Designers at restaurants, theme parks and elsewhere have investigated how to make waiting in line more pleasant. What they have learned has profound implications for all managers.
At some point, every manager has had to tell someone to wait. In the factory, this can lead to stockpiles of goods or bottlenecks. When people are involved, it can lead to inefficiency and anger. But the psychological impact of waits can be managed, and studies in design show us how. In places where waits are required, some basic principles can not only make waiting more pleasant but also can make them not feel like waits at all.
Sometimes inducing a wait can improve customer experience. When waits are inevitable, the research
shows, the goal should be to optimize the experience for both customers and employees, thereby
enhancing customer satisfaction and reducing employee stress and turnover. This research can help
managers in many situations, even those not involving lines. There are three main lessons managers can
take from how designers manage lines: Manage understanding with fair practices and open communication, manage perceived fairness by reframing what waiting is, and manage memories, because they last much longer than the event itself.
8 Comments On: Designing Waits That Work
The story of the CA DMV was quite interesting. That is the exact opposite of what happens at the MI Sec. Of State office. I went in to renew my registration and had to wait in the first line , where the lady asked me for soem general information viz. purpose of visit, etc and then handed me a token. However, the token was a generic one. The same system was in place for everyone, no matter what they had come in for. As a result, I had to wait more than an hour to get my 2 minute paperwork done. A long tiem ago, they actually had a separate line for registrations, with just one person serving that line. That seemed to go a lot faster than the new system (the wait was 15-20 minutes) where there are multiple lines, but the overall wait is an hour or longer.
Regards
Sandesh
There’s another reason why a single line for multiple servers is less stressful…the variability of the waiting time drops significantly.
The reduction in stress comes not only from the perception of faster movement, but from an increased sense of fairness and from a greater predictability in when you will be served.
Interesting article. Wonder how one could use this to design a better system for airport security checks. Although, most airports have different lines for frequent fliers and regular customers, depending on the flow one could end up waiting for a longer time on the ‘frequent flyer’ preferred line.
You are right Donald, Human memory is not an accurate, faithful image of the past. It is an active reconstruction subject to many possible distortions. As a result, anything that reminds one of the positive aspects of the experience.
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You are right Donald, Even though the need for people to wait is often unavoidable, the psychological perceptions can be managed. If the DMV can do it, any business can. All it takes is the application of appropriate design principles and attention to the impact upon both customers and employees.
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Maybe you could take your studies to the uk, interesting to compare the difference in attitudes from each side of the pond
Mirrors in lifts is a good example of this… people are busy checking themselves out in the mirror and they don’t focus on the wait between floors.
Actually I’m surprised at the number of places that still have multiple waiting lines to servers. I believe this continues because although queuing theory clearly proves one line is more efficient, it’s not obvious to the general public.
It can be quite discouraging to see one long line that snakes around forever! Maybe some clever design is needed to change the perception…