When it comes to providing quality customer service, there is always a balance between efficiency, user-friendliness and compliance. While Southgate endeavours to make all processes as easy and quick as possible for our clients, we also recognise that employers outsource their salary packaging to us because we are better equipped to manage the compliance and reporting functions. As such, we acknowledge our inherent responsibility to establish and administer employee salary packages in a compliant manner, to reduce any risk of liability for the employer and their employees.

Our dedication to customer service is demonstrated in the following ways:

• Our phone calls are always answered by a real person, not an automated service.
• We do not use call centres. We have a fully trained customer service team who can assist you from the first moment they speak with you.
• Our salary packaging consultants and customer service team are fully trained professionals dedicated to the salary packaging industry. We do not outsource or use seasonal or temporary workers for our customer service.
• We employ KPIs to ensure our service delivery remains strong, but staff are never penalised for spending too much time assisting an individual customer.
• Where any issues arise, we aim to fix them with the first phone call.
• We utilise trained Team Leaders who are readily available for escalation of issues, and who monitor the occurrence of issues to prevent reoccurrence in the future.
• Because all service providers are susceptible to human error, if error does occur at Southgate, we review our staff training and IT systems to identify how the error occurred and implement strategies to prevent it from being repeated.

Our customer service team also undergo their own tailored training program. We do not simply rely on automated processes or template answers, but train our staff to have a deeper understanding of salary packaging and teach them to identify the needs of our customers. We balance the efficiency of day-to-day processes (for short term customer satisfaction by making things as easy as possible for clients) with the need for compliance (for long term customer satisfaction by avoiding unnecessary risks and liabilities). Sometimes this means that we cannot compromise on smaller processes (such as required supporting documentation or enforcing government regulations) if they will result in ATO compliance issues or legislative breaches.

We aim to build long term relationships with our clients, and design our customer service processes to uphold the ideal balance between keeping clients happy in the short term and working in their best interests in the long term.