Have you ever asked yourself, 'Am I treating my employees the way I would want to be treated?' The more I talk to agents, the more I realize something has to be done to help employees feel happier in the agency environment.
Employees just aren't happy. Paperwork is overwhelming. Interruptions are usually at a peak. Employers are looking for increases in their revenue per worker. Work, work, and more work is being piled on everyone. 'We have to keep growing! We can't afford to hire additional staff! We need to increase our bottom line if we want to survive.'
Start thinking about treating your employees even better than you would want to be treated! Good customer service representatives are hard to find. Few are licensed. Employers are recruiting CSRs from nearby agencies, and the best offer wins!
How can your agency attract and retain the best talent? Risk being different. Think about what's most important to prospective employees. Believe me, it's not work. Family and health come first, so consider offering additional time off. Boost office morale and productivity by establishing uninterrupted quiet time. Offer special benefits that other agencies don't. Establish a reputation as a great place to work.
Some agency principals are in a state of denial. (I hope you know who you are.) They won't even admit that their employees are less than content. And the employees are just too afraid to admit their feelings to the management. Check it out for yourself.
EXTRA TIME OFF
'How can we afford to give our staff extra time off? We're already having problems trying to work ahead.'
Here's how: Don't differentiate among sick time, vacation time, and holidays. Combine them all into personal time, to be used at employees' discretion. Allow everyone to take off time as needed, whether for vacation, a doctor appointment, family illness, funeral leave, or a just plain 'me' day. Don't even spend time thinking this over - just do it! It's a great idea, and your employees will love it.
Here's another idea: Why not give additional time off during the week? We know that CSRs are forever challenged with heavy workloads, constant interruptions, and the threat of E&O hanging over their heads. Grant a half-day off each week to employees who are caught up with their work. Your staff will be caught up more often than you ever thought possible! They'll probably work harder and for longer hours just to get this time off. Try it for a month and see how it goes. I bet you'll notice a big difference in office morale. And as we all know, happy employees give you increased efficiency - and increased revenue.
UNINTERRUPTED TIME
'How can our customers be handled properly if our staff isn't available? How can we get anything done around here if we have to keep track of when we interrupt staff for questions?'
What's more important to you, a little inconvenience or the future of the agency? Designated uninterrupted time allows CSRs to work on important projects or get caught up on backlog. It gives them quality time to regroup from the hectic schedule of constant phone calls, heavy workloads, and producer interruptions. This time is a necessity for the agency, not a luxury for the customer service reps.
Keep your employees in as stress-free a work environment as possible and watch your agency's quality, efficiency, and revenue flourish.
SPECIAL BENEFITS
Special benefits could include weekend trips, dinners out, family excursions to local attractions - anything your employees might enjoy. Ask for their ideas at staff meetings. They'll come up with something that never occurred to you.
Does this sound far-fetched? Maybe. But if you want to keep your valuable employees around for a long time, you have to be different! Don't let them even think about being solicited by other agencies.
Institute the personal time off program, uninterrupted time, and special benefits. Keep your employees happy, and everything else will fall into place - increased business, increased efficiency, and increased revenue!