CHALLENGE:

More than 200 million claims are processed annually by this well-known federal agency. The majority of those claims -- over 130 million -- are from individual beneficiaries. The agency's mission is to provide America's beneficiaries top-quality service by helping them understand and meet their filing responsibilities and by applying appropriate laws with integrity and fairness to all. Striving to meet this mission, the agency is challenged to provide its customers with the vital information they need to understand their obligations, while simultaneously treating them with courtesy and empathy.

Committed to improving customer service, the agency needed to develop a better solution for identifying front-line customer service representatives. Specifically, the agency wanted to identify those candidates who possessed the necessary social skills to produce top-quality customer service. Traditionally, customer service representatives were hired by giving them written tests and interviews without assessing how well candidates actually interacted with customers on the phone.

SOLUTION:

Aon Consulting used an innovative selection and assessment tool called the Telephone Assessment Program (TAP). This award-winning method of assessment has been used in more than a million private sector applications but never in the public sector. Thus, this agency is the first federal entity to adopt TAP to evaluate all external candidates for front-line customer service positions.

Method

During the Telephone Assessment Program, candidates assume the role of a Customer Service Representative (CSR) employed with the agency. Aon assessors assume the roles of customers calling in for assistance. This one-hour simulation allows the candidate to experience day-to-day interactions as an employee on the job, fielding inquires from customers. The candidates receive a series of calls they must respond to using materials provided that outline procedures, customer records, etc.

Development

Aon psychologists developed a job-related Telephone Assessment Program through extensive field research. They first reviewed job descriptions, training material and overall operational procedures and then interviewed subject matter experts (managers of CSRs, training managers and CSRs themselves).

These experts assisted with developing candidate materials, role-play scripts and competencies to be assessed. This process resulted in realistic call simulations reflecting the situations and challenges experienced by actual CSRs. Finally, Aon assessors were trained and certified in the program while the Agency's personnel were trained to administer the TAP.

A pilot program was conducted in six of their call centers. Aon assessors evaluated the customer service competencies of over one thousand candidates. Candidates responded by completing a survey detailing their reactions to the TAP.

RESULTS OF PILOT:

As a result of using the Telephone Assessment Program, the agency observed a decrease in employee turnover. From January 2002 to May 2002, the five selected call centers that used TAP had a 17.5 percent turnover rate, compared with a 29 percent turnover rate at the seven centers that did not use the simulations. A high-level human resources official in the agency said that people are staying on the job longer in the call centers that use these simulations, because candidates can get a better sense of what the job is like and because the agency is choosing people who are better at the job. The agency observed that if candidates did not like the telephone interaction exercise, they were less likely to take the job. Conversely, if they liked the telephone interaction, they were more likely to stay on the job once hired.

Project Results

To date, Aon has conducted more than 4,500 remote assessments for the agency. Given the advantage of automation, the scores of the candidates are provided within 15 minutes after the completion of the assessment. In addition, the TAP is comparatively inexpensive relative to traditional job simulation assessments. The agency has expanded the use of TAP for the selection of other front-line positions and has entered into a multi-year contract to extend this selection process to other professional occupations.

ROI of TAP

According to a recent study of the cost effectiveness of TAP in the private sector, the remote assessment program has an estimated cost savings of $25,000 to $30,000 per year per hire in improved productivity over a traditional selection system. Thus, the return on investment of TAP is significant. These savings are due, in part, to the reduction in turnover. Companies typically place their new hires in extensive training programs. After this training investment by the company, the new employees are then placed on the job. If they leave shortly thereafter, the company not only loses the training investment, but also is faced with the costs of hiring and training a replacement employee. Realistic job previews such as the TAP not only improve the quality of customer service and customer satisfaction, they also increase customer service center efficiency by reducing costs associated with selection, training, and retention.