Innovations

They Serve Customers, Don't They?
The Amazing CST Team

Anita Bingaman

Do you ever have days when customer service does not come easy? Your desk is piled high with stacks of papers in various stages of completion. Your email list is growing exponentially and the phone will not stop ringing. The last customer yelled in your ear and you do not want to be nice to anyone at the moment, so hopefully the phone will not ring or none of your work mates will ask you for something. Well , you are not alone, Bunky!

Fortunately, if you work in the Payroll Office help is just around the corner. The Payroll Customer Service Team, aka CST, comprised of Farida Ablang, Margarita Mortel, and Eva Lu, helps make customer service easy in any situation. The team provides training and other activities for the Payroll staff. Their support is ongoing, beginning with new employee orientation and continuing through the everyday affairs of Payroll processing.

CST has found many ways to keep the idea of excellent customer service in the forefront of the minds of the staff. At each monthly Payroll staff meeting the team reports on their latest activities, asks for examples of good customer service, and sometimes gives a presentation on customer service qualities. The team also maintains the "CST Corner", a wall space where such things as service qualities, do's and don'ts, and/or helpful tips are posted. They sponsor a Comment/Question box for external customers. Questions from the box are answered and then used as Frequently Asked Questions posted on a FAQ Board in the Payroll lobby. Compliments to Payroll staff found in the box are passed along to the deserving Payroll staff member. (See this issue's Kudos)

In promoting good customer service, CST is a good role model. For example, the team conducted a survey to determine how they could be more helpful to the office staff. In response to feedback on the survey, CST arranged for Ruth Johnston to provide a refresher course on the Meyers-Briggs Type Indicator. There are also plans for a Payroll interoffice newsletter and a summer event with the Benefits Office, who resides in the same building and is Payroll's process partner.

So, on those bad days it is helpful to know that there is a team working in the background willing to support you and that you have the right tools to struggle through those occasional rough spots.