Employee Relations

All organizations exist to serve a customer. The customer can be defined within this context as the beneficiary of the organization’s products and services. Citizens are therefore customers to the government. Patients are customers to the hospital. Potential and current buyers are therefore customers to enterprises. Therefore, the primary objective of every organization is to serve the customer. It is therefore very important to know who your customers are and understand whether you are satisfying them or not.

One way to be sure that organizations are able to take care of their customers is for the employees of that organization to know; what good service is, the ways in which they can offer it and how to measure the level of the service they offer.  Good customer experience can be achieved in two ways: first, by the employees treating the customers well and secondly, by the management treating the employees well. One major reason why many organizations in Africa still offer poor service is that they do not create a service culture and they fail to train their teams adequately on understanding and serving the customer.

With this little background, you can, therefore, see that one of the greatest skills for the attainment of the overall objectives of an organization is customer service skills. Because of the benefits of offering great customer service, more and more companies and institutions are beginning to see the value of great customer service and HR teams are now focusing on recruiting employees that have the required attitude and customer-focused skills for both customer-facing roles and non-customer facing roles.

To improve bottom-line revenue and profits, you need to have more loyal customers. To improve customer loyalty, you need to improve customer satisfaction as they interact with your products and services. To improve customer satisfaction, you need to make great experiences as a part of your company’s culture, as well as improve the experience customers have at every contact point they have with your brand. To improve the customer experience at every contact point, all your employees must be equipped with customer service skills and empowered to make decisions that build trust with the customers and warmth in all interactions.

Africa is the land of smiles and friendship, a natural resource for customer service. Africa is rapidly acquiring technologies that were nonexistent 10 years ago. These technologies are empowering customers: giving them more information about the market and greater access to competitors. Today customers want fast, reliable and professional service. They want to feel they are in charge.  This is the age of the customer on the continent, and there could be no better time to be a more customer-focused organization. There could be no better time for every employee to be empowered with customer service skills and drilled on the role they have to play in the overall customer experience strategy of the organization.

By MBINKAR  Kpunsa Fomunyuy

Negotiating for a raise be it a pay rise or a promotion, ranks high as one of the most uncomfortable discussions that an employee can have with their employer. Despite the fact it may be obvious and deserving when you feel that you are a loyal and productive worker in your company, it is not always straightforward.

Here we highlight 5 top tips that are essential to helping you to negotiate for a raise in your company.

In preparation for your discussion with your employer, carry out proper research on your company. Knowledge is key to every negotiation and having a sound knowledge of how your company functions: who is the appropriate manager to have this discussion with, as well as the various steps that you will need to undertake is crucial. Furthermore, you have to start the conversation. Depending on your employer to bring it up may take forever, so be proactive in your move to demand.

The major fundamental step is to build your case. This is a very vital aspect because this is where you give reasons as to why you deserve a raise and corroborate these with evidence of your contributions and achievements in the company. It is therefore important to keep track of your accomplishments and ensure that they are recorded in an “accomplishments journal”, which will serve as tangible evidence to your employer of your business value and worth.

It is also important to determine when the appropriate time to bring up the discussion is: find out and analyze whether your company is going through a favorable time or not, such as cost-cutting measures or recent layoffs. This will give you an indication as to whether your negotiations will be successful or not.

Also do not get personal. The negotiation is not 100% certain to yield the outcome you want, therefore do not get personal and let your emotions control you. Focus on presenting your case in a professional manner.

Finally, stay positive! Even if you don’t get your expected outcome, continue being an exemplary employee and your raise will eventually happen.

It is more than likely than during the process of a job interview, the question of salary expectations will arise, and you will eventually have to provide an informed and reasonable answer. Determining what salary you deserve is not an easy task and most job seekers find it an uncomfortable topic to discuss with their potential employer. We have highlighted 3 best tips to help you to provide an appropriate figure that fairly reflects your worth, experience and skills set.

Research, Research, Research!

Be armed with as much information as possible. Do lots of research. Research and read annual salary guides published by professional organizations and credible careers information websites, to know what someone in your role should be earning. Being in possession of this information will enable you to present solid facts to back up your figure.

Do an honest self-evaluation

Without exaggerating or downplaying your abilities, carry out a fair and honest self-evaluation of your background. Factors which you should consider include your education, additional certifications and training, years and level of experience, any unique skills set that you possess and your accomplishments in other roles. An honest self-reflection will ensure that you don’t overreach or undersell yourself.

Do an honest self-evaluation

Take into account factors such as location- your travel expenses to and from your home to your office, your rent and other basic necessities such as feeding. Calculate your expenses and make an honest assessment of how much you need to live comfortably, which will, in turn, enable you to produce your best results professionally.

In conclusion, be sure to maintain honesty and truthfulness throughout the entire process so that you go into the job knowing what to expect and if it isn’t what you expect, then you can at least accept and be willing to work with it, knowing that there will be room for improvement in the future.