Why so glum? Hong Kong shop workers ranked third last in ‘service with a smile’ survey
Hong Kong is among three places in the world where customers are most unlikely to see a smile on shop workers’ faces, a survey by a group of mystery shoppers has found.
Hong Kong is among three places in the world where customers are most unlikely to see a smile on shop workers’ faces, a survey by a group of mystery shoppers has found.
The city was ranked 39 out of 41 countries or regions in a “smiling index” of the service sector conducted by the Mystery Shopper Service Association last year.
The latest poll was released yesterday and is the annual survey’s 11th edition.
About 2,000 undercover shoppers visited shops in the city specialising in 40 different products and found only 48 per cent of customer service staff members smiled at them.
The rating was just ahead of South Korea, which had 47 per cent and Slovenia at 46 per cent, to complete the bottom three of the ranking.
Ireland was ranked first with 97 per cent of staff smiling at customers. Greece and Puerto Rico shared third place with a score of 93 per cent each.
Hong Kong was also in second-last place when it came to greetings by customer service staff. Only 58 per cent of shoppers were greeted in the survey.
The lowest score in this field was 53 per cent by Macau.
Anders Wong Siu-leung, chief executive of the Hong Kong Mystery Shopper Service Association, said long working hours and pressure were among reasons frontline staff in the city did not smile.
