Saudi Gazette reports that women in Saudi Arabia aren’t terribly keen abut taking their business to female service representatives. Those female reps, the article reports, are ill-trained and have a bad attitude about service. Given the option, many women will instead turn to male representatives who will quickly and competently resolve their problems.
I guess part of it is that employers place lower expectations upon their female employees and so don’t bother with intensive training. Another facet could well be that male supervisors are extra cautious about correcting their female employees. In the Kingdom, a female employee can make life pretty miserable for a male supervisor by alleging misconduct. Perhaps the companies should be looking to employ a few hard-as-nails women into supervisory roles.
Women prefer male customer service agents
Mariam Nihal | Saudi GazetteMost women prefer male customer service agents rather than females in Saudi Arabia. They complain that female customer care agents working in private sector companies like banks and telephone companies are unequipped and untrained to deal with customers on a professional level.
The lack of professional corporate culture in customer service industries that employ women has been a regular problem with female customers. “Whenever I have a quick and urgent transaction at the bank, I walk into the male section because I know I will be guaranteed good service and get my job done.”
Both men and women who spoke to Saudi Gazette believe that the notion of females working in the service sector in the Kingdom is fairly new, women workers do not take their client servicing jobs seriously. The most common reasons listed by women who usually go to men for customer care services were –– that men are comparatively more patient, direct, understanding –– and are easier to relate to than women customer care executives.
Maha Ayub, 38, marketing professor in Jeddah said that women customer care officials are less helpful and less capable of handling pressure than men.” Firstly, women take hours to understand a problem. Then they call up men to ask what to do. I just walk into the men’s branch and tell them I want service not some Barbie who is too scared to work, for the fear of spoiling her manicure. They laugh and help me out minus the drama.”
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April:24:2012 - 03:37
While sticking to their religious standards KSA should obviously reconsider the way they educate their girls so that they can face life outside (for those who are allowed) and especially tackle their professional obligations. If they cannot cope it’s a shame for the Saudi society as a whole but it’s not the fault of those poorly educated women.
April:26:2012 - 15:52
Women who take their banking to the female section find they have a much more expensive cab ride to find a branch with a women’s section. They have to be away from work longer, since the banks aren’t open outside of office hours — the women have to have signatures and stamps to leave the work premises, and are only authorized to be gone for a specified length of time. When they get to the women’s branch they are treated rudely and given wrong information. But when they walk into a men’s branch, the bank dudes freak out at seeing a woman and immediately usher them into a “privileged officer” room, and hand-deliver various bits of paperwork so they don’t have to wait in line. Then they get rid of them quickly by doing the transaction right the first time.