EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT CUSTOMER SERVICE
Singapore - Award-winning call centre, NCS Portal City, believes that robust HR processes for employees will help translate into a high level of service for customers.
As a business unit under NCS, NCS Portal City manages the National Service Call Centre, which provides a touch point for national service personnel looking for solutions to their queries. In September 2009, NCS Portal City edged out international competition by winning the International Customer Management Institute Global Call Centre of The Year award in the small-medium business category.
With 37 full-time customer service officers (CSOs) working on various shifts, the company requires all new staff to undergo an 18-day training programme. This programme is aimed at equipping new employees with the knowledge, skills and confidence at managing each contact well. CSOs are also taught on how the importance of their contribution in the call centre, giving them a sense of ownership and highlighting their value to the business.
In order to keep the engagement levels high, NCS celebrates compliments and accolades from satisfied customers by giving top employees a chance to "spin the wheel" and win tokens of appreciation. "Such direct and tangible results are well-received by our employees and keep them motivated in delivering exceptional customer service," the NCS spokesperson said.
And as the call centre handles more than 70,000 calls a month, one challenge that call centres often face is of staff burn-out as employees face the pressure to dispense accurate and timely advice to customers.
To avoid such a scenario, NCS adopted a flexible resource plan to ensure that staff is adequately rotated while not compromising the number of staff present to handle calls during cyclical periods, resulting in various staggered shift patterns.
As a result, the NCS spokesperson says 90% of the staff are now assigned their preferred hours of work. Complaints of tiredness from CSOs have also been reduced, adherence to schedules improved by 40%, mealtime rosters became more stable, and the general morale of the team has been visibly increased.
The call centre's people are the most important asset and key to the company's business, says the NCS spokesperson. "The morale, level of engagement and commitment of the team are critical to ensure that our staff stay motivated, cooperative, efficient and effective. There are definite correlations between employee and customer satisfaction."
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