100% surveyed scored below 3 on a scale of 5
90% surveyed do not meet the required communication standards
60% surveyed transferred the calls for HELP
Is your
organization – Communication SKILLS equipped?
COST OF COMMUNICATION
Summary
ICSPS conducted a
random survey on Communication Skills over phone with organizations with strengths
between 51-500 employees across industry categorizations as per LinkedIn. The
idea was to determine how and where lay the strengths and opportunities and,
the threats around communication skills among the front line upto the middle
line staff. ICSPS indiscriminately called across these industries between the third
month of the first quarter of 2012 and through the second quarter of 2012 to
collect as much data as possible to help put together a referenceable source to
determine the trajectory or rather cost implication of POOR COMMUNICATION
SKILLS.
Strengths
People are very
confident irrespective of their communication skills and go about their service
unconsciously. If this unconscious confidence could be better directed with the
correct skill sets; each and every employee who unknowingly participated in the
survey has a lot of opportunity to move up levels on their communication skills.
Most surveyed were
comparatively stronger on the following indicators - Call Transfer Etiquette,
Greeted Warmly, Exercised Discretion, Listened Carefully and Message Management;
in that order.
Opportunity
People are fully
aware that communication skills are very important but the likeliness to change
is very weak. The environment and climate in which they work is not conducive
to raise the levels of communication and, organizations have not strategically introduced
or implemented standards that encourage the employees to approach or reach out towards.
Recognizing communication skills as a critical skill is missing in most
organizations.
The areas those
surveyed need to introspect on are - Smile In The Voice, Tone And Clarity, Hold
Procedures, Preoccupation and Rapport Building; in that order.
Those surveyed performed
averagely on the following indicators – Composure, Judicious, Organizational
Knowledge, Understood My Purpose and Language Abilities (Hindi / English); in
that order.
>
The top ten
sectors all performed below a grade 2 on a scale between 1 and 5. With the
lowest performances coming on ‘Language
Abilities’ and the best performance coming on ‘Listened Carefully’
>
The best performing indicators across the
top ten sectors were ‘Listened
Carefully’, ‘Rapport Building’ and
‘Composure’.
>
The poor performing indicators across the
top ten were ‘Preoccupation’,
‘Judicious’ and ‘Language Abilities’
>
The top ten
sectors all performed below a grade 2 on a scale between 1 and 5. With the
lowest performances coming from the ‘Education
Management’ sector and the best performance coming from ‘Financial Services’
>
The best performing sectors across the top
ten were ‘IT & Services’,
‘Telecommunications’ and ‘Financial
Services’.
>
The poor performing sectors across the top
ten were ‘Education Management, ‘Human
Resources’ and ‘Leisure, Travel
& Tourism’
>
The top ten
Industries / Sectors has a total of 336
organizations which is roughly 1/3rd
of the total number of organizations called. IT and Services (with 98) being the sector with the most number of
organizations that were called in the survey and rounding up the top ten was Financial Services (with 21)
organizations.
>
336 organizations in
the top ten sectors with ‘IT & Services’ topping at 98
>
The minimum
number of employees estimated across the top ten sectors stands at 28,686 and this figure at the maximum
could stand at 90,300.
>
Minimum number of employees – 28,686 (Total
Surveyed)
>
Maximum number of employees – 90,300 (Total
Surveyed)
>
Estimated
This averages around 85 employees at the minimum and 268 at the maximum for the top ten
sectors
Minimum average – 85
and Maximum average – 268
Quantifying the cost
of POOR COMMNUNICATION
The average call time was 320 seconds.
[the ideal average
call time should have been ~ 180 seconds]
We lost on every call
an average of 140 seconds which summed upto 4,48,000 seconds ( which in minutes
is 7466 minutes; and in hours is 124 hours)
Taking the
following as standards –
Average Salary
per employee: Rs 25,000.00 per month
Handles approximately 30 calls daily (inbound & outbound)
The working day for an employee is 8 Hours
Handles approximately 30 calls daily (inbound & outbound)
The working day for an employee is 8 Hours
22 working
days make a working month
124 hours
approximately translates into 15.5 man
days based on the above standards.
With this computation
we’d be losing money (unseen cost) to the tune of approximately 17,000 rupees
per employee who’d have to service 3200 calls.
3200 calls is approximately 4 months of work for a
‘telephone service function’ for an
employee apart from making outbound calls and corresponding over emails.
This further comes
down to specifically losing Rs. 4,250/-
per employee per month; relatively organizations in the top ten sectors
with a minimum employee base of 85
are losing (4,250x85) roughly Rs. 3,61,250/-
per month and with a maximum employee base
of 268 are losing (4,250x268) roughly Rs.
11,39,000/- per month.
These are quite
amazing figures for unseen costs which could otherwise be channeled towards
better TRAINING, SKILLING, DEVELOPMENT
AND LEARNING to improve employee talent which positively affects the
overall PERFORMANCE AND QUALITY of
the organization.
Note: review ‘hold time’, it additionally
adds to cost
80% of Organizations today
demonstrate using English as the medium for business communication
60% of the calls
were transferred for those receiving calls could not resolve or service these
call on the first instance.
This further comes
down to specifically losing Rs. 2,500/- per employee per month; relatively
organizations in the top ten sectors with a minimum employee base of 85 are
losing (2,500x85) roughly Rs. 2,12,500/- per month and with a maximum employee base
of 268 are losing (2,500x268) roughly Rs. 6,70,000/- per month.
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