The extra smile

When the Nando’s restaurant group arrived in Ireland, they faced a potential problem: many Irish people didn’t realise how spicy their chicken was. Aoife O’Connor, HR and development manager with the organisation, describes how their proactive customer service tackled the issue.“It was about encouraging staff to notice when people were not eating and to go up and see what was wrong. We want them to act before there’s a problem.”

O’Connor says the five values of pride, passion, courage, integrity and family are central to the company’s culture and its approach to customer service. In Nando’s lingo staff are known as “Nandocas” and managers as “Patrãos”, a Portuguese word meaning head of the family.

“The vibe for Nandocas is it’s nearly like a second home,” says O’Connor. “They are inviting people into their home and going to Nando’s should be like going over to your friend’s house for dinner.” This shapes the way staff interact with customers.

Six years on from their first Irish operation and with an 11th restaurant on the way, Alan Snyman, managing director of Nando’s Ireland, thinks they must be doing something right.

“Our eating concept is simple: we serve Peri-Peri chicken and chips. People come because of the fun environment. Customers keep coming back, which is always a good sign.”

This year is the first time Nando’s has participated in the Great Place to Work survey, because they wanted to get an external benchmark for their activities.

“We have our practices and we wanted to see if what we’re doing matches what the Nandocas think we’re doing,” says O’Connor. “The headlines are that the guys feel good about their ability to be themselves. It’s a great environment to work in, very relaxed. People feel like they belong.”

She says the organisation is confident they can trust their employees because of the amount of training and development they receive both before they start the job and while they're working, including formal workshops and courses, on-the-job learning and exposure to others.

Supportive culture
"It's very much a supportive culture that we have," says Snyman. "In a family, if someone is feeling down there is always someone that will pick you up. It's the same in our restaurants."

O’Connor says the key is a robust recruitment process. “It’s about getting the right people. We don’t look for experience; it’s all about the culture fit. It’s a long recruitment process but you know when you’re here, you’re the right person.”

Alison Hodgson, HR director with McDonald’s Ireland, agrees smart recruitment is a vital first step in providing good customer service. “You’re working in a fast-paced environment and the customers come thick and fast,” she says. “You have to learn to have fun. We recruit for attitude and skill up with everything else.”

Observing potential employees on the restaurant floor is an important part of the McDonald’s recruitment process, to see how they interact with customers. “We look at do you make a difference, can you have a chat with people, do you know what a customer needs before they do? Customer service is our differentiator.”

McDonald’s has been recognised as a Great Place to Work for the past 10 years and Hodgson sees a direct correlation between happy employees and good service.

“Each month we measure customer footfall and performance on a wide variety of measure. “Stores that have scored consistently highly on Great Place to Work have the best customer satisfaction scores.”

McDonald’s owns just 11 of the 84 restaurants it runs in Ireland, with the remainder divided among 27 franchisees. This means company-wide decisions have to be collaborative, as new programmes will only gain traction if everyone buys into them.

While franchisees have a certain amount of autonomy and independence, the McDonald’s brand means the company is strict on uniformity in certain areas.

"Our franchisees have the golden arches above their doors so we're fairly tight on our people philosophies and practices," says Hodgson. "One of our USPs (unique selling propositions) is consistency of service. Of course we have a process for how you wash your hands; of course we have a process for how you stack and store your tomato ketchups. Otherwise it distracts from how you treat your customer."

The correct language
When things go wrong, she says the correct language can keep blame out of the conversation. "It's not: 'You did what?', but 'What happened?'. It's asking the same question but there's a fundamental difference." This is mirrored in how staff begin conversations with customers: with a positive 'Thank you for waiting,' rather than the more negative 'Sorry to keep you waiting'.

McDonald’s employees are given customer service training with the opportunity to study for qualifications in hospitality and customer care, accredited by City & Guilds. Or they can study for a diploma in supervisory management or a degree in management practices, with the National College of Ireland.

Hodgson says employees not only use this training to inform their relationships with customers, but it also contributes to their satisfaction. “Five years ago we were embarking on external accreditation and we wanted to check whether it would be of value. We’ve learned that education and lifelong learning is just as important to staff as the company thought it was.”

She says Great Place to Work helped them understand the value of communication, up and down the hierarchy and between colleagues. The organisation now holds regular “rap groups” sessions with independent facilitators where staff can voice their opinions and propose solutions to problems they’re facing.

In 2011 McDonald’s introduced a company intranet, called ourlounge, which contains information on schedules, promotional opportunities and training plus social features such as birthdays and nights out.

“People log on at really random times,” she says. “More than six hundred people logged on on Christmas day. We’re on the right track,” Hodgson says.