News: Customer Service/Care
'HR vital for financial sector'
27 March 2008
Human resources (HR) has an important role to play in financial firms by instilling the importance of customer service within the industry, the Financial Services Authority (FSA) has said.
HR will be a key part of the watchdog's Treating Customers Fairly (TCF) initiative, which will ensure firms have adequate systems and training in place to guarantee customer confidence, People Management reports.
Terry Russell, director of intouch Consulting, has helped the FSA monitor how far financial firms have implemented the framework.
He told the publication: "The most successful firms we have worked with in embedding TCF are the ones that have involved HR from the start."
"Those that see it as simply another regulatory box to be ticked will come into conflict with the FSA sooner or later," he added.
FSA spokesman Paul Burton said that effective staff training will see that a culture change towards the treatment of customers becomes embedded.
Meanwhile, a recent study by the Work Foundation and the Institute for Employment Studies revealed that firms which utilised HR to adopt a comprehensive approach to people management recorded higher profit margins and productivity, Management Issues reports.
