Day in the Life of a Customer Service Executive
Welcome to our Day in the Life feature! In this edition, Marcelo Santos gives us insight into his role as a customer service executive and what he enjoys about #LifeatWorkhuman.
1.Can you describe the impact you make at Workhuman®, both within your role and on your team?
Our mission as Workhuman is to make the workplace more human, and the same goes when it comes to our customer service. As customer service executives, we are the main point of contact for our customers, and for us there is just one rule that can’t be broken: we want their experience with us to be as personal and humanised as possible.
Seeing the positive impact my team and I have on our customers’ lives is hugely rewarding. We receive feedback each week from our CSAT (customer satisfaction survey), and seeing their positive words written in front of us continues to inspire and motivate me to always put the human and customer experience at the center of everything we do.
2. If there is such a thing, tell us about your average day. Do you work on specific projects?
It’s very hard to describe an average day because every day is different, and this is one of the nicest things about the job. Usually, I start by looking at everything that is going on. I read my emails and the messages in the team Slack channels to learn if there’s anything I should be aware of upfront or that’s impacting our customers, so I can anticipate some scenarios and know how to deal with possible queries.
During the day, we get calls from customers, escalate cases, and get in touch with our colleagues on other teams that may be necessary to assist the customer. I try also to always follow up on the cases I consider sensitive, to make sure when there is an update we can work on the case. Sometimes by the end of my day, it’s common to receive escalations that demand extra attention and an even more personal approach, because these usually have been escalated to me by people working directly with our customers.
3. Who do you work with?
Customer service executives work across different departments of the company on behalf of our customers. We also put our colleagues in contact with their company program managers if their query must be solved on their end.
(Marcelo’s desk setup in the office. Here's hoping we can be back soon!)
4. What opportunities are there for training and learning new skills?
At Workhuman, we like to invest in people and their careers, so the possibilities for development are everlasting. This was evident from my first day starting here. If your passion is to work with customers, you can easily move to a senior position and subsequently to a team lead. Another good thing is that you have continuous development conversations as well as periodic career meetings with your manager, where together you decide on goals and work on a tailored career plan for you.
If you have other career aspirations as well, you can, of course, discuss them with your manager, who will coach you and help connect you with another team so you can try a career move when the right position becomes available.
5. What skills do you need to be successful?
If you enjoy helping people, are a problem solver, and are looking for the next challenge in your career, I think this is the right place for you. This is an innovative, challenging, rewarding, and fun workplace, with endless career opportunities. Workhuman is a place where everyone enjoys celebrating together (there are events such as holiday celebrations, summer parties, innovation challenges, cook-offs, and Halloween costume contests). I love what I do, and I have great fun while doing it.
(Throwback to celebrating Thanksgiving in our office last year)
6. What advice would you give to somebody interested in working here or getting into your part of the industry?
I think the most important thing is to excel in an interview. To work at Workhuman, though, you must have a passion for people and an appetite for innovation. If you’re interested in a career on our customer service team, I would say not only should you love people, but also you should love to help people and create moments that matter to them. At the end of the day, this is what our solutions are all about.
7. Is there something unique or interesting about your company that you’d like to share with prospective candidates?
I think the most amazing thing about Workhuman is our culture. I’ve been here a little bit more than a year, and it still blows me away how everyone is always willing to help. Career development is also a continuous open conversation with our manager, which is something unique. The company invests in hiring and trying to make sure they hire those that are culture enhancers, because they want to have the right people who can have a positive impact.
(2019 Halloween celebrations)
8. How have Workhuman and your colleagues supported you during the COVID-19 pandemic?
During the pandemic, one of the biggest challenges has been to keep our culture alive while everyone is miles apart. One thing that certainly blew me away was when our director wrote an email directly to me just to see how my family and I were doing during the pandemic, as well as to ask how we found the transition from the office environment to working at home. I was also offered any assistance that I would need to ensure that the experience was as smooth as possible. The work our HR and events teams are doing to keep us all connected is incredible. For example, for Halloween we had a virtual murder mystery event, costume contest, and kids’ scavenger hunt, and we kicked off our winter race series!
Are you the human we’ve been looking for?
To view our open opportunities within customer service, click hereOpens in a new tab.Opens in a new tab
About the author
Marcelo Santos
Marcelo is a D&I enthusiast and customer service executive at Workhuman. Having moved to Dublin 4 years ago, Marcelo is from Brazil and is a former public relations executive.