Personal Service – seems like the exception not the rule these days.
In our digital age of technology and communication, with all the ways we have to handle processes and procedures more efficiently, you’d think that customer service would be much improved, wouldn’t you? Well customer satisfaction rates are down and continue to decline, prompting more and more people to log complaints or try to file service calls. As they receive the automated “brush off” through robotic answering services, and deal with pre-programmed general messages – rather than personalized content and responses based upon their unique profiles – their frustration grows.
An HR Shared Services Center is the light at the end of the bad services tunnel; providing a proactive information repository and communication pipeline between employees, managers, executives and the company as a whole – including offsite/outside HR agents and other HR professionals. Shared Services Solutions, like Neocase HR, are tightly integrated flexible and scalable systems that are designed to grow with an organization – streamlining HR service delivery – providing automated HR business processes and services across the enterprise.
We’ve all had customer service experiences that have been, shall we say, less than satisfying. For instance, the button-pressing automated phone service loop that leads nowhere; or the inhospitable, obviously frustrated service individual who provides very little, if any, actual service. And how many times have we all experienced being on “hold” (or ignore) with an IT/cable/phone or other service provider for what seems like hours, only to have the call cut off?
Fortunately, HR shared Services is one of the areas where advances in technology, combined and empowered with digital communication methods, works together to provide what people are looking for and expect; answers to their questions, easy ways to communicate and locate the data they are seeking, and responsive resolution to any issues they may have. Shared Service Centers help organizations handle the processing and delivery of HR services such as employee benefits, and corporate policies as well as assisting with ongoing regulatory compliance and HR strategic growth.
If you search the web for “customer service” you’ll find a plethora of articles on the topic as well as a great many columns on the rules and guidelines for providing exceptional and proactive customer experiences. Canadian small business expert Susan Ward preaches fostering long-term relationships through personal contact, being up front with people, listening well and proactively dealing with any issues. In practice however, these good experiences seem to be few and far between. Building a world-class HR Shared Services organization can help make a firm the exception to the rule.