Streamline your customer service department with a learning management system

Picture this for a moment:

You’re about to reach the busiest time of year for your company… Your primary focus should be on necessary prep-work and fine-tuning, but all of a sudden three customer service employees quit and you’re suddenly very understaffed for the season!

What do you do?

In these types of situations, a business owner’s attention is pulled away from their main priorities and they’re forced to find quick replacements.

Sadly, for companies that face a high turnover rate, this can seem like a never-ending battle. A high workplace turnover rate can lead to serious issues, such as:

• Hiring unqualified employees
• Insufficient customer service
• Poorly trained staff

All of these concerns can play a primary role in the floundering of a business’ success, and that’s why it’s absolutely critical to solve customer service problems ASAP.

John Hausknecht, an assistant professor at Cornell University, worked with a team of individuals to evaluate the effect of employee turnover on the quality of service within a company.

His findings:

Providing Customers with the Best Possible Service

In high turnover environments, new employees aren’t usually offered the comprehensive training needed to successfully complete their jobs. That’s one problem.

They’re given the basic tools and then rushed to start working to make up for the lack in manpower needed to get certain jobs done. Urgency and limited training often lead to poor customer service.

If you’re searching for the best possible remedy to this predicament, it’s time to consider a learning management system.

These systems streamline the training process and help to ensure each new and seasoned employee has all of the tools needed to get the job done right.  Not only do these programs cover the basic education needed during a customer service employee’s initial hiring, they’re also a convenient way to roll out ongoing education amongst your teams.

Whether your company is undergoing things like policy changes or the installation of new technology, learning management systems are a convenient way to handle continued education within the workplace and will save you a tremendous amount of time.

Negative Effects of High Turnover Rates

Before you can recognize just how beneficial learning management systems can be, it’s essential to understand the various ways that your company might be affected by a high turnover rate within your customer service department.

As stated previously, having a high turnover rate not only means management will have to consistently set aside the time to search for, interview, and hire new team members, but they will then have to worry about getting new employees trained.

While the allocation of this time can be one of the most hard-hitting effects of employee turnover, here are a few of the other concerns to be considered.

Hiring and Training are Expensive

Depending on the type of business you run, along with the type of candidate you’re looking for, finding a new employee can get pricey.

Common costs involved in this process are for things, such as:

• Placement of Employee Search Ads
• Interview Expenses
• Training Costs

1. Employee Search Ads

Many employers forget to consider the cost to find applicants. The quality of candidates you’re searching for, along with the length of time you are searching, will determine the type of ads you need to place. In ongoing situations, this can get quite expensive indeed.

2. Interview Expenses

Covering the cost of travel and accommodations for qualified applicants during their interview process is just one of the ways this area can cost your employer money.

3. Training Costs

Even when a new hire is undergoing training, it’s still mandatory that they are paid. This training period can be quite the cost for business’ considering they have to pay a salary while no real work is being done.

Much like the interview process, new employee training also pulls current team members and management away from their own work in order to help the new people learn their jobs.

Low Morale Within the Workplace

A constant revolving door of employees can really bring down the morale of a business. Current employees are often forced to pick up the slack left behind, not to mention the inevitable increase of distracting and productivity-draining inner-office gossip.

Constant speculation over why so many individuals are leaving and what new employees are like can be a harmful distraction for any business.

Poor Customer Service

Last, but certainly not least, poor customer service is one of the most devastating effects of high turnover rates.

A decrease in overall employees, along with an increase in new, uncertain employees, can provide customers with little more than a lackluster experience.

Learning Management Systems May Be the Best Solution for Customer Service Departments with High Turnover

Learning management systems can ensure that you have well-trained employees to support your customer service departments, along with guaranteeing that your team members stay around long-term.

These online programs provide a wealth of information that will provide all of the tools necessary for customer service success.

Not only is there a large variety of coursework available through these systems, but they also allow management to take a hands-off approach to new hire training while still providing them with the opportunity to stay abreast of an employee’s progress and performance.

These types of programs are proven to reduce the costs involved in new employee training and also decrease the amount of time needed to complete initial training.

Online learning systems also provide an easy way to offer continued education. Once the base program has been set up within your company, it’s simple to find additional courses and information that may prove beneficial to the continued success of the business.

Benefitting Employees from Start to Finish

A sure-fire way of reducing the amount of turnover a business owner sees in their customer service department is to address the issues at hand.

Many times these will be related to an employee’s lack of ability or their want for a more challenging environment. Learning management systems are an ideal solution to both of these issues.

Why waste time looking for new employees and then trying to build them up? Focus your attention on benefiting the individuals already working for you and offering them the tools need to successfully serve your customers.  These learning management systems are a simple and cost-effective solution.