Ten Ways to Improve Call Center Employee Motivation

Monet Software runs one of the better industry blogs for call centers out there, and now they have a post up about employee motivation.

Spending years in CRM teaches one a few things, and probably the clearest correlation you can find when it comes to satisfied customers is motivated, satisfied employees. Get a list of the ten companies with the highest employee satisfaction rates and guaranteed most of them will be on the list of the ten companies with the most satisfied customers. Guaranteed.

And as the Monet blog says, especially when it comes to call centers, employee motivation is “probably most challenging management task -- and it has the biggest impact on the overall call center performance and success.”

Sorry, but there isn’t any silver bullet here, you’re pretty much responsible for finding what works for you -- tricks your fellow call center managers use to get dazzling results might fall flat for your call center. Things like the size of your center, the culture of your company and the people in your company do matter. Employee satisfaction isn’t a one-size-fits-all checklist.

That said, however, Monet does a good job setting out a few ideas for how you should be approaching things:

Practice clear communication. This would include what you expect from agents, letting them know exactly how their performance will be measured -- and sticking to it.

Include agents into problem solving. Let them see reports and metrics and discuss ideas for improvements with them.

Provide recognition of employees. Publicly and individually. This lets them know they’re valued members of the organization.

Make employees more knowledgeable: Develop your employees' skills through training and coaching.

Build confidence. If your agents have sufficient training and coaching, and get constructive, specific feedback to help them do their jobs better, they’re far more confident.

Create teams that work well together.

Provide a good infrastructure as far as office, chairs, headsets, that kind of thing.

Allow flexible schedules for start- and end-time flexibility.

Try for good resource planning with accurate forecasting and scheduling helps reduce stress.

Lead by example. Actions speak louder than words and mission statements.

David Sims is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To read more of David’s articles, please visit his columnist page. He also blogs for TMCnet here.

Edited by Chris DiMarco

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