Eating lunch and/or snacks at your desk?

[Moderator]

What's your company guidelines for eating lunch and/or snacks at your desk in the call center area, most call center have a no drinking/eating policy but what about your company?

Nicole


(Previously posted on the old Forum - Moderator)

[Kerry Wilson]

Since moving into our new location, we have tried to limit the amount of foods that can be eaten at the agent's workstations. Generally, we do not allow agents to eat meals at their desks nor any food which requires utensils.

[Ludacrs]

We allow eating and drinking at our agent's desks. In fact, one of our company perks is free pizza/sandwiches on Friday and free beverages all the time! Soda, coffee, hot chocolate, tea, etc - all free! We are a small call center, and all the agent's have their own work spaces so I do not see this as a problem at all. It has not affected their performance in the least.

[Jimmy Childs]

No eating or food allowed in call center. Liquids only acceptable in spill proof (turn upside down and it dribbles but doesn't gush. No screw top containers or paper coffee cups even with covers allowed.)containers. We have lost too many keyboatds and computers to spilled liquids.

[mlehet]

We do not allow food at the Agents desks. Beverages are ok, we've not had problems with spills etc. BUT, we have had problems with Reps taking a call right after they've taken a bite....they either wait to answer the call (ASA goes up), or they answer and they mumble their first few words (poor Customer Service).

We do allow some snacks (sunflower seeds, candy) but we try to refrain from allowing reps to eat at their desk.

[Colby Summers]

If you have dedicated workstations for agents, there is comparetively less problem in maintaining the workstations since the ownership for the work station lies with the agents....... However one needs to ensure that you allow liquids only in spill proofs, Keyboards cost a bomb!!!!
I personally feel that if there are no dedicated workstations for agents, do not go with the idea of using the consoles for eating, especially if the number of agents are high (100 plus) in your center.........
The concept of self owned workstations give your agents a feeling of comfort and also does marvels to his style of functioning....

[mdhf]

My 2 cents...
In the call centers that I have been associated with we have not allowed food or drinks w/out spill proof lids at the stations for a couple of different reasons.
One would be the equipment. Like it or not...people spill and touch things with hands that aren't clean. Nothing worse than sitting down at a station with a sticky keyboard or cheeto stuff everywhere.
The 2nd issue would be that even though we are adults...CSR's or whatever they are called in your center..forget that crunching and smacking and even eating carefully comes across on the phone. We all want our agents to send a smile across the phone lines. It is hard to do that with sandwhich stuff stuck to the roof of your mouth!
Of couse, as with anyone else, when the phones are backed up we order pizza and encourage everyone to stay in. I still try to have them eat away from taking calls...it just sounds bad.

[Ursula]

I agree with Colby. Dedicated stations give a sense of ownership, which is an important aspect in any job. Those with assigned seating will take responsibility for their stations.

At my center, it's within our corporate office. Although call centers operate much differently than the "9-5" business atmosphere, we feel we need to make our reps just as important as the rest of the office- who can eat at their desks.

I caution to use common sense... if the customer is able to hear you crunch/slurp, don't do it! We haven't had problems to date.

(At a previous call center I worked with, there were no assigned desks... and the place was completely disgusting. Some reps would come in with lysol and alcohol swipes before their shift. Zero job ownership, zero respect for the next person using the station

[cjw17]

We allow eating & drinking at our workstations & haven't had any problems. If you use potential keyboard damage as a reason to ban liquids, it should apply to everyone in the company who has a keyboard, not just the CSR's. Our CSR's have dedicated workstations. Even when we were 24-7 (which we discontinued several years ago), our CSR's shared desks with opposite shift people; however it was always the same desk. An problems with messes were addressed by the supervisor.

[Joe_M (los angeles)]

I manage a 60 seat call center and no food or snacking is allowed at the CSR's work station. Drinks are OK, food no. The only exception is when I bring in donuts or when it's a approved company function such as a potluck or other goody day.

Besides it being annoying for customers to hear a CSR talking with their mouth full, it eliminates pests and I'm sure the cleaning crews appreciates it too.

joe

[freja]

Eating and drinking - no thanks..! As a customer I have been the victim of too many operators chewing and slurping their way through my conversation. Give the guys proper facilities and breaks - then insist that they concentrate on the callers, not on their sandwiches. The adherence schedule should allow sufficient time for a glass of water at the cooler when needed without disturbing service levels, but otherwise no drinks and definately no food or gum.

[TravelCCM]

Everyone has talked about the poor customer service etc and broken keyboards but there is an even bigger reason to ban eating food at workstations-OH&S. Working as a call centre operator is one of the most sedentary jobs there is and its important we encourage our staff to get up from their desks to have their meal. All of our staff have a half hour for lunch and two 10 minute breaks - one in the morning and one in the afternoon. These breaks must be taken away from their desks either in the breakout area or out of the building. We have had no compensation claims and productivity has improved markedly since the morning & afternoon breaks were introduced.

[Seymour]

The most important issue in a call center is the way individuals who do the actual work, otherwise known as reps, are treated.

Unless the Call Center management is a believer in "near minimum wage" payrolls, these individuals should not be children, degenerates, idiots nor uneducated slobs.

These individuals, therefore, are not from another planet. Many firms seem to have a disparaging opinion of individuals who toil in call centers. Wrong!

The bottom line is productivity. If an individual employee can sit at his station, eat food and consume a beverage without being messy, and be productive....WHO CARES!

All call center reps are not the same. My first experience in an outbound call center, many years ago, was an eye opener. The had nearly 80 reps, many of whom were educated professionals. These professionals worked mostly part-time. Their reasons for being there included extra money, comic relief, a diversion, etc. These professionals included a clergyman, two school teachers, a dentist, two broadcasters and three lawyers. Among the reps were also four individuals that I know had MBA's.

Supervising these reps were 'kids just out of college.' It's a fair bet that the reps knew more and could sell better than the supervisors.

[janel815]

One thing that I have tried to accomplish for the sake of morale is to treat my reps as adults. In all other areas of any company, whether or not you can or can not eat at your desk is never an issue. To make an issue of this is to be disrespectful to your employees by not trusting then to be responsible. Its a control issue for the manager, what is next monitoring when they use the bathroom?

[freja]

There seem to be two themes running here - 1) is it OK for the guys to eat and drink at their desks and 2) the staff should be treated as adults.

I personally do not think that it is OK for the guys to eat and drink at their desks whilst on call - for all the customer friendly reasons that I and others have expressed, and for health reasons. If the centre is set up in a way that allows the staff to take their lunch breaks at their desks without disrupting others, then that may be OK, but my experience is that it is distracting for those members of the team who are trying to work and I would really want the staff to get away from their desks in order to relax. That's the whole purpose of the breaks.

From a customer service point of view - I would not want an assistant in a shop to be eating lunch at the same time as serving me, so why would the call centre be any different?

On the second point, I don't see how creating the right working conditions and setting standards and expectations is disrespectful to adults - in my view it is quite the opposite. It's a two-way thing - for example, we ask our operators to refrain from eating and drinking at their desks but provide water coolers, regular breaks and clean, tidy, well-equipped rest areas etc. and have schedules that give the staff the time to use these facilities.