maritz poll/Maritz Poll: Telecom Industry's Efforts at Improving Customer Service Recognized

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Maritz Poll: Telecom Industry's Efforts at Improving Customer Service Recognized

For more information, please contact:

Liz Drazen, Maritz Inc., 636-827-4434, liz.drazen@maritz.com
Jennifer Larsen, Maritz Inc., 636-827-1523, jennifer.larsen@maritz.com

TELECOM INDUSTRY'S EFFORTS AT IMPROVING CUSTOMER SERVICE RECOGNIZED
BY EMPLOYEES IN A RECENT MARITZ POLL

ST. LOUIS (November 12, 2007) – Despite continually being rated as one of the poorest providers of customer service, telecom employees believe their companies are trying harder than others to please their customers.

Maritz - a world leader in understanding, enabling and motivating employees, channel partners and customers - recently conducted a poll of 1,006 full-time employees in the telecommunications industry. When compared to respondents in a similar poll taken of the workforce at large, telecommunication employees were significantly more likely to agree that their companies rewarded employees for providing excellent customer service, their companies set specific goals for improving customer service, and that they had sufficient authority to respond to customer concerns.

"In our employee engagement work, we find that employee perceptions of customer service are generally well-aligned with customer satisfaction ratings," said employee engagement expert Rick Garlick, Ph.D., director of consulting and strategic implementation, Maritz Research. "That raises the question … why is there such a disconnect in this industry?"

Trying Harder than Others, But Still a Lot of Room for Improvement
Despite being an industry whose employees rate their companies as better than others, fewer than half (46 percent) agree or strongly agree that their telecommunications employers reward employees for providing excellent customer service. Just slightly more than half (54 percent) agree that their companies have effective formal employee incentive programs for improving customer service. One-out-of-three do not feel they have proper authority to respond promptly to customer problems and requests. Furthermore:

  • Less than four in 10 (39 percent) of telecom employees surveyed agreed or strongly agreed that senior management at their company had frequent, direct interactions with customers.
  • Only 55 percent of respondents say their company frequently seeks suggestions for improving customer satisfaction from employees who have regular contact with customers.
  • Just over half (53 percent) say they consistently receive feedback on how their work benefits customers.
  • Only half (50 percent) say their company's policies and procedures make it easy for them to satisfy customers.
  • Only half (50 percent) say their company provides effective training to support excellent customer service.

"In an industry plagued by accusations of poor customer service, it's interesting to see these employee responses," said Garlick. "They indicate that telecom companies are talking about customer satisfaction. But according to the study, they might not be connecting the dots between customer satisfaction and their employees' ability to impact the customer experience. It would appear that telecom companies are making the same mistake many companies make with customer experience management programs."

According to Garlick effective programs should be:

  • Aligned with employees - reward and recognition efforts must convince employees to go through the pain of behavior change;
  • Centralized - all parts of the organization that touch the customer need to work in tandem;
  • Localized - targeted training and processes should meet the specific needs of each location; and
  • Smarter - more complete customer and employee satisfaction insights are required to diagnose and enhance the customer experience.

Garlick adds, "Telecom companies are further challenged by the need to provide consistent experiences across all touch points, including through channel partners. Effective programs to engage employees could help them successfully manage that aspect of their business as well."

A Not-So-Obvious Customer Sat Correlation
In addition, only 42 percent of those polled believed their company genuinely listens to and cares about its employees. Also, attitudes toward senior leaders were among the poorest-rated areas of the survey:

  • Only 30 percent trusted their companies to look out for their best interests.
  • Only 35 percent agreed senior management's actions are completely consistent with their words.
  • Only 45 percent trust management to make the right decisions in times of uncertainty.

"When compared to other Maritz employee engagement studies across industries, telecom employees trust senior leaders even less than other employees," said Garlick. "Maritz Research studies have shown employees are less inclined to care about customers if they perceive their managers don't care about them, and their beliefs about senior leaders are highly predictive of overall engagement."

About Maritz® Poll
Maritz® Poll is a national consumer opinion survey conducted periodically by Maritz Research. This recent online Maritz Poll surveyed more than 1,000 randomly selected adult telecom employees throughout the United States who work full-time and more than 30 hours a week about various workplaces, corporate leadership and employee/management relationship issues. Sampling error for the poll is +/-3 percent. For other Maritz employee engagement polls, click here.

About Maritz
St. Louis-based Maritz is a sales and marketing services company, which helps companies achieve their full potential through understanding, enabling, and motivating employees, channel partners, and customers. Maritz provides market and customer research, communications, learning solutions, incentive initiatives, meetings and event management, rewards and recognition, travel management services and customer loyalty programs.

For more information, visit or contact us at 1-877-4MARITZ.