This week’s National Customer Service Week, celebration of the importance of customer service, has taken on special significance in light of the ongoing emergence from the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Institute of Customer Service, an independent professional membership body for the customer service industry, is duly highlighting a different them on each day of this week, those being:
- Monday 4 – The Changing World of Work
- Tuesday 5 – Service with Respect Day
- Wednesday 6 – Essential Customer Service Skills and Capabilities
- Thursday 7 – Effective Strategy and Focused Leadership
- Friday 8 – Recognition Day
The themes speak to the fact that the future of work will require changes in how customer service is delivered. Hybrid working, for instance, has seen contact centre agents move out of offices. Maintaining a high level of customer service in such circumstances requires both a focus on technology and culture.
In a statement, Jo Causon, CEO, The Institute of Customer Service, said: “A situation in which some employees work remotely, and some from a shared workspace, presents an interesting cultural challenge – and organisations must consider how they can avoid a division between the ‘in’ and the ‘out’.
“Employees need a suitable and productive working environment and businesses need to find ways to keep their workforce connected, motivated and focused on the task in hand – from wherever they might be performing their role on a given day.”
Of course, relying on technology alone takes the essential human factor out of the customer experience, which the Institute of Customer Service is recognising on Wednesday. As a result, this new world of work will equally require employees to develop new skills.