More than 60 per cent of UK workers employed in customer-facing sales and service roles believe that failing line management is one of the major causes of the UK’s culture of poor customer service and neglected sales opportunities.
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And, according to research by consultants Prosell, 10 per cent of the 9 million frontline (customer-facing and service positions) workers in the UK consider the relationship with their manager to be the biggest threat to their job security – a threat of equal importance to the possibility of jobs being outsourced.
The research, conducted among more than 570 frontline workers, found that the behaviour of UK line management has a direct impact on the quality of service respondents extend to customers. The majority (45 per cent) went so far as to claim that the relationship with their manager ‘always’ impacted upon the customer experience they deliver.
Sixty per cent of respondents said they are not praised each time they do something well, and 10 per cent are never praised by their manager at all, regardless of their achievements.
