Customer Service is the Culture

Ida Bell, left, Lemon Grove FRC manager, and Ariel Saluta, a human service specialist that receives many accolades from the public, pose in front of the "Lemon Tree" where employees can internally post compliments about the good service they receive from other employees.

“She’s supercalifragilisticexpialidocious”

That’s all the customer comment card said, but that was all it needed to say. Comments filled with superlatives are commonplace at HHSA’s Lemon Grove Family Resource Center (FRC).

It’s made for some long all-staff meetings.

“The staff here prides themselves on their customer service,” said Ida Bell, FRC manager. “I read off all the comments they receive from customers and fellow staff at our all-staff meetings.”

Some employees have received as many as 15 in a single month. Human service specialists Morris Lazard and Ariel Saluta always seem to be at the top of the list.

“They keep it up monthly,” said Bell.

That’s because great customer service has become a part of the culture at the FRC.

“We talk about the needs of customers at our all-staff meetings,” said Bell. “The staff here really cares.

“They have family and friends who could be in those lines (of people applying for assistance) and they understand how hard it is out there with this economy.”

The attention to customer service begins in the lobby of the FRC. Gone are the old metal benches and tables, replaced by more comfortable seating and a sense of openness. A staff member at an “ambassador station” greets customers and hands out numbers so people can avoid standing in lines for service.  These are the types of improvements underway in several family resource centers to improve the customer experience.

The FRC sees as many as 1,200 people a day come through the door.

“The staff supervisors here put a lot of effort into the lobby since it’s the first point of contact,” said Bell. “There’s always a supervisor monitoring the lobby to make sure people aren’t waiting too long and they will call more staff to the front to help if necessary.”

Many of the compliments staff receives now come from the lobby and first point of contact experience, but they also get kudos from contact with customers over the phone and people who come in for pre-scheduled interviews.

 “Good customer service is just so routine now,” said Bell. “They take it as part of their job.”