November 25, 2015
Just as winter follows fall, Cyber Monday (News – Alert), that online shopping day right after the long Thanksgiving weekend, will be here before we know it. With it will come a flood of calls to contact centers, mostly consisting of complaints. No one calls a contact center to say what a good job everyone is doing.
It goes without saying that contact center work is stressful, but there are steps that savvy managers can take to improve both working conditions and employee satisfaction. Addressing this issue, technology writer Bre Smith, writing for TechCo.com, took a broad view and offered some suggestions to keep everyone on track. Her ideas are worth sharing:
Improve the Work Environment: This might seem like a no-brainer, but it’s really Work 101: Happy employees are productive employees. “When your employees dread coming to work because of negativity, gossip, poor management, or even an unpleasant workspace, they aren’t going to be productive while they’re there,” Smith notes. Identify problems, and fix them.
Offer Incentives: “Develop a reward and recognition program that not only encourages employees to perform at their highest levels, but also motivates them to find ways to support their own growth and development,” she suggests. “When employees are recognized for their hard work, they are more likely to be satisfied.”
Improve the Knowledge Base (News – Alert): “Implementing a solution like knowledge base software allows employees to find all the information they need in seconds,” Smith says. “Agents aren’t wasting time asking clarifying questions, searching through endless codes, or putting customers on hold while they look for someone who has the answer. Everything is right where they need it.”
Investigate the Sources of Calls: Identifying the biggest drivers of calls provides insight that you can use to develop other solutions for managing the majority of those calls, freeing up your agents to handle other calls, she suggests.
Improve Self-Service: Multiple studies have shown that most people would rather use online or automated self-service options than call a live agent. “By improving your self-service options—such as email, online chat, interactive voice response, and other self-service channels—you’re not only giving your customers flexibility in how they contact you, but you’re also improving the productivity of the agents who handle calls, since they have fewer calls to deal with,” Smith notes.
These are by no means all the solutions you can implement, but implementing a few now could help an employee stay sane—and keep them at work—later on.