20 Sep 2008

10 Answers

Hello,

I have managed a call center & feel if you can have an Evaluation setup for the officers & have a parameter for Attendenace it would work wonders put a weightage for attendance. The more sick leaves an individauls takes it effects his Monthly evaluation scores, which inturn effect his yearly appraisal which would effect promotion, bonus & increments.

Well hope the following helps.

Cheers!!!!!

Comment by Well Wisher — 21 Dec 2008 @ 7:40 am

Our organization attempted finanical incentives and testing over a 12 month period found no impact on attendance. We found the same people taking advantage of the incentive were the same we could count on every day before.

Comment by Frank — 21 Dec 2008 @ 10:37 pm

Hi,

I implemented a bonus structure whereby Attendance was an integral part of an Agents annual bonus. The value was 20% of their overall annual bonus which is a significant amount and only paid out at the end of each business year. I allowed them 2 uncertified sick days per year, anything beyond that which was not accompanied with a Doctor’s note resulted in a total loss of 20% of their bonus. It is easy money for the Agent to make and ensured they turned up for work!

Hope it helps

Comment by Gary — 23 Dec 2008 @ 1:21 pm

Hi there,

Yes, you can absolutely improve attendance without financial payment. I am a manager in a National call centre and had the best team attendance for 2008 within my region (about 2000 employess; in teams of 15-20).
This was achieved through numerous and varied efforts. Some activities included:

1. Sending out a team email once a month highlighting who had perfect attendance (with praise and encouraging words). As well as highlighting the agents that had continual perfect attendance – 2 months in a row….etc…

2. You can follow the group email up with an individual email to each agent. (Saying “great job”, or “well done”)….etc…

3. A “Perfect Attendance” list was also posted outside my office. (A revised copy of the email sent out).

4. Attendance was a part of our bi-weekly coaching session. We would almost always take a look at their attendance – to again give praise, or to comment on any “patterns” of lates or absences that may be occuring. Find out a bit more about the why’s and what they were doing about it to correct the situation.

5. When they were absent, there was always a phone call to touch base and to wish them well.

6. For agents on Short term disability, I kept in regular contact with them, sent them a card from the team, and have even given team “welcome back” cards to make them feel more comfortable. (after returning from an extended leave).

7. Set expectations from the beginning. Even though the company has a set policy, it’s important to be clear as to expectations either on a one-on-one basis, or in a group setting – or both; IE: they are expected to call if absent or very late, do they need to provide a Dr.’s note?, does it affect their overall performance rating, and how?, Do they have pay taken out for time away…etc…. For call centres, it’s important that reps understand that they are expected to be logged in to system and ready to take calls at the start of the shift. Do the agents fully understand how their absence affects their peers, the clients, the company?
Lastly, health is the most important thing; people need to know they won’t get “in trouble” for being sick.

8.At year’s end, I did end up giving two agents “movie passes” for having perfect attendance for the whole year, but they weren’t aware that they would be getting this. They also received balloons and a small certificate in front of the team. People usually really appreciate recognition and praise.

Hope that helps,

Laura

Comment by Laura — 27 Dec 2008 @ 11:12 am

I agree with Laura’s comments, but need to express my own opinion regarding the youth of today and their lack of concern or guilt for others. They will not think twice about taking leave or the impact on team even though its their friends. I manage a team in a callcntre and i’m lucky I have a team whose majority are over the age of 35 yet other teams in other depts, are younger an they struggle considerably more.
However as stiputlated praise goes a long way and cant disagree this is best way forward, just keep plugging at them.

Comment by Well wisher — 10 Feb 2009 @ 9:09 pm

I hear & understand what Laura is commenting on, I am Operations Manager for a National Call centre, based in Glasgow. Currently we have two shifts in our Glasgow branch, one shift has an average age of 25, the other shift an average age of 40+. I am forever dealing with disciplinary issues on the younger shift, but have never issued disciplinaries to the other. I made myself very unpopular by mixing up the two shifts and not only that introduced the Bradford Factor as way to record MIA (missing in actions – well I do have an American boss). Over the last 6-months the absence levels have dropped dramatically for how long who knows !

Comment by James — 17 Feb 2009 @ 10:11 pm

Incentives and rewards work really well, money; points; time off; but they must be immediate and objective. Subjective rewards can “turn off” many more than they “turn on”.

A real time individual agent feedback system like Agent00 has reduced absenteeism; reduced attrition; increased productivity. It simply tells agents every minute of their shift, how they are doing – and how they are being rewarded for it. Amazing results.

Comment by David Brown — 25 Feb 2009 @ 5:46 pm

I am a Customer Service Trainer for a top ten ASX (Australian Stock Exchange) company in Australia. We have a national call centre with approximately 50 employees taking inbound phone calls.

We have a diverse group of people from all walks of life and all age ranges (18-65).

We had high levels of absenteeism but used the fokllowing methods to address this. While I agree somewhat with what people are saying about ‘youth’ of today, we have a large amount of employees who are 18-25, and just learned that we need to communicate with them and do things in a different way. These are now some of our most loyal employees.

1. Set clear expectations from day one
When new employees come into the contact centre, they sit through a group induction with myself for 2 weeks. On day one, as well as sign their contracts (which include sick leave policies) we also discuss all policies and expectations of them while they are at work. We clearly state when they will need doctors certificates, when they are required to log in and to always phone when late. We minimise the ‘I didnt know who to call’ issue by always having a team leader phone, with a number for people to call.

At the same time we also discuss the benfits associated with the workplace (shares, discounts etc).

As all employees are on a three month probation period – we are honest with them that if standards are not met, they may not pass probation.

Sounds harsh? not really… they are coming into a workplace and being paid to work.

2. Training & Development
Ensure that your staff are trained to do the job and feel confident with what they are doing. Give them extra responsilibity, develop their skills and see their potential. We encourage people to move upwards through our company and to have career goals. Training is provided as:

Initial induction training
Refresher emails
Intranet updates
Refresher training courses
Interactive workshops in custmoer service skills
Competency based training

3. Improve workplace culture
It is no good employing the advice above if the workplace culture is not up to scratch. We have social events, morning teas, casual dress Friday’s, reward and recognition programs, monthly team breakfasts, feedback programs and many other initiatives all to address workplace culture. We make sure that our people know we are flexible, and as long as they give, we give.

We also allow people to be individuals. This includes personalising work stations and feeling free to have a chat with someone. I have been into call centres where this does not happen,a nd the change in atmosphere is very clear.

4. Annual incentive
Part of an employees annual bonus relies on their performance review rating. For example we have the ratings:

Meets expectations
Meets expectations Plus
Exceptional Contributor

The higher the rating, the higher this component for the bonus is. But also, if someone is ‘under review’ they are not eligable for the bonus at all. During monthly feedback with their managers, they are told how they are tracking.

5. Feedback
Its no good setting expectations and then not letting people know if they are reaching them. We have regular feedback and coaching sessions in the form of:

Weekly emails from team leaders on phone stats
Monthly one on one meetings
Ad hoc meetings

These are just some of the things we have put in place over the last year, and absenteeism and staff turnover have both reduced dramatically.

Comment by Andrew Goodyear — 4 Mar 2009 @ 2:37 am

I am involved in a 60 seat call centre and help operationally as well as previously being a team manager.

I think Andrews comments are spot on. We run a call centre in a very similar way and find we have little sickness compared to most call centres.

I would like to stress my belief that the culture within an organisation is crucial and if this does not encourage the behavior you want to reproduce then any incentives etc may not last the duration. I do think that emails from managers praising individuals definitely helps with this.

Comment by Edward Carter — 23 Apr 2010 @ 11:37 am

Have you thought about implementing a clean hands policy to reduce sickness related absence? It has been proved to reduce SRA by up to 40%. Our desks are one of the main sources of infection and telephones, computer equipment are another. We blitz staff rest rooms on a regular basis but leave everything else to chance. By using a sanitiser with an effective barrier once a week as part of your cleaning regime, you can make a big difference. Feel free to email me if you want to discuss.

Comment by Steve Morrow — 25 Aug 2010 @ 9:56 am

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