The massive popularity of iPods and other portable music players could mean many more people will develop hearing loss, according to experts.
If the volume through headphones is too high, there is a real risk of permanent damage to hearing, they say.
Sydney's National Acoustic Laboratories found a quarter of personal music system users in a random sample listened to music at dangerous volumes.
Millions of people now own MP3 players and Apple has sold more than 20 million iPods.
A recent study by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People (RNID) found 39% of 18 to 24-year-olds listened to personal music players for at least an hour every day and 42% admitted they thought they had the volume too high, according to the BBC News website.
The RNID regards 80 decibels as the level at which hearing is threatened - 20 less than a pneumatic drill.
Some MP3 players can reach 105 decibels. EU iPods have a sound limiter to comply with noise safety levels; however, sometimes users hack through this in order to listen to it louder.
The RNID said it was possible that any rise in popularity of personal music players might lead to more cases of hearing loss in the future.
Graham Frost, chairman of the British Society of Audiology, said the risk of damage increased with noise level and duration of use of personal music systems.
He said it could take months or years for that become apparent to the individual.
Up to 17% of the population has some sort of hearing difficulty, however many people who suffer from hearing loss are reluctant to admit it or seek help, experts have warned.
According to Hidden Hearing, which is made up of a network of hearing clinics throughout the country, one in six people - that is 17% of the population - are recorded as having some hearing difficulty. While most of these have mild hearing loss, a significant number have moderate hearing loss while a small minority suffer a severe loss of hearing.
Hidden Hearing is highlighting this issue as part of Hearing Awareness Week, which has been running this week. As part of the event, a public information leaflet, 'Have You Heard?', has been launched. It outlines the basic facts that people need to know about their hearing and includes a simple self-test.
While hearing problems are traditionally associated with older people, according to Keith Ross, a hearing aid audiologist with Hidden Hearing, young people need to be aware of this issue as well.
"We are becoming increasingly surrounded by unnecessary noise and distraction, with gadgets such as iPods being so popular. Many people who use iPods or mp3 players for long periods of time are frighteningly unaware of the fact that loud noise can damage their hearing", Mr Ross said.
He explained that noise-induced hearing loss is cumulative - it happens over time, so a young person may not be aware they are doing any damage.
"It's key that volume is kept relatively low, ensuring they can still hear the sounds outside when hearing their headphones", he said.
Mr Ross emphasised that at any age, hearing difficulties can have serious implications for a person's quality of life. Untreated hearing loss can result in social isolation and withdrawal. Furthermore, those who opt for late retirement need to be sure that their hearing function is good, otherwise it can affect their performance in work.
"A massive one in three people over the age of 60 suffers from hearing loss and it can often take an average of 10 years for an individual to do something about it. There appears to be a stigma attached to having a loss of hearing, with many letting their hearing deteriorate significantly before they have it checked", Mr Ross said.
Key indicators of hearing loss include having to turn the television volume up when others find it too loud, having problems picking up a cross conversation and having to ask people to repeat themselves on a regular basis.
Mr Ross pointed out that a hearing test is completely painless. Furthermore for those who do require them, hearing aids 'have come a long way'.
"Many of the models are so small, they can barely be seen, come in vibrant colours and even feature artificial intelligence", he said.
The 'Have You Heard?' leaflet is available from GPs and Hidden Hearing clinics nationwide. Meanwhile hearing tests are free of charge in Hidden Hearing clinics.
Call center is a terrific job. Many young professionals work in call center because of higher chances of boosting their career to the maximum level. Customers are expanding their channel in contact in which call centers are on top of the list. It is a challenge to every contact center to integrate strategic planning in order to maintain its presence towards the global trend in this industry.
Working in a call center is not only aiming to receive higher pay. There are dos and don'ts in order to set limitation to the workers. If you are one of the millions of people connected in customer service, you should know the guidelines to avoid committing violation. Call center companies always make sure to deliver efficient services to their clients worldwide as possible. Because call center is a promising industry, keeping the best employees and hiring more service representatives should always set part of expanding the business. Hiring the right people is very important. The call centers should provide ongoing training to the agents and employees; practice the transparency like communicating openly with the agents and managers, discovering the quality performance of the best people, investing to the state-of-the-art technology to increase customer satisfaction.
Any contact center should have a strong organization in achieving the long-term goal of the company. Making the call center dynamic and flexible can promote better output all the time. The call center management should always strengthen the relationship with the customer. Maintaining customer relationship is important above anything else.
There are many good things you can do to support the call center industry. Avoiding the don'ts in this industry can lessen the burden that may bring to the customers and the company you work for. The following are the don'ts that call center employees should do:
Avoid Tardiness
Time is precious. Never be late in your duty. Though you are one of the best agents in the company but with your constant tardiness will give you the honor to be recognized by your team leaders or supervisors. Also, you are not the asset of the company because call center is a fast paced regulated industry that time is important. Your tardiness can affect the operation of your company.
Don't Slack Off
Do your job promptly. Slacking off the floor by letting other people do the job which is supposed to you is simply a bad impression to you not only as a person but to your job performance. Be productive always and serve as role model to your fellow agents. Show them the real you that you are happy with what you are doing. There are many call center agents who were terminated because of this bad impression despite several times of IR (incidental report) issued to them.
Avoid Obscene Behavior
Displaying your obscene behavior while you are inside your company's premises is a big NO. When taking to the customer, talk with them with pleasure and with care. Never throw seducing words which sounds like you are doing phone sex to your customer. If caught, this may the end of your promising career in your in the call center. And worst, this may left bad wound in your previous job and to your co-workers.
Stop horsing around
Think of your responsibility as an employee of the company. While you are on duty, avoid playing around and horsing with other agents. Respect their privacy while they are on call and focusing on their job. This behavior can cause immediate violation because you are disturbing your co-workers instantly. Always put the fun in the right time. Implementing self-discipline is the best way to get rid of this disturbing behavior.
There are so many don'ts that you we need to implement. This can make the job easier if everybody is following the simple orders stated under the rules and regulations. It is important that the discipline must start on our own. Later on, other people who are new in the call center will learn the virtue that you showed. If you love your job then keep it.
The call center industry continues to give outstanding opportunity to everybody. It helps the economy prosper and lower the unemployment rate in the world.
Working in a call center is not only aiming to receive higher pay. There are dos and don'ts in order to set limitation to the workers. If you are one of the millions of people connected in customer service, you should know the guidelines to avoid committing violation. Call center companies always make sure to deliver efficient services to their clients worldwide as possible. Because call center is a promising industry, keeping the best employees and hiring more service representatives should always set part of expanding the business. Hiring the right people is very important. The call centers should provide ongoing training to the agents and employees; practice the transparency like communicating openly with the agents and managers, discovering the quality performance of the best people, investing to the state-of-the-art technology to increase customer satisfaction.
Any contact center should have a strong organization in achieving the long-term goal of the company. Making the call center dynamic and flexible can promote better output all the time. The call center management should always strengthen the relationship with the customer. Maintaining customer relationship is important above anything else.
There are many good things you can do to support the call center industry. Avoiding the don'ts in this industry can lessen the burden that may bring to the customers and the company you work for. The following are the don'ts that call center employees should do:
Avoid Tardiness
Time is precious. Never be late in your duty. Though you are one of the best agents in the company but with your constant tardiness will give you the honor to be recognized by your team leaders or supervisors. Also, you are not the asset of the company because call center is a fast paced regulated industry that time is important. Your tardiness can affect the operation of your company.
Don't Slack Off
Do your job promptly. Slacking off the floor by letting other people do the job which is supposed to you is simply a bad impression to you not only as a person but to your job performance. Be productive always and serve as role model to your fellow agents. Show them the real you that you are happy with what you are doing. There are many call center agents who were terminated because of this bad impression despite several times of IR (incidental report) issued to them.
Avoid Obscene Behavior
Displaying your obscene behavior while you are inside your company's premises is a big NO. When taking to the customer, talk with them with pleasure and with care. Never throw seducing words which sounds like you are doing phone sex to your customer. If caught, this may the end of your promising career in your in the call center. And worst, this may left bad wound in your previous job and to your co-workers.
Stop horsing around
Think of your responsibility as an employee of the company. While you are on duty, avoid playing around and horsing with other agents. Respect their privacy while they are on call and focusing on their job. This behavior can cause immediate violation because you are disturbing your co-workers instantly. Always put the fun in the right time. Implementing self-discipline is the best way to get rid of this disturbing behavior.
There are so many don'ts that you we need to implement. This can make the job easier if everybody is following the simple orders stated under the rules and regulations. It is important that the discipline must start on our own. Later on, other people who are new in the call center will learn the virtue that you showed. If you love your job then keep it.
The call center industry continues to give outstanding opportunity to everybody. It helps the economy prosper and lower the unemployment rate in the world.
Roberto L. Bacasong, 27, works as Customer Interaction Associate in a biggest contact center in the Philippines.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Roberto_Bacasong
By Myra Golden
The call record method is, in my opinion, one of the best approaches to coaching agent phone calls and ensuring quality. Here’s a 9-step plan for effectively coaching call center agent phone calls:
1. Randomly record 2 –3 telephone calls. Random recording is important. Do not record 3 calls back to back or on the same day, as your employee may be having a bad day and this may be reflected in all of one afternoon’s calls, but is not necessarily reflective of their typical performance.
2. Review the calls and note strengths and opportunities. Before meeting with your employee, listen to the calls and note what they did well and identify 1 –2 opportunities for performance improvement.
3. Play one tape and let your employee listen. During the playing of the tape, you do not need to respond.
4. Have your employee respond to the tape. After the tape is played, ask your employee to respond. Most employees will be overly self-critical. Your employee will likely note many opportunities for improvement and struggle to articulate what they’ve done well.
5. Coach the call. Use the “sandwich” approach. Tell your employee what s/he did well, followed by constructive feedback, and then end with positive feedback. When offering constructive feedback, share only one opportunity for improvement. The employee has likely observed and stated several improvement opportunities so there is no need to bring these up again Try to mention one thin g the employee did not bring up and offer this as your constructive feedback.
6. Gain commitment for performance improvement. Ask the employee, “What specific steps will you take over the next 5 days to improve in this area?” Write down what the employee states and repeat it to her. Summarize the session by reiterating strengths and offering a vote of confidence that she can improve in the identified area.
7. Repeat steps 2 – 6 with a second and perhaps third tape if necessary. The point of numerous recording is that an employee may respond defensively stating that was just a “bad” call. If that is the response, you may choose to review a second or third tape.
8. Follow-up before the next agent coaching session. Check with your employee in between coaching sessions to keep the commitment top of mind. You can touch base with your employee via email or a personal conversation.
9. Discuss improvement in next coaching session. Before listening to calls in the next coaching session, ask your employee how she’s progressing toward the goal of the last session. Look for improvement on calls reviewed in this session.
This 9-step call center agent coaching model is simple, clear and it both praises employees and offers support for improvement opportunities.
When you follow this 9-step process, you will set clear performance expectations, coach effectively and consistently and at the same time you will be motivating your employees.
1. Randomly record 2 –3 telephone calls. Random recording is important. Do not record 3 calls back to back or on the same day, as your employee may be having a bad day and this may be reflected in all of one afternoon’s calls, but is not necessarily reflective of their typical performance.
2. Review the calls and note strengths and opportunities. Before meeting with your employee, listen to the calls and note what they did well and identify 1 –2 opportunities for performance improvement.
3. Play one tape and let your employee listen. During the playing of the tape, you do not need to respond.
4. Have your employee respond to the tape. After the tape is played, ask your employee to respond. Most employees will be overly self-critical. Your employee will likely note many opportunities for improvement and struggle to articulate what they’ve done well.
5. Coach the call. Use the “sandwich” approach. Tell your employee what s/he did well, followed by constructive feedback, and then end with positive feedback. When offering constructive feedback, share only one opportunity for improvement. The employee has likely observed and stated several improvement opportunities so there is no need to bring these up again Try to mention one thin g the employee did not bring up and offer this as your constructive feedback.
6. Gain commitment for performance improvement. Ask the employee, “What specific steps will you take over the next 5 days to improve in this area?” Write down what the employee states and repeat it to her. Summarize the session by reiterating strengths and offering a vote of confidence that she can improve in the identified area.
7. Repeat steps 2 – 6 with a second and perhaps third tape if necessary. The point of numerous recording is that an employee may respond defensively stating that was just a “bad” call. If that is the response, you may choose to review a second or third tape.
8. Follow-up before the next agent coaching session. Check with your employee in between coaching sessions to keep the commitment top of mind. You can touch base with your employee via email or a personal conversation.
9. Discuss improvement in next coaching session. Before listening to calls in the next coaching session, ask your employee how she’s progressing toward the goal of the last session. Look for improvement on calls reviewed in this session.
This 9-step call center agent coaching model is simple, clear and it both praises employees and offers support for improvement opportunities.
When you follow this 9-step process, you will set clear performance expectations, coach effectively and consistently and at the same time you will be motivating your employees.
Myra Golden is an award-winning professional speaker and principal of Myra Golden Seminars, LLC, a customer service training firm serving clients in food and beverage, banking, healthcare, hospitality, and other industries. Her client list includes McDonald’s, Johnson & Johnson, Coca-Cola, Frito-Lay, Michelin Tires, Pirelli, and Procter & Gamble, among many others.
For hundreds of ideas for customer service improvement for use in customer service training, visit the customer service training resource portal by going to http://www.totalcustomerservicetraining.com
For hundreds of ideas for customer service improvement for use in customer service training, visit the customer service training resource portal by going to http://www.totalcustomerservicetraining.com
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Myra_Golden
Well its basically true that most Call Centers in the Philippines offer high salary and competitive benefits, but how can these companies stop their employees from leaving them?
This article is from Kristel Nicole Eniego, a contributor of ezinearticles.com. Hope we learn a lot from it.
How do you keep quality call center agents from leaving?
• Improve testing and hiring practices
It is always wise to start with the process of hiring. You can hire all the wrong agents and have them turnover before they get regularized. If you start smart with the testing of applicants up to the process of hiring them, you'd have fewer problems to worry about in the long run. Managers usually test and interview the applicants, however this job should be filled up not by the managers who should spend their time focusing on employee development but by well-seasoned or the company's top agents. Only those who are already good at what they do can decipher what is a potentially good agent.
• Increase training period
Most companies rush through the application process because of the high turnover rate so much so that they spend less time training their agents. Ideally, the agent's training period should be around 3 to 4 months. Anything less than 3 to 4 months would be cutting it short and sacrificing quality management. In the training period, concentrated team system should be closely monitored for better results. Also, during this training period, the management can see which agents are comfortable with their work.
• Pay attention to Employee Morale
Experience shows that call center agents respond positively to immediate monetary rewards. If once in a while the company holds a little contest that pushes agents to reach their quota in the fastest time possible in exchange for monetary rewards, agents would have something new and fresh to aim for in that given day. Aside from monetary rewards, recognition of job well done and accomplishment of goals is also necessary. Nothing will make an employee happier than to have his efforts recognized. Creating a good atmosphere on the floor boosts employee morale and would make him work harder.
• Maintaining Quality
A lot of agents who leave their posts have the assumption that the company is not interested in improving the quality of their business functions. That is why it is important for companies to constantly ask their agents for ways of improving their services. Being in the front line makes them susceptible to the immediate needs of customers. This insight would prove to be helpful for both employer and employee.
Keeping quality call center agents from leaving is not really a trivial matter. But it is not exactly to be taken lightly either. It is important to keep good call center agents as constantly hiring new agents take up a lot of resources out of the company's pockets. Training them takes time, effort and money so you have to be sure you're spending these resources wisely. A call center agent's job can be stressful but if the company manages to balance the stress and the rewards then you get to keep your quality call center agents for a long time.
This article is from Kristel Nicole Eniego, a contributor of ezinearticles.com. Hope we learn a lot from it.
This job pays you a lot of money for your people skills. There is no other way of looking at this. You can work at a call center without a college degree as long as you are proficient with computers (and in this day and age, who is not proficient with computers?) also, you have to be good with people. However, the qualities of a call center agent extend to more than people skills. Before you get to be a regular call center agent, you have to undergo a lot of trainings and tests that examine not just your English proficiency but your technical and problem-solving skills as well. A lot of aspiring agents get kicked out in the first few months because of lack of productivity and their inability to keep up with the changing schedules.
In this kind of job, most agents feel stressed. This is partly attributed to the fact that 50% of call center agents do not exactly choose that career path. They would most likely jump to a better opportunity when it presents itself despite their current pay being higher than industry standard. So it is important for call center companies to keep their agents happy and satisfied with their jobs.How do you keep quality call center agents from leaving?
• Improve testing and hiring practices
It is always wise to start with the process of hiring. You can hire all the wrong agents and have them turnover before they get regularized. If you start smart with the testing of applicants up to the process of hiring them, you'd have fewer problems to worry about in the long run. Managers usually test and interview the applicants, however this job should be filled up not by the managers who should spend their time focusing on employee development but by well-seasoned or the company's top agents. Only those who are already good at what they do can decipher what is a potentially good agent.
• Increase training period
Most companies rush through the application process because of the high turnover rate so much so that they spend less time training their agents. Ideally, the agent's training period should be around 3 to 4 months. Anything less than 3 to 4 months would be cutting it short and sacrificing quality management. In the training period, concentrated team system should be closely monitored for better results. Also, during this training period, the management can see which agents are comfortable with their work.
• Pay attention to Employee Morale
Experience shows that call center agents respond positively to immediate monetary rewards. If once in a while the company holds a little contest that pushes agents to reach their quota in the fastest time possible in exchange for monetary rewards, agents would have something new and fresh to aim for in that given day. Aside from monetary rewards, recognition of job well done and accomplishment of goals is also necessary. Nothing will make an employee happier than to have his efforts recognized. Creating a good atmosphere on the floor boosts employee morale and would make him work harder.
• Maintaining Quality
A lot of agents who leave their posts have the assumption that the company is not interested in improving the quality of their business functions. That is why it is important for companies to constantly ask their agents for ways of improving their services. Being in the front line makes them susceptible to the immediate needs of customers. This insight would prove to be helpful for both employer and employee.
Keeping quality call center agents from leaving is not really a trivial matter. But it is not exactly to be taken lightly either. It is important to keep good call center agents as constantly hiring new agents take up a lot of resources out of the company's pockets. Training them takes time, effort and money so you have to be sure you're spending these resources wisely. A call center agent's job can be stressful but if the company manages to balance the stress and the rewards then you get to keep your quality call center agents for a long time.
Kristel Nicole Eniego is part of VONCORE's creative writing team. If you want to learn more about the call center jobs in the Philippines and other business viewed with expertise and related in an easy to digest manner, visit Great Business Planning
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Kristel_Nicole_EniegoBy: Maggie Klenke
Service level goals are key performance indicators (KPIs) in most support and call centers. These goals measure the time callers spend in queue. In benchmarking surveys, the most common goal given by respondents is to answer 80 percent of calls within 20 seconds. Another common response is an Average Speed of Answer (ASA) of 30 seconds or less. This article is focused on ensuring a clear understanding of the calculations that make up these statistics and the varying results that different statistical methodologies deliver.
Service Level Measurement is a Science
The typical Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system offers two measures of queue time for callers. The first is service level -- factor expressed as X percent of calls answered within Y seconds. So, if the center met the goal of 80 percent answered within 20 seconds, that means that 20 percent of callers waited at least 21 seconds. We know how many were queued longer than 20 seconds, but we don’t know how long these callers actually waited.
The other queue time goal is Average Speed of Answer or ASA. This goal is expressed as an average number of seconds and the most common goals cited are under 30 seconds. ASA is the average queue time for all callers whether they queue or not. So, if 60 percent of 100 callers are answered immediately by idle agents, that is 60 times 0 seconds in the calculation. Let’s assume the other 40 percent of callers who do queue wait between 1 and 300 seconds with an average of 60 seconds. That is a total time in queue of 2400 seconds (40 callers X 60 seconds). This 2400-second total is then divided by the 100 total callers and the ASA is 24 seconds. ASA does not really tell us how many queued or how long they waited, just that the overall average was X seconds. .( No – these two statistics do not track very well against each other and it is possible to reach the goal of one and not the other during the same period even though they were aligned at a certain call volume and average handling time. Call centers have plenty of things to measure without having two devoted to speed of answer.)
The Art of Service Level Measurement
In order to really assess the speed of answer, there are two more factors that must be considered -- the way in which the calculation is done, and the interval over which the measurement is calculated.
When does the ACD system begin measuring the queue for calculating the service level or ASA and which calls are included? It differs from one ACD to another. For example, the queue time can begin to count when the call enters the ACD for a specific agent group and the caller hears ringing. In another ACD the ringing could be ignored, but the recorded announcement will be included in the service level or ASA calculation.The ACD could also be set to ignore the recorded announcement and start counting when it ends. And, finally, the ACD could be set to ignore a standard interval (such as five seconds) and then start the count.
To make it even more interesting, the system can be set to measure only those calls that are actually answered within 20 seconds, or can include all calls, including those that are abandoned within the 20 seconds as well. Do you know what your system is set for and what your options are? (This only applies to the service level goal, not ASA, but your edit suggests it applies to both. Put service level back in.)
The second factor is the interval. Centers absolutely committed to their speed of answer goals measure each hour or half-hour and determine what percentage of these intervals meet the goal. In many centers, the average is calculated across a whole day so that if the peak hours are awful and the low hours are great, then it all averages out. Still more centers average across a whole week so the peak day’s bad service is buried in the slower days’ great results. In some extreme cases, it is even possible that a center averages across a month or even the whole year, rendering any measurement meaningless.
The longer the averaging interval, the more that dreadful service can be successfully hidden. Of course, these busy intervals are the periods when the most customers are impacted. When the interval is long, it enables some centers that give terrible service early in the interval and then, later in the period, overstaff to give more than fabulous service just to make the average. This is neither good service or cost effective.
It’s important to understand how your call center measures service levels in order to make sure that those measurements give you the information that truly reflects performance. The time to do it is now because performance management is only going to get more complicated. As we move to include other kinds of contacts in our centers, such as emails and web chats, we need to consider how we will measure the service level. Some will need similar queue measures, while others will be driven by time to complete response. But knowing what to calculate and how the systems work will be key to setting your goals and meeting your customers’ expectations.
About the Author...
Ms. Klenke is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School. She helps companies develop and implement strategic and tactical plans, technology applications and integration, network design, staffing and scheduling, service level analysis, and overall management issues. She can be reached at maggie.klenke@thecallcenterschool.com or 615-812-8411.
Service level goals are key performance indicators (KPIs) in most support and call centers. These goals measure the time callers spend in queue. In benchmarking surveys, the most common goal given by respondents is to answer 80 percent of calls within 20 seconds. Another common response is an Average Speed of Answer (ASA) of 30 seconds or less. This article is focused on ensuring a clear understanding of the calculations that make up these statistics and the varying results that different statistical methodologies deliver.
Service Level Measurement is a Science
The typical Automatic Call Distribution (ACD) system offers two measures of queue time for callers. The first is service level -- factor expressed as X percent of calls answered within Y seconds. So, if the center met the goal of 80 percent answered within 20 seconds, that means that 20 percent of callers waited at least 21 seconds. We know how many were queued longer than 20 seconds, but we don’t know how long these callers actually waited.
The other queue time goal is Average Speed of Answer or ASA. This goal is expressed as an average number of seconds and the most common goals cited are under 30 seconds. ASA is the average queue time for all callers whether they queue or not. So, if 60 percent of 100 callers are answered immediately by idle agents, that is 60 times 0 seconds in the calculation. Let’s assume the other 40 percent of callers who do queue wait between 1 and 300 seconds with an average of 60 seconds. That is a total time in queue of 2400 seconds (40 callers X 60 seconds). This 2400-second total is then divided by the 100 total callers and the ASA is 24 seconds. ASA does not really tell us how many queued or how long they waited, just that the overall average was X seconds. .( No – these two statistics do not track very well against each other and it is possible to reach the goal of one and not the other during the same period even though they were aligned at a certain call volume and average handling time. Call centers have plenty of things to measure without having two devoted to speed of answer.)
The Art of Service Level Measurement
In order to really assess the speed of answer, there are two more factors that must be considered -- the way in which the calculation is done, and the interval over which the measurement is calculated.
When does the ACD system begin measuring the queue for calculating the service level or ASA and which calls are included? It differs from one ACD to another. For example, the queue time can begin to count when the call enters the ACD for a specific agent group and the caller hears ringing. In another ACD the ringing could be ignored, but the recorded announcement will be included in the service level or ASA calculation.The ACD could also be set to ignore the recorded announcement and start counting when it ends. And, finally, the ACD could be set to ignore a standard interval (such as five seconds) and then start the count.
To make it even more interesting, the system can be set to measure only those calls that are actually answered within 20 seconds, or can include all calls, including those that are abandoned within the 20 seconds as well. Do you know what your system is set for and what your options are? (This only applies to the service level goal, not ASA, but your edit suggests it applies to both. Put service level back in.)
The second factor is the interval. Centers absolutely committed to their speed of answer goals measure each hour or half-hour and determine what percentage of these intervals meet the goal. In many centers, the average is calculated across a whole day so that if the peak hours are awful and the low hours are great, then it all averages out. Still more centers average across a whole week so the peak day’s bad service is buried in the slower days’ great results. In some extreme cases, it is even possible that a center averages across a month or even the whole year, rendering any measurement meaningless.
The longer the averaging interval, the more that dreadful service can be successfully hidden. Of course, these busy intervals are the periods when the most customers are impacted. When the interval is long, it enables some centers that give terrible service early in the interval and then, later in the period, overstaff to give more than fabulous service just to make the average. This is neither good service or cost effective.
It’s important to understand how your call center measures service levels in order to make sure that those measurements give you the information that truly reflects performance. The time to do it is now because performance management is only going to get more complicated. As we move to include other kinds of contacts in our centers, such as emails and web chats, we need to consider how we will measure the service level. Some will need similar queue measures, while others will be driven by time to complete response. But knowing what to calculate and how the systems work will be key to setting your goals and meeting your customers’ expectations.
About the Author...
Ms. Klenke is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School. She helps companies develop and implement strategic and tactical plans, technology applications and integration, network design, staffing and scheduling, service level analysis, and overall management issues. She can be reached at maggie.klenke@thecallcenterschool.com or 615-812-8411.
Call centers have been considered as a critical object that link between a company and the customers. With this reality, the urge for effective call center operations management has come out as the direct effect of the continuing expansion of call centers.
Call center operations, as it is frequently mentioned in some sites that offer call center operations for companies that are in need of better call center operations, is referred to those functions that a typical call center carry to fully utilize its resources and handle everything that are in it. Most call center operations generally function to meet the customers needs in real time or near real-time.
As usual, call center operations are sometimes associated with those roles and responsibilities that each call center area of expertise are having. One of the main examples is the title customer service representative. As such, the customer service representative is inline with the customer service operations. Another example that shows the essence of call center operations is the field of technology. Most people assigned and experts in this area are considered to be in the field of technical operations, thus creating a notion that call center operations are generally related with the areas of specialization.
For further information, call center operations is that unit of a call center, be it a division or a department, which simply carries out the actual enforcement of the center operating functions. With this status of the call center operations, most call center operations are frequently considered as ways that often create a successful output for each agent when every steps of call center operations is performed correctly. The call center operations, being a unit of a call center, for example in the area of the customer service operations, must be perfectly handle as much as possible. In such example, with the utilization of certain call center operations tool, a customer service representative can successfully direct a certain call to a certain customer by following the necessary steps which are all connected with the nature of call center operations. With advanced systems in call center operations, the customer service representative will then easily direct calls to specific call agents or groups without hassles. On the other hand, in the area of technical call center operations, the assigned representatives are mostly handling processes related to the general functioning of the computers, and the technical system as a whole.
With specified and highly organized call center operations, much productive result will be utilized and achieved by a call center and other companies.
About the Author: Jean Harley, author, is a Call Center specialist who writes articles for www.CallCenterSearch.com. Source: www.isnare.com
Call center operations, as it is frequently mentioned in some sites that offer call center operations for companies that are in need of better call center operations, is referred to those functions that a typical call center carry to fully utilize its resources and handle everything that are in it. Most call center operations generally function to meet the customers needs in real time or near real-time.
As usual, call center operations are sometimes associated with those roles and responsibilities that each call center area of expertise are having. One of the main examples is the title customer service representative. As such, the customer service representative is inline with the customer service operations. Another example that shows the essence of call center operations is the field of technology. Most people assigned and experts in this area are considered to be in the field of technical operations, thus creating a notion that call center operations are generally related with the areas of specialization.
For further information, call center operations is that unit of a call center, be it a division or a department, which simply carries out the actual enforcement of the center operating functions. With this status of the call center operations, most call center operations are frequently considered as ways that often create a successful output for each agent when every steps of call center operations is performed correctly. The call center operations, being a unit of a call center, for example in the area of the customer service operations, must be perfectly handle as much as possible. In such example, with the utilization of certain call center operations tool, a customer service representative can successfully direct a certain call to a certain customer by following the necessary steps which are all connected with the nature of call center operations. With advanced systems in call center operations, the customer service representative will then easily direct calls to specific call agents or groups without hassles. On the other hand, in the area of technical call center operations, the assigned representatives are mostly handling processes related to the general functioning of the computers, and the technical system as a whole.
With specified and highly organized call center operations, much productive result will be utilized and achieved by a call center and other companies.
About the Author: Jean Harley, author, is a Call Center specialist who writes articles for www.CallCenterSearch.com. Source: www.isnare.com
Refinements of Call Centers
There are many refinements to the generic call centre model. Each refinement helps increase the efficiency of the call centre thereby allowing management to make better decisions involving economy and service.
The following list contains some examples of call centre refinements:
Predictive Dialling “Computer software attempts to predict the time taken for an agent to help a caller. The software begins dialling another caller before the agent has finished the previous call. This, because not every call will be connected (think of busy or not answered calls) and also because of the time it takes to set up the call (usually around 20 seconds before someone answers). Frequently, predictive dialers will dial more callers than there are agents, counting on the fact that not every line will be answered. When the line is answered and no agent is available, it is held in a retention queue for a short while. When still no agent has become available, the call is hung up and classified as a nuisance call. The next time the client is called an agent will be reserved for the caller.
Multi-Skilled Staff – In any call centre, there will be members of staff that will be more skilled in areas than others. An ‘Interactive Voice Response’ (IVR) Unit can be used to allow the caller to select the reason for his call.Management software, called an Automatic Call Distributor, must then be used to route calls to the appropriate agent. Alternatively, it has been found that a mix of general and specialist agent creates a good balance.
Queuing Systems “ The selection of a queuing system type is a very important decision in a call centre as it determines the level of quality of service. Queueing systems in call centres are usually described as M/M/N type queues where N is the number of agents. The preferred method of queuing is a FIFO (First In First Out) model, as it causes minimum delay to callers.
Prioritisation of Callers “ Classification of callers according to priority is a very important refinement. Emergency calls or callers that are reattempting to contact a call centre are examples of callers that could be given a higher priority.
Automatic Number Identification “ This allows agents to determine who is calling before they answer the call. Greeting a caller by name and obtaining his/her information in advance adds to the quality of service and helps decrease the conversation time.
Variations on the generic call centre model
The various components in a call centre discussed in the previous sections are the generic form of a call centre. There are many variations on the model developed above. A few of the variations are listed below:
Remote Agents “ An alternative to housing all agents in a central facility is to use remote agents. These agents work from home and use a Basic Rate ISDN access line to communicate with a central computing platform. Remote agents are more cost effective as they don't have to travel to work, however the call centre must still cover the cost of the ISDN line. VOIP technology can also be used to remove the need for the ISDN, although the desktop application being used needs to be web enabled or VPN is used.
Temporary Agents “ Temporary agents are useful as they can be called upon if demand increases more rapidly than planned. They are offered a certain number of quarter hours a month. They are paid for the amount they actually work, and the difference between the amount offered and the amount guaranteed is also paid. Managers must use forecasting methods to determine the number of hours offered so that the difference is minimised.
Virtual Call Centres “ Virtual Call Centres are created using many smaller centres in different locations and connecting them to one another. The advantage of virtual call centres is that they improve service levels, provide emergency backup and enable extended operating hours over isolated call centres. There are two methods used to route traffic around call centres: pre-delivery and post-delivery. Pre-delivery involves using an external switch to route the calls to the appropriate centre and post-delivery enables call centres to route a call they've received to another call centre.
Interaction Centres “ As call centres evolve and deal with more media than telephony alone, some have taken to the term, “interaction centre”. Email, Web Callback and more are gradually being added to the role.
souce: Wikipedia
There are many refinements to the generic call centre model. Each refinement helps increase the efficiency of the call centre thereby allowing management to make better decisions involving economy and service.
The following list contains some examples of call centre refinements:
Predictive Dialling “Computer software attempts to predict the time taken for an agent to help a caller. The software begins dialling another caller before the agent has finished the previous call. This, because not every call will be connected (think of busy or not answered calls) and also because of the time it takes to set up the call (usually around 20 seconds before someone answers). Frequently, predictive dialers will dial more callers than there are agents, counting on the fact that not every line will be answered. When the line is answered and no agent is available, it is held in a retention queue for a short while. When still no agent has become available, the call is hung up and classified as a nuisance call. The next time the client is called an agent will be reserved for the caller.
Multi-Skilled Staff – In any call centre, there will be members of staff that will be more skilled in areas than others. An ‘Interactive Voice Response’ (IVR) Unit can be used to allow the caller to select the reason for his call.Management software, called an Automatic Call Distributor, must then be used to route calls to the appropriate agent. Alternatively, it has been found that a mix of general and specialist agent creates a good balance.
Queuing Systems “ The selection of a queuing system type is a very important decision in a call centre as it determines the level of quality of service. Queueing systems in call centres are usually described as M/M/N type queues where N is the number of agents. The preferred method of queuing is a FIFO (First In First Out) model, as it causes minimum delay to callers.
Prioritisation of Callers “ Classification of callers according to priority is a very important refinement. Emergency calls or callers that are reattempting to contact a call centre are examples of callers that could be given a higher priority.
Automatic Number Identification “ This allows agents to determine who is calling before they answer the call. Greeting a caller by name and obtaining his/her information in advance adds to the quality of service and helps decrease the conversation time.
Variations on the generic call centre model
The various components in a call centre discussed in the previous sections are the generic form of a call centre. There are many variations on the model developed above. A few of the variations are listed below:
Remote Agents “ An alternative to housing all agents in a central facility is to use remote agents. These agents work from home and use a Basic Rate ISDN access line to communicate with a central computing platform. Remote agents are more cost effective as they don't have to travel to work, however the call centre must still cover the cost of the ISDN line. VOIP technology can also be used to remove the need for the ISDN, although the desktop application being used needs to be web enabled or VPN is used.
Temporary Agents “ Temporary agents are useful as they can be called upon if demand increases more rapidly than planned. They are offered a certain number of quarter hours a month. They are paid for the amount they actually work, and the difference between the amount offered and the amount guaranteed is also paid. Managers must use forecasting methods to determine the number of hours offered so that the difference is minimised.
Virtual Call Centres “ Virtual Call Centres are created using many smaller centres in different locations and connecting them to one another. The advantage of virtual call centres is that they improve service levels, provide emergency backup and enable extended operating hours over isolated call centres. There are two methods used to route traffic around call centres: pre-delivery and post-delivery. Pre-delivery involves using an external switch to route the calls to the appropriate centre and post-delivery enables call centres to route a call they've received to another call centre.
Interaction Centres “ As call centres evolve and deal with more media than telephony alone, some have taken to the term, “interaction centre”. Email, Web Callback and more are gradually being added to the role.
souce: Wikipedia
When customers dial an 800 number that they saw on the television screens, they do not realize that they are calling a center with technologically advanced computer and screening systems. The operators at the other end of the line are located in call centers and they have been fully equipped with call center software that can tell them a great deal about the caller. Call center software helps the operators help the customer. It is how the workers ensure callers speedy, secure, and accurate service.
Call center software has an array of features that help these businesses operate. The software handles everything from management to call tracking and data analysis to automatic dialing. It works for both inbound and outbound calling centers and has specific programs for each type of center. Much of what operators must do is automatic. The call center software processes most of the information entered by the call center employees.
Inbound call centers utilize call tracking software that helps them monitor how many calls come into the center during a specified period. It records the duration of the call, number of transfers, to where the call transfers, and hold times. All of this information combined helps managers understand the productivity of the call center. Account management software displays the callers financial history with the call center. If the customer has called before, it shows past purchases, amounts due and paid, and more. Contact management programs from call center software show all types of interactions between the employees and the customer. This includes phone contact, emails, correspondence, etc Any of this information goes on to subsequent operators if the original operator must transfer the call. Some call centers even extend their services to the Internet. This is self-service via the Internet and it is for those customers who want quick answers without having to wait for operator assistance.
Outbound call center software comes with features specific to the needs of this type of call center. The employees often face many obstacles when trying to get customers to respond to their unsolicited calls. Voice messaging and broadcasting programs created automated messages that record to a persons answering machine. This way if the person is not home, the operator can leave a computerized message and quickly move on to the next call. Predictive dialers mechanically dial phone numbers for people that fall into specific target markets. These dialers select the correct candidates for the operator so that they do not have to determine whom to call. In addition to this, outbound centers need the call center software that helps monitor calls and productivity.
Both inbound and outbound call center software comes with technical assistance for the operators. The software automates much of the information processing that operators must do, but no technology is perfect. Therefore, technical assistance arrives in the form of FAQs, how-to guides, and a helpdesk with IT professionals.
If you are interested in getting call center software for your call center business, consider companies like Avaya, Avalanche,Database Systems Corp., and Siebel.
About the author: S. Johnson is the lead writer for www.callcentreawards.com
Call center software has an array of features that help these businesses operate. The software handles everything from management to call tracking and data analysis to automatic dialing. It works for both inbound and outbound calling centers and has specific programs for each type of center. Much of what operators must do is automatic. The call center software processes most of the information entered by the call center employees.
Inbound call centers utilize call tracking software that helps them monitor how many calls come into the center during a specified period. It records the duration of the call, number of transfers, to where the call transfers, and hold times. All of this information combined helps managers understand the productivity of the call center. Account management software displays the callers financial history with the call center. If the customer has called before, it shows past purchases, amounts due and paid, and more. Contact management programs from call center software show all types of interactions between the employees and the customer. This includes phone contact, emails, correspondence, etc Any of this information goes on to subsequent operators if the original operator must transfer the call. Some call centers even extend their services to the Internet. This is self-service via the Internet and it is for those customers who want quick answers without having to wait for operator assistance.
Outbound call center software comes with features specific to the needs of this type of call center. The employees often face many obstacles when trying to get customers to respond to their unsolicited calls. Voice messaging and broadcasting programs created automated messages that record to a persons answering machine. This way if the person is not home, the operator can leave a computerized message and quickly move on to the next call. Predictive dialers mechanically dial phone numbers for people that fall into specific target markets. These dialers select the correct candidates for the operator so that they do not have to determine whom to call. In addition to this, outbound centers need the call center software that helps monitor calls and productivity.
Both inbound and outbound call center software comes with technical assistance for the operators. The software automates much of the information processing that operators must do, but no technology is perfect. Therefore, technical assistance arrives in the form of FAQs, how-to guides, and a helpdesk with IT professionals.
If you are interested in getting call center software for your call center business, consider companies like Avaya, Avalanche,Database Systems Corp., and Siebel.
About the author: S. Johnson is the lead writer for www.callcentreawards.com
Creating a motivating environment for each agent is one of the supervisor’s most important jobs. It is important to remember that everyone can be motivated, but they are motivated by individual reasons. There are seven techniques for creating a motivating environment:
1. Guidance and Support
2. Recognition
3. Rewards
4. Sense of Belonging
5. Development and Challenge
6. Fun!
7. Employee Satisfaction
Guidance and Support
The key components of motivation include being a role model, providing coaching on a regular basis, “listening” to the agents, clarifying expectations, and providing objective feedback. Agents need to know what is expected of them and how they are performing. Without coaching and feedback, they have no way of knowing if they are on-target or missing the mark. It is also key to remember to provide feedback to the agents who are performing at or above standards, and not spend all of the time with those who are under- performing.
Recognition
Recognition is one of the most effective ways to reinforce the call center’s culture, support its objectives, and retain top performers. The supervisor should provide recognition for improvements along the way, for initiatives, as well as recognition for results. The goal is to recognize desired behavior so it will be repeated. Recognition can be given for perfect attendance, volunteering for a tough assignment, helping others meet their goals, cost or time-saving suggestions, or going above and beyond for a customer. Recognition should be provided “on the spot” and should be in verbal and written form. The supervisor should create a mix of both public and “one-on-one” recognition strategies and encourage agents to recognize their peers. One way to do this might be to create a recognition box and fill it with sticky notes, smiley faces, gold stars, and other stickers for all employees to use. Or, write the word “recognition” on a calendar and make this a trigger word to quickly think of people who deserve recognition. Look at these excuses listed below and see if any of them sound familiar.
Top 10 Excuses for Not Giving Recognition
1. I don’t know how. 1. It becomes meaningless if done too much.
2. I don’t have time. 2. I’m very limited in what I can do.
3. People don’t care about it all that much. 3. Sometimes it’s awkward and uncomfortable.
4. It’s not my job. 4. People will think they’ve ‘made it’ and stop working hard.
5. I don’t believe in rewarding people for just doing their job. 5. I don’t get it. Why should I give it?
Take a moment and make a list of all the people who work with or for you. When was the last time you gave recognition to each person for a job well done? If you can’t remember the last time you recognized or praised most of the people on your list, you’re probably not doing it enough.
Rewards
Rewards should be unique and relevant to the participants, so they fulfill their need for acceptance, recognition and personal esteem. When using rewards, it is important to remember that if an employee expects it, it may no longer be viewed as a reward. Also, rewards need to match the employee’s needs and wants and should be used for specific accomplishments or efforts. It is common for call center managers to use lack of budget as an excuse for having no reward system, but the universal reward is praise, and it’s free. Cash, or a monetary reward, has the advantage of being easy to administer and simple to handle. Cash is understood by everyone, it is desirable, and can provide an extra boost to a long-term program. The drawbacks to using cash include the fact that there isn’t a “trophy” or lasting memorial of the award, it’s not considered exotic, can’t be enhanced, and tends to become an expected reward. Cash is typically confused with other compensation and is therefore easily forgotten. A non-cash reward is memorable and reinforces the relationship between the reward earner and the reward provider. In defining a reward and recognition program it is important to create excitement at the program launch. Make sure the objectives are clearly defined, take time to explain the rules, awards, and provide ongoing communication. The program should encourage continuous improved performance by providing ongoing measurement and feedback. Progress reports should be distributed in a timely and consistent manner. The reward and recognition program should provide a wide range of positive consequences, encourage recognition by management and peers, and include rewards that have value, choice and are easy to administer. Providing positive consequences using a reward and recognition program help call centers achieve business results. In order to change behavior, participants must understand what it is the management team wants them to do and what they will receive for doing it. Participants must also receive constant feedback to know where they stand in relation to the goal.
Sense of Belonging
The best way to create a sense of belonging is to use teams. With a team structure, the team members assume responsibility, creativity and potential are recognized and fostered, trust and camaraderie develops.
Most supervisors use competition between teams to build effectiveness and efficiency. Competition should be positive, free of ridicule, and non-threatening. The competition should optimize the number of rewards by providing rewards for both outstanding and improved performance. The criteria and standards used for competition should be based on the performance goals each team is expected to meet.
When designing the competition, involve the agents in the evaluation process. Have them play a key role in establishing the competition and rules. Be sure to set up individual and team challenges and to give awards to the winning team and individuals. Competition brings team members together for a common goal, provides a sense of belonging, and creates a spirit of cooperation. If the competition is not carefully designed, it can reinforce the “end justifies the means” thinking, limit learning/sharing between teams, and can shift the focus away from performance to “winning”.
Development and Challenge
One of the ways to provide growth to agents is to create a learning environment. This can be achieved by combining tasks, forming teams, and rotating assignments. Regardless of the method selected, the goal is to build in feedback, to encourage widespread participation, and to nurture creativity.
Employees should have a career plan and know what they need to do to progress toward their goals. This may require outside education, a chance to work in different areas of the call center, or a training class. But as long as the steps to achieve the career goal are well defined, the employees can move at their own pace toward realizing them.
Fun
Which of the following statements are false?
1. Professionalism and fun are incompatible.
2. You need toys and money to have fun.
3. Fun means laughter.
4. You have to plan for fun.
5. Fun time at work will compromise results.
The answer is that all of the above statements are false! You can have fun and still maintain a professional work environment. Also, you don’t have to have a good sense of humor to have fun – you can support rather than create fun.
Using games is one way to have fun in the call center. Most games are meant to involve every employee. Games can soften the rough edges of trying to work together in unfamiliar ways and can engage the employee in some kind of action, or by leading the employee to an intellectual revelation or change of attitude. Games can help boost morale, generate a positive atmosphere, and create enthusiasm.
Events and themes can also be used as a way to have fun. Some events and themes include asking agents to create a holiday mural on large sheets of white table paper that is taped to a central wall in the call centers. Another event or theme is to promote a physical fitness week with all of the agents coming to work in their exercise outfits and bringing healthy snacks.
To recognize diversity in the call center, some call centers celebrate an International Day. Agents are asked to bring food (morning/afternoon snacks) from their country or region by assigning theme countries/regions by queue type. During this celebration, agents decorate their cubicles with regional/international photographs and dress according to the theme. Another event is to celebrate Customer Service Week by creating a different theme for each day of the week.
Other types of themes include a poetry contest, back to childhood day, crazy hat day, and a sports day for the agent’s favorite professional sport team (football, basketball, hockey, soccer).
Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is tied closely to motivation. It is important to find out if employees are happy or not, because a satisfied employee will remain with the call center longer than a dissatisfied employee. Lack of motivation is one of the major reasons why employees leave. To find out if employees are happy, ASK! An employee satisfaction survey can be created and distributed to find out what employees think about their jobs. The survey should include questions related to what they like about their jobs, what they don’t like, and what motivates them.
In summary, supervisors can create a motivating environment by providing guidance and support to the agents so they will know how they are doing and by providing feedback through coaching. A motivating environment includes recognition since it not only builds self-esteem, but also fosters job satisfaction and reinforces the desired performance. The universal reward is praise. It doesn’t cost anything, so use it! Teams help create a sense of belonging in the call center. When competition is used, it can bring team members together to create a spirit of cooperation. Supervisors should strive to create a learning environment to encourage agent development and to provide growth opportunities for agents. Keep in mind that a fun-loving workplace generates enthusiasm among the agents and teams, and the end result is increased productivity, lower turnover, and better service for the customer. And finally, if you don’t know what your agents think about your call center, be sure to ask.
About the Authors...
Pamela Trickey and Penny Reynolds are Founding Partners of The Call Center School, a Nashville, Tennessee based consulting and education company. The company provides a wide range of educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional classroom courses, web-based seminars, and self-paced e-learning programs. For more information, see www.thecallcenterschool.com or call 615-812-8400
1. Guidance and Support
2. Recognition
3. Rewards
4. Sense of Belonging
5. Development and Challenge
6. Fun!
7. Employee Satisfaction
Guidance and Support
The key components of motivation include being a role model, providing coaching on a regular basis, “listening” to the agents, clarifying expectations, and providing objective feedback. Agents need to know what is expected of them and how they are performing. Without coaching and feedback, they have no way of knowing if they are on-target or missing the mark. It is also key to remember to provide feedback to the agents who are performing at or above standards, and not spend all of the time with those who are under- performing.
Recognition
Recognition is one of the most effective ways to reinforce the call center’s culture, support its objectives, and retain top performers. The supervisor should provide recognition for improvements along the way, for initiatives, as well as recognition for results. The goal is to recognize desired behavior so it will be repeated. Recognition can be given for perfect attendance, volunteering for a tough assignment, helping others meet their goals, cost or time-saving suggestions, or going above and beyond for a customer. Recognition should be provided “on the spot” and should be in verbal and written form. The supervisor should create a mix of both public and “one-on-one” recognition strategies and encourage agents to recognize their peers. One way to do this might be to create a recognition box and fill it with sticky notes, smiley faces, gold stars, and other stickers for all employees to use. Or, write the word “recognition” on a calendar and make this a trigger word to quickly think of people who deserve recognition. Look at these excuses listed below and see if any of them sound familiar.
Top 10 Excuses for Not Giving Recognition
1. I don’t know how. 1. It becomes meaningless if done too much.
2. I don’t have time. 2. I’m very limited in what I can do.
3. People don’t care about it all that much. 3. Sometimes it’s awkward and uncomfortable.
4. It’s not my job. 4. People will think they’ve ‘made it’ and stop working hard.
5. I don’t believe in rewarding people for just doing their job. 5. I don’t get it. Why should I give it?
Take a moment and make a list of all the people who work with or for you. When was the last time you gave recognition to each person for a job well done? If you can’t remember the last time you recognized or praised most of the people on your list, you’re probably not doing it enough.
Rewards
Rewards should be unique and relevant to the participants, so they fulfill their need for acceptance, recognition and personal esteem. When using rewards, it is important to remember that if an employee expects it, it may no longer be viewed as a reward. Also, rewards need to match the employee’s needs and wants and should be used for specific accomplishments or efforts. It is common for call center managers to use lack of budget as an excuse for having no reward system, but the universal reward is praise, and it’s free. Cash, or a monetary reward, has the advantage of being easy to administer and simple to handle. Cash is understood by everyone, it is desirable, and can provide an extra boost to a long-term program. The drawbacks to using cash include the fact that there isn’t a “trophy” or lasting memorial of the award, it’s not considered exotic, can’t be enhanced, and tends to become an expected reward. Cash is typically confused with other compensation and is therefore easily forgotten. A non-cash reward is memorable and reinforces the relationship between the reward earner and the reward provider. In defining a reward and recognition program it is important to create excitement at the program launch. Make sure the objectives are clearly defined, take time to explain the rules, awards, and provide ongoing communication. The program should encourage continuous improved performance by providing ongoing measurement and feedback. Progress reports should be distributed in a timely and consistent manner. The reward and recognition program should provide a wide range of positive consequences, encourage recognition by management and peers, and include rewards that have value, choice and are easy to administer. Providing positive consequences using a reward and recognition program help call centers achieve business results. In order to change behavior, participants must understand what it is the management team wants them to do and what they will receive for doing it. Participants must also receive constant feedback to know where they stand in relation to the goal.
Sense of Belonging
The best way to create a sense of belonging is to use teams. With a team structure, the team members assume responsibility, creativity and potential are recognized and fostered, trust and camaraderie develops.
Most supervisors use competition between teams to build effectiveness and efficiency. Competition should be positive, free of ridicule, and non-threatening. The competition should optimize the number of rewards by providing rewards for both outstanding and improved performance. The criteria and standards used for competition should be based on the performance goals each team is expected to meet.
When designing the competition, involve the agents in the evaluation process. Have them play a key role in establishing the competition and rules. Be sure to set up individual and team challenges and to give awards to the winning team and individuals. Competition brings team members together for a common goal, provides a sense of belonging, and creates a spirit of cooperation. If the competition is not carefully designed, it can reinforce the “end justifies the means” thinking, limit learning/sharing between teams, and can shift the focus away from performance to “winning”.
Development and Challenge
One of the ways to provide growth to agents is to create a learning environment. This can be achieved by combining tasks, forming teams, and rotating assignments. Regardless of the method selected, the goal is to build in feedback, to encourage widespread participation, and to nurture creativity.
Employees should have a career plan and know what they need to do to progress toward their goals. This may require outside education, a chance to work in different areas of the call center, or a training class. But as long as the steps to achieve the career goal are well defined, the employees can move at their own pace toward realizing them.
Fun
Which of the following statements are false?
1. Professionalism and fun are incompatible.
2. You need toys and money to have fun.
3. Fun means laughter.
4. You have to plan for fun.
5. Fun time at work will compromise results.
The answer is that all of the above statements are false! You can have fun and still maintain a professional work environment. Also, you don’t have to have a good sense of humor to have fun – you can support rather than create fun.
Using games is one way to have fun in the call center. Most games are meant to involve every employee. Games can soften the rough edges of trying to work together in unfamiliar ways and can engage the employee in some kind of action, or by leading the employee to an intellectual revelation or change of attitude. Games can help boost morale, generate a positive atmosphere, and create enthusiasm.
Events and themes can also be used as a way to have fun. Some events and themes include asking agents to create a holiday mural on large sheets of white table paper that is taped to a central wall in the call centers. Another event or theme is to promote a physical fitness week with all of the agents coming to work in their exercise outfits and bringing healthy snacks.
To recognize diversity in the call center, some call centers celebrate an International Day. Agents are asked to bring food (morning/afternoon snacks) from their country or region by assigning theme countries/regions by queue type. During this celebration, agents decorate their cubicles with regional/international photographs and dress according to the theme. Another event is to celebrate Customer Service Week by creating a different theme for each day of the week.
Other types of themes include a poetry contest, back to childhood day, crazy hat day, and a sports day for the agent’s favorite professional sport team (football, basketball, hockey, soccer).
Employee Satisfaction
Employee satisfaction is tied closely to motivation. It is important to find out if employees are happy or not, because a satisfied employee will remain with the call center longer than a dissatisfied employee. Lack of motivation is one of the major reasons why employees leave. To find out if employees are happy, ASK! An employee satisfaction survey can be created and distributed to find out what employees think about their jobs. The survey should include questions related to what they like about their jobs, what they don’t like, and what motivates them.
In summary, supervisors can create a motivating environment by providing guidance and support to the agents so they will know how they are doing and by providing feedback through coaching. A motivating environment includes recognition since it not only builds self-esteem, but also fosters job satisfaction and reinforces the desired performance. The universal reward is praise. It doesn’t cost anything, so use it! Teams help create a sense of belonging in the call center. When competition is used, it can bring team members together to create a spirit of cooperation. Supervisors should strive to create a learning environment to encourage agent development and to provide growth opportunities for agents. Keep in mind that a fun-loving workplace generates enthusiasm among the agents and teams, and the end result is increased productivity, lower turnover, and better service for the customer. And finally, if you don’t know what your agents think about your call center, be sure to ask.
About the Authors...
Pamela Trickey and Penny Reynolds are Founding Partners of The Call Center School, a Nashville, Tennessee based consulting and education company. The company provides a wide range of educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional classroom courses, web-based seminars, and self-paced e-learning programs. For more information, see www.thecallcenterschool.com or call 615-812-8400
Call center is a central customer service operation where agents, often called customer care specialists or customer service representatives, handle telephone calls in behalf of a client. Clients usually include mail-order catalog houses, telemarketing companies, computer products help desks, banks, financial services, insurance groups, transportation and freight handling firms, hotels and IT companies.
The call center serves as a telemarketing venue where the products and services of a particular company are being promoted to the clients. Through these centers, queries of company clients are being handled by the call center agents. Solutions to problems and customer complaints on certain products and services also find solutions through the call centers.
The size of call center operations is described and classified in terms of the number of “seats”. A “seat” consists fo a station with two or three people alternating in several shifts to provide 24-hour call center service.
The Philippines as Call Center Hub
The DTI noted that the country is now fast emerging as the call center capital of the world, offering 24×7 multilingual and multi-media supported premium services for marketing, sales, customer care, crisis management, investor relations and other key business applications.
Analysts agree that a lot of factors contributed to the industry’s sizzling development pace. One is the rising cost of doing business in indusrialized countries like the United States. This is forcing foreign companies to downsize and outsource peripheral e-services to developing countries like the Philippines to cut on overhead costs.
Other factors cited include better power and telecommunications infrastructure, competitive labor costs in terms of quality and value for money, and strong government support for ICT-related industries. Of course, the availability of skilled labor is the country’s acknowledged ace. Filipinos are renowned worldwide for English proficiency, high IT literacy, trainability, natural warmth and customer care orientation that are vital in the call center operations. The Filipinos strong affinity to the Western culture and events also proved advantageous.
In a study conducted by research firm Frost and Sullivan, it reveals that last year, the Philippine call center industry spent US$9.8M in terms of hardware and software. The country ranks ninth in the Asian region, following India at US$21M and Singapore at US$20.3M. It is expected that the Philippines would be spending more in the next few years.
Industry Prospects
The call center industry has been dubbed as the country’s latest sunshine industry. It is expected to generate around 24,000 jobs in teh next two years. Even as the country feels the fallout from the global IT crunch, it has benefited from the prevailing cost-cutting trend in an unprecedented way. This contributes largely in the tremendous boom in the call center business.
From 2000 to 2001, the industry segment reportedly grew by more than 200 percent, and local call center revenues are projected to increase from US$173M to US$864M in 2004.
Optimism runs high as Mc Kinsey and Co., an international research group, forecasts the growth of ICT-enabled services to a US$200B industry by the year 2010 with the call center segment’s share placed at a whooping US$42B.
Reports would also show that in the United States alone, there are around 1.5 million call center seats that could be outsourced. Industry data would point that so far the Philippines has less than 10,000 seats filled, indicating the domestic industry’s huge potential.
Aside from the US, main target markets for the call center industry also include Australia and the United Kingdom.
source: TESDA
The call center serves as a telemarketing venue where the products and services of a particular company are being promoted to the clients. Through these centers, queries of company clients are being handled by the call center agents. Solutions to problems and customer complaints on certain products and services also find solutions through the call centers.
The size of call center operations is described and classified in terms of the number of “seats”. A “seat” consists fo a station with two or three people alternating in several shifts to provide 24-hour call center service.
The Philippines as Call Center Hub
The DTI noted that the country is now fast emerging as the call center capital of the world, offering 24×7 multilingual and multi-media supported premium services for marketing, sales, customer care, crisis management, investor relations and other key business applications.
Analysts agree that a lot of factors contributed to the industry’s sizzling development pace. One is the rising cost of doing business in indusrialized countries like the United States. This is forcing foreign companies to downsize and outsource peripheral e-services to developing countries like the Philippines to cut on overhead costs.
Other factors cited include better power and telecommunications infrastructure, competitive labor costs in terms of quality and value for money, and strong government support for ICT-related industries. Of course, the availability of skilled labor is the country’s acknowledged ace. Filipinos are renowned worldwide for English proficiency, high IT literacy, trainability, natural warmth and customer care orientation that are vital in the call center operations. The Filipinos strong affinity to the Western culture and events also proved advantageous.
In a study conducted by research firm Frost and Sullivan, it reveals that last year, the Philippine call center industry spent US$9.8M in terms of hardware and software. The country ranks ninth in the Asian region, following India at US$21M and Singapore at US$20.3M. It is expected that the Philippines would be spending more in the next few years.
Industry Prospects
The call center industry has been dubbed as the country’s latest sunshine industry. It is expected to generate around 24,000 jobs in teh next two years. Even as the country feels the fallout from the global IT crunch, it has benefited from the prevailing cost-cutting trend in an unprecedented way. This contributes largely in the tremendous boom in the call center business.
From 2000 to 2001, the industry segment reportedly grew by more than 200 percent, and local call center revenues are projected to increase from US$173M to US$864M in 2004.
Optimism runs high as Mc Kinsey and Co., an international research group, forecasts the growth of ICT-enabled services to a US$200B industry by the year 2010 with the call center segment’s share placed at a whooping US$42B.
Reports would also show that in the United States alone, there are around 1.5 million call center seats that could be outsourced. Industry data would point that so far the Philippines has less than 10,000 seats filled, indicating the domestic industry’s huge potential.
Aside from the US, main target markets for the call center industry also include Australia and the United Kingdom.
source: TESDA
Many people tend to think of a call center as people neatly organized into rows, sitting beside their phones, answering customer calls. So what is a contact center?
Contact centers are more than headset-wearing switch-board operators.The modern contact center handles phone calls, email, and online communication including instant messaging.
Traditionally, contact centers have been called call centers. The newer name “ contact center“ reflects the fact that more than just phone calls are being handled. Many call centers have evolved over the years to do much more than just answer phones.
Some companies choose to separate the handling of customer contacts by medium.For instance, a company may establish a department for inbound calls, one for outbound calls, and a group for email. Some companies, especially smaller ones, opt to create 'universal agents' who handle all contact types. Companies create universal contact agents for reasons of efficiency and service, and often because they find it easier to train agents in multiple communication methods than to train multiple agents in product or service information.
Bottom line, it's up to the customer to decide how they want to communicate with your company, and it's up to your company to respond appropriately through its contact center.
source: www.avaya.com
Contact centers are more than headset-wearing switch-board operators.The modern contact center handles phone calls, email, and online communication including instant messaging.
Traditionally, contact centers have been called call centers. The newer name “ contact center“ reflects the fact that more than just phone calls are being handled. Many call centers have evolved over the years to do much more than just answer phones.
Some companies choose to separate the handling of customer contacts by medium.For instance, a company may establish a department for inbound calls, one for outbound calls, and a group for email. Some companies, especially smaller ones, opt to create 'universal agents' who handle all contact types. Companies create universal contact agents for reasons of efficiency and service, and often because they find it easier to train agents in multiple communication methods than to train multiple agents in product or service information.
Bottom line, it's up to the customer to decide how they want to communicate with your company, and it's up to your company to respond appropriately through its contact center.
source: www.avaya.com
By Penny Reynolds, The Call Center School
One of the most difficult challenges faced by call center management today is how to retain qualified workers. In the call center operation where over 70% of costs are related to staffing, turnover is a particularly troubling problem, costing organizations millions of dollars a year. This article explores the cost of turnover to a call center, the reasons why turnover happens, and what front-line supervisors can do to improve retention dramatically.
Turnover Rate
Turnover is at an all-time high. In all types of jobs, workers aged 20-24 stay with an organization only 1.3 years on average (compared to 1.5 years just 15 years ago), and workers aged 25-34 stay 2.7 years (compared to 3.0 years in the 1980s) according the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Compared to these longevity numbers, call center workers who generally fall into this age group (ages 20-34) stay an average of just under a year, according to callcenterjobs.com.
While turnover is minimal in some industries and runs rampant in others, the overall turnover rate is about 40%. But let’s not get too wrapped up in benchmarking numbers. After all, if your turnover rate is 30%, you don’t win a prize because you’re 10% below the industry norm. Even though you’re ahead of the competition, 30% turnover is still terribly expensive and damaging to the organization in all sorts of non-monetary ways.
The cost of even low levels of turnover is substantial and should be tracked carefully in planning a retention strategy. There are two important numbers to understand in this turnover calculation. One is the statistical rate of turnover and the other is the actual cost of turnover to the call center and the organization as a whole. Both numbers should be calculated and tracked on a regular basis for trending purposes and business case justification for programs to assist with retention.
In calculating turnover rate, most organizations use an annualized rate to describe the proportion of staff that leave. The formula for turnover is:
| Turnover = | Number of Exiting Staff |
| ---------------------------------------------------- | |
| Average Number of Staff During the Period |
Applied to the numbers in the table below, the calculation would be 54 / 81.5 = 66%.
| Month | Exiting Staff | Avg Number of Staff |
| 1 | 4 | 75 |
| 2 | 2 | 78 |
| 3 | 3 | 80 |
| 4 | 6 | 80 |
| 5 | 5 | 82 |
| 6 | 5 | 84 |
| 7 | 4 | 85 |
| 8 | 5 | 85 |
| 9 | 6 | 85 |
| 10 | 4 | 82 |
| 11 | 5 | 82 |
| 12 | 5 | 80 |
| Total | 54 | 81.5 |
This turnover rate should be calculated for the center, but should also be calculated for smaller defined groups as well. For example, turnover should be examined by call type, by location, and by team. In particular, calculating turnover rate by team may help pinpoint problems where employees are leaving due to supervisory issues and not because of compensation, job fit, or other factors.
Turnover Costs
There are many costs associated with call center staff turnover. Some of these are obvious, direct, measurable costs, while others are indirect costs to the organization. The measurable costs of turnover generally fall into the following categories:
Recruiting Costs. The cost of print or other advertising, job fairs, and other promotions to attract qualified staff
Hiring Costs. The cost of the human resource department to process applications and screen employees, as well as call center staff time to interview candidates
Training Costs. The cost of training facilities, trainer time, and student training materials, both for initial and ongoing training
Supervision Costs. The cost of additional supervisory time to assist new staff in their early learning stages
Unproductive Paid Time. The cost of wages during the initial training period when staff are not yet available to process calls
Overtime Costs. The cost of paying overtime to existing staff to cover call workload during understaffed periods.
In addition to these “hard” dollar costs, there are additional costs to the organization, particularly if the call center is a revenue-producing operation. In these centers, the revenues lost during recruiting, training, and early ramp-up time can be considerable.
Consider the following example of a customer service center with 100 employees whose turnover rate is 25%. In this center, each person handles an average of 12 calls per hour (x 6 available hours = 72 calls per day) and one-fourth of these calls (18 calls) result in an up-sell opportunity with an average value of $10. It takes approximately 2 weeks to fill the position, 3 weeks to train new staff, and another full week on the phones for them to get fully up to speed to be able to effectively up-sell. Average entry wage rate is $12 per hour. The per person costs of turnover for this organization are as follows:
| Recruiting Campaign to Hire 20 Employees = $ 4,000; $4000/20 = | $ 200 per person |
| Hiring Cost = 12 HR/Call Center Staff Hours @ $20/hour = | $ 240 per person |
| Training Cost = 3 weeks salary ($1440) + Training ($500) = | $1940 per person |
| Supervisory Time = 1st Month 15 hours @$15/hour | $ 225 per person |
| Overtime Costs = 120 hours @ $15/hour | $1800 per person |
| Lost Revenue During Hiring (18 calls x 10 days x $10) = | $1800 per person |
| Lost Revenue During Training (18 calls x 15 days x $10) = | $2700 per person |
| Lost Revenue During Ramp Up (18 calls x 5 days x $10) = | $ 900 per person |
At a cost of $9,805 per person, if 25 agents leave the call center, the total cost is nearly a quarter of a million dollars in hard dollar costs. Add to these costs the less measurable ones of customer dissatisfaction, damaged reputation, lost skills and knowledge, and low morale, and the costs simply skyrocket.
It is important that the call center be able to quantify these various costs in order to accurately calculate the true cost of turnover to the organization. Even in centers that do not directly generate revenue, it is important to understand the “value” of a call to incorporate into these turnover cost calculations. The resulting costs can be used to justify retention programs that pay for themselves many times if they reduce turnover even a small amount.
Reasons for Turnover
There are many reasons why turnover is so high in the call center industry. Some of these reasons are under the control of the call center and are “fixable” while some must be chalked up as simply costs of doing business. One of call center management’s responsibilities is to consistently assess the reasons why people leave the center (and conversely, why they stay) so that problems in the center’s control can be addressed.
The main reasons for call center turnover fall into these four categories:
Compensation. Inadequate compensation is a reason often sited in agents’ exit interviews. This will be a common factor for call centers located in highly saturated call center labor markets such as Phoenix or Dallas where competition for qualified call center staff is high. Call centers should do periodic compensation benchmarking studies to ensure their wages are commensurate with the wages of nearby centers for the same type of work, particularly in highly competitive areas.
Job Fit. Many times the reason an individual leaves the center is simply due to a poor job fit. This type of turnover can be reduced significantly by defining and advertising the job accurately and doing proper screening and assessment on the front end to make sure the job is a good choice for the candidate and vice versa. More effort during the selection phase will pay for itself many times over in improving retention. Part of this screening process will assess whether or not the candidate will be happy with the unique working conditions found in most call centers: solo work, confined space, repetitive tasks, constant monitoring, and inflexible work schedules.
Limited Job/Career Opportunities. Many individuals leave the call center due to limited possibilities for career growth or opportunities for advancement. While some organizations have multi-level job ladders with numerous levels of agent positions and multiple career paths to many areas, others are severely limited in growth potential and see turnover as a result. In a survey conducted by callcentercareers.com, 27% of people that had left one call center job and were looking for another cited lack of promotional opportunities as their primary reason to leave. Re-defining job levels and looking for career advancement opportunities within the call center should be evaluated often.
Supervisory Problems. Assuming compensation is in a reasonable range and there is at least a reasonable affinity for call center work, the main reason agents leave the call center is due to ineffective supervision. For the most part, the adage “people don’t leave companies; they leave leaders” is certainly true in the call center environment. In the majority of cases, a properly trained supervisor can be either the greatest contributor to staff retention or the primary cause of turnover.
In the survey mentioned above, the following reasons were cited most often by staff exiting one call center and looking for other call center positions:
- 20% felt they were not recognized for their work.
- 18% felt bored and unchallenged by the job.
- 11% felt they did not receive enough training.
A – Ask. Supervisors should regularly ask employees what things about the call center make them happy and what things would make them leave. These reasons will be different for different employees. Supervisors may want to keep a file of these and refer to them periodically to ensure that each employees needs are being met on a regular basis.Retention Planning
S – Scheme. Supervisors should have a scheme in place for each employee’s success. This plan should include a training plan, a performance improvement plan, and a career path plan that maps out several options based on each employee’s aptitudes and desires. Some career path options will be vertical moves upward while others may simply be enrichment opportunities.
U – Understand. Supervisors must take the time to listen to employee feedback and understand their staff’s concerns. Almost everyone can improve listening skills and there are many exercises to help practice active listening and feedback to show concern and understanding of employee needs.
P – Passion. Supervisors should find a way to incorporate employees’ passions into their work life. They should ask what staff love to do and find a way to incorporate or support their interests. Examples might be a scrapbook party once a month that an employee leads, sports teams, support for children’s class projects, desktop publishing and writing skills, or a flexible schedule to support volunteer efforts.
E – Enrich. Supervisors should find ways to support growth within the call center environment so employees don’t have to leave for enrichment opportunities. This enrichment involves thinking creatively to find ways to rotate assignments, build teams, combine tasks, and support individual goals.
R – Reward. Supervisors must find ways to reward positive behaviors, since rewarded behavior is repeated behavior. These rewards should come often and be attached to specific behaviors soon after the actions happen. Some rewards should be private, while others should be a public recognition of a job well done.
V – Values. Supervisors need to serve as models for how employees should perform. Behaviors should be defined that support the company’s mission and value statements and supervisors should actively seek to demonstrate these behaviors in visible ways to serve as a model for their teams.
I – Information. Supervisors should share relevant information with the team and with individuals. There should be means of communications for company and call center news as well as industry news and events. This communications can take the form of a written newsletter, bulletin boards, emails, and face-to-fact communications. Information about individual job performance should be shared often.
S – Space. Supervisors should do what they can to make sure personal space is adequate and respected. Work environment is critical to an employee’s satisfaction with the job, so creating a pleasant work atmosphere, including an attractive physical work space can be a factor in satisfaction and retention.
O – Opportunity. Supervisors need to look for opportunities for employees to succeed and grow. While much coaching tends to focus on what employees are doing wrong, supervisors should look for opportunities to catch employees doing something right and reward them for it. Likewise, supervisors should always be on the lookout for growth and career enrichment opportunities for their staff.
R – Rules. Supervisors should understand the values and rules of the organization and help to communicate and demonstrate these rules to all employees. Defining and communicating standards of performance along with the consequences attached to them are critical to employees’ perceptions that the work environment is fair and consistent.
S – Spur. Supervisors should look for ways to encourage employees to learn and grow. Many call centers have both formal and informal mentoring programs in place where a supervisor or team lead serves as a model for the job to encourage and nurture employees, as well as to teach them organizational realities.
J – Jester. Supervisors should look for ways to have fun on the job. Most call centers have a constant flow of games, contests, and activities. These efforts result in a more pleasurable work experience, a sense of teamwork, higher job satisfaction, and lower turnover.
O – Outside Concerns. Supervisors should get to know their employees and understand their outside lives and concerns away from the call center in order to be better able to support them in their jobs. More call centers today are going the extra mile to have a “family friendly” workplace, where family members (and even pets!) are recognized and welcome in the center.
B – Buck Stops Here. Supervisors should be aware of the significant role they play in employee turnover and should be held accountable for staff retention. They should be trained in supervisory and leadership techniques and skills in order to properly communicate, evaluate, coach, and support their staff for increased employee satisfaction and higher retention.
Every call center should have a strategic plan for staff retention. With the cost of staff turnover so high and the effects of turnover so detrimental to the center, it is crucial that the elements of a retention plan be in place. Many call centers link their retention plan to compensation, with managers’ and supervisors’ bonuses based on acceptable levels of staff turnover.
It is important to utilize exit interviews to determine the reasons agents leave the center and also to interview long-term employees to find out the reasons they stay and are happy on the job. Call centers should not just assume that turnover is inevitable, but should strive to fix all the elements under their control in order to keep retention of valuable people resources high.
Want to learn more about the “how to” process of improving call center retention? The Call Center School offers a web seminar entitled Finders/Keepers: Proven Strategies to Improve Employee Retention. The program is also available for customized delivery via the web. Visit www.thecallcenterschool.com or call 615-812- 8400 for more details.
About the Author....
Penny Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School, a Nashville, Tennessee based consulting and education company. The company provides a wide range of educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional classroom courses, web-based seminars, and self-paced e-learning programs at the manager, supervisor, and front-line staff level. For more information, see www.callcenterschool.com or call 615-812-8400
The long-term success of any organization, and particularly a service organization such as a call center, depends upon continuous improvement. Most call centers have numerous measures of individual, team, and overall call center performance. However, the key to continuous improvement also involves listening to customers to learn how effective the organization is meeting their needs.
Understanding customer perceptions of your organization’s performance can only be accomplished through a systematic customer surveying process. It is important for the call center to perform its own surveys in order to understand the perceptions of customers related specifically to call center transactions. Many organizations perform regular customer satisfaction surveys, but these surveys focus on products, pricing, and a variety of other concerns with the call center experience sometimes buried in the overall questions and scope of the survey. To truly evaluate how effectively the call center is serving customers and representing the organization, it is crucial to do customer surveys solely focused on the call center experience.
Types of Surveys
There are several different types of surveys that an organization might do. These three types of surveys are:
Specific purpose surveys – These surveys may be conducted to ask a specific question about call center operations. For example, the organization may wish to query customers about the adequacy of hours of operation or to test out a new pricing structure. These surveys are limited to a very few questions around a single topic of interest.
Periodic surveys – These surveys are used to gauge perceptions around issues in the overall relationship between the customer and the organization or department. These surveys related to no specific transaction, but rather ascertain how well the organization is doing in the customer’s eyes with respect to ease of doing business, value delivered, areas needing change, and importance attached to certain service attributes.
Transaction surveys - These surveys are performed in conjunction with some specific event or transaction and are used to gauge the customer’s perception of that particular transaction. These surveys are event-driven and typically happen very soon after the event to be evaluated.
Customer Survey Steps
Regardless of the type of survey to be performed, there are five basic steps to be followed in performing customer surveys. These steps are:
- Project planning
- Instrument development
- Survey administration
- Data analysis
- Reporting and action
Every call center survey should start with a statement of purpose. This statement should outline the motivation for the survey, the target audience, the needed results, and what actions will be taken with the results. The statement of purpose should be simple, but detailed enough to serve as a “beacon” to keep the project focused and moving forward. Another step in planning a customer survey will be to identify the required resources. Outline any facilities that will be needed, along with any special equipment or tools to perform the study. Personnel will also be defined at this point by assembling a cross- functional project team. Members of this team should include a project manager who will oversee the project and perhaps do most of the work, along with those that will be involved in questionnaire design, implementation, and analysis. It is desirable to enlist a project sponsor or champion who is a member of senior management to ensure resources will be allocated to the project as needed. This project team may also include select customers, as well as supporting departments and outside partners or vendors that may assist in the project.
Every survey project should begin with planning a budget for the project. The budget should include such items as staff salaries, computer hardware/software, postal or telephone fees for survey implementation, training, incentives for participants, and perhaps survey software tools.
A project schedule should be defined that outlines how long each phase of the project will take and what milestones are dependent upon other tasks being completed first. The phases to be outlined in the schedule include project planning, questionnaire design and development, questionnaire review, survey administration, data analysis, and reporting. The final stage in the planning process is content development. This step is sometimes referred to as “the survey before the survey” and is used to ensure all critical issues and concerns are indeed being covered in the actual questionnaire. This initial survey can take the form of one-on-one interviews with individuals, or can be accomplished in a focus group setting. It is important to include individuals or companies in this pre-survey process who will willingly bring out issues and concerns. These initial surveys should be done until no new issues surface, so that all potential customer concerns are addressed in the survey instrument.
Instrument Development
In developing the actual survey instrument or questionnaire, it is important to start with an idea of what information is needed in the final report and work backwards. Designing the questionnaire will be an iterative process and ample time should be allowed to get it right. Three categories of questions are typically included in a survey, including ones that address service delivery attributes, demographic variables, and customer attitudes toward the call center and the organization.
When writing the actual questions, it is important to consider phrasing to avoid loaded or leading questions, and to avoid jargon and ambiguous wording. Questionnaire design is critical so that customers will not just take the time to complete the survey, but will be able to complete it correctly.
Each survey instrument should include an introduction that explains who should complete the survey, how much time it should take, how to respond to questions, what to do when finished, and what the deadline is for participation. Critical terminology should be defined at the beginning and sequencing instructions should be given, whether given verbally in a telephone interview, or displayed legibly in a written survey. Another crucial design element is the type of data to be used. Some questions may be unstructured and require a textual response, while other questions may be structured in a multiple-choice format, or in a rating scale of some sort.
Survey Administration
There are various ways to administer a customer satisfaction survey. Traditional paper- based mail surveys have declined in popularity in recent years due to their low response rates and availability of faster means of communications. A high percentage of call centers utilize telephone surveys, conducted either by in-house staff or by a third-party specialist. Electronic surveys via e-mail and the Web are also growing in number. The variety of administration methods that can be used, along with their relative advantages and disadvantages is provided in matrix form below:
| Telephone | Electronic | IVR | ||
| Response Rate | Low | High | High | High |
| Speed | Slow | Fast | Very Fast | Very Fast |
| Cost/Survey | Fast | High | Low | Low |
| Scalability | Some | Linear | Very High | High |
| Ability to Clarify | None | High | None | None |
| Instrument | Some | Yes | None | None |
| Question | Highest | Very low | Low/High | Low |
| Admin Control | Respondent | Interviewer | Low/High | Respondent |
| Admin Bias | Limited | Interviewer | Sample Bias | Sample Bias |
| Anonymity | Yes | None | Questionable | Yes |
| Comments | Low | Spontaneous | Contemplative | Possible |
Another key decision in the survey administration process will be the sampling procedure. The organization should consider its customer population and determine whether a census is needed or whether a representative sample will be used. If a sample is to be used, correct sampling procedures should be employed in order to arrive at a precise and accurate conclusion. The sample size will depend upon the number of responses needed as well as the expected response rate from the participants. The number of needed responses will depend upon the desired accuracy and precision of the survey, with the amount of accuracy needed being dependent upon the amount of variation in the sample. Once the sample size and sampling procedure has been determined, a pre-survey notification should go out, either via traditional letter or by email. This notification should explain why the survey is being done, how the survey will benefit the participant, how results will be communicated, and what, if any, incentives are provided for participation. Upon conclusion of this notification, the actual survey is distributed.
Data analysis
Once the survey has been distributed and responses gathered, the next step in the survey process is to analyze the results. Analysis will vary depending upon whether the questions were purely statistical in nature, or where unstructured textual responses will be received. The data will typically be analyzed to determine averages or other means of central tendency. The data will also be analyzed to determine how the responses are distributed. It is important to not only look at the average responses or scores, but also to look at the dispersion of results from low to high. Statistical analysis (beyond the scope of this book) should be employed to arrive at meaningful conclusions from all the data gathered in the survey process.
Reporting and Action
The purpose of doing a customer survey is to determine how effectively customer needs are being met. Once the data has been analyzed, the next step is to report the survey results to relevant parties, and also to act upon results of the study to improve the service process and strengthen relationships with customers. Actions might include follow-up research or root cause analysis, immediate service actions, or continuous process improvement initiatives.
More Information
Want to learn more about the process of doing customer surveys? We highly recommend Customer Surveying by Dr. Fred Van Bennekom and the Survey Research Handbook by Pamela Alrech and Robert Settle. Both provide excellent, step-by-step instructions on how to develop, implement, and fine-tune customer surveys for your business improvement process.
About the Author....
Penny Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School, a Tennessee based consulting and education company. The company provides a wide range of educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional classroom courses, web-based seminars, self-paced e-learning programs, and call center management books. For more information, email Penny at penny.reynolds@thecallcenterschool.com or call at 615-812- 8410.
By Maggie Klenke, The Call Center School
When call centers first began to emerge, the roles were fairly simple. Take care of the customer complaint calls so that they wouldn’t end up in the executive office, provide basic services to customers, and take orders from prospective customers. With the advent of toll-free services in the 1970s, there was a whole new way for customers to reach us and we had to manage that influx of calling.
The emphasis in the early call centers was efficiency. Get the calls handled as inexpensively as possible while still meeting customer needs. Most of us set a fairly arbitrary speed of answer goal that was designed to balance service with cost, and we’ve been fighting the battle to get enough staff every since.
I’d like to suggest that we need to change the position of the call center in our organizations. It is fair to say that most call center agents talk to more customers in a day than many other employees talk to in a year. This is where customer relationships are made or broken and we need to put the emphasis on maximizing the value of the call center’s contribution to the company’s future.
So as a call center manager, look at the enterprise as a whole and determine how the call center can be best positioned to produce the strategic results needed. Don’t think of Marketing as the enemy because they embark on campaigns that increase call center workload without warning. Instead, embrace Marketing as an important function that the call center must join with to exploit opportunities to grow the business. That will maximize the call center’s ability to handle the calls and the effective utilization of marketing dollars. Help the Product Development teams to figure out ways to improve the offerings so that customers don’t find that they need to call as often. Work with Billing to identify ways to make the invoices more easily understood by tracking the most frequently asked questions and discussing them in regular meeting. In other words, become part of the solution, rather than a victim.
When was the last time you analyzed your staffing needs based on the marginal cost of additional resources versus the added revenue or value that might be attributed to the added calls that would be handled? Many centers know their cost per call, but few that don’t do direct sales have any real idea of the value of a handled call. Surely every call has some value or you wouldn’t be answering any of them, so get consensus on a value range and take a look at the tradeoffs of various staffing levels on that value. You might find that your speed of answer goal is not the one that would provide the greatest profitability and selling management on more staff to increase profitability is sure a lot easier than based on an arbitrary speed of answer goal.
Unless your business is unusual, approximately 80% of profits come from less than 20% of the customer base, but many companies don’t know which customers are the profitable ones. The call center can identify those customers who call frequently (and why) so that the company can figure out ways to serve them more profitably. Perhaps these customers need to be up-sold to a more profitable product/service, charged differently for services, offered only self-help options, or even encouraged to take their unprofitable business to a competitor.
Get a place on the planning committees and show that the call center is the “voice of the customer” and a strategic asset to the company. It will improve your life and your agent’s lives. People will aspire to work in the call center and view your team with the respect they so richly deserve.
About the Author....
Maggie Klenke is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School, a Nashville, TN based consulting and education company. She has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and call center industry, and has worked with hundreds of call centers in the area of workforce planning, technology implementation, and process improvement. She may be reached at 615-812-8411 or at maggie.klenke@thecallcenterschool.com.
When call centers first began to emerge, the roles were fairly simple. Take care of the customer complaint calls so that they wouldn’t end up in the executive office, provide basic services to customers, and take orders from prospective customers. With the advent of toll-free services in the 1970s, there was a whole new way for customers to reach us and we had to manage that influx of calling.
The emphasis in the early call centers was efficiency. Get the calls handled as inexpensively as possible while still meeting customer needs. Most of us set a fairly arbitrary speed of answer goal that was designed to balance service with cost, and we’ve been fighting the battle to get enough staff every since.
I’d like to suggest that we need to change the position of the call center in our organizations. It is fair to say that most call center agents talk to more customers in a day than many other employees talk to in a year. This is where customer relationships are made or broken and we need to put the emphasis on maximizing the value of the call center’s contribution to the company’s future.
So as a call center manager, look at the enterprise as a whole and determine how the call center can be best positioned to produce the strategic results needed. Don’t think of Marketing as the enemy because they embark on campaigns that increase call center workload without warning. Instead, embrace Marketing as an important function that the call center must join with to exploit opportunities to grow the business. That will maximize the call center’s ability to handle the calls and the effective utilization of marketing dollars. Help the Product Development teams to figure out ways to improve the offerings so that customers don’t find that they need to call as often. Work with Billing to identify ways to make the invoices more easily understood by tracking the most frequently asked questions and discussing them in regular meeting. In other words, become part of the solution, rather than a victim.
When was the last time you analyzed your staffing needs based on the marginal cost of additional resources versus the added revenue or value that might be attributed to the added calls that would be handled? Many centers know their cost per call, but few that don’t do direct sales have any real idea of the value of a handled call. Surely every call has some value or you wouldn’t be answering any of them, so get consensus on a value range and take a look at the tradeoffs of various staffing levels on that value. You might find that your speed of answer goal is not the one that would provide the greatest profitability and selling management on more staff to increase profitability is sure a lot easier than based on an arbitrary speed of answer goal.
Unless your business is unusual, approximately 80% of profits come from less than 20% of the customer base, but many companies don’t know which customers are the profitable ones. The call center can identify those customers who call frequently (and why) so that the company can figure out ways to serve them more profitably. Perhaps these customers need to be up-sold to a more profitable product/service, charged differently for services, offered only self-help options, or even encouraged to take their unprofitable business to a competitor.
Get a place on the planning committees and show that the call center is the “voice of the customer” and a strategic asset to the company. It will improve your life and your agent’s lives. People will aspire to work in the call center and view your team with the respect they so richly deserve.
About the Author....
Maggie Klenke is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School, a Nashville, TN based consulting and education company. She has more than 20 years of experience in the telecommunications and call center industry, and has worked with hundreds of call centers in the area of workforce planning, technology implementation, and process improvement. She may be reached at 615-812-8411 or at maggie.klenke@thecallcenterschool.com.
Over the last ten years, more and more organizations have moved toward self-directed work teams. The result has been better productivity, increased employee motivation, reduced bureaucracy, and continuous improvement in the work product being delivered. According to the book, Self-Directed Work Teams: The New American Challenge, numerous companies like Xerox, Proctor and Gamble, and BlueCross/BlueShield have realized the enormous power of fully trained, fully committed, fully autonomous teams that are responsible for turning out a final product or service to the customer.
Although these self-directed work teams are most often implemented in manufacturing environments to turn out a better quality product more efficiently, many customer service organizations have also embraced this concept. But while some of the concepts of work teams have resulted in delivery of better, more efficient service to the customer, other components of the team concept have created service problems. This article will examine some of the advantages and disadvantages of this practice in today’s telephone call center.
A self-directed work team is a group of employees fully responsible for a product or service. Every member of the team shares responsibility for the finished product, but the concept goes beyond just demonstrating teamwork. The members may possess a wide range of cross-functional skills within the team, and have much greater decision-making capability. The team plans, sets priorities, solves problems, schedules and assigns work, and handles personnel issues like hiring, training, evaluation, and disciplinary action. The definition of a team varies by organization. While an “average” team size is ten, some companies operate with four-person teams while others have teams made up of 18-20 members.
A big issue for the team concept in the call center lies in the schedule of team members. While some companies have teams where all members start, take breaks, and leave together, others may have teams where the members’ schedules many have varying start times and breaks, and may even work different shifts.
The Economies of Teams
While the notion of “eat, sleep, and breathe together” may indeed foster a sense of group spirit, teamwork, and better individual productivity in some areas of the company, a company may not be able to afford to assign team schedules to the staff in the call center.
Organizations must keep in mind that telephone call workload is not like any other work in the company. The call center is at the mercy of the incoming call workload, which arrives randomly within each hour. Unlike the sequential tasks associated with paperwork or manufacturing, the random arrival of the call workload results in schedule requirements that can vary widely from hour to hour. Inefficient schedules can result in overstaffing and excessive costs in some hours and understaffing and poor service in others.
So why is team scheduling probably not as applicable in the call center as in other areas of the company? Scheduling in blocks of ten people is just inherently less efficient than scheduling for the exact number of bodies in chairs needed each half-hour. The schedule requirement may call for 6 people to be on the phones at 7:00am, 8 at 7:30, and 10 at 8:00. Scheduling all ten people to start at the same time to support the team concept overschedules for the first two half-hours of the day, resulting in overstaffing for this slot, which probably leads to understaffing later in the day.
Let’s look at the effect of team scheduling versus a traditional scheduling approach for a small (20,000 calls/month), medium (60,000 calls/month), and large (300,000 calls/month) call center. All scenarios assume a 24 x 7 operation, an average handle time of 180 seconds per call, and a service level goal of 80% in 20 seconds. The full-time equivalent (FTE) staff members represent total weekly staff hours needed divided by 40 hours per week. The required FTE is the absolute number required to handle calls at the desired level of service. Scheduled FTE numbers represent the number of staff that must be scheduled in order to provide enough schedule coverage for the desired level of service.
| Small | Medium | Large | |
| Required FTEs | 22 | 38 | 119 |
| Scheduled FTE (traditional schedules) | 25 | 45 | 141 |
| Scheduled FTE (team approach) | 70 | 96 | 192 |
| Overstaffing by Team Approach | 180% | 113% | 36% |
As shown in the table, team scheduling in a call center does not make sense from a pure cost standpoint. Particularly for a small center, any advantages gained by team scheduling are greatly outweighed by staffing inefficiencies, resulting in either excessive cost to hire unnecessary staff, or more than likely, poor service to the caller as a result of not having the right number of staff in place at the right time to handle the call. And, although the results of team scheduling do improve as the size of the center grows, even in a large center with more than 100 staff, team scheduling is not an efficient practice.
Team scheduling fares better when the work is made up of something other than all incoming phone calls. A large Midwestern bank for example, previously handled calls by a group of frontline representatives who would handle some percentage of calls and pass on the remainder to a second tier group of problem-solvers to research and follow up. Reorganizing both groups of representatives into self-directed work teams with cross- trained representatives to handle all types of calls resulted in a more equitable distribution of work and a greater sense of control and ownership among the staff. In this case, the teams follow the same schedules and work identical shifts. Although this type of scheduling results in overstaffing with respect to members needed for handling the incoming phone workload, there is a near equal amount of paperwork to accomplish each day and during idle telephone times, the staff can research and process paperwork. This is one case in which an organization managed to reap the benefits of work teams and still maintain an efficient call center operation and scheduling process.
Conclusion
Certainly, the practice of self-directed work teams has many advantages, including less supervisory or management time, happier and more highly motivated employees, along with better quality and efficiency. However, as you consider the team concept in your call center, it is important to keep in mind that an incoming call center is a very different environment than it’s administrative or manufacturing counterpart. While many of the team concepts work well in the call center, be careful of team scheduling that could easily wipe out any efficiency gained by teaming in the first place. Each organization must evaluate each component of the team concept carefully and decide what makes sense based on a fully informed cost and service perspective.
About the Author....
Penny Reynolds is a Founding Partner of The Call Center School, a Nashville, Tennessee based consulting and education company. The company provides a wide range of educational offerings for call center professionals, including traditional classroom courses, web-based seminars, and self-paced e-learning programs. For more information, see www.callcenterschool.com or call 615-812-8400
