7 minute read
END OF AN ERA
by JerseyPost
JAN MCCARTHY HR Director
After 13 years, we say goodbye to HR Director Jan McCarthy.
Jan first joined Jersey Post as Head of HR in 2008, and in 2016, was promoted to HR Director. Jan stepped down from her position in April but is still supporting the team and the new HR Director, Natalie Clare, for the rest of the year. Jan has been a vital part of Jersey Post these past 13 years, and we thank her commitment and dedication. We wish Jan all the best for the future.
We caught up with Jan and asked her about her time at Jersey Post and what she’ll miss most.
HOW HAS THE BUSINESS CHANGED OVER TIME? When I first started the business was run like a military operation. It felt like the posties should stand at the end of their frames for daily inspection. It was run completely on fear. All the senior management were ex-posties, and they demanded respect rather than earn it. If you were shouted at for doing something wrong, that was known as ‘character building’.
WHAT WILL YOU MISS MOST ABOUT JERSEY POST? This sounds so corny, but I really do mean it, the people! I will miss my team, but I will also miss some genuinely nice people downstairs who have gone completely full circle with us over the last 13 years. I will take away an endless list of funny incidents that have had me in tears of laughter over the years.
WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST MEMORABLE EXPERIENCE AT JERSEY POST? There have been many great experiences, but I think the most memorable was winning the CIPD award for delivering the best change programme and also building what I believe to be a very strong, approachable, empathetic HR team.
WHAT IS YOUR KEY TAKEAWAY/LIFE LESSON FROM BEING HR DIRECTOR? Don’t assume you know what someone is thinking/feeling. The loudest, most aggressive of people are often the ones hurting the most or insecure. Just because you may not like someone very much does not make them a bad person. Be assertive, be honest but do not be personal. Thank you for all your support throughout the years, especially all the funny moments we have shared. Wishing you all the best for your retirement. We will miss you but most importantly, thank you for the comfy office chair!
FROM THE HR TEAM
Customer Experience
Customer service consultant Gill Finney was approached by Jersey Post in 2020 with the opportunity to conduct a thorough review of the company’s customer service experience. With over 30 years’ experience specialising in the logistics and supply chain industry, and as a former winner of the Call Centre Management Association (CCMA) Contact Centre Support Manager of the Year award, Gill has been tasked with working alongside Jersey Post’s customer care team to create a best-in-class customer care experience. Here she tells Delivered how the project is going. Offering a consistent, dependable and responsive customer service experience is imperative for businesses. In the logistics industry, where there are many factors influencing each customers’ service and experience, the customer care team has a challenging and wide-ranging job in providing customers with support.
The first challenge was to understand the nature of the calls the team processes and to implement structures that would make it easier for the customer care team to provide answers to customers’ questions.
GILL FINNEY Customer Service Consultant
DATA COLLECTION
Working with Jersey Post’s Customer Service Manager Emma Herbert and the rest of the team, we set about understanding the customer care team better. Initially, disjointed information that only represented a small number of the calls the team takes was available. Needing to understand what was driving calls to the Customer Care Team, I set about securing data to understand call volumes, which channels were being used for enquiries and which service or business areas were generating a high proportion of activity.
We quickly started looking at the data and analysing the information, enabling us to implement a number of quick wins and also to plan more strategically for the future.
Jersey Post now understands every contact and action that the customer care team makes on a daily basis – from how many calls are logged each day, whether a contact comes through the website, email or live chat, and the nature of the enquiry.
Delving into the numbers has provided real insights for the business. We now understand the root cause of all calls and have been able to share data with various teams and provide a feedback loop across the organisation. We have pinpointed where we can encourage customers to find answers online by ensuring we are providing the right information on websites and within FAQs, which is helpful for both the team and customers. We know that many customers are willing to find the answers online if the information is easy to locate. »
LEVERAGING THE DATA
With a plethora of data to work with, we have set about transforming the way the team works. Tutorial guides have been developed for every process that happens within customer care. These tutorials are vital for a modest sized team. Importantly the tutorials provide the opportunity for key business stakeholders to review and identify improvements.
I have developed a call handling conflict pack to provide the team with hints and tips to handle more challenging calls. The team structure has been reviewed to enable extra cover during busier periods and to bring more stability to the team.
Technology can play a huge role in the customer care story. Investment has been made into the website’s live chat function with a pre-chat form now available. Before conversations go through to the team, they now have an idea of what the topic or enquiry is, making it more personal to the customers and allowing the team time to prepare. Further website upgrades are planned to ensure live chats, FAQs and other communications that can be automated online are as useful and accessible as possible. Jersey Post is working with telecoms provider JT to build a robust pre-recorded message to create a proactive solution identifying if the call is regarding a parcel or letter being sent on or off the Island. Often customer care can become a ‘catch all’ function due to its nature of being so connected across every area of the business. Unfortunately, this can cause frustrations to customers when their query cannot be dealt with by the team they are directed to. By establishing communications channels internally, windows are opening on future business projects and initiatives to make further improvements which ultimately create efficiencies and direct the customer to the right place, first time and benefit both the business and customers.
BEST IN CLASS CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Working with the Jersey Post team has been refreshing. Being asked to help a client to set up a ‘best in class’ customer service function is a brilliant opportunity and something I feel passionate about. Working with a client that shares a commitment to the same goal, from the executive team through to the manager and advisers within the Customer Care Team, is a really positive experience. From the outset, I was struck by the family feel within Jersey Post and how closely the teams are willing to work together.
Bringing Emma and her team on this journey was fundamental to its success.
We are already making significant inroads into implementing effective changes within the customer care team that will enable Emma and her team to do their job more efficiently and to help more customers. They have been so openminded, always willing to share information and try new approaches.
The customer care team can continue to develop the opportunities we have identified and are well on their way to providing the best in class customer care service that the business is committed to achieving.
Customer Care Manager, Emma Herbert describes her experience of working with Gill.
‘Gill has been an absolute blessing to me and the team. We are in a much better position already as we become more efficient and a more effective support to the business. We are continuously making improvements to ensure that customers receive the smoothest service that we can offer, and the team is a massive part of making these changes possible. We have more access to information and data than ever which makes a massive difference. Gill has restored faith back in the customer care team and we are becoming much more than a “complaints department”. We can see everything we have achieved and the team has transformed into a dynamic customer care team.’
