managers..what would you do about an employee who keeps getting complaints about them from customers?

Question

would you be sorry you hired them?
would you sack them, move to a different department or what?
how much would you be prepared to tolerate?

Answer 1

Is the employee aware of the problem? If not, make him (or her) aware that there is a problem. Either way, let them know what the negative impact is, and get their suggestion on how to correct the situation.

If the nature of the problem a matter of professionalism (doesn't care, not courteous, etc.)? If so, and the employee doesn't make improvements based on your first talk, start the termination process.

Is the nature of the problem a bad "fit" (doesn't have the right skills to work with customers directly)? Strongly consider moving the employee to a non-customer facing position.

Answer 2

I would examine my training program and see if there is something lacking.

Are the customer's complaints about his attitude or his lack of knowledge? If he does not know how to complete procedures then he needs more training. If it is attitude, then give him a written warning, if it continues, terminate his employment. He is not will suited for the position. The company must make every effort to protect customers from becoming upset by incompetent employees, that's a must.

Please do your best to teach good customer service to include kindness, thoughtfulness and politeness. It is a horrible though to know that when I go out in the morning at least 90% of store attendant contact will end with unpleasant results. This is at the bank, car wash, pharmacy, not too bad at the grocery store or doctors office, however.

So do your best to train your workers and keep your customers happy.

The She Beast
California

Answer 3

I would first talk over the problem with the employee, then if I get another complaint I would move them to an area where there's no customer contact or get rid of them. I'd only tolerate them to the point of losing business.

Answer 4

I would let the employee know about the complaints and ask for their side of the story. If the employee is truly trying to do the job and just isn't capable, I'd move them to a different department. I would give 2 warnings if the employee is capable of correcting the mistake and then let them go, if they still did not correct the mistake.

Answer 5

First and foremost, you should employ a legally reqired procedure such as disciplinary or capability. You should remember that these procedures are required to be used impartially and not as weapons to 'sack' people.

Properly investigate each complaint and ensure that the employee recieves their legal rights up to and including the Human Rights Act 1998.

Under the body of discrimination law you will also need to be mindful that minority groups can often be the subject of a higher level of complaint than other workers. It is not inknown for black workers to find themselves in this situation and an employer who dismisses a worker on such spurious grounds could find themselves in court accused of not only unfair dismissal but also racial discrimination.

In short, be fair, be open minded and be watertight in terms of policy, procedure and law.

Answer 6

What you SHOULD do is this. You have to go through the Appraisal procedure, you have to find out why this person is having trouble doing the job and work out a solution and set goals for that person to achieve, they may need training, they may just need advice. However if all your efforts do not produce desired results and the person isn't responding, then you go through discipline until they are sacked after their final written warning.

However, you can cut corners and warn them from the off because it looks like they may have lied over their experience and you can just jump straight in with disciplinary action, but a good solicitor will get you for unfair dismissal if the person goes after you.

Answer 7

Your company should have a policy for workers that aren't 'adding value' to your organization. It would follow (I think) a fairly straight forward process...

1. Group meeting to explain that there's a 3 step process for workers which are problematic.

Upon the 1st offense, there's a "VERBAL" warning. Refocus the worker on their tasks, see if there are any issues about the work or personal life which are interfering with the competent completion of work... Address as necessary.

Upon the 2nd offense, there's a "WRITTEN" warning. This is accompanied by a reevaluation plan (typically 30-60 days) for improvement. All steps towards improvement are reviewed weekly, and modified as necessary.

Uponn the 3rd offense, there's "TERMINATION".

By following this 1,2,3 approach, you have created a papertrail, you have kept the employee in the know, and they cannot successfully complain that they didn't see it coming.

best of luck. We all have someone in our employ that makes us a little 'crazy'

Answer 8

If I have a complsaint, Iwritealetter to theVPcust servioce, tell them what got here about, the position, and what time. I only remind them that customer service is major, and except i a minimum of get an evidence i am going to take my employer elsewhere. I managed cust service for decades. actual, some shoppers were idiots, yet they were also the reason I had a job.

Answer 9

The employee should be made to undergo courses on customer appreciation and interpersonal relationship, after which if the complaints continue , he should be given the sack.

Answer 10

It would depend on how long there service was. If they were a new employee then I would probably let them go. If they had a lot of service and no probs previously I would try to find out what was going wrong.