Human Resource Aspects of Complaint Management

Customer-contact employees are of central importance. They have the first chance to reduce dissatisfaction, can resolve problems quickly, and thus in many cases can ensure cost-effective complaint processing. In addition, they have an important function in accepting and recording relevant complaint information. Therefore, an essential task of human resource management is to prepare all customer-contact employees for complaint situations and provide them with the skills necessary to successfully cope with these contacts. In order to be able to behave appropriately in the contact with complainants and to restore customer satisfaction, employees must possess essential skills. They need adequate motivation toward service orientation, as well as social, emotional and professional competence. Using internal marketing measures, the firm must see to it that employees with appropriate skills are attracted and retained, and that employees are able to strengthen their competences. These measures include the recruiting of service-oriented and qualified employees, employee communication and training, incentive systems, activities to avoid burnout effects and empowerment. Through these measures and the goal-oriented design of corporate culture and infrastructure, the firm must further guarantee that employees actually translate their skills into corresponding behavior.