Employee Training and Development

The first step in creating a truly helpful needs analysis survey is to find exactly what the department does. In this case, I am creating one for the Customer Service Representative section. The needs analysis survey is exactly that: a survey. Its purpose is to get a general feel of whether or not the requirements of the section are being met. It is generally a part of a larger analysis, which is known as a Training Needs Analysis (TNA). "A TNA is a systematic method for determining what caused performance to be less than expected or required." (Blanchard, P. N., & Thacker, J. W. (2007)) This particular portion is used as one of the last steps in identifying the needs of the section that are not being met. It will contain questions about the location and size of the section, the equipment, and the company.

Another key part of the TNA is the Organizational analysis. Without this, one would not know if a question on the needs analysis survey would yield useful information. For example, if the problem is that the employees do not know the mission goals or objectives of the company, they are not likely to know how to best meet those goals and objectives. In this case a training issue exists, and the proper training will help get the section "back on track" so to speak. However, if the right questions are not asked on the survey, the needs analysis is not going to reflect this need, and the need goes unmet. To find information on an Organizational analysis, we would contact upper management. They will have accomplished one within the last few years as part of their constant improvement of the team.

Just like any other job, the job of Customer Service Representative has a written job description. This is a very general talking paper, but it is a good source of information about what knowledge, skills, and ability are required to perform the job properly. This is kept in the section supervisor's office so that he/she can train recent recruits on the basics and generals of the job.

The needs assessment survey will be used for all employees of the section. Each will be asked to answer all questions with the utmost of honesty, because they will be the ones to benefit from the information collected. They will be able to better perform their jobs, which will lead to better company success and better rewards for them and their section.

What follows is a sample of the actual survey that will be given to the customer service representatives. The supervisors will also receive a survey, but the questions on it will be specifically tailored to their role in the process.

The following questions are long answer questions. They are intended to give management an idea of what they can do to help you to be more effective.

1. If you were asked to sum your job up in one sentence, what would that be and why?

2. Do you feel you have the equipment you need to help customers and answer their questions completely?

3. Does the computer system/network provide all the information you need it to?

4. Do you feel you have adequate information about our products?

5. Do you feel you have adequate information about the company and its goals?

6. Do you get along well with your co workers? If not, why?

7. Do you get along well with your supervisor? If not, Why?

8. When dealing with customers, how often do you get questions that you cannot answer? Why are you unable to answer them?

9. Do you feel that the pay and reward systems in place compensate you properly for the job you perform?

10. How do you feel your working experience can be improved?

By comparing the answers to these and a few other questions, we can get a general idea of what is causing the performance of the section to be degraded. Once we know that, management can determine the best course of action to correct the deficiency. If there is a training deficiency, I will enlist the aid of the first line supervisors to help me correct this by initiating the necessary training. If there is a material or data deficiency, it will be up to management to initiate the corrective action. Either way, the deficiency should be revealed by the needs analysis survey.