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Whether that person
is operating a help-line, canvassing, conducting market research
or whatever, the call centre operative needs a professional
working environment.
04 Jul 2003
Service traffic is comfortably in the majority in outsourced
contact centers in the UK, with 53% of traffic. This is
due to it being one of the most mature markets. This trend
will continue and by 2007 62% of outsourced traffic will
be service traffic. There is particular growth in customer
retention and customer satisfaction traffic within the service
area.
Source: Datamonitor, "Call Center Outsourcing in
EMEA" (DMTC0891)
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Turning
a coalmine into a Goldmine
I'm not talking about
the irritating background noise and ineffective air conditioning
that struggles against the heat
from the many computer terminals. I refer to the call centre
equipment and the customer
relationship management systems. Although cost effectiveness
is directly related to good CRM software let's look at a personnel
point of view.
Ask any call centre
manager about staff retention and staff turnover and you may
cause a cringe to beat all cringes. Some 350,000 people work
in UK call centres that represents more than 1% of the working
population in Britain. Some professional British call centres
are heaven compared with others, so much that certain call centres
have been named "the coal mines of the 21st century".
According to Datamonitor the number of call centres in 2000
was 5050. The estimated number of call centres in 2001 is 5210
and 5370 in 2002.
Call centres are
about CRM - Customer Relationship Management and as more of
our normal everyday transactions are made via the internet or
telephone, the number of people who process these enquiries
and transactions will increase. As the demand increases so does
the supply and inevitably the sweat shops and 'coalmines' also
increase.
There are contact
centres too where only incoming calls are fielded. When we consider
that about 3,195,000 calls are made on a daily basis to contact
centres during office hours, this is where CRM - Customer Relationship
Management really comes to the fore.
Let's focus on one
individual, a UK call centre operator. Firstly a successful
British call centre won't have the luxury of thumb twiddling
whilst awaiting a telephone call and depending on the call centre
software or indeed the CRM customer
relationship management system a call can be randomly received
by any free call centre operator or it will be fielded to a
particular call centre operator.
It is this point
where we look at turning a coalmine into a Goldmine
- The call centre operator receives the call - shift our attention
to the caller, the nature of the call to that British call centre
could relate to anything from medical or insurance claim, finance,
mail order query or indeed complaint. So we cannot predict the
mindset of that person, and it could be pleasant or aggressive.
The operator needs
to have the advantage and this is the core of any customer
relationship management system - It is impossible for any
individual to have all the facts in his or her mind relating
every caller, but contact management and customer relationship
management software can dramatically improve customer acquisition
and retention by allowing a single source of customer information
to be accessed throughout the organisation. GoldMine Business
Contact Manager is a perfect example .
UK call centres' workforce grew by 3.9% in 2001/02
Frontline staff salaries increased by 8%
Copyright: CCA Industry
News
Despite concerns over the migration of call centre work
abroad (to the Indian subcontinent and elsewhere), employment
in the UK call centre sector continues to expand rapidly
- by 3.9% last year - according to the latest joint
sector study from the CCA and Industrial Relations Services
(IRS). But staff turnover has increased by a third from
18% to 24%, and pay for some frontline staff rose by
over 8%, reflecting retention and competition pressures.
Addressing the industry's retention and recruitment problems,
employers responded by increasing pay and by improving
staff benefits to enable more flexible working. Salaries
for frontline call centre staff increased by 8.3%, reflecting
local pay pressures in most regions.
The findings are taken from the report Call Centres 2002:
Reward and Work-Life Strategies. This year's study is
based on responses from 134 employers, operating 322 call
and contact centres nationwide, with a total workforce
of almost 66,000.
Copyright: CCA Industry News
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Goldmine
Customer Relationship Software is a solution that delivers
comprehensive and consistent customer information, as well as
rapid results sales force automation for UK telesales and call
centres, it enables access to customer and organisational information,
such as calendars and contacts, from anywhere and at anytime.
Heat
Service and Support Software. For more than 10 years, HEAT
has been the worldwide standard for service and support software.
Customers and analysts alike agree that HEAT is the most comprehensive
suite of help desk software available on the market today.
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UK Call centre facts and figures.
Other key findings include:
Trainee rates increased by 8.6% to £11,400 a year,
while salaries for lower-grade frontline customer service
representatives (CSRs) rose by 8.3%, to a median of £13,000
a year.
The public sector pays the highest rates for frontline
staff, while managers' rates tend to be higher in the
finance sector.
The highest-paying regions are: London, the East of England,
and East Midlands.
More than 70% of respondents say that their work-life
benefits improve staff retention; others claim they help
control absenteeism and stress.
Employers were asked to suggest which of their HR strategies
were most effective in retaining staff. Pay and conditions
packages, personal development plans and strategies to
improve morale and motivation were the most common initiatives.
The report includes a case study at MoreTh>n call centre,
Sunderland, where active participation in a local Health@Work
award has not only helped improve employee health awareness,
but brought significant business benefits in the form
of better management of staff retention and sickness absence.
Survey details:
This year's study is based on responses from 134 employers
operating 322 call and contact centres nationwide, with
a total workforce of almost 66,000 staff. Data was gathered
by postal questionnaire, supplemented by documentation,
follow-up contact with many respondents, and case studies.
Fourteen organisations employed a thousand or more staff.
Halifax Direct employs the most, with 12,786 staff in
three call centres - Leeds, Sheffield and Belfast.
Sectors: Banking and financial services (35 respondents);
outsourcing (26); public sector (20); retail and wholesale
(10);leisure (10); voluntary sector (6); manufacturing
(5); telecommunications (5); business services (4); transport(4);
energy (3); health (2); media (2) and others (2). Number
of staff covered by survey 65,827
Call Centres 2002: Reward and Work-Life Strategies is
available from IRS at £70 for CCA members/survey
participants, or £85, tel: 0020 7354 6742. For more
information, please contact the study's consultant editor,
Philip Pearson, tel: 020 7354 6721;
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The
Heat
call logging system provides all the tools necessary to log
and track 100% of your calls and resolve them more quickly than
ever before. It contains a Business Process Automation Module™
(BPAM) that allows you to create automation and escalation rules
easily and intuitively. Automates many business processes and
monitors the system for problem issues using a wizard-like interface.
The
Heat Auto Ticket Generator automatically creates new call tickets
and updates existing call tickets via a variety of sources,
including MAPI (i.e. Outlook, GroupWise, etc.), VIM (i.e. Lotus
Notes) and POP3. Additionally, Auto Ticket Generator can automatically
respond to requests for call ticket information and status.
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Increase
Customer Satisfaction, Streamline Your Call Centre And
Put Yourself In Control.
There are two most important assets in any organisation,
staff and customers. The way they interact will be critical
to the revenue streams you drive back to your business.
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HEAT
Call Centre and Customer Relationship Management sytems
will maximise the productivity of your call centre by providing
your customer service representatives with a unified view of
all customer queries through telephone, fax, e-mail and web
interactions - allowing them to resolve issues through the customers
chosen form of communication. This will allow your support representatives
to deliver against the expectations they set and enable your
business to retain those customers and maximise the revenue
opportunities from them.
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CCA is the professional body for the call and contact
centre industry. An independent organisation with over
600 public and private sector members, its key objective
is to measurably improve standards from both the user
and employee perspective.
CCA members have unique opportunities for networking and
sourcing solutions from over 3,000 professionals within
member organisations. They also offer a popular email
networking service which enables members to anonymously
highlight issues and problems they are experiencing within
their contact centre, allowing fellow members to assist
and offer advice.
The public sector is the most rapidly growing group within
the CCA membership, with some 20% of the membership represented
by central and local government. DWP and NHS Direct, as
Foundation Partners, play an integral part in directing
CCA strategy and direction.
CCA is committed to developing its services to reflect
the challenges of the Modernising Government agenda.
CCA understands the complexity of delivering excellence
in the modern contact centre environment and through its
range of frameworks sets professional standards for the
industry at both organisation and individual levels.
Within the CCA there are several types of membership
available:
Companies operating contact centres within their organisation
can become corporate members of the CCA either on single
site basis or as a corporate group. To join as a Corporate
member click here
Consultation membership is also open to development organisations
across the UK that have an interest in the positive progression
of the industry. To join click here
Public Sector Membership is available to public sector
organisations that have an interest in, and are currently
addressing, the Modernising Government Agenda. To join
click here
Professional Affiliation - We are in the process of developing
a package specifically for companies involved in providing
products and services in Call and Contact Centres. This
package will compliment our existing opportunities including
our online directory, Direxions, our bi-annual published
directory and exhibitor prospects at the 8th Annual Convention.
For further details on all of the opportunities above
click here.
This year sees the launch of the CCA Standards: A Framework
for Best Practice which is designed to provide a framework
within which expectations of efficiency and customer service
can be fulfilled. It is a collection of simple statements
designed for the industry by the industry against which
it is possible to judge if the focus on customers and
staff is being maintained during development or major
change. The Framework seeks to identify areas in which
activity should be focussed but within that focus allows
complete freedom of commercial decision making.
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Having
fast reliable information at hand helps de-stress operators
because they can deal effectively and efficiently with all types
of callers. If we looked at Goldmine and Heat as part of a control
panel and not some sort of complicated call centre or CRM customer
relationship software, the easy to use interface makes is simple
and reduces training time.
The
Following is an article called De-stress for success,
Boosting the health
and wellbeing of your employees can make a big improvement to
their morale and motivation and can significantly enhance their
job performance. This has a direct impact on the quality of
service they provide to your customers.
Improving your employees’ health at work will also play
a big part in reducing absence and improving staff retention
rates which are a huge drain on finances and a thorn in the
side of operational matters.
Ann-Marie Stagg, Chair of CCMA,
firmly advocates the importance of employee health:
"Positive management of the health and welfare of people
at work contributes directly to increased job performance and
improves morale – this in turn leads to reduced levels
of absenteeism and staff turnover."¹
A phenomenon that has hit the workplace in the last few years
is STRESS. When your employees are stressed-out your business
suffers. The Health & Safety Executive state ‘The costs
of stress to your organisation may show up as high staff turnover,
an increase in sickness absence, reduced work performance, poor
timekeeping and more customer complaints.’²
The most obvious warning signs of stress in an employee are
behavioural such as irritability, crying, poor relations with
colleagues, low performance, mood swings, skipping meals and
excessive drinking and smoking. Other less obvious symptoms
are back pain, eyestrain, headaches, repetitive strain injury,
heart palpitations and feelings of anxiety. In serious cases
work-related stress can cause high blood pressure, depression,
insomnia and even violence.
A call centre worker will suffer from similar symptoms of stress
as that of any worker. However the call centre industry owns
a unique combination of factors that cause stress, such as:
Handling aggressive and difficult customers
Noisy working environment
Being seated for long periods of time
Continuous use of keyboard, screen and headset
Rigid call targets
No control over number of calls received
Working unsociable hours
Inadequate breaks
Repetitive and monotonous calls
Lack of variety in job role
No remit to resolve customer problems
Managers need to have a stress management strategy in place
to relieve the effects of these stressors if they want their
staff to stay healthy, stress-free and avoid burnout.
One method of reducing the effects of call centre stressors
is to offer your staff regular scheduled on-site massage. As
it sounds, on-site massage takes place at work. It lasts for
15 minutes and is both relaxing and energising. To receive the
massage you sit on a comfortable and supportive massage chair,
keep your work clothes on and no oil is used – ideal for
the office.
Findings from the Touch Research Institute, University of Miami
School of Medicine, found that on-site massage increases relaxation,
enhances alertness, lowers anxiety, improves task accuracy,
lowers the level of stress hormone cortisol, reduces depression
and lowers job-related stress.³
Regular on-site massage has many benefits for both the call
centre agent and the call centre business:
Benefits for the call centre agent
Increases mental
clarity by significantly improving the circulation of oxygen
to the brain
Increases mental
clarity by speeding up the removal of the body’s waste
products which can lead to painful & distracting tension
headaches and shoulder/neck stiffness
Enhanced mental clarity
will improve job performance.
Helps to relieve back pain and other upper body injuries, caused
by poor posture, combined use of screen and phone and sitting
for long periods, by relaxing tense and aching muscles
Reduces stress-related
high blood pressure, anxiety and its associated chest tightness
and heart palpitations
Dealing with these
problems can reduce the likelihood of sickness absence.
Provides a welcome and healthy break away from the stress of
an angry customer, the strain of talking continuously or the
pressure of meeting call targets.
You feel relaxed,
calm and re-energised – a wonderful and rare feeling in
the busy world of work!
Laura Hoskins, HR
Assistant at contact centre HSM says of her massage:
‘Amazing. Feel revitalised and raring to go!’
Benefits for call centre business
The physical and
psychological benefits (described above) can significantly improve
job performance which creates a positive impact on your bottom
line
Arranging for staff
to receive massage at work demonstrates an employer’s commitment
to their employees’ health giving a big boost to their
morale and a huge motivator to provide a quality service to
your customers. This may also help to improve staff retention
and reduce absenteeism.
Research from the
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (USA)
states that a healthy and highly productive company is one that
has ‘an organisational culture that values the individual
worker and management actions that are consistent with organisational
values’.4
Regular massage makes you feel refreshed and alert, driving
your agents to provide a first-class customer service
The Health &
Safety Executive state’s it is an employers legal duty
to ensure employees are not made ill by their work - implementing
a massage service will help relieve the symptoms of stress caused
by call centre working
Regular use of a
massage service can help reduce stress-related symptoms –
this may help reduce stress-related sickness absence and improve
staff retention rates
Workplace massage
is convenient, flexible, low-cost and won’t disrupt your
business activities
Price discount to
CCMA members
CCMA members can
take advantage of an exclusive 20% discount with on-site massage
service Clear Head. Visit www.clearhead.biz or email info@clearhead.biz
for further information.
Article written by Rachel Young, Corporate Health Consultant
for Clear Head - specialising in management-led employee health
and wellbeing solutions.
Source:
¹ Stagg, A-M;
‘Safe and Healthy Call Centres’; CCMA.
² Health and
Safety Executive; ‘Work-related stress. A short guide’.
³ Field, T et
al; Massage therapy reduces anxiety and enhances EEG pattern
of alertness and math computations; International Journal of
Neuroscience, 86, 197-205.
4 NIOSH www.cdc.gov/niosh/stresswk.html
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CCMA is the professional association for Call Centre
Managers and Supervisors. Although based in the UK they
have Members all over Europe and in the Middle East.
Their Mission is to promote the profession of Call Centre
Management; to contribute to the continuous professional
development of call centre managers and supervisors and
to assist wherever we can in sourcing high quality training
courses.
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