What to look for when buying – headsets

We’ve asked three key specialists – GN Netcom, Plantronics and Tecteon Technologies – for their advice on buying headsets for the contact centre.

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.acousticsafety.org