Although efficiency is of the utmost importance in the customer service industry, pushing the envelope at the employee expense can have a negative impact on employee productivity and retention. Our customers are often vulnerable and looking for a solution to a problem that may be completely new to them. As a result, many companies are searching for ways to increase efficiency in order to stay ahead of the competition. However, this desire to improve working methodology can come at cost. Over the past year, in order to be more productive supervisors have been micro-managing certain aspects of day-to-day work. Additionally, there are rumors circulating that the company is looking to consolidate offices into a few centralized locations. Due in part to the increased supervision and the uncertainty in job security, there has been a decrease in employee retention.
Most companies are looking to produce the best product in the most efficient way possible.
In our case, providing a high level of customer service is the product. Efficiency is measurable, exemplified in part by the amount of claims handled, calls answered and time spent handling specific tasks. While these numbers can identify trends in the workplace, they do not always account for the whole picture. For example, the goal lately has been to answer as many calls as quickly as possible. Adjusters felt the need to get off the phone in order to answer another call. This shift in priority can affect customer interaction and can lead to errors in claim handling. These movements in management seem to occur more and more frequently. Rather than focusing on doing your job to the best of your ability, workers are now tasked with constantly changing workflows. This can lead to confusion as to what is the right way to do things and...