The quest for satisfaction

From customer satisfaction to workplace soundproofing, countless action plans have been generated by the survey “What's the weather like at your end ?” Three examples follow …

From October 1st to 19th, PPR's social barometer took the pulse of 57,000 employees in 21 countries. This is the fourth time since 2001 that PPR has invited its employees to express their opinions in this way. The conclusions of the survey generate plans of action on the ground, explains Cecile Desrez, Director of social development in PPR. These plans are very varied and can range from training courses in stress and time management for managers to replacing the wall-to-wall carpeting in the offices… Within the Group, here are three representative recent plans of action.
Conforama chose to work on customer orientation and formalised this resolve in a charter. By this charter, all the company's stores undertake to propose five commitments to each of their customers: offering them the best prices, helping them save time, make their shopping easier, assisting them after the sale and staying with them over the long term, giving them the desire to return and respecting the environment.
For its part, Redcats France's Children and Family stores (Vertbaudet, Somewhere, Cyrillus) implemented a plan to encourage the mobility of employees working in logistics to allow them to come and reinforce the customer relations service on a temporary or permanent basis. The volunteer candidates were shown the job of telephone counselling, the profiles required and the equipment used. A series of individual tests and interviews then put them in a real telephone situation so that the manager concerned could evaluate their capability.
On the other side of the Pyrenees, Fnac Espagne defined a training schedule which could enable some em-ployees to take over the responsibility of a commercial department in one year. In order to carry out this project, which represents a first in Spanish retailing, a 400 hour university course was created. To do this, Fnac Espagne signed an agreement with the Cardenal Cisneros University College, one of the country's most prestigious institutes. The “students” follow seminars and correspondence courses via the portal fnacrh.com. The teaching, which leads to a diploma, is given by university professors and teachers from business schools and Fnac itself.
Management tool
’The point of conducting the survey regularly is to improve satisfaction over the long term, to take the long view” says Cecile Desrez. On the management side, each company knows its survey results, store by store, site by site. The managers can then compare them with the results from previous surveys, and from other regions. Other elements allow them to go further in their team activities and in performance management. Although the employee opinion survey is just another observation instrument among others, it is still an important tool.