According to the 2025 European Workforce Study report, just 59% of Europe’s working population agrees with the sentiment: "All things considered, I’d call this a fantastic workplace."
This percentage differs considerably across countries. For instance, Denmark leads with 75% satisfaction, followed closely by Norway at 73%, and Sweden at 68%. In contrast, lower levels of satisfaction are seen in nations such as Poland at 47%, Greece at 44%, and Italy recording the lowest among them at 43%.
Employee satisfaction levels seem to have a direct relationship with productivity, as indicated by measurements of GDP per hour worked across different countries.
Although productivity currently plays a major role in influencing a company’s performance and profitability, enhancing it further could generate significant ripple effects across the entire organization.
Laurent Millan, Solution Consulting Manager for Customer Experience (CX) and Employee Experience (EX) at NTT Data, was interviewed by Euronews Business to explore the strong connection between these two areas.
Dissatisfied employees can harm business performance.
"If you acquire a customer, there’s an associated cost. However, if that customer quickly switches to another brand due to a bad experience, then that investment goes down the drain," said Millan to Euronews.
Excellent customer service depends fundamentally on having skilled and knowledgeable employees.
The greatest difficulty companies have faced over the past couple of years," he said, "is ensuring their staff possess sufficient experience to remain with the company long-term, as hiring replacements involves significant costs.
Across Europe, Data from LinkedIn indicates a growing overall trend toward greater movement within the workforce. People starting work today can expect to hold about double the number of job positions throughout their careers compared to individuals who entered the workforce fifteen years back.
High employee turnover is not just expensive—it also results in decreased productivity and morale within the organization. productivity As it frequently requires a new hire several weeks or even months to become fully proficient in their position, the resulting ripple effects—such as decreased efficiency or lower productivity—could ultimately lead to losing a customer.
"That creates significant upheaval for customers when employees depart from companies," Millan noted.
Customer experience fosters customer loyalty. Therefore, from a growth perspective, it presents an intriguing opportunity—one that businesses can utilize not only to stand out but also to attract fresh customers.
AI Berbasis Agen untuk Meningkatkan Pengalaman Pelanggan dan Karyawan
Millan proposed that straightforward measures, like guaranteeing smooth remote working setups and providing top-notch IT equipment, could enhance the overall employee experience.
Great workplace tools that support flexible working arrangements are essential for retaining employees, since hybrid workers tend to be less inclined to seek new positions elsewhere. According to the European Workforce Study report, half of all... hybrid workers stated they felt "Content with my current situation," compared to just 44% of office-based employees and 37% of remote workers. remote workers selected this option.
Millan particularly highlighted agentic AI He sees it as an essential instrument, convinced that it will open up "an entirely new perspective for customer experience and employee experience."
Agentic AI isn’t something you develop in isolation," Millan said. "It revolves around autonomy—so we're talking about developing systems with independent decision-making abilities." He further noted, "These systems must have strong reasoning skills and maintain awareness of their environment. That's how real value emerges.
Millan was confident that agentic AI would introduce the level of adaptability needed in today’s world.
I’ve come across countless bots, agents—call them what you like—that were built really well but ended up stuck because they couldn’t adapt. However, companies constantly bring in fresh demands and ideas they’d like to roll out, which means these systems need to stay flexible.