Onboarding New Employees In Your Customer Service Department: 7 Pitfalls To Avoid
Every member of your organization deserves top-notch support tools. But the customer service department is the face of your company. They field customer calls, handle complaints, and ensure that consumers get the best possible experience. Which means that they have a unique set of obstacles to overcome every time they clock-in. Especially your newest team members who are still a bit shaky when it comes to your policies, procedures, and task protocols. Here are 7 pitfalls of onboarding new employees in the customer service industry and tips to avoid them with employee onboarding software.
1. Not Imparting Real World Experience
Customer service employees often need to hit the ground running. They don’t have time to learn all the nuances of their position while they’re attending to customers. Nor do they want to run the risk of making crucial mistakes their first day on-the-job. Thus, one of the pitfalls of onboarding new employees in traditional training is imparting real-world experience. Your online customer service training can give new hires the practical know-how they need to address consumer issues right from the start. For example, simulations and scenarios expose them to customer personas so that they already know how to handle common complaints.
2. Overlooking The Importance Of Compliance
Software for onboarding new employees can help you significantly reduce compliance issues that are often overlooked in traditional training. In many instances, compliance comes second to skills and in-house policies. Which leaves your customer service employees vulnerable to costly errors, such as violating regulations or laws when dealing with consumers. An online system allows you to focus on high-risk compliance areas and keep track of employee progress. For example, a certification program or badge-based system gives you the power to pinpoint which new hires are falling behind.
3. Not Addressing Personal Service Skill Gaps
Every new hire who enters your organization has a skill gap that must be addressed. Traditional training often involves a one-size-fits-all approach that overlooks these gaps. While employee onboarding software helps employees not only identify them through self-assessments but tackle them with personalized paths. You can also provide your new recruits with a moment of need online training library so that they can continually spot emerging gaps and remedy them rapidly. Another great way to cultivate your new in-house talent is to produce demo videos that prompt them to reflect on their own performance. They’ll be able to spot missed steps or lacking skills by watching the character who displays favorable behaviors.
4. Assuming That Everyone Is Familiar With Customer Service Tasks
Not everyone you hire is going to be familiar with the returns process. Or know how to ring up a purchase using your POS software. Online onboarding offers them the chance to perform tasks before they venture into the workplace. Task simulations, serious games, and online training tutorials are just some of the tools you can use to bring them up to speed. The best approach for onboarding new employees is to conduct pre-assessments or surveys to find out what they know and where the gaps reside. Then custom tailor your real-world activities to suit their needs and preferences. For this, you’ll need onboarding software with a built-in test engine and interactive support.
5. Failure To Provide Ongoing Support Tools
Many organizations make the mistake of onboarding new employees, then leaving them to their own devices. They regard training as a one-off and only require staff members to refresh their knowledge annually. Employee onboarding software enables you to provide ongoing support to continually hone their skills and address pain points. For instance, you can launch a peer-based coaching group to facilitate knowledge sharing. Or start a JIT repository that’s categorized by topic or task so that new hires can quickly overcome obstacles.
6. Managers Aren’t Actively Involved In The Onboarding Process
A major drawback of traditional training is that it generally involves the instructor and the new wave of recruits. But those who hold a leadership role in your organization are sitting on the sidelines. Managers and team leaders shouldn’t sit idly by and wait for new hires to learn crucial information. And onboarding software gives them the opportunity to play a more active part in the new hire training process. As an example, your supervisors can host live events for their customer service team to ensure everyone knows about the latest policies. They can also check LMS reports every week to look for performance gaps and offer timely support to new employees.
7. Not Preparing Employees For Everyday Challenges
Self-confidence is a must in the customer service industry. New hires need to know that they have all the information they require when they step behind the counter or field a call. Onboarding new employees using an LMS ensures that they’re prepared for everyday challenges. Videos, online training tutorials, infographics, and branching scenarios get them ready for common service issues. As well as allow them to put all their new knowledge into context so that they can use it to enhance workplace performance. Rather than simply locking it away in their memory banks (as theories) and forgetting about it the next day.
These 7 pitfalls have the power to set the wrong tone for your new recruits and leave a less-than-favorable first impression. However, a heaping helping of real-world experience, skill gap-bridging, and ongoing support can improve employee engagement. Use this article as a guide to give your customer service team all the tools they need to take on work-related challenges from day one.
How can you make sure that an onboarding software includes all the must-have features, needed for your in-house and remote employees? How can you use onboarding software to figure out which fresh recruits are going to advance up the corporate ladder? Do you want to tap into the full potential of your new recruits and turn them into rising stars? Download our eBook From New Recruits To Rising Stars: Using Employee Onboarding Software To Help New Talent Reach Their Full Potential for tips on how to find the right onboarding software for your employees and improve ROI. It also includes a step-by-step walkthrough to help you train employees on a tight timeline.
