Each year, National Customer Service Week provides an opportunity to celebrate everything that makes up our Service Nation: the individuals, teams, and organisations that each bring genuine value to people, communities, and the economy through a commitment to service excellence.
These celebrations feel especially meaningful this year, offering us not only a chance to recognise our successes, but also to reflect on the challenging environment in which these achievements have been reached.
Businesses continue to face pressure from increased labour costs in what was already a challenging operating environment, while customers – many of whom are also employees and jobseekers – are feeling the squeeze from rising prices and a stubborn labour market.
Against this backdrop, clouded by economic and geopolitical uncertainty, service is more important than ever – in driving satisfaction and building trust among customers, fostering an engaged and empathetic workforce, and underpinning operational resilience and long-term success.
Service as a multi-dimensional tool for success, founded on people
Many facets constitute a positive customer experience, but none more so than the people behind it all. As business leaders, we have a responsibility to equip, support and empower our people to deliver service that makes a genuine difference.
There are three dimensions to highlight here. The first is establishing a workplace where colleagues feel safe, respected, and valued, and where they are protected from the unacceptable levels of abuse that too many of them face on a daily basis. Our Service with Respect campaign continues to shine a light on this critical issue, which we marked on Day Two of National Customer Service Week.
Whether it’s by running robust training for frontline teams, adopting clear “zero tolerance” policies, or making a visible commitment to change, we each have a part to play in ensuring our workplaces are safe and supportive environments, conducive to providing customers with the experience they want.
We also need to nurture a culture of empowerment, creativity and adaptability which encourages innovation, exploring new technologies and processes, and reimagining how we can best serve our customers. This can only be successful, however, if we allow colleagues to show empathy and address complex customer needs, with the right fusion of human and technology.
Finally, engaging and motivating our people remains essential. Being transparent and open in our communication, facing up to the difficult conversations, and maintaining a steadfast focus on shared values forms the basis on which employee trust and performance are built.
Remaining focused on service
It has been inspiring to see and hear about how your organisations are putting all of this into practice this week, and to witness first-hand the commitment amongst our membership to delivering outstanding customer service.
What matters now, though, is that we maintain this commitment over the coming weeks and months, keeping service at the forefront of our business strategies and decision-making.
Back in July, the UK Customer Satisfaction Index revealed average customer satisfaction across all sectors had risen for the first time in three years to 77.3, a 1.5-point increase year-on-year and up 1.2 points compared to January 2025.
This offers a positive foundation for us to build upon, but we recognise that there is still some way to go on the road to recovery, and that it will be far from straightforward. If we are to truly succeed in this mission, though, it will be by keeping our people front of mind.
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