Hi
Loads of call centres allow staff to read in-between calls or do things like puzzles etc. Our call centre has always had a strict policy against this due to the possibility of it causing quality issues.
What are the benefits of allowing this and has anyone got any examples of this being successful?
thanks,
Dan
Hi Dan,
we have developed a tool so that agents can read updates to policies and procedures, tech tips etc between calls in an available state. For policy update roll outs the tool tracked which agents had acknowledged reading, understanding of, and agreement to follow, the policy changes so team Leads could follow up or remind the agents that had not read the communication, which can then reduce the pressure on the TL's or trainers.
This is not the ideal but at times it may be necessary as it may not be possible to take agents off line to go over updates with them face to face in groups or one-2one.
As to doing puzzles - if they have a lot of idle time between calls then for some it may prevent their brains switching off but for others it would be a distraction that might then impact how they respond when they receive a call.
Personally I would discourage agents being able to have free access to the internet as I feel that would be more of a negative distraction and potentially hold their attention more than the next customer enquiry :O(
Its a good question and a tough one to answer! I look forward to seeing what other members have to say.
We have a policy against it (although these days mobile phones seem a much bigger issue than books or puzzles).
I remember when I started as an agent I used to play chess via email, and I managed to read the whole series of Harry Potter in two weeks (which shows how much downtime there was). It was great.
My opinion now is that the time can be much better utilised as agents can always become more familiarised with our products (and product codes). If we have so much availability that there is genuinely no work, and there is nothing else we can learn then I as a resource planner have failed and we have too many people scheduled to work. (I seldom find this is the case, as getting agent to keep their desk clean often seems like a full time job in itself)
I tend to be a little bit more relaxed when the staff volumes are very low, such as during a night shift, or if the agent has a naturally good work ethic and has been working hard all day.
As long as productivty is high and there are no issues, does it matter what they do to amuse themselves in down times when there are not many calls
Bunnycatz, I agree that it's a tough one to answer.
On balance, I come down on the side of having some form of activity that keeps agents brain switched on during wait time. Sitting waiting for calls to come in can cause brain death if the resource planning isn't right but even with the best planning external factors can still generate long wait times. It's been a long time since I was an inbound agent at BT which was a job that was, luckily, on a 3 week rotation with admin work. A colleague of mine knitted 4 jumpers during her 3 weeks on inbound and I did my day release college assignments, and wrote appalling poetry. Perhaps you might like this:
Slumped in front of my VDU
Wishing there was something else to do
Starring at white fluttering blinds
With my headset slowly killing my mind
Looking out of the windows, I can see
The roof tops of Wimbledon laughing at me
The trees are waving, they seem to say
'Come out, escape, experience the day'
But still I sit like an inanimate clone
Listening to the printers whine and drone
How much longer can it be
Oh Christ, it's still only 10:53
Nice one Janette , maybe there should be an call centre award for the best poetry written by an contact centre agent between calls, amazing to hear about the jumpers am smilling at the image
John, We'll have to hand the competition idea over to Jonty. Jonty, if you are reading this what do you say?
Get a bit of fun back into the industry during these grey austerity bound years !!!
Awards for the sublime to the ridiculous
We ran a very popular poetry competition 2 years ago.
http://www.callcentrehelper.com/call-centre-helper-poetry-competition-3764.htm
I think that it's probably time that we ran another one. What does everyone else think?
We have a policy against this, too. even to use the smartphone is forbidden. But I think some kind of entertainment, like puzzles or minigames can be good to distract the people a bit. then they can be more focused for the calls.
Marc S, I agree entirely with the banning of smartphones in a call centre environment as they are a distraction because of the ability to receive personal texts and phone calls. Getting a disturbing text about your personal life at work doesn't help anyone concentrate on their job.
However, puzzles and mini games are designed not to distract agents but to keep their minds alert and avoid boredom. I believe research has shown that with the digital age, attention spans have shortened so people become bored more quickly. Boredom can leave agents sounding dull and lifeless which then impacts their abilty to deliver a good customer experience whether selling or servicing. It would be interesting to find out if anyone has done a study on boredom and it's impact on performance. There must be something out there.
Great poem Janette, I think another competition would be great Jonty, as nicholson said "Get a bit of fun back into the industry"
@ Janette C
There has been some really great work done by Aston University and from that research there has been development of motivational tools/games etc. I believe the company who are promoting this is motiv8 - I had a really interesting chat with them at Expo.
@pennyd, thanks I'll follow up on that as I find this subject fascinating.
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