Photo by Tim Cooper on Unsplash
A recent news story caught my attention regarding a sign posted at a Taco Bell storefront location in Fairlawn, Ohio, admonishing its employees. While I do advocate for corporate transparency in order to keep customers well informed of serious issues that affect service delivery, a line has to be drawn when reprimanding employees, especially one that prevents employee shaming in public.
Real World Story: In all caps, the sign posted at the Taco Bell storefront read: “DINING ROOM IS CLOSED UNTIL THIS STORES [sic] WORKERS CAN SHOW UP TO WORK ON TIME! WE WILL HAPPILY SERVE YOU THROUGH THE DRIVE-THRU AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE’RE VERY SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCE.”
In smaller all caps type, the note concluded: “PLEASE BARE [sic] WITH US UNTIL WE FIND THE RIGHT TEAM TO BEST SERVE OUR COMMUNITY!”
Although Taco Bell did apologize later by stating, “This should not have happened,” the damage was already done.
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Management Training. Every management training program should include a section in handling employees professionally. And this training needs to be reinforced periodically. The recent Taco Bell story tells me that such training was either lacking or not recently revisited because there is no excuse for the public shaming of its badly performing employees.
- Policies and Procedures. Employee accountability is paramount to the success of any business, especially its delivery of great customer service. Implementing and periodically reviewing policies and procedures is a great way to ensure that employees know what is expected of them. The recent Taco Bell story tells me that employees had forgotten to which standards they were accountable.
- Rewards and Consequences. Achieving and maintaining great employee morale can be accomplished by rewarding the ones who perform above expectations. And just as important is being able to constructively reprimand bad employees in a private setting as the consequence of their bad actions and behaviors . The recent Taco Bell story tells me that management had forgotten the importance of such private interactions.
Remember: Customer service is not only about how we treat customers; it’s also about how we treat our fellow team members. In customer service, we should strive to be transparent while making memorable service experiences to our customers. It’s no different when we deal with other members of our service team. The great service that we provide customers should ALSO extend to our fellow team members. And there’s no shame in that!
What do YOU do to ensure company transparency while dealing with problematic internal service member issues?