Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Quality of service

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Quality of service

Someone sent to me a letter written by a 86 year woman complaining about the impersonal treatment provided by her bank. The sender asked for my comments.

I visited London, Paris and Canterbury recently and observed that the quality of service is generally better than Singapore. The situation is rather bad in Singapore due to the following:

a) Strong emphasis on keeping cost low, leading to overworked and highly stressed staff
b) Employment of foreign workers who are not familiar with the local setting
c) Low wages leading to high turnover and lack of accumulated experience
d) Complaints by customers are generally ignored

This observation applies to the business sectors and to the public service. There are some examples of excellent service in Singapore, but they tend to be occasional rather than systemic.

I dislike the automated system adopted in most large organisations in Singapore. They waste a lot of time for customers and makes it difficult for the customer to speak to a person. It does not reduce the cost for the organisation, as most customers need to speak to a person anyway, rather than get the reply from the pre-programmed automated responses. The people who designed these automated systems do not think about the needs of the customers. They only want to introduce expensive technology to "look good".

The quality of service can only improve if there is general respect for the customer or the public. Sadly, this lack of respect is quite systemic in Singapore, due to the elitist culture promoted by our leaders.

Tan Kin Lian

6 comments:

Anonymous said...: This may be due to low pay and lack of incentives for frontline service staff.

And most don't have the aptitude for service jobs and regard it as a chore every minute of it.

And for poor service most likely they won't lose their jobs either. Or just find another one easily, low pay again of course.; November 25, 2009 8:52 AM
C H Yak said...: Mr Tan

You once mentioned that visitors who responded to your surveys might be anti-establishment, especially during the Mini-Bond crisis.

In reality, I would think that Singaporeans are too "pro-establishment" and tend to accept things as it is without question, to the extent of staying "meek" and not speaking up on issues even if they are right and establishments are wrong. Those who often complained are in fact the minority and not majority (including those who heard you at Hong Lim Green).

Because providing a good service is not respected by large corporations intuitively and those receiving the service tend to be simply meek, large corporations particularly the Authorities and statutory bodies offering public service tend to be "aggressive" and take advantage by simply avoiding the actual problems.

The apathetic mindset of any management or Authority to avoid problems by remaining quiet when a customer complains is in itself a sign and act of "aggression" towards the "customer". Those providing the service particularly led by the "elites" would think they are providing a "free" service and the customers do not deserve anything better for it is "free".

I recall the speech by the President of the Law Society you shared in a separate posting here, in which he illustrated with 3 stories about "apathy" in Singaporeans.

In his speech, he said "
But apathy is a Singaporean trait not confined to lawyers, and even when we as lawyers want to act in the interests of Singaporeans as a whole, our efforts are not appreciated. My theme tonight is therefore not only apathy among lawyers but also apathy among the clients we serve,..."

This apathy in Singaporeans affect our life in many ways.

For sure we note :-
(a) Establishments are apathetic by not responding to feedback from the ground (these commoners are actually their customers).

(b) Customers in turn are themselves apathetic, either they do not appreciate those providing the service if "good", or they are simply too "meek" to response with a strong "protest" by not speaking up if "bad". Because of this the bad "corporate" sheeps can hide, led by their leaders and their workers also pretend and follow, leading to a sick corporate culture and even greater apathetic Singapore culture.

(c) Initial response by most organisations in Singapore towards customer complaints is to deny responsibility. And corporates think they are above the individuals even if the individuals are right. In the first story by Law Society President, even statutes can be quoted to be given as "excuses". He said that was many years ago, but I think that apathetic culture lives on today in the public service.

While elitist culture promoted by our leaders is to be blamed, I would think "apathy in Singaporeans' culture" is more responsible.

Organisations then take further advantage by using a less "intuitive" automated platform via answering machines.

Some say Singaporeans are apathetic because of "oppression" and are less likely to be vocal unless their financial interest is hurt.

By bundling "elitist" and "apathetic" cultures together, it becomes a "chicken-and-egg" issue. If "elitist" and "apathetic" leaders are to be blamed for staying away resulting in poor quality in service, why do commoners stay "apathetic" in not protesting and asking for a decent quality in service.

But I feel a greater blame still stays with the former leaders who lead these "bad" organisations and that Singaporeans are generally too "pro-establishment" even if they are "oppressed" because they chose to behave so.; November 25, 2009 3:09 PM
Anonymous said...: Unlike many "western" countries, Singapore is still very bad at enforcement of consumer protection laws. Caveat Emptor is the govt's motto for consumers. Businesses take advantage of this. And such corporate / social culture seeps down to all levels, including children of people having to struggle in such environments.

At the same time, as Mr Tan mentions, the lousy treatment and weak protection of workers also play a part. Cheaper Better Faster is the govt's motto here. With no minimum wage, no social safety nets, can fire anytime mentality, most customer-facing staff just go thru motion at best. With pathetic salaries, they themselves have too many worries on their minds like how to buy overpriced HDB flat, service mortgage, support parents & children etc to bother about "service excellence".

I stayed in UK for 1 year and generally the service staff are better than in S'pore. Besides the 2 points above, another major factor maybe also due to the less stressful lifestyle. I mostly stayed in a small town so my view maybe biased. But you can see blue-collar workers like plumbers and bus drivers being able to afford decent quality of life with 40-hr work weeks, terrace houses and 1 or 2 cars, and you realise how imbalanced S'pore society is. Note that this was in the late-90s, before all the sub-prime loans that allowed people to get stuff they couldn't really afford.; November 25, 2009 4:08 PM
Anonymous said...: They are more interested in their pay, promotion and prospect.
It is not their problem.
The organisation with such attitude woudl eventually be hurt.
But now 99% of the big org. are doing it. So u hve no choice.
What to do. u are just a small fly that matter nil to them.; November 25, 2009 5:52 PM
Anonymous said...: The MP costs is now so low, with stream of FTs coming in, there is no need to automated at all.
Automated so that the people who are resp. don't hv to answer calls???.....; November 25, 2009 5:55 PM
My foot said...: Many business that have direct contact with retail customers use simple tools to measure their employee performances.

These include appraisals that monitor employee adherence to procedures, and rules.
Supervisors and frontline managers focus on this. They are poorly trained at people skills and their employers are even worse, since the focus is on high returns and profits.

The end result is: robbots who may meet targets and follow procedures to death.

Customer satisfaction is measured by dollars & cents, and this is ensured by a captive retail customer base who have been conditioned to cheap, good & fast, as available at food courts etc.

I used to work for a premium airline and I have come across Singaporeans who, on embarking, instead of acknowledging the greetings and the welcome offered by the staff, would, in demanding tones insist on newspapers! and when told that all copies of the Straits Times have depleted, they will add more loutish behaviour by commenting that there should be 100% supply of the Straits Times, ( since its a premium airline )

The graciousness, politeness is missing. Courteousy begets courteousy.

We focus on results.
We need to balance this with the experience of the journey or the moment.; November 25, 2009 8:52 PM