The Problem
The company was growing rapidly through acquisitions and new business sales efforts. Thousands of new customers were set up on the company’s system each month and were subsequently supported by a call center comprised of roughly 100 FTE. Customers frequently complained about the quality of support available through the call center, frequently resulting in staff terminations. To compound the problem, call center turnover was over 70% per year. The most knowledgeable staff departed shortly after Human Resource Policy for internal transfers allowed staff to post for other positions. As a result, there was a steady flow of new hires into the call center backfilling vacancies. In general, technical knowledge and soft skills were very low across the board. Training efforts were accelerated, but the results were still weak.
After analyzing the problem, management realized that the training programs and material were inadequate, and simply conducting more training sessions would not increase the knowledge to the desired level. Materials had not been updated for years. New product information was added to the existing materials, but the materials were not structured for effective results. Further, it was determined that numerous operational departments were conducting training for common topics but the terminology, definitions, and direction conflicted.
The Solution
The need for an up-to-date, user-friendly knowledge base was very apparent. Specialists were assigned to construct the knowledge base and maintain it on the company’s intranet. The initial focus was on the call center, but plans were laid to expand the knowledge base to all other departments within the company.
Management needed a way to entice employees to re-educate themselves through familiarity and use of the knowledge base and refresher courses. Monthly contests, fashioned after a traditional Easter Egg Hunt, were instituted. The staff were given a series of questions or the challenge of finding something as simple as a “lollypop” image in exchange for lottery tickets or $5 or $10 prizes.
Course material needed to be completely rewritten. However this time, all materials and classes would fall under a new University concept and all operational departments were to participate. The University of (Company name) was fashioned after other accredited four-year colleges. Larger operational department’s managed their own “school”, such as the School of Customer Service, School of Risk Management, School of Data Management, etc. Multiple Degrees were available within each school. A structured curriculum was developed where specific Courses were required to achieve a specific Degree. Employees (Students) needed to achieve a 90% grade in order to pass a Course and were allowed to retake a Course. Courses duplicated by multiple departments were eliminated.
The Result
Staff and management focus groups were held to ensure buy in. Key staff members were asked to assist in the development of materials for each of the various Schools. Even before the program was officially announced, a high level of excitement and enthusiasm was apparent. Competition ensued between operational departments in the form of an unofficial race to launch the first school. As course materials were updated and re-written, staff were encouraged (and in some cases required) to sign up for classes. Participation was high. The eagerness to learn using this new program was prevalent. Several other Divisions outside the Operations group requested participation. The University concept was used as a recruiting tool and also by the Sales Departments to differentiate the Company from competitors. Most importantly, call quality significantly improved.