In the call center industry, planning the activity is one of the key elements that lead to good results and paying more attention to agents can create a pleasant work environment. Therefore, how can we make our call center activity more efficient? Here are five ways that will help you do it successfully.
- Organize work space in an efficient and pleasant way
In a contact center, organizing the work space is particularly important. Agents’ activity has changed a lot over time. Today, when we talk about call center, we think of an activity that is based on collaboration and interaction with other colleagues and supervisors. Thus, the workplace must be properly arranged. Although there is no ideal office set-up, there are some suggestions we can keep in mind.
The most important thing is to pay attention to the way offices are arranged, to give employees the possibility to communicate easily with their team leaders and managers. A semicircle set-up of the offices is suitable for this type of activity. It is also important for agents to have the opportunity to relax between calls. Therefore, spaces need be arranged so that agents can loosen up, socialize with their other colleagues and enjoy their break. Also, an ergonomic furniture can be a good choice for decorating the offices. Working in a call center requires an intense activity and we need to provide our employees a comfortable environment. For instance, you can invest in ergonomic chairs and desks which will reduce back pains. Both comfort and relaxation play an important role in motivating employees.
2. Put at your employees’ disposal efficient and high performing work platforms
Modern technology helps agents to perform their tasks, so they can offer customers better and faster solutions. Contact centers platforms offer a wide range of appropriate tools that help manage the activity and each tool has useful benefits. For example, by using a software such as CRM agents can centralize customer data and handle calls being on pending more easily. The platform also helps managers to record employee’s performance and to find solutions to increase their productivity.
- Help agents with their time management
The efficiency of call center activity is also measured by the time that an agent spends on a task. What do you need to do in order to have a good time management? Prioritize your tasks, plan your activities, set deadlines and avoid multi-tasking. Employees often make “to do lists” to prioritize their tasks, but what happens when there are more tasks that need to be solved at the same time? This situation can create confusion and it might demotivate agents. In this circumstance, the team leader must offer support to his team and must find solutions to solve the problem. Thus, when is organizing his/her activity, it is indicated for each team leader to answer to the following questions:
- Are my priorities aligned with the ones of my company?
- Do I set reasonable deadlines for my team?
- Do the team members have a clear view of the company’s goals?
- Do my agents feel stressed?
It is not enough for a team leader to keep an eye of the reports generated by the system about agents’ activity x. It is necessary for team leaders be involved in the agents’ activity to increase their motivation and efficiency.
- Simplify the operators’ desktop
The agent’s desktop directly influences its results. A crowded screen with all sorts of documents from which the operator extracts information or notes and centralizes various information can lead to confusion among agents. It is recommended for the information to be structured in folders and for the desktop screen to be as clean as possible.
In addition, a relaxing wallpaper that doesn’t wear off the agents’ eyes would help employees. Having a chaotic desktop has an impact on the brain and it leads to concentration loss. It’s also difficult for an agent to find the necessary information during a call and it’s even harder to read them. Thus, to all kinds of representations (graphs, images, schemes) can be used to help agents to memorize the information.
- 5. Ask for feedback and organize relevant training
Offering and giving feedback is very important in any field. Interacting with people is not easy at all and it involves a high level of energy consumption. Therefore, feedback sessions are always welcomed, especially in this industry. It is important to find out what agents like, what upsets them and what might be improved in their work.
Apart from asking for feedback, offering training for agents is also crucial. From the very beginning of his activity, the call center operator is enrolled in a professional training program to familiarize himself with the working environment and with the procedures that he will have to follow. Apart from training that help agents do their specific job, communication training play an important role and they offer agents the opportunity to improve soft skills.
In conclusion, call center planning requires an enormous effort and it involves multiple processes. Time management, organizing activities, receiving feedback, offering relevant training and high performing work platforms are just some of the elements that will help the agents do their job well.
