What to Do With an Agent That’s Lost Their Voice

It’s a situation every contact centre manager dreads: an agent arrives at work and simply can’t speak. But how should you handle it?

To gather practical advice on everything from managing schedules in the moment to maintaining fairness in the long run, we spoke to industry experts – Adrian Hawes, Dan Smitley, Irina Hollatz, Jamie Storer and Naomi Smith.

After all, with the right approach, a lost voice doesn’t have to mean lost value for your team or your customers.

Always Start by Asking “Are You Well Enough to Work?”

When faced with this situation, the first question any leader should ask is simple: “Are you well enough?” to check whether the issue is limited to the voice or part of a wider illness.

“Some advisors push through illness out of dedication or reluctance to take a sick day, but this can backfire.

After all, if you don’t look after your agents, they’re not going to look after your customers. Sometimes it’s best all round for agents to just take a much-needed sick day.” – Naomi Smith, Contact Centre Manager at Worcester Bosch

Even if it is just their voice, there’s still grounds to send them home sick – just take a look at this sporting comparison:

“If your voice is broken, you’re technically sick for the job, aren’t you? If a footballer came in with a broken foot, we wouldn’t tell them, ‘Great, you can just be a coach for a couple of days.’” – Dan Smitley, Founder of 2:Three Consulting

Is It Really a Cover-Up for Burnout and Stress?

It’s also important to be mindful that it could be a cover-up for burnout and stress, so make sure to rule this out too!

“When an agent loses their voice, there’s often more to it than a simple sore throat! This happens so often and sometimes it’s not even when they’re ill, they’re just not in the mental state to focus with someone on the phone, and saying they’ve lost their voice is an easy way out.

It’s about understanding what’s going on in the moment, whether it’s best to just switch them to another channel, let them take a longer break, or send them home.” – Irina Hollatz, WFM Transformation Consultant at RightWFM

Next, Look for Practical Alternatives

Once you’ve made a judgement call that it’s OK for the agent to continue working that day, the next step is to explore practical alternatives for how they can spend their time.

“When an agent loses their voice, it can feel like a sudden gap in your frontline operations – but it’s actually an ideal opportunity to make the most of their time productively elsewhere.

Leaders should approach the situation logically, thinking about any training or other tasks they can complete, or even where they can support other communication channels that don’t require speaking.” – Adrian Hawes, Award Winning, Transformational Resource Planning & Contact Centre Professional

These decisions shouldn’t just be made on a whim, however, and it can really help to plan ahead, so you have something “up your sleeve”. 

For example, maintain an up-to-date skills matrix, so if someone suddenly can’t take calls, you can quickly redeploy them to meaningful tasks.

It can also help to look to other departments.

“I always try to provide as many options as possible and I’ve found having good connections with other teams and departments within the organization can really help in these situations.

Even if the agent can’t help their own team, there’s a good chance they will be able to help another team out.” – Jamie Storer, Sr Manager, Workforce Optimization at Columbia Sportswear Company

However, this approach only works in the short term, as their core job, after all, is to be on the phones.

Have Honest Conversations to Prevent Future Incidents

It’s equally important that the agent understands the impact – particularly on their colleagues. For example, accommodating a voice loss often means reshuffling everyone’s schedule and impacting everyone.

So don’t sugar-coat it or let it slide! It’s important that agents are made to feel accountable for their actions – particularly if their lost voice is the result of a social event.

Simply wrapping up the conversation with “Yes, we’ll get you on some emails for today – but just be mindful the next time you’re at a football match if you’ve got work the following day” can be a short but clear warning that this behaviour isn’t acceptable.

For advice on improving your communication skills, read our article: The 7 Cs of Effective Communication

Keep an Eye Out for Repeat Offenders

Keep an eye out for repeat offenders too! If an agent repeatedly loses their voice on a cold Monday morning, this can’t be ignored, and efforts must be taken to dig into the genuine circumstances. It’s about being fair to everyone and nipping the behaviour in the bud if they’re taking the mick.

Quite frankly, you need to be careful that you aren’t giving people a path to avoid work they don’t like! If you show agents there’s a way to avoid the phones, you might just be encouraging the behaviour more.

And without clear rules, others may follow suit, claiming minor voice issues just to escape busy call times. It’s a slippery slope you don’t want to be on!

Establish Ground Rules and Communicate Them to Everyone

If you find yourself regularly faced with this situation, it’s high time to establish some ground rules and communicate them to everyone!

By being proactive and transparent, you can set clear expectations – enabling agents and trusting them to be adults, whilst making it very clear that if they go to a concert, sing along loudly, and lose their voice, they can’t come to work the next day. It’s their choice, but the consequences are clear and fair to all.

These rules shouldn’t be set in stone, though. Always be prepared to review and adapt as you go.

Losing Their Voice Doesn’t Have to Mean an Agent Is Completely Out of Action

Overall, losing their voice doesn’t have to mean an agent is out of action, and there are definitely creative ways to create a short-term win–win for all involved.

Yet the need for fairness should not be overlooked in the long run! By establishing clear rules up front, you can help prevent abuse and loopholes, whilst giving agents autonomy over their decisions.

What Do You Do in Your Contact Centre When an Agent Loses Their Voice?

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With thanks to the following people for sharing their thoughts for this article:

• Adrian Hawes, Award Winning, Transformational Resource Planning & Contact Centre Professional
• Dan Smitley, Founder of 2:Three Consulting
• Irina Hollatz, WFM Transformation Consultant at RightWFM
• Jamie Storer, Sr Manager, Workforce Optimization at Columbia Sportswear Company
• Naomi Smith, Contact Centre Manager at Worcester Bosch

For more information to help your contact centre better manage employee health and sickness, read these articles next:

• Stop Driving Up Your Sickness Levels!
• Are You Taking Enough Care of Your Agents’ Hearing?
• How to Rethink Agent Mental Health

Author: Megan Jones
Reviewed by: Jo Robinson