Workforce Management Featured Article
Call Center Agents Transition to Service Professionals
Contact center agents aren’t always the most respected of workers. There is a stereotype that the average customer support worker is an unserious job-hopper who will change positions for an extra 50 cents an hour. While part of this stems from the low pay in many support jobs, it’s also an image leftover from the days of “boiler room” contact centers in which agents did nothing but telephone work for eight hours straight.
The image of the contact center worker needs to change, mostly because the job has changed today, according to Chuck Ciarlo, CEO of workforce optimization solutions provider Monet Software (News - Alert). New channels and technologies have added many new tasks to the job description of contact center worker.
“When you really look at the tasks performed by contact center agents every day, it is obvious businesses are placing a great deal of trust in them, in making sales, in customer care, and in dispute resolution, among other responsibilities,” wrote Ciarlo. “Call centers are now viewed as revenue-generating operations, and while managers provide the tools and the guidance, it’s the agents that are on the front lines of this effort.”
In other words, these employees are no longer profit sinks who do a job that drains the company of money. They are now revenue generators, and as a result, they are a smarter, better educated and higher quality of worker. It’s time to stop treating the like a commodity, and instead begin viewing them as service professionals. Many agents today view their jobs as careers, and not a stepping stone until a better job comes along. While there may be higher costs involved in employing a team of service professionals, the earnings potential is much higher.
“That doesn’t mean the new job description has to come with a higher salary and a parking place with the agent’s name on it,” wrote Ciarlo. “This is still (and likely always will be) an entry-level position, but it is one that provides access and insight to many other departments such as marketing, sales, and product development. Agents who are paying attention can, in the course of their daily duties, gather actionable information that can be valuable to the company and their own careers.”
What agents will value, however, is more potential to excel in their jobs and benefit from their efforts. Employee engagement is much higher among employees who don’t feel their jobs are dead ends, but instead learning opportunities and a way to climb the ranks to supervisors and managers, if they excel, or at least to gain experience that can be brought to another job. First, however, they need to be prepared to excel.
“That starts with hiring and training,” wrote Ciarlo. “Don’t just look for people with good telephone voices that can read a script. Treat the process as a recruitment of not just today’s agents but also tomorrow’s managers. Let them know there’s a path to advancement available, and provide incentive compensation to identify your best candidates. If you focus on hiring professionals, you’ll stand a better chance of inspiring professional job performance.”
Edited by Stefania Viscusi