Caring about the Employee Experience: How employee morale translates to a great consumer experience

We hear more and more about the concern for improving the consumer experience in the accounts receivable space.  Positive experiences inevitably lead to a boost in reputation for our clients as well as greater financial results.  We’ve known this for some time, that’s why we implemented our “New Deal” engagement strategy years ago – pledging to change the industry for the better by setting the example for a consumer-centric approach.

We also often talk about the many ways we use technology and self-service to meet consumer demands and improve processes. But there’s another one of our methods that has just as large of an impact – caring about the experience of our employees.  This is another philosophy we stand by: high employee morale translates into a positive consumer experience.

No one said collections was easy and we understand that our agents have a difficult job. So we make a number of efforts to ease the pressure. By doing so, we have discovered a win-win situation for our organization and its employees as well as for our clients and their customers.  Our strategy for employee satisfaction has three prongs: perks, support, and technology.

Perks include the basics such as providing health benefits and 401k options. Employees that have a healthy and happy life outside work are likely to be less stressed inside work.  We let our employees know we care about what they care about by offering 40 hours a year in paid time off for volunteering at an organization of their choice, complimentary gym memberships and annual passes for public transit.

Support takes the form or mentorship and coaching. We show our staff we are as dedicated to them as they are to us by providing them with on-going one-on-one training and mentorship so they have the best opportunity for success.  Additionally, we aim to play to everyone’s strengths and as such we often promote from within or make adjustments to ensure our employees are in the position best suited to their natural abilities.

In a recent study, 92% of the working population said having the proper technological tools to help them do their job directly impacts their level of job satisfaction. So we make efforts to provide our employees with top tier technological tools to ease the burden of their position. This includes a variety of strategies which automate tedious and repetitive tasks and relieve our agents from the mundane parts of the job.  We employ the most modern AR system available, to ensure the software that our staff engages with the most is as advanced and user-friendly as possible. Fast processing speeds and an attractive user interface make account management easier and let agents focus on the important work of assisting the consumer.

Employee satisfaction can offset the more difficult aspects of the job.  High morale can minimize the stress of a difficult consumer interaction, allowing the agent to better manage the situation. By providing our staff with the best tools we offer also provides them with the freedom to focus – allowing them to give their undivided attention to the person on the other end of the line. And that is how caring about the employee experience creates a better consumer experience.