Challenge in the Workplace - Essay Example

Challenge in the Workplace One of the major challenges of a job in consumer services is trying to breach the gap between what the client wants and needs as opposed to what the company rules and policies are. Having worked in the consumer services sector myself, I often found myself trying to balance these two facets of client services. While I succeeded in bridging this gap most of the time, I failed to do so half the time. One of the biggest success stories of my career has to do with a call that I took from a dentist regarding his delayed patient check.

He had filed his claim 3 weeks earlier and was quite irritated because it normally took a week at the most for him to receive his insurance claims. He was quite angry because he had been making calls to our company and had suffered the run around by the people who were assigned to help him. When I received his call and learned of his plight, I looked up his inquiry and discovered that his check was ready but not yet sent out for some reason. I informed him of this problem and assured him that I would call him at the end of the day with an update regarding his claim.

Normally, a check release request does not require a personal call follow up with the client. But I decided to make an exception in this case due to extenuating circumstances. After I had contacted the right departments in order to get the check cleared for release, I made sure to get the check into the mailing queue by the end of the day. I then called the client back and informed him that his check was honestly in the mail and gave him the routing number for future reference. The client was pleased with my work and thanked me profusely for helping him out.

Needless to say, he was one happy client but I had to suffer the penalty of having to explain my actions to my supervisor. Although I had to accept a written warning attached to my employee file because of my actions, I strongly believe that I did the right thing. In fact, I would not change a single action I took that day if I had to do it all again. After all, company policies are in place to protect the company, but do not exist to prevent clients from getting their just dues from the company.

If a little manipulation of company policy will not affect the over all company function, then going that extra mile for the client should only serve to give the person a better partnership experience with the company. Such actions are normally welcomed by the clients as it proves that the company truly cares for them and often wins the clients loyalty in the process.