There is nothing new about the notion that Human Resources staff should adopt a customer service mentality in their dealings with employees. The HR department at Texas A&M, for example, has a page dedicated to the concept on its website, where they claim that HR “is committed to service excellence and we expect our staff to provide excellent customer service at every point of contact.” A piece in the San Francisco Chronicle’s small business section argues that “A customer service mentality in HR requires all HR staff members to deal with employees of the company as internal customers and to see the mission of the HR department as a customer service mission.”

It’s fine to draft mission statements that equate HR to customer service. That’s not the same as embedding the idea operationally. It also won’t sink in if customer service isn’t isn’t viewed through the lens of the customer’s experience with the brand. All of us have had awful customer service encounters that taint our perception of the company. We have also all had great experiences that transform us from customers into brand advocates. Companies like Zappos are leading the way to a new recognition of the criticl importance of that real-time engagement between company and customer. When customers post bad reviews online, it’s frequently the experience of trying to solve a problem or get an answer to a question that riles them up.

The suggestion that employees are to HR what customers are to Customer Service is important, given that employees are as likely as customers to post reviews when that encounter goes sideways. Look no further than Glassdoor.com as just one example of the options open to dissatisfied workers (as well as very satisfied workers).

The role of Human Resources has been on my mind since I have been exploring the notion of making work into an experience. I’m not talking so much about creating experiences at work as much as emulating the idea of the customer experience: the product of all the interactions between an organization and an employee over the duration of that employee’s tenure at the company.

An employee who has one great experience may tweet or talk about it once or twice. An employee who has a great overall experience of working at the company will talk about it continuously.

Smart companies are realizing that customer service is likely to be the touchpoint for customer-company interaction more frequently than any other department. As a result, every customer call needs to deliver on the promise of a great experience. At too many companies, though, HR is seen as an obstacle to engagement, with HR reps tasked with multiple assignments who view employee calls as interruptions. Consequently, employees view these reps as unhelpful and even condescending.

What, then, does it really mean for HR to be the internal manifestation of great customer service?

The person who answers the phone provides the solution

No matter how long it takes, the HR rep who takes an employee’s call is now on a mission to resolve the issue to the employee’s satisfaction. There are no “That’s a benefits issue, I’m a comp specialist” retorts, no “I’ll have someone who knows get back to you.” This could mean a reconfiguring of HR to include a team of people who do nothing address employee queries.

By the way, that means dealing with questions outside of HR. When you call Zappos customer service, nobody ever tells you, “That’s not a Customer Service issue; you need to call our Sales staff.” If HR is internal customer support, they need to be prepared to deal with any kind of question from an employee that relates to their employment (including, for instance, legal questions).

Anticipate questions and answer them proactively

There is a common theme that runs through articles about content marketing: Produce content that answers customer questions and anticipates their needs. Let’s say you work for a lawnmower company. Because you monitor lawn and garden forums, you know there have suddenly been a lot of questions about lawnmowers, C02 emissions, and global warming. Rather than wait for a call, you start generating content that addresses the issue.

So it should be with Human Resources. Monitoring internal forums and other employee communications should help reveal where employees are confused or concerned, enabling HR to inject answers into the company’s various communication channels.

Employ “market sample of one” tactics

The fact that one employee asked a question doesn’t mean others aren’t wondering the same thing, or that having the answer wouldn’t serve other employees. When you answer an employee’s question on the phone, the answer is accessible only to that one employee.

Warby Parker has taken to answer customer inquiries with videos. These short videos, which feature a customer service representative answering the question, don’t require any special production techniques and are posted to the company’s customer service channel on YouTube. Consider this example; it was directed at the one individual who asked a question, but provided an answer to 800-plus additional people, while at the same time humanizing the organization.

Is there any reason an HR department couldn’t adopt this technique, with short video answers populating a searchable library that then help others find quick (and friendly) answers? It could score big points for HR while precluding the need to answer the same question hundreds of other times.

Know the employee you’re talking to

Savvy customer service staff use a Customer Relationship Management system to acquaint themselves quickly with the customer whose call they are taking. They know what products she has bought, when she last called, what her previous questions were.

While employee information is available in company databases, I have encountered few companies with anything like an Employee Relationship Management tool that lists the questions or problems raised in previous calls, what answers were given, who took the call, and whether that resolved the issue. Imagine the reaction if an employee calls HR and hears, “Hi, Mary, this is Pete. I see you called us two months ago about a health care claim for your son. How is little Bobby? My records show that claim is still being reviewed by the insurance company. Can I help you with that, or are you calling about something else today?”

Be where employees are

In most companies, an employee seeking answers to questions or resolutions to problems have two options: the phone and email. Customer service departments, meanwhile, are recognizing that customers want to reach the company through their preferred channel. That’s why customer service departments have embraced Facebook, Twitter, and other channels (even messaging apps like WhatsApp and Messenger are being used for customer service).

For Human Resources, this means being accessible via the company’s internal social network, through collaboration tools (like Slack and Hipchat), and any other channels employees use routinely. If, for example, employees engage with the company through an official closed Facebook group, they should be able to reach HR through that group. They should also be able to send a text message to HR, if that’s their preferred channel.

Leverage subject matter experts

Companies like Dell and Cisco Systems are tapping subject matter experts to respond to issues customers raise in non-company channels. For example, if a conversation erupts around a blog post complaining about a product, the company will reach out to the right SME—who has undergone training in how to participate in social media conversations—to represent the company in the conversation.

Similarly, when a conversation occurs on an internal blog post or in an internal social network, the HR department should be able to dispatch the right SME (on hiring, benefits, compensation, or other HR specialties) to that conversation to listen, learn, and help.

How does HR deliver a great experience in your company?

This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of tactics for HR to adopt in order to deliver a continuously great employment experience.