TMCnews Featured Article

When it comes to the call center, repeated studies have found that the agents’ attitudes, knowledge and response times are the most important factor when it comes to providing an excellent customer experience. Yet far too many contact centers still treat their agents in an arbitrary manner, providing less-than-optimal equipment and surroundings, sub-par training and poor pay. Yet these same companies invest thousands or even millions in management consulting, wondering why they’re failing to provide customers with the service they expect. The answers are right under their noses.

There is a huge gap in performance between contact centers that consider their agents inconvenient property and those that treat agents like human beings and valuable company resources who need to be cared for and nurtured. Successful contact center organizations expend effort to keep their agents engaged, interested, competitive, and healthy.

“Fruit bowls instead of snack machines, Swiss balls replacing office chairs and boardroom tables resembling bar leaners are some of the changes businesses are making in order to reap the benefits of employee wellness,” according to a recent article in the New Zealand Herald.

Contact centers, while they might not seem to be a high-risk work environment, are breeding grounds for repetitive motion injuries, psychological and emotional isolation, boredom, hearing damage and other workforce ills. Many of these ills can be solved by simply keeping employees moving in some way…hence the Swiss balls (which require workers to move their muscles to remain balanced, which cuts fatigue and musculoskeletal and other health risks that come from sitting too much).

Contact center management experts also recommend a variety of choices when it comes to call center furniture, including height adjustable desks and tables that allow workers to either sit or stand, according to preference, making frequent switches throughout the day to encourage movement. Providing contact center employees the ability to kneel during part of the day can also help.

Encouraging contact center employees to eat healthier can also help. Bringing in healthier lunches to encourage workers to consume more fruits, vegetables, lean meats and whole grains can help literally give them a “brain boost,” and building schedules that allow them to get regular sleep (staggered schedules don’t allow the body to keep the all-important “circadian rhythms”) is also critical.

Many other contact centers build into their programs things that can help reduce stress, such as short “chair massages,” or services such as dry cleaning, on-site health checks and childcare that can take some of the pressure off busy employees. Given the proven benefits of a happy workforce in the call center industry, all these programs can be considered money well spent.