In an effort to revive their anemic customer service program, the AP is reporting that Home Depot has earmarked $30 million for stores and employees that provide good customer service. Stores who rank high in the company and individuals who go out of their way to provide good customer service will be eligable for cash bonuses on a monthly and quarterly basis.
It is generally felt that Home Depot ranks near the bottom of the industry as far as customer service goes. Is this the right way to turn themselves around?
Let’s face facts, money talks and people will respond. There will be a turnaround in the customer service provided by some individuals/stores as they now have a much larger carrot dangling in front of them. The problem is long term – you can’t just throw money at a situation to correct it.
Create a workplace with people who are passionate about what they are doing and create an enviroment where people actually do want to show up for work every day – not just looking for a paycheck, but wanting to share in the success of the company/store – and the positive customer experiences will follow. I think HD had this enviroment once, they need to figure out how to recapture it again.
I just can’t help but think that the $30 million could be better spent some other ways.
Having worked at Home Depot off and on since 1992, I can attest to the lack of product knowledge and customer service in the stores. When the Founders retired and Bob Nardelli took over, it became simply the bottom line…Ie, profits for the stock holders.
Home Depot Use to Hire Painters for its paint dept, actual electricians for electrical, plumbers for plumbing, etc…now the model is to work a few full timers into the ground and keep hiring part timers that don;t know anything. It really sucked when I was told there was no place in the company for Me because My doctor put me on medically necessary restricted duty. I was placed on medical leave of absense, because I no longer drew a paycheck, My insurance thru the company stopped paying. now I am unemployed, trying to get medical assistance thru free clinics. with no real light at the end of the tunnel. Home Depot claims to look out for its employees, but discards them when they run them into the ground. am I bitter? yes.
[...] writes about the new Home Depot customer service plan that they have launched. I talked about this the other day – they’ve earmarked $30m to give to stores and employees who provide great customer service. [...]