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Download White Paper -- What to Say to a Porcupine: Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Customers

What to Say to a Porcupine: Strategies for Dealing with Difficult Customers explores the use of some of the latest techniques in communications skills and behavioral psychology to break down the mechanics of difficult customer transactions, teaching you skills that will help both you and your customers feel at ease in any situation.

Read this white paper to discover how to change the way people react to you in your most difficult customer support situations. Use this information as a set of procedural skills that your team can learn and practice to have a real and measurable impact on your performance metrics.

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Sprint to Lay off 8,000 by April
Sprint Nextel Corp. has said that it will lay off about 8,000 workers by April within "all levels" of the company. The reductions should reduce labor costs by $1.2 billion, the company said. About 850 of the layoffs are expected to be eliminated through a voluntary separation plan begun last year. The company employs a total of 56,000 workers. CEO Dan Hesse said the reductions were necessary, even though the carrier has made improvements in customer service that have resulted in higher satisfaction ratings in customer surveys. Head-count reductions in customer-care functions will be less than those in groups that don't interact with customers, he added. [Source: Computerworld]

House Passes Stimulus Bill With COBRA Subsidy
A federal subsidy to help laid-off workers extend their employer health care passed the House on Wednesday, January 28, as part of the $819 billion economic stimulus bill. One item, however, has employers in an uproar. That is a provision making employers responsible for extending health coverage permanently to former employees 55 or older or those who worked for the company for at least 10 years. And unlike the measure to make it cheaper for workers to extend employer health care under the federal law known as COBRA, this provision would be permanent. [Source: Workforce Management]

Salary.com To Acquire Genesys Software Systems Inc.
Salary.com Inc., a provider of on-demand compensation and talent management solutions, has announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Genesys Software Systems, Inc., a provider of on-demand human resource management systems (HRMS), benefits and payroll services. Genesys is known for its multi-tenant payroll technology; their payroll, tax, benefits and HRMS services are sold primarily as software-as-a-service technology and support a diverse set of industries including government and hospital systems throughout the United States and Canada.

What to Do When 50 Percent of Workforce Vanishes
Bye-bye Baby Boomers. Will the last experienced person in the energy industry please turn the lights out when you leave?

From a human capital standpoint, according to research, the state of the energy industry is not good:

• According to the United States Department of Labor, the energy utility industry averages the second-highest average employee age among 54 industries studied. Nearly one-fifth (19.2 percent) of industry workers are within five to seven years of retirement.

• The energy utility industry is facing another kind of power crisis: a manpower crisis, that is. Manpower (and womanpower) just isn't the renewable resource it once was. Much of the industry's workforce is nearing retirement age. Unfortunately, over the years, little effort has been made to attract young, fresh talent to replace them.

• This is more than a decrease in headcount, it is a loss of know-how. The industry is at risk of losing crucial intellectual capital.

Ten years ago, McKinsey & Co. declared that better employee talent is worth fighting for, and the news quickly spread from the boardroom bunkers to the cubicle trenches. The reason for the coming talent wars was demographics and the retirement of the Baby Boom generation. The battle cry was to not only improve hiring practices, but to work harder to retain your best employees.

This prediction has come true with a vengeance, particularly in the power industry. There have been challenges in the past few years with recruiting young college graduates due to a perception that the energy industry is arcane, slow to adopt technologies and limited in growth opportunities. The failure to recruit new talent is clearly seen in the fact that the average age of the workers in the industry has been rising -- since 1995, the number of workers aged 55 and older has increased by 225 percent.

Here are five recommendations to tackle the brain drain issues.

• During the past decades, companies have proven that you can't win the talent wars just by spending more. When it comes to finding and keeping employees, pay is secondary for top talent. But if a company builds up an outstanding reputation, people will line up to work at that organization. For the energy utility industry, this will involve a degree of investment in branding efforts and workplace changes that will appeal to the younger Generation Y.

• One of the most important issues for reputation will be to promote environmental responsibility and the technological advances being made by the energy utility to provide cleaner energy. The 2008 Adecco USA Workplace Insight survey found that 69 percent of Generation Y wanted the company they worked for to be more environmentally conscious. That demographic was even willing to sacrifice, on average, 6.2 percent of their salary to work for an environmentally friendly company -- more than double the amount any other generation of workers would be willing to give up. This is clearly an issue that would motivate top young talent since they would be eager to work for an industry that could make a significant environmental contribution. An equally significant issue is the transfer of knowledge from the seasoned industry professionals to new employees. It is crucial that the mentoring relationships be managed properly so that both sides will feel comfortable and work together effectively.

• The big question is how to we get individuals who know technical operations, equipment and field needs to share 3. the "tribal knowledge" that they have acquired over decades of being on the job? One way is to help them to understand how to mentor and coach the new hires. For example, companies can offer incentives that can supplement their retirement incomes in exchange for coaching the newbies. A train-the-trainer program is an essential first step so they can properly transfer some of that valuable information in their heads. Since effective mentoring and cooperation is so crucial to the impending transfer of knowledge, personality assessments will be vital in matching the right workers to the right tasks and team members.

• Using an in-depth work style and personality assessment during the hiring process and for current staff allows the employer to manage more effectively. This data can reduce the learning curve for the influx of new hires necessary in the energy industry.

• In addition, personality assessments are vital in building mentoring partnerships and teams that will be productive and run smoothly. By understanding how different members of the team work, managers can help guide them to appreciate each other's strengths and weaknesses. Since so much of the industry-specific knowledge for the energy utility industry is in the minds of the impending retirees, organizations must act quickly to effectively capture it.

Overall, managers need to realize that attracting talent, retention and training of employees are interconnected issues that must be considered in tandem with each other. To alleviate this industry problem, action must be taken by the industry as a whole to change the way they are perceived. An advisory board on hiring and retention would help the energy utilities share strategies and information that will stave off this personnel crisis.
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Almost Half of Workers in the U.S. Believe Work/Life Balance Will Be More Critical in 2009
FedEx Office has released the results of its national "Finding Better Balance" survey, a pulse check on full-time, U.S. workers' views towards work/life balance moving into the New Year.  It might seem that personal priorities will suffer as employers cut jobs and pressure mounts for greater workplace productivity in this challenging economy.  However, 47 percent of survey respondents say better work/life balance would be even more important to them in 2009, compared to 2008.

The online survey, conducted in late November 2008 with more than 500 full-time, U.S. workers indicates America's labor force is looking for ways to bring balance back to their daily lives.  Respondents' ages were a significant factor in how they perceived the importance of work/life balance in 2009.  A full 58 percent of 18- to 34-year-olds believe it will be more important to find better work/life balance in 2009, compared to 46 percent of those aged 35 to 54, and just 30 percent for the 50-and-over group.  In addition, a full 86 percent of survey respondents plan to actively pursue this better balance in 2009.

As with all New Year's resolutions, the commitment to actively pursue better work/life balance in 2009 needs to be supported with a change in behavior.  The full-time, U.S. workers surveyed plan to take simple steps to get the ball rolling, including:

• Take advantage of all vacation time (49 percent).
• Prioritize projects (44 percent).
• Create a weekly to-do list (42 percent).
• Leave work at a reasonable hour (41 percent).
• Take lunch breaks on a consistent basis (36 percent).

FedEx suggests the following simple strategies to help workers get the New Year started off on the path to achieving better balance:

• Set your priorities and stick to them. Don't get sidelined by low-priority and last minute requests.  Understanding the big picture and tackling the most important projects first will keep employees from burning the midnight oil unnecessarily.

• Get the support you need. No employee, no matter how stellar, can do their job in a vacuum. It's smart to call in reinforcements early -- including teammates, support staff, and external business services companies.

Put technology to work for you. According to the "Finding Better Balance" survey results, many modern technologies have helped America's workers attain better work/life balance.  A full 77 percent of those surveyed said personal computers have been a major help in achieving work/life balance; 70 percent believe the same of the Internet and online business services.

Bringing in the right resources at the right time can save both money and energy -- allowing employees to reduce stress and focus their efforts on high-value projects during business hours.
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Corporate Training Spending Declines 11%
Economic constraints have taken a toll on corporate training budgets. Bersin & Associates' just-published 2009 Corporate Learning Factbook shows that over the last year, companies have cut training spending and staffing; changed training program priorities; moved to coaching, informal learning, collaborative activities, and other less costly training methods; and increased reliance on outsourcing.

The U.S. corporate training market shrunk from $58.5 billion in 2007 to $56.2 billion in 2008, the greatest decline in more than 10 years Average training expenditures per employee (which include training budgets and payroll) fell 11 percent over the past year -- from $1,202 per learner in 2007 to $1,075 per learner in 2008. Staff resources also took a hit. In 2008, large companies employed 3.4 training staffers per 1,000 learners, down from 5.1 per 1,000 in 2007; mid-sized companies employed 4.9 staffers per 1,000 learners in 2008, compared to 7.0 staffers per 1,000 in 2007.

In good years, training organizations continued to funnel dollars and staff into traditional and often non-strategic training programs. When budgets became tight, organizations with a traditional training focus suffered most. Today's business world demands a combination of formal and informal learning with an emphasis on collaboration, knowledge sharing, social networking, coaching, and mentoring. While formal, instructor-led training is not going away, it is becoming a smaller and smaller percentage of training budgets. Business, HR, and learning leaders must think differently about corporate training and focus on those informal and collaborative strategies that will save money and increase the breadth of organizational learning.

Other findings:

• The average number of formal training hours dropped from 25 hours per learner in 2007 to 17.2 hours in 2008. Training consumption dropped most substantially among small and midsize businesses, with learners taking 33 percent fewer training hours, on average, than in 2007.

• Although instructor-led classroom training remained steady (at 67 percent of all training hours), the proportion of e-learning decreased for the first time ever in 2008. Companies also reduced their use of virtual classroom training, so that (combined with self-study e-learning) the total amount of online training dropped from 30 percent of training hours in 2007 to 24 percent in 2008. This shift illustrates the industry's steady move toward informal learning and social networking.

• As companies downsized their training staffs, many turned to external providers to fill the resource gaps. Large businesses, in particular, outsourced more functions to third-party providers in 2008, as their staffing numbers were hardest hit.

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Keep Your Smartphones Up & Running

NuStar Energy's IT team supports thousands of employees worldwide, hundreds of servers, all networking equipment and applications, and 300 smartphones. Yet they do it all while controlling costs and increasing productivity.

Find out how NuStar quickly and easily delivers real-time remote support -- even to smartphones -- and how you can, too.

Get the case study and your free trial here....

If You Fire People, Don't be a Jerk About it
Mark Eckley can't forget the day when a former employer informed 100 of his colleagues they no longer had jobs, and then quickly escorted them out the door using security guards to monitor the situation. Managers, he says, then bad-mouthed a few of the employees soon after. Eckley, a customer support specialist, wasn't among those let go   that day about 12 years ago. But the situation angered and scared him enough to find a job somewhere else.
Full Article...

Need a Job? Resume Tips for Techies
Tech resumes are piling up faster than the local landfill. It's more important than ever to have a strong resume that is sure to stand out from the crowd. Unfortunately, techies are notorious for producing resumes as dense and inaccessible as a secure coding manual.
Full Article...

A Star is Saved: A Five-Point Plan for Retaining Your Best People
Saving our star performers takes a solid plan and lots of time and attention to proven people practices. For example, the candidate needs to feel comfortable from the minute they enter your website or your office, so be aggressively friendly. This article details five points you need to consider to save your stars.
Full Article...

Staffing for the Direct to Support Representative Model
Many technical support organizations avoid implementing the Direct to Support Representative model for many reasons. Most common is the belief that it is easier to manage a call back model in terms of staff planning, and support representative comfort. There is also a mistaken belief that it is the lower cost solution. While on the surface it may be easier to manage staffing, once the techniques of real time staffing models are understood, it is not really much more complex. More importantly, the Direct to Support Representative model is what the person contacting you wants to experience.
Full Article...

Do Workers Shun The Help Desk?
Savvy office workers frustrated that their on-the-job computer tools don't function as smoothly as, say, an Apple iPod are taking matters into their own hands. No longer are they relying on company technicians or IT administrators to choose the software needed to get the job done. They know how to pluck tools right off the Web, with the braver souls shunning corporate help desks.
Full Article...

Engaging the Hearts and Minds of All Your Employees: How to Ignite Passionate Performance for Better Business Results
by Lee Colan

Are your people passionate about what they do? Are they on board with your team's real purpose? Do they go the extra mile for your customers? Colan reveals the practical steps necessary to inspire and engage your employees. He shows you how to meet their most basic intellectual and emotional needs while assessing your own engagement style. By fully engaging your employees, you'll nurture a team that gives their all to deliver service.

Get it here!

More books can be found in the RecognizeServiceExcellence.com Required Reading section: http://www.recognizeserviceexcellence.com/

SupportIndustry.com White Paper: Best Practices for Coaching Your Support Team to Handle Anything

This white paper provides a step-by-step game plan for solving your support agents' worst nightmares, based on the author's experience in successfully "turning around" support performance, as well as current research in the psychology of how we communicate with people. In the process, you will learn how specific, procedural skills -- both for how your agents respond to customers, and how you coach your team -- can change everything about how your interact with customers, in a way that will impact both your support metrics and your bottom line.

Get the full white paper here!

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