Employee Frustration Drives Customer Dissatisfaction Case Study by: Kim Betty Ashley Bouey

The Mager Model  A series of steps used to figure out how to solve any given performance problem.  Applied to AMRE Insurance Company problem.

Kickoff  from client:  New customer data system  Too many mistakes  Costing time and money

Company Background  AMRE Insurance Company  “AMRE makes traveling through life safe and convenient.”  Services  Company size  Average wages

What’s the Problem? Whose Performance is concerning you? Describe Discrepancy

What’s the Problem?  Percentage of errors in frontline employee data entry:  20% error rate FebruaryMarch Total Records140,128155,789 Errors26,38731,283

Is it Worth Solving? Worth Pursuing? NO Done

Is it Worth Solving?  Use the following information to find the company’s monetary loss:  1.8 million customers  20% error rate  5 minutes taken to find and correct error  Hundreds of thousands of dollars lost each year!

Yearly Losses  # of Customers X Error Rate = Amount of Errors  1.8 million X (.20) = 360,000  Amount of Errors X Amount of time to correct = Minutes  360,000 X 5 minutes = 1.8 million minutes  Minutes ÷ 60 Minutes/Hour = Wasted hours/Year  1.8 million minutes ÷ 60 = 30,000 wasted hours/Year  Average Salary X Wasted Hours/Year = Total Loss $/Year  $21.00 X 30,000 = $630,000 Lost every year

Can we apply Fast Fixes? Expectations Clear Clarify Expectations Resources Adequate Provide Resources Performance Quality Visible Provide Feedback Problem Sufficiently Solved NO YES Done

Can we apply Fast Fixes?  Observations  Resources  Survey  Expectations  Feedback

Are Consequences Appropriate? Is Desired Performance Punishing? Remove Punishment Is Poor Performance Rewarding? Remove Rewards Are Performance Consequences Used Effectively? Provide / Rearrange Consequences Problem Sufficiently Solved? NO YES NO YES

Are Consequences Appropriate? Erica Burns: “ People, we can ’ t afford to be making such petty mistakes all the time! You all need to figure out how to input the information correctly. I mean, come on, you have manuals; isn ’ t that enough!?! ” Joyce Reynolds: “ But, I didn ’ t do anything wrong, why are you mad at me? ” Erica Burns: “ I don ’ t care if it wasn ’ t you, there ’ s enough mistakes to go around! ”

Do They Already Know How? Genuine Skill Deficiency? Did It In the Past? Used Often? Provide Feedback Provide Practice NO YES / NOT SURE NO YES NO

Do They Already Know How? Anonymous records: Test ScoreMonthly Errors Emp 185%10 Emp 281%9 Emp 393%12 Emp 491%7 Emp 579%8 Emp 688%13 Emp 774%12 Emp 898%10 Emp 983%6 Emp 1096%6

Are There More Clues? Can Task Be Made Easier? Simplify Task Any Other Obstacles? Remove Obstacles Person Has Potential To Change? Replace Person Train YES NO

Are There More Clues? You: “ Why do you feel this job is being poorly performed? ” Rick: “ I can ’ t think of anything in particular that would be a problem. You may want to ask the Manager of the frontline employees though. ” You: “ Why was the new system implemented? ” Rick: ” We were pretty out of date when it came to the frontline system and we needed to input data quicker in order to keep up with competitors. ”

Select And Implement Solutions Calculate Costs Select Best Solutions Draft Action Plan Implement And Monitor Done

Solutions  Four feasible solutions:  Job Aid  Feedback System  Reward System  Training on each system (feedback, reward)

Job Aid Feedback System Reward System Training on Reward/Feedback System