A tale of two airports: How Ontario and Oakland international airports are boosting the employee experience to enhance the overall customer experience

Customer Experience professionals are faced with the challenge of enhancing and supporting environments that they rarely control, which can often lead to gaps in the desired level of service along the passenger journey. Airport leadership teams must recognise that the key to closing these gaps is largely based on employee experience and how it correlates to the overall guest experience. Understanding the importance of organisational health and workplace culture are paramount to developing a positive work environment in which employees can thrive. One of the challenges in enhancing the employee experience is determining how to link multiple work cultures and employee groups within a single airport campus to ensure a seamless experience for passengers. Additionally, airport leaders must anticipate and adapt to the needs of a new digitally based work culture that is arising amid a global pandemic. A healthy employee experience founded on organisational trust, transparency and an engaged workforce is essential to overcoming organisational challenges in any environment. However, by agreeing that employee experience is critical to delivering customer experience, airport leaders and tenant partners can work together to improve communication and promote a healthy work culture. More research can be done on best practices for uniting multiple organisations operating in a common environment. This paper discusses the importance of the employee experience as it relates to organisational health and workplace culture and explores how two airports in California are working to boost the employee experience to enhance overall customer experience.