COS

NEWS

I come across this campaign in the station, urging passengers to show more respect to agents. It feels like this campaign is more of a signal to the agents (“Management supports you”) than to the customers. I doubt that a customer who insults an agent will suddenly be more respectful after seeing these posters!

So, it’s a positive step from SNCF management toward their teams. Putting customer pressure on teams shouldn’t be done at all costs.

At the same time, I notice—just on my TGV journey yesterday—at least two other signals sent to the agents that suggest customer satisfaction may not be the company’s priority, putting the agents in odd, complex situations to manage with customers:

A 30-minute delay at departure, worsened over the journey by numerous stops for an astonishing reason announced by the agent on the intercom: “Due to our delay, we must now deal with train crossings, so we’re stopping to let other trains pass because we’re no longer prioritized; trains on time have priority.”

Oh well, at least I’m entitled to 25% compensation. But when I see the complicated process to request the compensation, I’m definitely not going to bother. Can someone explain why SNCF doesn’t automatically reimburse customers affected by delays? Don’t tell me it’s pure cynicism; I hope there are regulatory reasons preventing them from doing so.

In any case, here are agents in this TGV bearing the brunt of things that aren’t their fault, subjected to management that’s still insufficiently customer-oriented…

They may want to support their agents against incivility, but at the same time, they need to support them with the energy and strategic and/or technical choices that would allow the agents to provide better service.

Author: Guillaume Antonietti