CUSTOMER SERVICE AS VIEWED BY COOPERATIVE EMPLOYEES.

• Author: Deviney, Dr. David E.
• Position: Thriving In A Restructured Industry workshop survey - Statistical Data Included

In late 1999 and early 2000, a survey was given to cooperative employees concerning their individual perception of customer service at their cooperative. It was administered at a one-day workshop entitled Thriving In A Restructured Industry. This workshop was presented 31 times at 15 locations in Texas. The survey represents the views of employees from 50 cooperatives. A total of 1568 surveys were analyzed. While these results may or may not represent a single cooperative, collectively they do represent the views of a large number of cooperative employees in Texas. Not every respondent answered every question; however, sufficient useable data did exist on all surveys analyzed.

Respondents were grouped into eleven functional areas as identified in Table 1.

Length of Service

Respondents were asked how long they have worked at their cooperative. Tenure was grouped as shown in Table 2.

The majority of respondents (58%) have been with their respective cooperatives for over 10 years. However, it should be noted that 28% of the employees have been with their cooperative for five years or less.

Commentary

The data suggests that Texas cooperatives have a good core of knowledgeable and experienced employees that will serve the customer well in the future. There is no substitute for experience. Cooperatives also appear to be adding employees, since over one-fourth have been with their cooperative five years or less. New employees bring with them several assets including new thinking, new skills and new enthusiasm. They sometimes bring liabilities that include lack of customer knowledge and grounding in the history and purpose of cooperatives. As cooperatives move toward a competitive environment, it will take a combination of experienced workers and the so-called "new blood" to weather the storm and reposition their cooperative. However, this combination will only have synergy if both groups appreciate what the other groups have to offer and work together for the success of their cooperative. Each must be open to learn from one another.

Question 1

How would you describe your understanding of customers' / members' expectations?

When asked how they would describe their understanding of customers'/members' expectations (Chart 1), the majority (51%) indicated they knew most of their customers' expectations. Thirty-six percent have some knowledge of customers expectations. Combined with the 3% in the "don't know" category, 39% of cooperative employees don't have a good working knowledge of customer expectations.

When reviewing this question by length of employment (Table 3), 54% of those with five years of experience or less indicated they either don't know the customers' expectations or only know some of the customers'/members' expectations. Responses by functional department provide further insight into employee confidence in their knowledge of customer expectations (Table 4). Those employees listing their functional area as customer service expressed the most knowledge of customer expectations. Eighty percent indicated they know most or all of the customers' expectations. This was followed by Engineering/ROW (70%), Billing (70%) and Administration/Accounting (61%).

Those employees in Construction are not as certain of their knowledge about customers as others. Fifty-three percent indicated they don't know many or only know some of their customers' expectations.

Commentary

It is encouraging knowing that 61% of cooperatives know most or all of their customers' expectations. This is a good foundation going into deregulation. Knowledge of the customers' expectations, assuming they are the same expectations the customer would list, is fundamental to providing what the customer wants and needs. While a good foundation is being laid, there is work left to do. From review of the data, employees that characterize themselves as "inside" seem to be more confident in their knowledge of customer expectations than "outside" employees. There is also work left to do in the functional area of Customer Service. Twenty percent indicated they only know some of the customers' expectation.

Question 2

How often does your cooperative's management discuss customer satisfaction with you?

Fifteen percent of employees indicated that their management discusses customer satisfaction with them on a weekly basis (Chart 2). Twenty-seven percent of respondents have monthly discussions with management. Thus, 42% of employees have conversations at least monthly. Fifty-eight percent of respondents indicated they have discussions with management concerning customer service either rarely or annually. The employees getting the most frequent feedback on customer satisfaction are those who indicated they work in marketing (48% -- Table 5). With the exception of marketing, employees indicating that they rarely have discussions with their management ranged from 25-48%. This is significant. This becomes more significant when adding in employee functional areas that indicated they only get annual discussions. Functional areas getting feedback rarely or annually ranges from 54% to 70% (Table 5).

Commentary

Employees will focus on what they believe is important to management and what management recognizes and rewards. Therefore, it is important for management to clearly set customer satisfaction as a top priority. One significant way is for management to show support by discussing customer service frequently. Discussions should focus not only on the fundamentals of customer service, but also on why it is essential for the future success of their respective cooperative. Furthermore, it is important for management to recognize good customer service performance at meetings. Recognition must focus on the behaviors or actions that were demonstrated by the person(s) being acknowledged.

Question 3

Which of the following types of customer/member information is provided to you?

Respondents could check one or more of the following in response to this question:

* Customer complaints

* Customer compliments

* Satisfaction results

* Customer expectations

* Nothing

They could check as many as applied. Therefore, the percentages in Chart 3 will total more than 100%. Sixty-six percent of employees responded that they get customer complaint information and fifty-one percent indicated they get customer compliment information. Thirty-two percent suggested they get customer satisfaction information. Twenty-nine percent have customer expectation information data made available to them. Surprisingly, 18 percent of employees responding to this question, indicated that no information on customer information was provided to them.

Commentary

Sixty-eight percent of...