Social Responsibility and Mystery Shopping
It’s increasingly important for all organisations, particularly those with a strong focus on direct consumer experiences, to put social responsibility, ethical operations and supply chains at the heart of their business. Being ahead of the ethics and Social Responsibility (CSR) curve is something we’re incredibly proud of, and being part of this culture is one of the things I love about working at ABa.
As you might expect, our company ethos comes not from doing what is expected, but from doing what is right; caring about individuals, the environment and genuinely trying to make the world a better place. This is not a new area of focus at ABa, it has underpinned how our business operates – and been built into our own metrics of success – since we began over 30 years ago.
Like many in our industry, we’re seeing increased need for a clear demonstration of CSR commitments. As public awareness of ethical and environmental issues grows, so does the need for businesses to demonstrate that they are taking action to work to ethical, social and ecological standards and that ultimately, we are contributing positively to the health, welfare and development of a sustainable society. This is evident through an ever-increasing number of RFPs (Request for Proposal) we’re seeing, where clients are seeking clearer understanding and provable statistics of how current or potential service suppliers are taking action, and how they can demonstrate real CSR competency.
However, there’s one metric that often gets missed from the list or overshadowed by issues such as diversity and inclusion; and that is the level of pay delivered by the business to its field teams. We view this particular measure as vital to CSR programmes, which is why fair pay for our field-team is a vital aspect of our social responsibility policy. Our Mystery Shoppers and Auditors are, after all, vital aspects of how we deliver work to our clients. Our field team invest a considerable amount of time planning for and carrying out assessments, and subsequently writing up detailed reports and accounts of their experiences. Our Assessors are the reason we can provide valuable business insight, engage frontline colleagues, and help to drive service improvements so that all customers have a better experience. We don’t believe it is enough to simply offer a token gesture of recompense, but instead we consider both time and expenses as part of the payment equation.
The squeeze on client budgets continues to tighten, and in a world where the cost of everything is rising yet everyone wants to pay less for services, we continue to endeavour to offer fair pay to our Mystery Shoppers and Assessors. After all, their hard work, professionalism, dedication, and accuracy in reporting is the foundation of everything we do.
Our mission
In all we do, we strive to make our world a happier one – for us, for our customers and for our customer’s customer. We achieve a step change in service one assessment at a time, knowing that each improvement, each development and every act of kindness has a positive impact on the lives it touches. We deliver a service, and much more: we build successful partnerships and client relationships that evolve over time.
To find out more about our expertise in customer experience measurement programmes that deliver a better customer experience, please get in touch with ABa via the details below.
Dawn Hillson Experience Director dawn@aba.co.uk / 0161 431 1237
