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DirecTV Makes Call Center Work Fun

By Oliver VanDervoort, Contributing Writer

While there has been some talk about the number of call centers that are shutting down over the last few years, there are some companies that are bucking the trend. DirecTV (News - Alert) is one company that is able to boast that they offer good pay and good benefits despite the fact that the industry still hasn’t really recovered from the economic downturn in 2008. DirecTV appears to be one of those companies that believes happy employees make happy customers and customer satisfaction is as important to the industry as it ever was.

Among the perks that DirecTV offers its call center employees is a very competitive $11 an hour. Benefits also include health insurance and a pension plan. DirecTV actually pays 77 percent of the insurance premium. At-work benefits include the fact that the Missoula, Montana-based center has a ping pong table in the break room, as well as a fireplace and free hot coffee. All of these things make it so that the employees actually want to come to work, and once they are there, are content to settle in and do their jobs. Add in the fact that every call center employee gets the company’s premium satellite television package (a $2,000 a year value) and you realize that DirecTV is going about things the right way.

Call center jobs tend to have a stigma as something that people don’t really want to do. When people are unhappy at their jobs, that’s going to be reflected in their performance. By making the workplace somewhere employees want to be, the company is able to hike their customer satisfaction levels. The Missoula call center currently employs 750 people and the company has 16,000 employees around the country.

With unemployment still being an issue nationwide, companies like DirecTV are leaned on as big time employers. These kinds of inbound call centers pay well enough and employ enough people that they can really make a dent in those unemployment numbers. If the employees are actually happy when they’re at work, that’s all the better.