Stress in callcentres

[steve]

We have issues with staff turnover which is in part attributed to the levels of stress within our callcentre has anyone utilised any stress management techniques or programmes which have resulted in reductions in sickness or turnover of agents ?

[moby]

Hi,

It is very obivious that after a certain point in time, the CSR's have to experience a level of monotony with their job. for some CSR's it is just a temporary phase, but some like to make it an excuse for Non-performance.

In our call center, what we followed recently is that we organised a sports week where we asked the agents and their supervisours to organise and also take part in the same. This has brought a change in their working performance as far as we can see. I personally feel that you should organise something that will allow the agents change their daily routine and do something routine.

[steve]

Thanks for the idea, someone else suggested stress therapists to reduce stress what do you think ?

[cjw17]

We instituted job sharing/intern program in our call center. CSRs who meet or exceed job expectations are eligible to do a rotation for three months in other groups. CSRs work half a day on the phones, the other half in the Correspondence Dept, or in the Research Dept, Work Force Management, or Quality Assurance. This breaks up their day, teaches them new skills, & provides us with a pool of trained staff whenever we need it.

[Joe_M (los angeles)]

Similar to the job sharing post, we have a job rotation program that alternate telephone staff to do administrative tasks to break up the day to day grind.

If employee turnover is a major problem, you may want to budget money for employee activities / incentives. I have a activity commitee that plans birthday decorating, holiday potlucks, contests, etc. Involve the staff to join and participate in the commitee.

joe

[freja]

You need to look at the causes of the stress, not just at allieviating the symptoms.

Common causes include understaffing, impossible service levels, inappropriate or oppressive management style, mis-match between agent skills and job requirements, mis-match between the stated aims of the job and the actual work being done (e.g. a sales centre that is swamped with technical service complaints), jobs that require no thought on the part of the operator and that could/should be automated (directory enquiries, bank balance requests etc).

Understand the causes and you will have a much better chance of resolving the issues.

A number of posts mention job rotation, which I would support and which I have seen applied successfully in a number of centres. BUT - beware creating the impression that the call centre work is something to be 'escaped from'. (One post suggests rewarding high performers by allowing them to do something else). The telephone work needs to be seen as being just as valuable as the admininstration or processing work, otherwise you will always have a problem with staffing.