Agencies have traditionally operated as other offices do. The Monday-through-Friday, 9-to-5 workday, designed for administrative operations, has carried over into customer-service practices as well. But who benefits from this practice?
What is the purpose of a 9-to-5 workday?
Advantages: Because administrative personnel are in the office, it seems logical to accept incoming visitors and calls during these hours. Having standard work hours enables co-workers to confer about work-related issues, ensures standardization of procedures, allows management to oversee work activities, and so forth.
Disadvantages: With a 9-to-5 schedule, administration and paperwork tend to take precedence over customers. Customers sometimes are perceived to interrupt the work you're doing and are treated as secondary rather than primary concerns. Furthermore, most people work from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. themselves and are forced to take time off work in order to get customer-service needs met.
Special client needs: Look at your client base and identify the types of accounts the agency writes most often. Are the business hours at your agency designed for customer convenience, or simply for administrative ease? For example, take an agency that handles a large book of commercial contractors who usually start their workday at dawn. What work hours would meet their needs most effectively? Clients are more receptive to talking with you when they're not distracted by co-workers, job duties, or their own clients.
Compare lists: Discuss what is more important to the agency-administrative standardization or client convenience. Workers and management may find it reasonable to stagger work hours to accommodate customers. In this climate of increasing competition and shrinking expendable dollars, service is ever more important in retaining and expanding the agency's client base.
Create an alternative paradigm: Consider devoting certain times strictly to customer service activities. With a client base of contractors, for example, it may be more convenient to operate from 7 to 10 a.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. If the agency employs more than one customer service representative (CSR), it shouldn't be too difficult to stagger hours.
In addition, with separate customer service hours, the primary objective during this time can be client satisfaction. Paperwork and administration are secondary to responding to client requests and satisfaction, and can be handled during office hours not dedicated to customer service.
Test: Establish measurable criteria. For measuring the effectiveness of extended customer service hours, you may choose to create a before-and-after questionnaire.
Evaluate the new paradigm: After a 30-day trial period, review the success or lack of success of the new procedure. Discuss with agency staff and management the following:
- How do agency employees rate the new procedure? Were they able to accomplish more work by separating tasks? Did the new hours interfere with other activities (say, hiring babysitters)? Are employees pleased with the system?
- How do customers feel about the new hours? Were they able to get their needs met more conveniently? Test the market; send a questionnaire.
- How does management view the new work hours? Has productivity increased? Decreased? (The criteria used to measure the success and satisfaction ratio should have been established at the beginning of the trial period.)
Go ahead and challenge the 9-to-5 workday in your agency: What additional options for office hours, apart from customer service hours, could work for clients in the '90s? Let us know what you decide. (Think about one of the stodgiest institutions around-banks. Banks now offer Saturday service, drive-up banking only, extended hours, etc.)
And while you're at it, analyze other paradigms, too!