Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
How Are You Motivating Employees to Ensure Adherence to Call Center Scheduling?
How often does your superior acknowledge the extra effort you put into your job? If you are in the management position, what kind of program have you adopted to reward your staff for a job well-done? If you’re lacking consistency in your recognition and incentive programs, you might as well lack the same consistency in your call center scheduling as performance is sure to suffer.
Too often, companies embrace employee recognition programs according to current trends or the whims of leadership. It’s not enough to provide employees with steady work and a paycheck. It’s important to put a process in place that recognizes their contributions that go above and beyond the call of duty. It’s also important to show appreciation for their efforts throughout the year.
As a practice, we look at call center scheduling as a means by which management ensures the right number of agents are available to interact with the projected number of customer calls. These agents are often trained in the right processes, given the right script and they understand what is expected of them in activities after the call.
But what motivates them to do these things quickly, hit performance objectives and ensure customer satisfaction? They may like their boss and want to please him or her – but let’s be realistic. It’s not kindergarten and a smile from the teacher is not motivation enough to ensure performance measures are met. Instead, agents need recognition in the form of currency that matters to them.
To develop an employee recognition program that gets results, let’s take a look at a recent post from Incentive Programs.
The first step is to analyze what is currently in place to motivate the workforce. You may have pieced together specific initiatives that work when you think to put them into action. If you’re lacking a complete program, gather the pieces of what you do have to start to transform them into a complete program. In doing so – ask questions. This is where you find out the currency for each of your employees. For some it will be money, while others may prefer time off. Get your employees involved in the process and buy-in is more assured.
Try to eliminate the hierarchy that tends to exist in the contact center and side-step potential political issues with peer-to-peer recognition. It also offers immediacy and reinforces positive behavior. When this recognition is shared throughout the company, it provides viability to positive behaviors and encourages others to follow suit.
Finally, incorporate communication into the process. If employees don’t know what to expect or why, they’re not generally willing to buy into a program of any kind. Plus, it has to be positioned for their benefit, not just the organization. If the program put in place to motivate them to maintain the established call center scheduling initiative is based on perks that mean nothing to them, you won’t see any benefit.
Keep these tips in mind when developing your recognition program and you’re bound to see positive results.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi