Do your employees and management know how to enforce Covid guidelines in difficult situations? It’s so important that employees are being trained how to enforce guidelines without jeopardizing the customer experience. Recently we have had numerous airlines ask their passengers to deplane because their children ages 2 or under wouldn’t wear a mask or wouldn’t keep it on at all times. We all know that children don’t understand mask guidelines or the importance at that age. Parents are handling Covid issues daily with children and have had to give up a lot these last 9 months. Some have quit jobs because there is no daycare or no school and are now full time teachers. Parenting has definitely become a bigger challenge. Can we as business owners empathize and still enforce guidelines without coming across as discourteous?

Do you believe there should be exceptions to Covid guidelines in extreme measures?

Covid is a serious illness however do you believe it needs to impact customer experience by enforcing the guidelines? One thing for sure is there are inconsistencies in the guidelines. All restaurants, airlines, hotels, business offices and hospitals have different guidelines. Therefore, the customer / guest / passenger are very confused and at times even feel harassed. This is also true for employees having to deal with customers that won’t comply. Many companies are giving little or no training on how to empathize with the customer and when to draw the line.

Let me give you a few ways to train your employees how to enforce any guidelines:

• Review all scenarios with employees/management weekly including changes in guidelines
• Post guidelines for increased visibility and transparency
• Be consistent
• Don’t argue with your customer/guest/passenger in an area where others can hear
• Empathize
• Find a supervisor if you feel you can’t handle the situation
• Don’t forget to maintain respect. This is a difficult situation for everyone that we can’t control

We at The Hart Experience work with business owners, restaurants and hotels to give them a customers perspective. It’s important that your employees know what is expected of them. This year has been tough on everyone and it’s time to work together so we can move into 2021 with a positive outlook. Let us work with you to educate and train your employees on how to handle these situations. Contact Debbie@thehartexperience.com 602.717.3271 https://www.thehartexperience.com

PS Would love to know your thoughts on this topic.