Our regular technology column is dedicated to
investigating what you should think about when buying a particular
piece of technology. This month, we’ve asked three key specialists – GN
Netcom, Plantronics and Tecteon Technologies – for their advice on
headsets

Five things that can make all the difference in a headset purchase

By Jan McNair, managing director at GN Netcom (www.gnnetcom.com)

Choosing
the right headset for your workforce isn’t as simple as you’d think.
There are many things to consider, including performance, durability,
comfort and style, compliance with health and safety legislation, sound
quality, connectivity, and the environment in which it’s being used.
Call centre staff can spend up to eight hours a day on the phone, so
it’s important to get it right. To make life a little bit easier for
you, here is my personal headset checklist, which should hopefully give
you the confidence you need to choose the right headsets for your
organisation.

1) The new Noise at Work Directive, introduced on
6 April 2006, stipulates that employees must not be exposed to more
than a maximum 87dB(A) when at work. With this in mind, the first
question you need to consider when looking to purchase new headsets is:
do the products actually comply with the legislation? This is really
important as agents need both excellent sound quality to make their job
easier, but also the reassurance that hours of headset use won’t damage
their health. This is something your supplier should be able to help
you with when discussing your requirements. Good quality headsets will
always comply with the legislation.

2) Performance and
durability are key requirements. With users wearing headsets day in,
day out, the wear and tear factor is high and headset replenishment can
make a big difference to the long-term cost of ownership. Find out if
your supplier is prepared to guarantee your headsets and for how long.
Also ask about after-sales service. This will give you peace of mind
when making such an important purchase.

3) The new generation
of cordless headsets provides the ultimate benefit for headset wearers,
giving users the freedom to move around while on calls. It is worth
noting that agents with wireless headsets spend less time putting
callers on hold as they can simply walk across the office to get the
information they need. This in turn reduces the time taken on each call.

So
this would be the third thing to think about – whether you go for
corded or wireless headsets. How much do your agents need to move
around? Do you have supervisors that need to be mobile while in the
office? What are the overall requirements for wireless solutions?
Sometimes there may be a requirement for both wireless and corded
headsets in a call centre as supervisors may need to roam while agents
are static. There is obviously a difference in price here, but looking
after your agents’ well being by giving them the tools to move around
the office freely can, in turn, increase productivity.

4) The
fourth thing to consider is whether your headsets are future-proof. The
majority of call centres will be considering Internet protocol (IP)
telephony as part of their future technology environment. Ultimately
telephones will disappear as agents make their calls via their desktop
terminal. It is therefore important to choose headsets that can adapt
to your technology environment – both now and in the future. Questions
to ask yourself here are: do your agents work on a soft phone, hard
phone or both; and will they be using voice over IP (VOIP) in the short
or longer-term? There is currently very limited provision of headsets
that can be used in both traditional and IP telephony environments,
allowing agents to switch between soft and hard calls with ease.
However, if your business is run over IP – or is at least considering
it – then you will need to be mindful of this when making your next
headset purchase.

5) Finally, wearing styles and comfort is a
really important factor for agents. You need to consider weight,
comfort, ergonomics, sound quality, security and the length of time the
headset will be worn. Think about the environment that your agents work
in – be it a large warehouse or small office – as this can affect what
sort of headset you may need. If you have agents that are on the phone
for up to eight hours at a time, you should consider dual sound in both
ears as this keeps noise levels lower than if you have sound in just
one ear. In addition, a noise-cancelling microphone is essential for
filtering out unwanted background noise.

It’s also worth
remembering that wearing a headset is a very personal thing; different
people like different wearing styles, so it’s good to go for something
that agents can adapt to suit them.

With that in mind, do take
another look at the headset styles available today. Ergonomic comfort,
sound technology and durability have come on a long way in the past 25
years. You’ll be surprised.

By Rory Lavelle, general manager at Plantronics UK and Ireland (www.plantronics.com)

With
contact centre workers spending almost 99% of their working day on the
phone, their headset could be their best friend or their worst enemy.
Research shows that contact centre employee productivity is directly
related to the equipment and feelings of well being that their employer
provides. Little wonder, then, that headsets have been designed to
allow phone users greater hands-free flexibility, improved sound
quality and, as a phone receiver does not have to be cradled between
chin and shoulder to multi-task, a reduction in back and neck strain.
On top of this, research by Surrey University in the UK has found that
65% of phone users suffered from headaches more often when using a
telephone for more than two hours a day, as compared to only 38% of
headset users.

Coupled with the built-in security of acoustic
shock protection, headsets maximise health and well being for those
where the telephone is the primary tool for their job. What’s more,
with the advent of wireless headsets, the choice of products and
accessories to meet both legislation and employee satisfaction has
greatly improved.

For all contact centres, clarity and
audibility of calls – as well as noise reduction and the health and
safety of their staff – is vital to the success of their operation and
service to customers. All of these key elements should be considered in
the selection of telephony headsets. Here are some of the other facets
to bear in mind:

Monaural versus binaural

For many
it’s a personal choice as to whether they have a monaural or binaural
headset. A single earpiece lets the user hear clearly – both on the
phone and what’s happening around them. This ensures they feel less
‘closed off’ from the environment around them. Binaural headsets
meanwhile enable complete concentration on the call, and may also lower
the ambient noise in the call centre, as agents tend to talk more
quietly.

Corded versus cordless

Corded headsets
still remain the primary headset of choice for contact centres. Many
agents are required to use a computer to access information while
undertaking their calls. The positioning of the cord is important for
comfort, and convenience is maintained with features such as ‘quick
disconnect’ ensuring contact centres with shift workers can maintain
health and hygiene, with agents having their own personal headset.

However,
wireless headsets are increasingly being used by those in a
supervisor’s role. We find the need to be able to walk around the
contact centre, with the requirement to be available on the phone as
and when, is pushing forwards the flexibility of wireless working. For
those using wireless models, it’s crucial to be able to answer calls,
as well as use the control volume and mute buttons remotely at the
headset. This sometimes needs to be achieved as far as 50 metres away
from the headset base.

Voice tube (VT) versus noise cancelling (NC) microphones

The
majority of call centres get superior performance from VT, which is
more forgiving of positioning and lighter for a more stable fit. The
VT, if replaceable, also provides better hygiene and, by using
different colours at different testing stages, provides indication of
age and condition. Having said that, in noisy contact centres, NC will
decrease background noise.

Noise at Work compliance

The
European Noise Exposure Directive (2003/10/EC) was updated in April
2006. According to research published by the Health and Safety
Executive (HSE), 21% of UK contact centres exceed the new lower noise
action level of 80dB(A) and 43% are relatively close to this level.
Despite this legislation being implemented in the UK, many contact
centres are still unaware and possibly non-compliant, leaving their
employees open to the risk of exceeding their daily noise allowance.

Contact
centres are required to conduct a risk assessment to evaluate their
current infrastructure. Technology included in newer headset adapters –
used with leading contact centre headsets – reduces the risk, provides
acoustic protection and adaptively limits the maximum volume agents
receive during a working day while not affecting the advisor’s normal
speech. A complete plan should be developed to provide all the elements
of risk protection.

Vendor partnerships

A solid
partnership relationship with your headset vendor will ensure you have
the most appropriate headset solutions to support specific
requirements, changing needs, business growth and evolution of the
contact centre environment. Commitment to regular testing from both the
vendor and HSE will ensure the happiness of the employees.

In summary, when looking at a headset, you should be sure that they:

• Are cost-effective, reliable and durable.
• Offer good sound quality, audibility and amplification achieved with user volume control.
• Are lightweight and hygienic, with easily removable voice tubes and ear pads for cleaning or replacement.
• Offer ease in obtaining replacement parts and support.
• Have a noise reduction facility, thereby allowing compliance with the Noise at Work / EU Noise Directive.

By Masoud Ahmadi, managing director of Tecteon Technologies (www.tecteon.com)

The
EU Noise at Work Directive has gone a long way to protect the health
and welfare of call centre workers. Call centre managers looking to
purchase new headset equipment should certainly ensure that any new
headsets they buy are EU compliant and also suitable for the
environment in which they are being used. Compliance does not always
mean effectiveness, however, and some headsets that simply cap the
volume will not meet the demands of noisy call centre environments.

While
EU compliance is compulsory, and therefore must be adhered to,
purchasers of headset equipment should also make sure that any new
equipment protects against acoustic shock too. These are freak bursts
of sound that are of a short duration but high intensity and, although
they are not covered in the EU Directive, they have already cost UK
business 2million in out-of-court settlements – a figure that is set
to rise exponentially.

The truth is that the current
compensation level only tells part of the story. Although defined as
‘freak’ incidents, this is not a small problem affecting only a few.
Acoustic shocks are being experienced more often by an increasing
number of people. According to the HSE during a recent survey, 30% of
operators claimed symptoms of acoustic shock. That is potentially
300,000 affected operators in the UK alone.

Why are they
generating so much legal attention? Well, these bursts of sound come at
a very heavy price to the user. Acoustic shock events lead to a wide
range of potentially debilitating symptoms, including nausea, disturbed
balance and vertigo, numbness and twitching of the face and shoulders,
tension headaches, intolerance to any loud sound, anxiety, depression
and agoraphobia. And naturally, the 2million I’ve quoted above does
not take in to account the additional revenue loss that is being
incurred by call centres through increased absenteeism as workers
succumb to the consequences of acoustic shock.

The challenge
that faces the call centre manager is that there is still quite a way
to go in understanding the nature of acoustic shocks. Initially it was
assumed that the severity of the damage caused by an acoustic shock
event was directly related to the volume level of the headset. It is
now known that this is not the only cause, so any solution that deals
with the problem by limiting the volume through the headset will not
safeguard the employee. Nor will it protect the employer against a
potential lawsuit.

The answer is to remove the acoustic shocks
altogether. And to do this it is necessary for the equipment to
recognise and eliminate or reduce them at source. At present there are
very few solutions available that actually stop acoustic shocks dead in
their tracks. Typically, a complex algorithm is required to pick up
acoustic shocks before they can do any harm and reduce them
significantly. Only now have we started to see the development of such
kit – and its introduction in to headsets.

In addition to buying
effective headset equipment, of course, there are other safety measures
that the call centre manager can put in place. The call distribution
systems need to be checked and verified to ensure that the likelihood
of acoustic shocks is limited as much as possible, and a recording
device should be put in place so that complaints can be substantiated.
Maintenance is also paramount in order to ensure that equipment is kept
at an optimum working level.

In addition to fully researching
any equipment to ensure it provides suitable protection against
acoustic shock, it is vital that call centre managers educate
themselves in the causes and effects. The disorders caused by acoustic
shock are cumulative so it can take a while for them to show up.
However, the more that both the employer and the employee understand
and are able to spot potential symptoms, the earlier something can be
done about them. A good source of information is the Acoustic Safety
Programme: www.acousticshock.org.