Call Center Management Featured Article
Strive to Build a More Positive Contact Center Culture
Contact center management spends a lot of time on creating a good customer experience, whether it’s in hiring, training and motivating agents, scheduling and workforce optimization. Less attention is paid to creating a good contact center culture, which just may be what makes or breaks a customer support operation.
It’s no secret that turnover is high in contact center. There are a few good reasons for this: many people think it’s a terrible job. It’s loud and crowded and features high-pressure and low pay. What’s not to hate? That said, many contact centers do a great job at retaining employees and keeping morale high. The contact centers that succeed in keeping turnover under control have one thing in common: a great culture.
So how do you build a better contact center culture? Aside from paying your agents well (which is a given), there are a few ways to stimulate a better culture.
Engage in some social team building. Allow employees to socialize on special occasions. It’s not enough to require them to attend boring after-hours team-building exercises. Put some skin in the game by paying for meals and parties. Recognize birthdays and holidays with some special events, and consider launching “casual days” or “theme dress days” for those who want to participate.
Recognize the top performers. Expand your employee-of-the-month program so it can recognize more employees. People simply work better when they feel their hard work is being recognized. Offer real perks like gift cards, the pick of the vacation time or a great parking spot.
Watch out for back-stabbing and gossip. Toxic office cultures can happen in the contact center, too. People can form “cliques” that exclude others. Some agents may become the target for gossip or ridicule. Be strict with agents showing these attitudes toward their fellow employees, as they will contribute little that’s positive to the contact center culture. While it’s easy to think that adults should be past this type of “middle school” behavior, most call center managers know that it’s sadly untrue.
Challenge your agents. When agents become too comfortable in their positions, they can get bored and start looking elsewhere for employment. Ensure that you’re challenge agents – particularly your best agents – and allow them to grow and thrive by providing them with ongoing training and learning opportunities to expand their knowledge. These opportunities allow employees to grow and keep them engaged in their positions.
Listen to your employees. Nothing brings down a company culture faster than brushing aside employee concerns and suggestions. Agents are on the front lines, engaging with customers and prospects every day. They know what they need and want and what’s working and what’s not. Encourage their input and take the time to listen. Let them know their opinion is valued, which contributes towards their job satisfaction and the positive contact center culture overall.
Edited by Maurice Nagle