For customer service to be good, communication must be clear. And it’s only clear, if the customer says it is.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I sat down to watch our beloved New England Patriots play the Miami Dolphins. The TV had plenty of sound, but no picture. So I called our cable provider. After a brief hold time, I spoke with an agent. “Bob” was polite and eager to help, but there was one problem – he spoke words that probably made sense to him, but they didn’t make sense to me!
“I’m going to issue an R.O. to replace the your Converter. OK with you, Mr. Watson?”
“I don’t know, Bob. What’s an R.O., and what’s a Converter?”
Bob replied, “That means that I’m going to schedule a technician to go to your home, and replace that black cable box that sits next to your TV.”
Why didn’t he just say it like that the first time, I wondered… Bob’s manager should tell him not to use his company jargon on a customer.
Verbal communication is just one leg of the service delivery communication stool. Now let’s talk about the second – written communication – and for that, I’ll pick on my monthly cable statement:
Each month, I see the following line items on my statement:
- PEG Support
- Local GRT Recovery Fee
- MCTD (186E)
- There are several others, but I think you get the idea!
I don’t know about you, but I have no clue what these things are – and I almost dislike my service provider for putting these on my bill, because I hate feeling clueless about something I’m paying for!
How clear are the emails and other documents that your HR organization sends to its customers (the employees!)? Do the emails contain HR jargon, or are they written in “plain English” that an employee will understand? For more specific advice, check out George Orwell’s 6 Rules for Clear Writing.
And wording isn’t the only factor that impacts clarity; there’s also formatting. Is the message displayed in an easy-to-read manner, using bold fonts, bullet points and numbering? Check out these tips for clear formatting.
Finally, there’s the 3rd leg of the service delivery communication stool – the Self-service portal interface.
How clear to the employee, is the content in your Self-service portal?
- Are Knowledge Base articles simple and clear, devoid of HR jargon?
- Do field labels contain words that are commonly used by employees, or are they terms that are more meaningful to the administrator who configured the system?
- For example, when an employee checks the status of an open case, is the “status” indicated by simple words that the employee uses, or are they arcane words that are more meaningful to HR or IT?
The clarity of the content that resides in the portal is a big deal – if the employee feels that it takes too much effort to interpret and understand the content, the employee is less likely to go the portal next time. Make the portal experience an easy one for every employee.
It’s been said that effective communication is at the core of good customer service. And for this, clarity is key. And a careful use of employee-focused terminology – instead of HR terminology – is often what brings clarity to HR service delivery. To make sure you’re doing it right, evaluate your clarity from three perspectives: Verbal, Written, and the Self-service user interface.
How clear is the communication that the employees receive from your HR Service Center?
What’s causing the greatest challenges to clear communication within your HR Service delivery model?
We’d love to hear from you!