If you are in HR, who handles employee relations, most of your job may be responding to emails or employee queries, grievances and compliances issues…but understand that you can keep everyone together by making an impact. I will tell you how!
Customer care people try to do their best in foreseeing the issues that can possibly arise and fixing it by finding a solution ahead of time so the customers don’t even get to complain. And when they get any complaints, they put high focus on the ‘Service Recovery’. That means identifying customer concerns and proactively responding to them with the aim of customer retention. A customer can be retained, by not just only giving a quick response but by letting them know that you own the problem in hand and making a difference by fixing the issues. Happy customers and retained customers are loyal ones. Loyal customers will help you grow your business.
Treating employee’s concerns as customer complaints can impact the bottom line
When I worked in the trenches of HR, handling employee relations was one of most interesting parts of my job that helped me touch the lives of employees everyday! Everyday the stories are different and genuine!
If one day it is handling a process-oriented task like handling leave balance mismatch of employees in the system, the other day it can be sensitive issues like handling disciplinary concerns or managing a conflict between employee and manager at the workplace. Or maybe even something related to employee life cycle management in the organization.
And at times I had to deal with awful scenarios like having to fire a manager who slapped an employee in front of his team teammates or letting go of the someone who sold confidential data to the competitors and many more (which I will write about in another post).
If you are in employee relations handling 100 – 200 emails and phone calls at the same time can be overwhelming sometimes! Chances are you might lose patience when employees go crazy because they are not getting a response for their queries in a timely fashion. No matter what, employees might tend to think of HR existing not for employees but for business only.
HR making a big difference in employee’s life
For HR, it might be one of the many emails or issues that are submitted by their employees. But looking at the impact that you can create just by being there for the one that needs your help can make a big difference in their work life.
Chances are it can be just an attendance regularization problem in the system that was brought forth by an employee. But fixing it means that he can have his full salary without any deductions, which then means he can pay his loan installment, pay the school fees of his kids and still have some balance money to take care of his commitments at home. Your action can help him focus on his job and not to worry about his commitments outside of work.
So next time when you respond to the employees concerns treat it like customer complaints, keep in mind you are building trust by being there for them, by providing better service and thereby employees can focus more on their job and that leads to productivity and engagement.
