Question

You have been asked to study the effects of an employee-wide training program, in a company of 500 employees, designed to reduce the amount of customer complaints. Describe how you would carry out the study, including the variable or variables you would collect, how you would measure those variables, and what would indicate success.  

Answer 1

Answer:

Companies can reap the rewards of providing training for their employees because well-trained workers help increase productivity and profits. Investing in employee training should improve worker retention rates, customer satisfaction and creativity for new product ideas. Effective training saves labor by reducing time spent on problem-solving and saves money in the long run by producing a better workforce.

Saving Time and Costs

Investment in training can improve a company’s financial standing. Poor performance often results when employees don’t know exactly what they’re supposed to do, how to do their jobs or why they need to work a certain way. Training can help solve these performance problems by explaining the details of the job.

This should reduce duplication of effort in the workplace, the time spent correcting mistakes and the problem solving necessary to correct bad performances. Improved performance from employee training can reduce staff turnover, lower maintenance costs by reducing equipment breakdowns and result in fewer customer complaints. Better performance from employees typically creates less need for supervision and brings increased worker output.

Employee Satisfaction and Self-Esteem

Job satisfaction generally increases and self-esteem improves when employees better understand the workings of the company. Training can also enhance morale on the job and loyalty to the company. Workers who believe their company offers excellent training opportunities are generally less likely to leave their companies within a year of training than employees with poor training opportunities.

Expectations and Needs

Training plays a key role in employee commitment, too. The training program must meet the expectations and needs of the employees, though. Companies are more likely to retain employees who view their training as relevant to their jobs and subsequently have a positive commitment to their company. A successful training program consists of management providing employees with accurate information and communication about the training as well as a program that ensures that training is relevant to their jobs.

Training can be done internally by current employees, or by hiring an external company or consultant. Determine what it is you want your employees to learn through training. Then see if someone in your organization has those skills and would be able, and have the time, to do the training.

Employee Turnover Costs

Keeping well-trained employees pays off significantly for companies because the cost of employee turnover can be high. Costs include separation costs, such as exit interviews, administrative functions related to termination, severance pay and unemployment compensation. Replacement costs consist of attracting applicants, entrance interviews, testing, travel and moving expenses, pre-employment administrative expenses, medical exams and supplying employment information.

Studies show that the cost of replacing employees increases with the level of the employee. For example, the cost of replacing a mid-range manager is 20 percent of the $40,000 salary, or $8,000. The cost of replacing a top executive, however, can be as high as 213 percent of salary. So an executive earning $100,000 could cost as much as $213,000 to replace.

Employee Training Factors

Many factors determine whether a training program will be effective for a company that has lost employees, depending on how many workers are leaving. For example, using temporary workers to fill in for former employees on occasion might actually save costs. Management can determine if a training program will work out by looking at the increased workloads for employees caused by vacancies, the stress and tension from turnover, declining employee morale and the decreased productivity that results from high loss of employees.

Training to employees to reduce the customers complaints

employees are well trained, you will see a reduction in customer complaints because the staff will be able to anticipate and diffuse negative situations before they happen. Customer dissatisfaction may happen for a variety of reasons, some of which are out of your control. Although customer complaints may happen in any small business, steps can be taken to reduce them. Employees in any industry may be proactive at reducing complaints, which increases customer satisfaction.

Handling customer complaints about employees can be taken care of with the proper tools as well. Give your team communication platforms or other solutions that can make their job more efficient. For example, having a place to log and analyze customer complaints will help your business to see trends and act on them. Communication tools like messaging solutions and project management software ensure that all team members are updated about urgent concerns.

These are some solutions for reducing the customers complaints:-

Test the Service

To prevent and reduce customer complaints, it helps to know what potential problems the customer may have. If you know the root cause of the problem, you can take steps to fix it before the customer complains. Employees should play the part of a customer to test out the service of the organization. Doing so allows employees to see how customers view the organization. This also offers the ability to identify any potential issues that may lead to complaints.

Setting Expectations

Certain customer complaints may be due to high expectations or expecting more than your organization can offer. By letting customers know what to expect, employees can reduce the number of complaints. To do this effectively, employees must be able to meet the expectations that are set. This may be accomplished by under promising and over delivering, which means setting slightly lower expectations so that you can easily exceed them.

Allow Feedback

Proving the customers with a way to offer feedback about your organization is an effective way of reducing complaints. This may be done in a variety of ways, depending on the organization. Employees may directly ask the customer if all needs were met or if they were dissatisfied in any way. A feedback form may be given to customers or placed in a high-traffic area. Receipts can also include a URL or phone number where customers can offer feedback. When employees receive customer feedback, acting on that feedback may reduce or prevent complaints.

When You Get a Complaint

Customer complaints are an inevitable part of business, regardless of the steps you take to reduce them. When you get a complaint, it's important to handle it properly so that you retain the customer. Listen carefully to the complaint and repeat it back to the customer to make sure you understand the problem correctly. Apologize for the problem without making excuses for it and offer a resolution. You should also thank the customer for bringing the problem to your attention.