Does your workplace aspire towards excellence?

Tombo2001

Am in my 30s, have had 5 main jobs since leaving college, with 5 different employers.....each lasting 3-4 years.

By and large, I've enjoyed the work.

I've worked only for service companies. In all cases, at a personal level I'd have done my best (obviously!!!). But I never really felt the company provided customers with a service one could be really proud of. Also, I'd have generally felt that the fees charged were vastly greater than the quality of the service warranted. The only thing that matters is targets, not the quality of service provided or whether customers genuinely got added value. Mediocrity has always been tolerable once sales are reached (this was most true during the Celtic Tiger years).

Some of these employers have been big bureuacracies, some have been smaller organisations where the owner is the MD.

As I'm a good way through my working career, I was thinking it would be nice to work somewhere where the company strives to do its very best for clients.

But I haven't really experienced it yet. And I havent really observed it in companies that might have been clients of mine at present or in the past, except in a few rare circumstances, usually involving very small organisations.

Any thoughts?

(Aren't you lucky to have a job etc etc).

monkeypants

Service is a tough industry, very cost driven. Lots of pressure from Eastern Europe and India. I see what you're saying though, everyone talks about service excellence, but not many if any deliver it.

Shenshen

I can't say I've ever seen it myself.

I've worked for 3 different companies here in Ireland over the last 10 years, split out 4 years, 1 year and 5 years counting.
While I would definitely rate my current company as the best so far, I do feel that there is a lot more it could do to actually live up to its "core principles"... you know, those catch phrases that are being tossed about in every multi-national, but generally get swept under the table once things get real.

I would hesitate laying the blame on the company itself, at least in this case. It's more the case of some insecure and/or underperforming individuals who will try and play the numbers game to hide behind.
And the bigger the company gets, the more of these individuals you will find.

1ZRed

Eh, right now I'm working on a building site.


Gather from that what you will

amacca

Tombo2001 wrote: »

Any thoughts?

I can see from your post the kind of excellence you are thinking of and while its commendable its other kinds of excellence management usually want

the kind of excellence that leaves you burned out before you are forty

Where To

There's no striving about it.:cool:

Mr Benevolent

Nah, never seen it. I used to be in the thick of the customer service/tech support stuff, but now I'm in a management team I see how much of the whole thing is pure luck and playing with statistics.

Gummy Panda

1ZRed wrote: »

Eh, right now I'm working on a building site.


Gather from that what you will

Stop staring at the builders cracks and get back to work

1ZRed

Gummy Panda wrote: »

Stop staring at the builders cracks and get back to work

Those cracks need filling too :pac:

mightdomighty

"Service Excellence " is just standard waffle that gets bandied about way too easily (understand OP may have used this intentionally to prompt responses )

If so, I'll take the bait :-)

It's an easy win for a company if any of their employees make any effort to work beyond what is required of them. Easy win and rarely has any tangible benfits for the employees doing the work.

Much easier for smaller company employees who have a vested interest in making their Business succeed but most of the time its just employees putting in additional extra time because they "feel the need" to do a good job from a personal point of view (Which of course is admirable but rarely acknowledged)

Service provided needs to be quantified clearly, otherwise "excellence" is just subjective from once customer experience to the next.

It just an easy low cost way to transfer "the need" to meet an exaggerated customer expectation from middle management to their employees.

ejmaztec

Where To wrote: »

There's no striving about it.:cool:

Don't you mean "driving" ?

Galwayguy35

No they aspire to screw us over as much as possible including working sunday night for a flat rate.

DarkJager

Yeah the company I work for have some mission statement about being a "leader and innovator" and "striving for excellence". Personally I couldn't give a **** about it. I work and I get paid, that's all the job is to me.

ElChe32

I piss excellence.

Grayson

I used to work for a company that really valued customer service. Where they had a system of ownership. You were responsable for fixing that query. If you didn't, it was escalated to your boss. If they didn't, it was escalated to their boss etc... Ir meant that stuff could end up flying up the ladder and the last thing directors or VP's want is to be bothered by that crap. It really increased the amoiunt of effort CSR's put in.

In this place, everyone just makes an effort to look good and make sure blame isn't dropped on them. It's a normal corporate enviroment.

ScumLord

Tombo2001 wrote: »

But I haven't really experienced it yet. And I havent really observed it in companies that might have been clients of mine at present or in the past, except in a few rare circumstances, usually involving very small organisations.

The thing is though people in general don't care about quality of service. We always pick the cheapest service and product no matter how flimsy it is how how poor the support is. We're much happier spending two hours bouncing around an Indian phone support system than paying an extra fiver for the product or service that is of higher quality.

If people demanded high quality then the market would be forced to provide it but all people demand is cheaper and cheaper goods and services so we get less.

old hippy

My company used to be a relatively exciting place to work for. It's not so much anymore.

mightdomighty

old hippy wrote: »

My company used to be a relatively exciting place to work for. It's not so much anymore.

I think I've solved this case Watson...

Old Hippy...did it...in his workplace...with his boring stories

amacca

old hippy wrote: »

My company used to be a relatively exciting place to work for. It's not so much anymore.

enron?

Grayson

amacca wrote: »

enron?

Don't be silly. they're not american.


Anglo?

amacca

Grayson wrote: »

Don't be silly. they're not american.


Anglo?

a Hippy sir? in Ireland! now who is being silly?

(we have crusties and new age travellers and rastas and also weirdos but hippies in the true sense are a distinctly american phenomenon - we only have pretend hippies here)

gloveslap....I challenge you to a duel

Tombo2001

monkeypants wrote: »

Service is a tough industry, very cost driven. Lots of pressure from Eastern Europe and India. I see what you're saying though, everyone talks about service excellence, but not many if any deliver it.

Just on this, I would see Service in a broader sense.

Its anything that is not production or manufacturing....

So this would include anything from politicians to estate agents to doctors to solicitors to stockbrokers to the HSE etc etc etc.....

old hippy

I'm not boring. Just laid back. Any more laid back and I'd be comatose.

Our workplace may veer on the banal and predictable but the company always produced quality.

Ficheall

I'm in college, so it's definitely a case of quantity over quality...

ashers22

our workplace is laid back but manages to provide excellence to our customers. Granted it's not a multi national, or a call centre type environment and I don't think it ever wants to be anymore than what it is, it employs six people but generates a healthy profit margin while also leaving the customer satisfied, with good quality products, advice you can trust and without the need to rip them off. I think it's just the nature of the business. I take my lead from the employees who've been there for years and know what they're doing and it obviously works.
I'm not a escort btw

Tombo2001

ashers22 wrote: »

our workplace is laid back but manages to provide excellence to our customers. Granted it's not a multi national, or a call centre type environment and I don't think it ever wants to be anymore than what it is, it employs six people but generates a healthy profit margin while also leaving the customer satisfied, with good quality products, advice you can trust and without the need to rip them off. I think it's just the nature of the business. I take my lead from the employees who've been there for years and know what they're doing and it obviously works.
I'm not a escort btw

Thats what I was thinking, with larger organisations you are paying for the brand......and the reassurance that if things go wrong, at least you can say "I went with the market leader/ big company"......

mark renton

Where To wrote: »

There's no striving about it.:cool:

+1 excellence can be sufficiently achieved at a slow and leisurely pace.