Changing the Reputation of Contact Center Work

Do you enjoy low pay? Getting yelled at by customers? Spending eight hours a day in a windowless box while evil overlords monitor your every move?

Well, my friend, then working in a contact center just may be for you!

That’s a joke. Or is it?

Truth be told, working as a contact center agent isn’t necessarily all that bad. In fact, it can be a pretty good gig. But, as well all know, this type of job doesn’t exactly have a great reputation.

It’s up to contact centers to change that. Working to improve negative perceptions can help contact centers attract better talent, retain top performers, and keep employees and contractors engaged.

Contact center managers can do that in a variety of ways. Training agents and providing them with constructive feedback and praise can help agents improve, give them a sense of accomplishment, and help them better understand what they’re working towards. Recognizing and rewarding agent and team successes also encourage good work in the future.

Organizations that define their goals and share them with employees tend to have more positive cultures and better results. Contact centers are no exception. Informing agents of where they stand and where they can go if they meet set goals can also drive them to work harder and strive for leadership positions.

Holding occasional gatherings to encourage teamwork and celebrate successes can contribute to a positive contact center culture. Inviting employees to communicate with managers and one another can further build team mentality and potentially even lead to new solution identification. And providing tools and processes that work well and make sense can go a long way in demonstrating that the contact center cares about its customers and its employees.

Edited by Maurice Nagle