Responses to complaints in Bank Millennium with a quality certificate

Bank Millennium obtained the first certificate of simple Polish in Poland for responses to complaints. Certificate awarded by the Rector of the University of Wrocław.

The Simple Polish Language Laboratory at the University of Wrocław is a precursor of activities in the field of simplifying the Polish language in companies and offices. It conducts training, language audits and issues certificates. The Laboratory team has developed the assumptions of the Polish standard of simple language and quantitative and qualitative tools that allow for an accurate assessment of the communicativeness of the text. The first certificate of simple Polish in Poland for Bank Millennium’s responses to complaints is a unique distinction. The test did not cover the finished product, e.g. in the form of regulations, but individual responses to cases reported by customers.

- Several dozen people from the Customer Care Sub-unit of Bank Millennium work for this positive assessment on a daily basis. In addition to their language skills, they also show empathy and understanding of our clients' situation. From the beginning of the implementation of simple language in the Bank, we knew that these activities translate into satisfaction with services. This is a very important area in our business - says Magdalena Suchanek, Director of the Quality Department.

- In response to complaints, Bank Millennium customers receive the Bank's position, detailed justification and clearly indicated next steps - contact paths, possibilities of further actions. Communication in these cases does not end with the complaint-decision scheme. This communicative honesty made a great impression on me - explains Dr. Marta Śleziak from the Institute of Polish Philology at the University of Wrocław.

The certification analysis was based on quantitative and qualitative research. The experts were provided with randomly selected and anonymized texts of complaint responses. The auditors of the Simple Polish Language Laboratory assessed that the materials were characterised by a high simple language index (PLI), which for most documents ranged from 70% to 100%.

The certification process took 5 months, but the Bank had been preparing for it for several years. In 2020, Bank Millennium signed the "Banks' Declaration on the Simple Language Standard". The document expresses the general intentions of 21 banks to write texts that are clear and fully understandable to the public. Bank Millennium regularly conducts training of its employees on how to write in simple language. It created templates for individual types of documents – regulations, letters, applications, certificates. It simplifies the language of, among others, regulations, letters, texts on the website, text messages, notifications, e-mails and complaints.