Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Enhance Your Call Center Scheduling to Regain Employee Trust
Employee management is one area where many companies have been stumbling lately. While there is no shortage of value in building a strong company culture that supports friendships and socializing outside of work, “open” operations that make employees feel like they are part of a team and that their opinions are valued, and a supportive environment that monitors performance regularly with the goal of helping employees grow, can become liabilities when misfortune strikes.
Many companies that spent years building up desirable workplaces and strong company cultures saw them all come crashing down after major lay-offs or restructuring. Employees are loyal to companies that are loyal to them, but that connection is tenuous. In the event of a restructuring, once employees see others (their friends and co-workers) cut, that can sour that valuable positive image employees might have of their employers.
According to a recent Forbes article by Meghan Biro, this has become a problem for many companies.
“It takes a long time to build a robust workplace culture and almost no time to damage it beyond repair,” she wrote. “Thus it’s critically important to have senior managers brainstorm scenarios that pose a culture and business threat, and make plans to preserve both – especially when dealing with talent.”
In a contact center environment, a loss of regard by employees toward employers can damage the customer relationship. Employees might go from being brand ambassadors to unwilling bodies who are occupying a chair simply to be able to earn a paycheck.
According to Biro, there are ways companies can help build and keep a positive work environment in place even during times of hardship, but first these companies must identify what type of environment they want to build. Geography matters a lot…do you want a laid-back Silicon valley environment or a more formal New York business environment.
How you promote matters to the company culture, as well, says Biro.
“Do you want a tight group? Nurture and promote from within,” she writes. “Reward employees for referring friends and peers. Do you want fresh thinking? Bring in enough outsiders to challenge established thinking but not so many they overpower the culture. Help your HR and recruiting teams source candidates who come from similar cultures but have slightly different backgrounds.”
It helps to understand that if you take someone away from employees, you need to be prepared to offer something back in return to regain trust. Cutting hours for workers who have enjoyed overtime? Consider softening the blow by letting them work from home more. Putting in a new software solution that will require relearning a lot of processes? Make sure that solution has at least one excellent direct benefit to employees (such as being able to automatically swap schedules or bid for any overtime that does become available). Freezing raises? Make up for it with social gatherings or perks in the workplace.
Regaining the trust of employees after a downturn can be a long, hard road, but in the end, your efforts will pay you back tenfold.
Edited by Stefania Viscusi