As it is seen from the case study, Backwoods’ problems are connected with the mistakes made by the employees and lack of knowledge. Thus, the training for them should have such objectives:
- Information about the products – if the employees enhance their knowledge of the features of the products (including size, etc.), there will be fewer merchandise returns.
- Data entry – it is mentioned that more than half of all mistakes are made when entering the information about the order in the computer system that is why the improvement at this stage is needed. With the reduction of incorrect entry, the number of merchandise returns will also become smaller.
- Equipment – using headphones of better quality, the employees can be less affected by noise (Frein 107).
- Clarification – if the employees receive a mail that can be hardly understood due to the handwriting or it lacks some information, they should contact the client and clarify the order.
- Call handling – the way the employees should answer to the customers and add their orders is to follow decent guidelines.
- Interaction among the personnel – the problems that are faced by the Packaging and Shipping department (labeling and inventory) can be reduced if the workers communicate.
The training plan for the employees should follow these recommendations:
The training should take place at the workplace (classroom training) and last for half of the shift so that the employees can swap over and some of them are always available for the customers (half day class) (Aswathappa 218). All personnel that works in customer service should have training regarding entry accuracy. They should practice how to enter the data till at least 90% accuracy is reached.
The employees who are to deliver product information should study the products they have to be aware of their peculiarities. The training should be assessed to make sure that all needed information is familiar to the workers and then ended. They can also create a database where all products and information about them will be included and updated from time to time (Seidel and Chatelier 13).
In a kind of role-play, the employees (especially new members of the staff) should practice answering customer calls for two months. Some examples can be even recorded while working to analyze them during the training (Lussier 246).
There should also be training with the new equipment that will last till the employees will be able to use it without problems. If the new worker is employed, the training is to be repeated for him/her before one starts working.
To evaluate the efficiency of the program, the data should be gathered with the help of a questionnaire (to receive the employees’ and customers’ feedback) and a survey (to measure the results based on the data gained from the reports) (Smith 7). Such criteria should be taken into consideration:
- Reduction of merchandise returns (consider different reasons separately, including inaccurate entry, wrong feature, etc. at an employee and organizational levels);
- The time needed for entering the order (at the employee level);
- Reduction of calls regarding the problems (at the employee and organizational level);
- Number of calls made to clarify the order (at the organizational level);
- Customer satisfaction (at the organizational level) (McKinney 58);
- Reduction of issues connected with incorrect labeling and inventory (at the organizational level);
- Employee satisfaction (regarding the decrease of issues, new equipment, and training overall at the organizational level).
Works Cited
Aswathappa, K. Human Resource, and Personnel Management, New Delhi: Tata McGraw-Hill Education, 2005. Print.
Frein, Joseph. Handbook of Construction Management and Organization, New York: Springer, 2012. Print.
Lussier, Robert. Management Fundamentals: Concepts, Applications, Skill Development, Mason: Cengage Learning, 2008. Print.
McKinney, Anne. Real-resumes for Human Resources & Personnel Jobs, Fayetteville: PREP Publishing, 2002. Print.
Seidel, Robert, and Paul Chatelier. Virtual Reality, Training’s Future? New York: Springer, 2013. Print.
Smith, Jonathan. Stress Management: A Comprehensive Handbook of Techniques and Strategies, New York: Springer, 2002. Print.