Working Holidays

[henrietta]

I am interested in US call centers' practices regarding working on holidays. Christmas Eve is a company paid holiday. However, our call center will be open to service our customers. I would like to know what other US call centers do to incent employees to work traditional holidays (which we are making mandatory).

[RichardBlank]

Naturally my center needs to work over the holidays.

I like to give an extra bonus over their 1.5x salary.

[p2rosebud]

They get time and a half on top of the normal holiday pay we would have given them had we let them off.

That and we have a lot of activities going on in the center.

[RoLleRKoaSTeR]

The place I work at has a policy that employees must work three holidays out of the year. The center is open every day, except Christmas Day. Mostly only have to work a partial day.

[synergy77]

Originally Posted by RoLleRKoaSTeR

The place I work at has a policy that employees must work three holidays out of the year. The center is open every day, except Christmas Day. Mostly only have to work a partial day.

Same here, we are a 24/7 365 days a year. everyone must elect 3 holidays. The ones working will get time and a half also.

[ronny98]

Here are some suggestions:

1. Pay 3x salary
2. Allow employees to bank overtime hours, so they can use their accumulated hours for paid vacation time outside company busy hours
3. Treat your employees well, i.e (Benefits, Retirement Account, Insurance, etc.)
4. Consider outsourcing labor to other countries.

Originally Posted by henrietta

I am interested in US call centers' practices regarding working on holidays. Christmas Eve is a company paid holiday. However, our call center outsourcing will be open to service our customers. I would like to know what other US call centers do to incent employees to work traditional holidays (which we are making mandatory).

[slarsen]

Call centers I have worked at have paid 1.5-2 x the employees regular salary, prize raffles for the employees that are working the holiday, a caterer to provide lunch/dinner.

[sheldonoverton]

The first thing I typically do is ask for volunteers. You would be surprised how many agents would work holidays willingly if you ask for their help.

Put a solicitation out well in advance of the holiday letting agents know the staffing hours needed. Let them know that you plan to have some activities for them (holiday dinner, raffle) in addition to their holiday pay. You might get enough agents where everyone can work a few hours and on one has to work the entire holiday.

Like a lot of things, the way you present it to the center determines the type of response you get. If the message is upbeat, you are likely to get more volunteers.

As a back up, you might start a holiday rotation in case you can't get enough volunteers. This makes it fair to everyone so the same agents don't have to work the holidays.

I hope this helps.

Sheldon Overton
sheldonoverton@aol.com