You Can’t Ignore Customers – Friday Distraction

Sharlyn Lauby

6 Jan 2017

(Editor’s Note: Today’s post is brought to you by our friends at Kronos, a leading provider of workforce management and human capital management cloud solutions. Every year, The Workforce Institute at Kronos identifies the top trends impacting the global workforce. Check out the 2017 list and see the P.S. below. Enjoy the post!)

A few times in my human resources career, I’ve had responsibility for payroll processing. This meant that I needed to understand a few things about month-end and year-end closing procedures. A lot of stuff happens during “closing “ and it requires a tremendous amount of concentration and detail.

But one of the things I remember our accounting department being criticized for was their lack of responsiveness to the operation during those “closing” times. This Time Well Spent cartoon from our friends at Kronos reminded me of the balance we need to have between getting our work done and serving our customers.

Whether they’re internal or external, customers don’t always have great timing. They might call or stop by when you’re deep in thought. But they’re the customer. I sometimes joke with the companies I do business with, “I’m trying to be a good customer.” Consider putting some plans in place to educate customers:

If you need to close yourself off to work on a project, set times when you’ll be available to respond to questions. That way customers know when they can expect to hear from you.

Provide options. I love it when websites have a HELP or FAQ page. I can often find my own answers. Consider putting answers to common HR questions in your employee self-service portal.

Remember the importance of delegating and designate your backup. Sometimes emergencies happen. If you absolutely, positively cannot be disturbed, designate someone who can answer questions on your behalf.

This is one of the great ways we can use technology to our advantage. We can give our customers answers with minimal interruption to their work. So, we can confidently move on with ours.