20 Easy Ways To Celebrate CX Day and Customer Service Week

by Stacy Sherman | Aug 24, 2026 | Company Culture & Employees

Have you heard about CX Day? Every October, people worldwide celebrate with their employees, agents, and clients. It reminds me of “Mother’s Day” or “Father’s Day.” It’s a time when we intentionally celebrate and express gratitude to people who matter in our lives. It doesn’t mean we stop appreciating people all other days of the year. It’s a time to pause, reflect, and take actions that are extra purposeful. CX Day falls in the same week as National Customer Service Week (NCSW) and has a similar meaning, yet not the same.

CX Day & Customer Service Week: The Basics

CX Day was established ten years ago by the Customer Experience Professionals Organization (CXPA) to empower and unite companies, CX networks, and all people around the world to come together annually on the first Tuesday of October (4 October 2022). Though there are benefits to being a CXPA member, you are not required to be one to take part in the festivities.

Customer Service Week was created in 1991. The U.S. Congress signed a proclamation in 1992 establishing Customer Service Week as a nationally recognized event. The goal is to emphasize the importance of customer satisfaction and listening to customers as critical components of building a successful business. Since then, the commemoration has spread across the United States and internationally to more than 60 countries. Celebrations this year are happening Oct 3-7, 2022.

Who Celebrates?

I recommend everyone in your company celebrate because everyone has a CX job, even if it’s not in their job title. If you’ve never be an active participant, then pick a few activities and build on from there. Take the lead, bring cross-teams together and start. You’ll see it will quickly become an annual company tradition.

20 Ways to Participate With Purpose

As people are recovering from the mental and physical impacts of the global pandemic, 2022 is an excellent year to assess how your company is advancing customer experience and service principles. It’s an ideal time to raise awareness, promote involvement, and express gratitude to those who make customer excellence possible. And it’s an opportunity to show others how committed you are to giving them top-notch service. There are plenty of ways you can take part of CX Day and Customer Service week, such as:

Pay for a meal. Provide lunch or snacks to work teams to express appreciation. If a remote work environment, offer a delivery voucher to pick a restaurant. Eat together via video conferencing.
Measure customer satisfaction and related metrics like Net Promoter (NPS) and celebrate positive scores. Send cake or balloons to top performers and those with year-over-year improvements.
Recognize employees and service agents when customers mention their names in surveys, social media, and other sources of feedback.
Distribute a CEO video email message thanking people for creating passionate promoters.
Send customer thank you notes and token gifts of appreciation.
Conduct fireside chats (informal yet structured discussions between a moderator and a guest.) It’s an effective way to engage customers and CX experts and provide relevant content that keeps people interested in your brand.
Enable people to recognize each other. Gamify experiences. Tie prizes to customer value.
Offer a bonus or day off to those who routinely demonstrate customer excellence. Fridays are ideal as a 3-day weekend is a valuable gift.
Offer CX swag, like banners, balloons, stickers, buttons, shirts.
Provide training – empathy, customer listening, closing the loop, design-thinking, journey mapping, and more. There are many online certification options.
Host “thank you” events for your customers. Showing appreciation goes a long way.
Create a room in your office to share CX projects and progress so everyone stays informed. For remote teams, leverage platforms for collaboration and knowledge sharing.
Highlight CX examples at meetings and have people talk about best practices. Work teams want to hear from their peers more than Headquarters staff.
Lead a contest that involves both customers and employees.
Encourage people to join webinars. Create your own or give them a list of online events.
Plan activities and virtual games with different departments in your organization—leverage the week as a way to strengthen internal relationships and break traditional silos.
Use the day for branding opportunities. Partner with your marketing / PR team to design assets highlighting admiration for customers.
Create fun backgrounds for video meetings to keep CX at the forefront of everyone’s mind.
Grant people a few hours in the day to volunteer at a local charity.
Host a customer appreciation sale. Create a promotional offer that’s more enticing than other times of the year, so it appears authentic.

Need Help To Create and Launch an Impact Celebration At Your Company? Let’s talk!

Contact Stacy Now

Final Words

Employees and customer service agents are your heroes. If they don’t feel important, your customers will feel it.
Don’t wait for formal end-of-year reviews. If you do not appreciate people throughout the year, your competitors will. They’re searching for exceptional talent.
Do something to celebrate. Get creative and be sincere. People will remember the big and small acts of kindness when CX Day and Customer Service Week end.

Get More Inspirational Ideas To Drive Positive Outcomes During CX Day and Customer Service Week

Listen to the Doing CX Right podcast featuring CXPA CEO, Greg Melia and Stacy Sherman.

This podcast was previously recorded in August 2022. The actionable recommendations apply even more today!

Doing CX Right podcast show on Spotify with host Stacy Sherman

DoingCXRight-Podcast-on-Amazon-with-host-Stacy-Sherman.

Doing Customer Experience (CX) Right Podcast - Hosted by Stacy Sherman

Doing CX Right podcast show on iHeart Radio with host Stacy Sherman

Press Play To WATCH Interview:

CX Day & Customer Service Week: How Top Companies Make It Year-Round

by Stacy Sherman | Oct 5, 2025 | Company Culture & Employees

What if a single week sparked lasting alignment between your teams and customers, fueling stronger relationships, retention, and business growth? It can be your reality!

Every October, two powerful yet often underutilized observances arrive: CX Day and Customer Service Week. These are more than calendar events; they are meaningful chances to recognize the people who make great experiences happen. But for many companies, they pass with surface-level gestures, such as a company-wide email, a box of pastries, or a quick post on LinkedIn.

Then it is back to business as usual.

But here is the missed opportunity: CX Day is not about one day. Customer Service Week should not end with Friday.

Used strategically, they can jumpstart culture change and reinforce that customer experience (CX) is not a department. It is a shared responsibility.

And if you did not mark the calendar this year, that is okay. You can start the transformation anytime.

The Cost of Treating CX Day Like a Holiday, Not a Strategy

CX Day was created by the Customer Experience Professionals Association (CXPA) to elevate the importance of CX across all industries. Customer Service Week, recognized by the U.S. Congress since 1992, honors the essential frontline roles that drive daily experience.

In 2025, CX Day lands on Tuesday, October 7. Customer Service Week runs from Monday, October 6 through Friday, October 10.

But many organizations treat them as isolated events, not as levers for long-term change.

Cupcakes will not reduce burnout. Pizza parties do not fix broken processes. Superficial praise will not satisfy rising employee or customer expectations.

Without a bigger vision, these celebrations become performative. That is where the opportunity gets lost.

Turning a CX Moment Into a Movement

Start with Reflection, Not Just Recognition

The best organizations do not treat CX Day as a one-and-done event. They use it to launch deeper conversations and connect employees back to their purpose.

Try this:

Ask teams to map how their work touches the customer. You will identify process breakdowns, communication gaps, or policy friction points.
Run cross-functional retrospectives. Focus not just on wins, but on operational roadblocks and needed support.
Share real customer stories. Metrics tell you what happened. Stories show how people felt and why they will return.

DoingCXRight Insight: When CX becomes personal, culture shifts. Give employees the space to see themselves as creators of experience, not just executors of tasks.

Leading With Gratitude (It Starts at the Top)

Why Leadership Visibility Has Outsize Impact

Recognition from leadership is not a nice touch; it is a high-impact signal. According to Gallup, only 23 percent of employees strongly agree they get the recognition they deserve, but those who do are four times more likely to be engaged.

Even more telling, 24 percent of employees say the most memorable praise comes from senior leaders or the CEO.

This is your cue:

Record a short, heartfelt video message.
Handwrite a few thank-you notes to unsung heroes.
Share a customer outcome that began with an employee’s extra effort.

It is not about perfection. It is about presence.

Celebrating the Everyday CX Champions

Do Not Just Reward the Loud Wins; Highlight the Critical Frontline Contributions

The flashiest stories are not always the most meaningful. Often, the most powerful examples of great CX are the subtle, consistent ones:

A service representative who stays calm during a tough call.
A warehouse associate who catches a shipping mistake before it affects the customer.

Create peer-led recognition moments:

Use internal tools like Slack or Teams to create recognition threads.
Highlight unsung CX heroes in town halls.
Share anonymized customer feedback that reinforces your values.

Pro Tip: What gets noticed gets repeated. Make it easy and expected to call out behaviors worth modeling.

Keeping the Momentum Alive Year-Round

How to Operationalize the Spirit of CX Day and Customer Service Week

A great week will not change your culture, but it can start something bigger.

Here is how to embed CX thinking into everyday operations:

Appoint CX Champions in each department. Give them tools and support to surface feedback and share best practices.
Invest in ongoing training. Go beyond onboarding. Add CX skills to your learning and development roadmap.
Close the loop on feedback. When people share ideas, show them it matters, either by implementing or explaining why not.

Red Flags You Are Missing the Bigger Opportunity

Not sure if your CX recognition efforts are making an impact?

Watch for these signs:

Recognition is limited to a few highly visible roles; behind-the-scenes contributors feel overlooked.
CX celebrations do not lead to any follow-up actions or strategic shifts.
Customer experience is viewed as a team’s job, not an organization-wide priority.

These are signals it is time to rethink your approach.

Looking Ahead: Why Customer-Experience (CX) Culture Is a Business Imperative

Human-Centered Experience Is the Competitive Advantage AI Cannot Copy

As AI handles more transactions, what remains as your brand’s identity is how it feels to do business with you. The human connection becomes your brand differentiator.

Companies that reduce CX to an annual event lose relevance. Those that integrate it into daily habits create emotional loyalty that leads to sustainable growth.

McKinsey reports that U.S. companies leading in customer experience achieve more than double the revenue growth of their peers.

CX Day is your signal: Your people drive your brand.

Small, intentional actions done consistently create lasting competitive advantage.

Final Thought: Culture Change Is a Daily Choice

CX Day and Customer Service Week are not just calendar events. They are opportunities to re-anchor your culture.

An invitation to:

Reflect on what is working.
Connect across roles and departments.
Recommit to building a customer-obsessed organization.

Do not wait for next October.

Start now. Start small. Start intentionally.

Hear More Details on Doing CX Right℠‬ Podcast Ep # 193

Key Topics Discussed

– The origins and significance of CX Day and Customer Service Week. Featuring insights from Greg Melia, CEO of CXPA, who shares how CX Day began and why it’s become a global movement honoring everyone who delivers exceptional experiences.

– Strategies for meaningful celebration without large budgets

– The role of leadership in reinforcing customer experience values

– Practical ways to recognize and reward customer-centric behaviors

– Using these events to break down silos and unite departments

Subscribe for updates on your favorite podcast channel.

How are you celebrating CX Day and Customer Service Week. Looking for effective ways to build a brand that customers love, employees champion and competitor envy? Let’s chat.

Schedule Time With STacy

‘9-9-6 Work Schedule’ May Be Coming to Your Workplace and Bringing Customer Complaints

by Stacy Sherman | Aug 11, 2025 | Company Culture & Employees

Forget “working smarter, not harder.” The “9-9-6 work schedule,” 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, is the opposite. A recent Forbes article discusses how a 9-9-6 work schedule could be coming to your workplace soon. Is that a good or bad idea? That depends who you ask. Tekendra Parmar, writer for Inc. publication, warns that some AI startups are glorifying exhaustion to “win the AI race,” but in reality, “the future of work might actually lie in working less, not more.”

From my customer experience (CX) perspective, this isn’t just a bad employee policy. It’s a direct threat to how customers feel about your company. The employee experience (EX) is the foundation of CX. When your people are overworked, disconnected, and exhausted, your customers feel it in every interaction. This is the moment for leaders to pause and consider: How does the customer experience change when employee energy diminishes?

The answers are obvious, but let’s dig into each.

1. When Employee Energy Drops, Customer Loyalty Suffers

Parmar quotes organizational psychologist Caitlin Collins:

“The notion that working 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week, drives innovation is deeply misguided … sustained overwork leads to burnout, cognitive fatigue, and disengagement, which directly undermine the creativity and focus AI companies rely on to innovate.”

Those same consequences ripple straight to the customer:

Customers wait longer for help.
Service feels less empathetic.
Solutions are rushed or incomplete.
Product quality slips under pressure.

And here’s where it gets more urgent: the next generation of your workforce—Gen Z—won’t tolerate this, and they’re about to become the majority.

2. Gen Z Will Shape the Future of Work and CX

By 2030, Gen Z will make up most of the U.S. workforce. According to research highlighted in Forbes, they are rejecting outdated “always-on” work norms and pushing for healthier, more human-centered workplaces.

Through my CX lens, their expectations translate into clear business implications:

Protect mental health and well-being. Healthy teams can focus and serve customers with care.
Offer flexibility. Remote or hybrid options help employees bring their best selves to each interaction.
Connect work to purpose. When people believe in what they’re doing, they naturally go the extra mile for customers.
Use technology wisely. Tools must boost productivity without blurring boundaries so that employees can be fully present with customers.
Respect personal time. Well-rested teams show more patience and problem-solving skills.
Foster supportive relationships. Collaboration within the organization creates smoother, more consistent service outside.

These aren’t “perks.” They’re performance drivers. Ignoring them risks losing talent and customers.

3. Erasing Boundaries Backfires on Culture and Customers

That’s why Gen Z’s rejection of grind culture needs to be a wake-up call for every leader. Overstepping boundaries has clear consequences:

Blurring boundaries impacts job fulfillment and trust. Late-night pings and weekend emails make employees feel undervalued.
Losing people means losing customers. Every departure weakens relationships and service consistency.
Innovation requires rest; without it, the ability to creatively solve customer problems declines.

The pattern is clear: poor EX inevitably damages CX. And once customer trust is broken, rebuilding it is far harder than preventing the damage in the first place.

4. EX and CX Are Two Sides of the Same Coin

Parmar calls extreme schedules a “collective delusion” of commitment. I’ve seen it firsthand: dips in EX almost always lead to measurable declines in CX. Net Promoter Scores drop, repeat business slows, and churn rises.

When employees are stretched too thin:

Customers wait longer for answers.
Conversations feel mechanical instead of personal.
Resolutions take longer and feel less thoughtful.

If the 9-9-6 mentality isn’t the solution, leaders need to be asking: What is?

5. Smarter Alternatives That Protect EX and CX

If “winning the AI race” means burning out your people and your customers, you’re running the wrong race. Leaders have better options:

Four-day workweek pilots to boost productivity without depletion.
Outcome-based management to measure results, not just hours.
Protected focus time so employees can do their best work and deliver exceptional customer care.

Consider Microsoft Japan’s experiment: a four-day week boosted productivity by 40%. That’s the kind of competitive edge worth chasing.

Conclusion & Leadership Call-to-Action

Parmar is right: “The future of work might be about working less, not more.” From a customer experience (CX) standpoint, overwork isn’t just an internal HR crisis; it becomes a customer crisis.

If you’re seeing:

Increasing customer frustration coupled with declining engagement.
Top performers checking out quietly or leaving
Innovation stalling despite longer hours

…that’s a sign your EX is undermining your CX.

I help leaders spot those patterns, rebuild better cultures, and turn employee energy into customer loyalty. If you want to explore how that shift works inside your organization, let’s talk.

Schedule Time With STacy

Accountability vs. Responsibility: What’s Costing You Customers

by Stacy Sherman | Sep 26, 2024 | Company Culture & Employees

From Responsibility to Accountability: Transforming Your Customer Experience from the Inside Out

In today’s competitive business landscape, providing an exceptional customer experience isn’t just a nice-to-have—it’s essential for businesses to survive and succeed. Yet many organizations struggle with a common problem: employees who “do their job” without truly caring about the outcomes. This disconnect often stems from misunderstanding the crucial difference between responsibility and accountability.

The Common Problem: Responsibility Without Accountability

Picture this scenario: A customer calls with a complex issue. The customer service agent diligently follows the script, checks all the boxes, and ultimately tells the customer, “I’ve done everything I can.” The call ends, but the problem remains unsolved. The representative feels he’s fulfilled his responsibility, but the customer is frustrated and dissatisfied.

This is responsibility without accountability, costing businesses a lot related to customer loyalty and brand reputation.

Understanding the Difference: Responsibility vs. Accountability

Responsibility is about performing assigned tasks and duties. It’s doing what you’re told, following procedures, and meeting basic expectations. It’s necessary but not sufficient for creating outstanding customer experiences.

Accountability, on the other hand, goes beyond mere task completion. It’s about taking ownership of outcomes, thinking critically, and doing whatever it takes to ensure customer delight. It’s the difference between “I did my job” and “I made sure the problem was solved.”

As author Robert Hunt explains on the Doing CX Right podcast, “Responsibility means: I was at my desk, I answered the phone, I took down the note, I submitted the sales. Accountability is thinking, if I were the person on the other end of the phone, how would I want to be treated?”

Listen to my recap plus additional insights on Doing CX Right℠‬ Podcast Ep 149.

How to Foster Accountability in Your Organization

Start from the Top: CEOs and leaders must model accountability. Your team will follow your example.
Create a Clear Vision: Employees need to understand the ‘why’ behind their work. Articulate a compelling vision that connects individual actions to customer satisfaction and business success.
Empower Decision-Making: Give employees the authority to make decisions that benefit the customer. Create guidelines (like a “waterline” concept) that clarify when they need to escalate issues.
Encourage Ownership Thinking: Help employees see the business through an owner’s eyes. How would they act if it was their own money and reputation on the line?
Provide Ongoing Feedback: Regularly discuss customer feedback in team meetings. Recognize those who go above and beyond, and use negative feedback as coaching opportunities.
Create a Safe Environment: Foster psychological safety where employees feel comfortable admitting mistakes and proposing solutions.
Stop the Blame Game: Teach employees to recognize and avoid excuses, claiming inability, and waiting/hoping.
Measure What Matters: Consider implementing an “accountability score” alongside traditional metrics like NPS or CSAT.

Signs You’re Doing CX Right

Employees proactively seek solutions rather than just reporting problems.
Team members freely admit mistakes and focus on fixing issues rather than assigning blame.
You hear phrases like “I’ll own this” or “I’ll make sure it gets done” more often than “That’s not my job.”
Customer feedback consistently mentions staff going “above and beyond.”
Employees at all levels feel empowered to make decisions that benefit customers.

The Payoff: A Customer-Centric Culture

When accountability becomes ingrained in your culture, the results can be transformative. From the CEO to the newest intern, everyone understands their role in delivering exceptional customer experiences. Problems get solved faster, customers feel valued, and employees find greater fulfillment in their work.

Remember, building a culture of accountability is an ongoing process, not a one-time initiative. It requires consistent effort, clear communication, and a willingness to lead by example. But the rewards—loyal customers, engaged employees, and a thriving business—make it well worth the investment.

Are you ready to move beyond mere responsibility and embrace true accountability in your organization? Your customers are waiting.

Need help?

Contact Stacy

Accountability Over Excuses: How to Transform Your Business Culture for CX Success

by Stacy Sherman | Sep 22, 2024 | Doing CX Right℠‬ Podcast

What if your team took full accountability for every customer experience? Could shifting from blame to ownership be the key to lasting loyalty?

In this episode of the “Doing CX Right” show, host Stacy Sherman engages in a thought-provoking conversation with Robert J. Hunt, a leader with extensive experience in running CEO peer groups. Together, they dive into the intricacies of accountability and its pivotal role in enhancing customer experience.

Key Learnings:

1. Discovering Purpose:

Understanding one’s purpose is essential for creating a vision and driving intentional actions. This clarity helps align personal and professional goals, ensuring that efforts are purpose-driven and impactful.

2. Differentiating Accountability and Responsibility:

There’s a crucial distinction between responsibility, which involves completing tasks, and accountability, which focuses on ensuring customer satisfaction. Emphasizing accountability can prevent negative customer experiences and foster a more proactive approach to problem-solving.

3. Empowering Employees:

Empowering employees to make decisions independently while providing clear guidelines on when to seek leadership input fosters a sense of ownership and accountability. This empowerment is key to improving customer interactions and overall service quality.

4. Effective Communication and Culture:

Communication goes beyond words; it involves conveying the purpose and values behind actions. Building a customer-centric culture requires transparency, understanding, and a commitment to fostering an environment where employees feel heard and valued.

5. Overcoming Organizational Silos:

Silos within organizations can hinder accountability. Breaking down these barriers and ensuring alignment with organizational goals is essential for creating a unified team that works collaboratively toward enhancing customer experience.

6. Measuring Accountability:

Implementing metrics to measure how well employees are empowered to solve problems can drive accountability. Integrating customer feedback into team meetings and using it as a tool for continuous improvement helps reinforce a culture of accountability.

Final Thoughts:

The discussion highlights the importance of accountability in delivering exceptional customer experiences. By empowering employees, fostering effective communication, and breaking down silos, organizations can cultivate a culture where accountability thrives. This approach not only enhances customer satisfaction but also contributes to a more engaged and motivated workforce.

Press Play To WATCH On Youtube

Questions & Answers: What Leaders Need to Know To Build A Customer-Centric Company Culture

Q: How can companies improve customer experience when employees complete tasks but customer problems remain unresolved?

A: Companies can improve customer outcomes by teaching employees to measure success by the problem they resolve, not only by the tasks they complete. Responsibility means completing assigned work, while accountability means considering the customer’s perspective and achieving the intended outcome. Leaders can explain why each process matters so employees understand how their actions affect customers.

Q: How can leaders empower employees to make better customer decisions?

A: Leaders can empower employees by setting clear decision making boundaries. Robert’s waterline concept helps employees understand which decisions they can make independently and which require leadership approval. When leaders explain these boundaries and provide relevant information, employees can respond to customer needs with greater confidence.

Q: How can leaders recognize behaviors that prevent accountability?

A: Leaders can recognize accountability challenges when employees blame others, make excuses, say they cannot act, or wait for problems to resolve themselves. These behaviors can prevent employees from taking responsibility for customer issues. Leaders can teach employees to recognize these responses and take ownership of problems through completion.

Q: How can companies reduce silos that affect the customer journey?

A: Leaders can bring departments together around a shared customer journey. When teams understand how their decisions affect other departments and customer interactions, they can take greater responsibility for the overall experience. Regular conversations help employees discuss challenges, share information, and work toward common business goals.

Q: How can companies use customer feedback to improve accountability?

A: Leaders can bring customer surveys, reviews, and social media comments into team meetings. Recognizing employees who receive positive customer feedback and discussing opportunities to improve helps connect daily work with customer outcomes. Stacy also suggested an accountability score to consider whether employees fixed issues and had the authority to act. This is a proposed idea, not an established metric.

Interested in more insights? Read article

About Robert J Hunt:

Robert is the owner of Renaissance Executive Forums Dallas, an international CEO peer group equipping business leaders with the skills needed to scale their professional and personal mountains. Robert lives and works in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex with his wife Kathy. The couple has two grown children, Lauren and James. Connect with Robert on LinkedIn.

About Stacy Sherman: Founder of Doing CX Right℠‬

Stacy is an award-winning international Certified Speaking Professional (CSP) who has delivered hundreds of standing-ovation keynotes and workshops. She developed a proprietary framework that helps leaders and teams boost revenue and strengthen brand reputation. Her proven methodology is based on her MBA degree and 25 years of leadership in sales, marketing, employee, and customer experience across diverse industries, including Verizon, AT&T, Schindler Elevator Corporation, Wilton Brands, Martha Stewart Crafts, and LiveOps, generating $2.4 billion in savings and hundreds of millions in revenue. Stacy Sherman has earned widespread recognition for her award-winning “Doing CX Right” podcast, ranked in the top 2% globally with over 200 episodes, and for her courses on LinkedIn Learning, which have garnered hundreds of 5-star reviews. A multi-year Global CX Guru awardee and 2026 ICMI Hall of Fame inductee, Stacy’s insights have been featured in Forbes, Psychology Today, Yahoo News, and other leading publications.

Download The Distinctive Business Advantage research report to learn exactly what top-performing companies are doing differently to drive customer loyalty and sustainable growth, and how you can do the same.

Bring these insights to your company.

Stacy Sherman is available to present the findings and proven strategies at your events, workshops, podcasts, and training sessions. Contact her now.

Keyword themes: Doing CX Right podcast business customer service sales customer experience leadership employee experience company culture emotional intelligence customer satisfaction

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