The Federal Authority for Government Human Resources (FAHR) recently concluded two free training programs over three days, on “Customer Service Excellence". The Program which was attended by dozens of employees from the ministries and federal bodies, was organized as part of a series of training courses offered free of charge by FAHR within "Ma’aref" Initiative for the Federal Government’s preferred training partners, launched last year. Ma’aref is considered as a first of its kind initiative at the level of the Federal Government, whereby a list of the best training providers across the UAE is compiled and made available to federal ministries and agencies to make use of their services at competitive prices.
The aim of the Program organized by FAHR at the premises of the Ministry of Social Affairs in Dubai, and FAHR headquarters in Abu Dhabi, in cooperation with the Center for Organizational Development "CODE", and the Emirates European Center for Human Development is to expose participants to contemporary trends and concepts of customer service and the importance of achieving excellence in this crucial service. The main focus of the Program was on the basic concepts of customer service, the requirements of providing such service, how to achieve excellence in customer service, as well as communication skills, methods of dealing with different types of customers, how to evaluate the quality of services provided, the mechanism to deal with customer complaints and the role of this process in improving the quality.
It also focused on a number of important topics, including: the concept and methods of effective service to the public, the concept of corporate excellence in customer service and its importance, the benefits and steps to achieve excellence in customer service, how to measure customer satisfaction and engagement, and characteristics of good customer service providers.
The trainer explained the elements of measuring the level of excellence in service delivery, and the four basic needs of customers, personal attitude and behavior of the service provider, things that a customer service provider should never do when communicating with customers, as well as how to respond quickly to customer needs and complaints
"Ma’aref" Initiative aims to create a partnership based upon social responsibility and mutual interest between public and private sectors. It has been launched to ensure the provision of quality training for approximately 84,000 employees working for 56 federal ministries and entities, and to meet training needs in a manner that satisfies the requirements of the Training & Development System for the Federal Government employees. The initiative also aims at achieving cost effective budgeting of training programs within the Federal Government entities, thus ensuring the engagement of the maximum possible number of employees in such programs, significantly contributing to enhancement of efficiency and productivity and creating an attractive work environment in the Federal Government, as well as enabling federal entities to select the most appropriate training courses directly online within pre-determined time frames.