That’s Good HR recently earned a place on the Inavero 2010 Best of Staffing list. This prestigious recognition comes with a cool designation AND you get to be on an actual "list"- but really, what does it all mean to this Indianapolis staffing firm? It seems that there are lists for everything these days and we all know that you can do anything you want to with statistics. Heck, the whole country became masters at statistical manipulation over the past year of recession, crummy hiring trends and economic misery. Anything to make things look better, right?
So, what does being the "Best in Staffing" mean and why should you care? Great question – I am glad you asked. There were a number of factors that went into our interest in participating in this particular survey, the most important being the use of a 3rd party administrator to ensure the integrity of the data.
The second important factor was the requirement that the survey was sent to EVERY customer with whom we did business over the past 12 months. Not just the happy customers, ALL of them. No scrubbing of the list allowed. We opened ourselves up for feedback of all kinds including the good, the bad AND the ugly. Otherwise, why bother, right? We pretty much know what we are doing well, but we do not necessarily know what we do that our customers are not so excited about.
We also loved that the survey was EASY for our customers to complete. Three easy questions that got right to the point, with an opportunity to provide comments if they wanted to. The last thing our customers need from us is more work to do – so the easier, the better.
Finally, we love WHAT this survey actually measures. If you are familiar with Net Promoter Scores (NPS), you know that there is no room for "maybe" in this score. Either your customers would enthusiastically refer you to their friends or colleagues or they would not…Simple as that. The score is rated on a 1-10 scale and only a 9 or 10 earns you with a "positive promoter" score. The rest are either passive or demoters. I like this because it forces the survey taker to commit. Sort of committing does not do you any good and telling you they would not refer you says a lot.
The average Net Promoter Score for the staffing industry is 41%. Not a great statistic. Anyone who has participated in an Indianapolis job search knows that working with a staffing company should make your search easier, not harder, but that is not always the case. At That’s Good HR, our socks were knocked off when we received our personal Net Promoter Score of over 85%! Okay, that is a cool statistic, but again I ask – what is it that our customers are so happy about?
The customers who were surveyed in this specific survey overwhelming stated that winners of this distinction consistently demonstrate the 5 following attributes:
- We provide immediate and honest communication
- We serve as a staffing partner, not just a vendor
- We provide strategic staffing solutions, not just order filling
- We make sure candidates fit the organizational culture
- We provide exceptional account management
I have to tell you, we feel pretty good about all of this and it seems our customers do too. It is important to take a critical look at the services you are providing on a regular basis to make sure that you are living up not only to your customers expectations, but your own. This survey also provided comments that offered constructive feedback on the things we could do better and we feel that is the most important part of the survey. The opportunity to improve our services based on real honest feedback is priceless. Now, THAT’S Good HR.
