty and level of productivity plummet as they ponder the possibilities. How will they be affected if InBev’s takeover is successful? Would InBev be a better company to work for? Or if the takeover fails, would life as an Anheuser employee be the same? Better? Worse?

Let’s hope that the folks in charge at A-B know how important it is to keep your employees extremely informed of what’s going on and to show concern for their feelings. Here are four of the most important things leaders must do to keep employees as loyal and engaged as possible during a crisis situation:

1. Make sure that employees receive news first. It’s demoralizing to learn something about your employer by reading it in the newspaper or online or by hearing it on the radio or television.
2. Be honest with employees about what’s going on—even if the truth involves layoffs or other unpleasant news.
3. Encourage employees to submit questions, and then regularly (for awhile, perhaps even daily) publish the questions along with the answers for all employees to see.
4. Acknowledge that the situation is difficult and stressful. Employees feel helpless and have no control over what’s going on—yet their lives may be impacted in a huge way. Have compassion for what the employees are experiencing.

Share your thought: How good is this, for a company’s Health to disclose a Personnel Policy in Media without informing to the employees?

Arvind, manager of business development for a consulting firm in India, referred to recent headlines regarding ICICI Bank, the second largest-bank in India: ICICI shelves big hikes, promotions this year. Then he wrote:

I have received calls from many people working with ICICI Bank and everyone mentioned about this news, most of the employees are feeling cheated, said that this is not the right way to announce such thing, the management should have informed the employees by internal memo then publishing in the news paper.

Share your thoughts why such announcements are done? What are the benefits management expecting by this action? How should employees act in such situation? Should they quit or stay?

I was among a number of responders to Arvind’s question. Here’s what I wrote:

Employees feel devalued when an employer doesn’t make the effort to inform them of news in advance. This is one of the reasons why 75% of all employees don’t feel loyal to their employers; 60% of all employees are looking for another job; and less than half of all employees aren’t happy at work. Employees feel unappreciated, disconnected, and overlooked. The ICICI employees have every reason to be outraged! I suppose if many employees quit over this, it would send a message to management. Even that might not do any good, though. Unfortunately, companies that don’t feel a need to adequately communicate with their employees typically have arrogant leaders that are so focused on the bottom line (and their own bonuses) that they aren’t concerned about the morale of their employees. They don’t realize that low morale directly impacts the bottom line…as well as the reputation of the company. There are way too many business leaders with this callous, impersonal attitude. Fortunately, there are also many great leaders who are sensitive to the feelings of employees, and realize the importance of communicating and showing appreciation. I hope many of the ICICI Bank employees can find new jobs with companies that have better leaders.

Want to demoralize your employees? Let them learn major news about your organization from a newspaper article or the evening news…along with the rest of the world. It’s guaranteed to kill morale…and damage the reputation of your organization.

This sign sent a negative vibe to me, the customer, because I felt like I wasn’t exclusive enough to be invited to this private party, so now I can’t go there. But it also sends a terrible message to the restaurant staff: we can’t help these people, so just apologize and move on. WRONG. Instead of saying “Sorry for any inconvenience,” why not say, “Visit www.OurWebsite.com to learn how you can reserve the Lounge for your own private party.” That way, the staff is empowered to give a helpful answer, and customers walks away knowing that they too can be part of an exclusive party.

Janet, who has handled grand opening events for Applebee’s and d’Bronx Deli and Pizzeria, has another idea. She suggests that my favorite restaurant could have won me over for good by providing me with a free appetizer coupon for my next visit, or perhaps a $10 gift card. Janet says Applebee’s and d’Bronx used this technique when holding private “friends and family” grand opening events a few days before their restaurants opened to the public. “Uninvited” customers would show up to eat, the restaurant looked open and the parking lot would be full. Instead of turning away potential patrons empty-handed, the hosting staff explained that the cooks and wait staff were practicing on friends and family members. Then they handed out great coupons and to-go menus, and said, “We open on Monday at 11 a.m.—please come back then!”

By providing your employees with the means to handle potentially difficult situations with your customers, you not only ensure a better customer experience, you ensure a better employment experience. Your employees enjoy being able to solve your customers’ problems—empower them with the resources to do so!

Contrast this with the policy of the Ritz-Carlton hotel chain, legendary for the extent to which they will go to satisfy customers.

Every non-management Ritz-Carlton employee—and we’re talking about the housekeeping staff, bellhops, everyone—is empowered to spend up to $2,000 to take care of a customer problem. Each employee can do what it takes to please a customer, and they don’t have to get approval from a manager to do it.

This remarkable level of employee empowerment is just one element of the Ritz’s unrivaled program that makes every worker feel they are an owner of the company. The Ritz has perfected a method of recruiting, training, development, coaching, and empowering that inspires every employee to be an ambassador for the organization.

Imagine how it must feel to know your employer trusts you enough to go the extra mile for a customer. And imagine how it must feel to know you might get in trouble if you give a pizza away.

If you don’t inspire your employees to be your ambassadors, the reputation of your organization will fall…like a line-up of dominos. But with empowered, engaged employees…you’ll be puttin’ on the ritz!

He said the only way to get the pizzas for five bucks apiece was to order one more and wait for it, which I didn’t have the time to do. If I just wanted two…I’d have to pay $8 per pizza.

Why, I asked, wasn’t the three-for-$15 deal mentioned when I called in my order? He said they were instructed not to “upsell.”

I suggested that surely a huge company like Domino would rather sell me two pizzas for $10 than lose a customer forever. He shrugged and said he didn’t have the authority to lower the price of two pizzas. And believe me, I’m sure he was telling the truth. He would easily have won Disengaged Employee of The Year if such an award existed.

This guy didn’t care if Domino’s lost one customer that day, or a thousand of ‘em. He just wanted to pick up his paycheck every week.

Employees who aren’t empowered to satisfy customers (especially if they work for companies with ridiculous “specials” like this one!) feel helpless, and disengagement becomes a survival technique.

Somewhere up the line, a manager at Domino’s decided that this low-paid, hourly worker was not important to the success of the company. Someone made the decision that he didn’t need to understand the goals of the company and that he didn’t need to understand how he contributed to the achievement of those goals. And it’s clear that no one thought he should be empowered to give the customer a good experience. Who can blame the kid for not caring?

Employee morale and reputation go hand in hand. Domino’s got eight bucks from me that day. But my opinion of the company tanked. Every employee matters.

Related:
15 ways to motivate hourly employees
Empower your employees for a better reputation

This is why we keep saying that your customer is not number one. Because if you don’t treat your employees like they’re number one…your employees won’t make your customers feel like they’re number one.

Every few days, I’ll write in this blog about reputation, employee morale, and the connection between the two. If you become a regular reader, and I hope you will, I’m warning you now that you’ll get tired of this statement: If you don’t treat your employees like they’re number one…your employees won’t make your customers feel like they’re number one. Employees who feel marginalized care less about quality, meeting deadlines, going the extra mile, and being innovative. They complain to each other—which is normal. But many more of these unhappy/unengaged employees (more of them than you think, and more often than you think) complain to your customers—which is damaging. Anyone who has ever worked pretty much knows the harm that unhappy and/or unengaged employees do to an organization and ultimately, to its reputation.

There are some great leaders and management folks who get it. Unfortunately, there are many more who don’t get it, or don’t believe it, or choose to ignore it. I created the Morale-Based Marketing System to help those that get it get better at it. And to help those that don’t get it, get it.