In the customer service area, much of the success of the employee is built upon the knowledge the employee has on meeting objectives such as the hold time of customers, reaching goals of customer satisfaction while cross-selling and dedication to the job that each employees shares.
Next, I identified thru the person analysis whether the performance deficiencies where a result of employees lack of knowledge and who would benefit most from the training offered. Each of the three Customer Service Representative employees were assessed individually. The responses received established that the training programs offered should challenge the development of the associates and provide cross training duties, which would break up the monotonous daily routine of taking call after call daily and non-stop.
Management felt that time management was the most important aspect of the success of the Customer Service Representatives. Supervisors and Quality Analyst provide constant coaching and feedback to employees as calls are randomly monitored. The one-on-one time allows for training, in areas, which may focus on the independent need of the Customer Service Representative. The representatives interviewed felt that the success of a manager could be judged by his/her management style and ability. Which encompasses training and development of the staff.
Finally, I discovered that employee’s first area of training would begin in training them in the importance of attendance and punctuality on the job. I further discovered that absenteeism in the call center has more to do with environment, management practices and workforce culture, rather than the size of the operation. In considering the demographics of employees and responses to the employee survey about their commitments and activities outside of work, I feel thru training and development an attendance policy can be designed that addresses areas of potential absenteeism while the employees learn how important they are to the driving impact of the daily operations of performance.
The training design would be coordinated in house in collaboration with the operations management and statistical data differentiating between being fully staffed during a work shift versus having fewer employees to service the needs of the incoming call volume from customers.
Lastly I reviewed the job description to review the tasks and behavioral aspects of the position to evaluate what qualities an individual must possess to perform the customer service representative job successfully. I worked in a subjective manner according to the behavior, attitudes/values and/or the motivations. This enabled me to conduct a task analysis of the department and its employees and potential employees.
My recommendations would be to:
- Continue to motivate employees thru in-house training and one-on-one coaching/feedback sessions with the Quality Analyst and Supervisors. Training should emphasize our customer centric focus and the growing and changing technology, time management and the importance of quality offered and how important each employee is to the success or failure of their role.
- Offer cross training and a variation of duties during the workday to help break up the routine of the daily workload.
- Solicit feedback on a continual basis from employees while keeping them informed of changes and challenges that may occur.
TASK ANALYSIS QUESTIONNAIRE
MAKE SURE THAT YOU ANSWER EVERY QUESTION. Check frequently to make sure that the number on the answer sheet matches the number printed by the job element.
BEFORE MAKING ANY RATINGS, read through the entire survey and familiarize yourself with the tasks that make up your job. By comparing each task to be rated with all the tasks you do, you will have an easier time using the time-spent rating scale.
_______________________________________________________
Compared to ALL other tasks I spend ______ on this task.
Questions for John Simon, Director – Operations, Contact Center
Have long have you been in your current role at Advanta Corp.?
How long have you been in this field, more specifically in a management role in a call center environment?
In your experiences, what are the biggest challenges you face most often, in running such a department?
What are the major contributing factors to increasing and/or maintaining employee motivation?
If you could implement 3 initiatives to increase the productivity level of employees, what would they be and why?
What do you consider successful attributes of Customer Service Representatives?
What makes this department successful versus unsuccessful and why?
Questions for sam Jones, Supervisor – Contact Center
How long have you been in this field, more specifically in a management role in a call center environment?
In your experiences, what are the biggest challenges you face most often in managing such a department?
What are the major contributing factors to increasing and/or maintaining employee morale and to keep them motivated?
If you could implement 3 initiatives to increase the productivity level of employees, what would they be and why?
What make a Customer Service Representatives successful at his/her job?
What makes this department successful versus unsuccessful?
If you could make three changes today, what would they be and why?
Questions for Tony Nisson, Quality Analyst – Contact Center
How long have you worked in a Customer Service environment, more specifically a contact center?
In your experiences, what are the biggest challenges Customer Services Representatives? Why?
What are the major contributing factors to increasing and/or maintaining employee morale and to keep them motivated?
If you could implement 3 initiatives to increase the productivity level of employees, what would they be and why?
What make a Customer Service Representative successful at his/her job?
What makes this department successful versus unsuccessful?
If you could make three changes today, what would they be and why?
Questions for Sandra Young, Mary Foley and Henry Simpson
Customer Service Representative – Contact Center
How long have you worked in a Customer Service environment, more specifically a contact center?
In your experiences, what are the biggest challenges Customer Services Representatives? Why?
What are the major contributing factors to increasing and/or maintaining employee morale and to keep them motivated?
If you could implement 3 initiatives to increase the productivity level of employees, what would they be and why?
What make a Customer Service Representative successful at his/her job?
What makes this department successful versus unsuccessful?
If you could make three changes today, what would they be and why?
